Owls Do Cry

'Janet Frame is the greatest New Zealand writer. She is utterly herself. Any one of her books could be published today and it would be ground-breaking' Eleanor Catton

Owls Do Cry is the story of the Withers family: Francie, soon to leave school to start work at the woollen mills; Toby, whose days are marred by the velvet cloak of epilepsy; Chicks, the baby of the family; and Daphne, whose rich, poetic imagination condemns her to a life in institutions.

'Janet Frame's first novel, Owls Do Cry, created a sensation in New Zealand when it was published in 1957. It was hailed by some critics as the country's long-awaited first great novel, even "a masterpiece" . . . her dark, eloquent song captured my heart' Jane Campion

'What an extraordinary woman she is, overcoming such obstacles, and making fresh and good use of them in her work' Doris Lessing

'Janet Frame's luminous words are the more precious because they were snatched from the jaws of the disaster of her early life . . . And yet to read her is no more difficult than dreaming' Hilary Mantel

'Owls Do Cry remains innovative and relevant' GUARDIAN

'Janet Frame was a unique and troubled soul whose luminous words are the more precious' HILARY MANTEL

'Her dark, eloquent song captured my heart ' JANE CAMPION

Owls Do Cry is the story of the Withers family: Francie, soon to leave school to start work at the woollen mills; Toby, whose days are marred by the velvet cloak of epilepsy; Chicks, the baby of the family; and Daphne, whose rich, poetic imagination condemns her to a life in institutions.

It is one of the classics of New Zealand literature and has remained in print continuously for fifty years. A fiftieth anniversary edition was published in 2007.

Owls Do Cry is Janet Frame's first novel. She describes her idea behind it in the second volume of her autobiography:

'Pictures of great treasure in the midst of sadness and waste haunted me and I began to think, in fiction, of a childhood, home life, hospital life, using people known to me as a base for main characters, and inventing minor characters'

Regarded by many as one of the best New Zealand novels published, Owls Do Cry forms a loose trilogy with her two subsequent novels, Faces in the Water and The Edge of the Alphabet.