Get Free Shipping on orders over $0
Owls Do Cry : Text Classics - Janet Frame

Owls Do Cry

Text Classics

By: Janet Frame, Margaret Drabble (Introduction by)

Paperback | 28 May 2014 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback


RRP $14.95

$14.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $3.69 with

Ships in 3 to 5 business days

So the day promised fair, and the sea lay like a quilt with the waves tucked under, and the trees wavering like leafless water, cut to fit from a transparent block of blue air and frost.
Owls Do Cry tells the story of the Withers family- Francie, who is twelve and about to start work at the woollen mills, hard drudgery sweetened with the thrill of riding a bike to work; Toby, who would rather play at the dump than go to school, where the dark velvet cloak of epilepsy often wraps itself around him; Chicks, the youngest; and Daphne, whose rich poetic way of seeing the world leads to a heartbreaking life in institutions.
Janet Frame writes of hardship, poverty and tragedy with beauty and a deep sensitivity. Owls Do Cry is a poetic masterpiece.
Industry Reviews
'Owls Do Cry glows with the inner light of (Frame's) human awareness-a cool flame that neither cauterises nor heals but in some mystic ways purifies, substituting an essential beauty for superficial pain and squalor.' * Sunday Herald Tribune *
'When I first read it at 14, the same age as Daphne is in the novel...her dark eloquent song captured my heart.' * Jane Campion *
'Owls Do Cry is a devastating reflection on the character of conventional society and the dangers that await those who reject its narrowness...It is also a vivid social document, capturing the language and texture of the postwar period. It is a heartbreaking evocation of childhood and a child's vision of the world; and not least, it is a work of considerable lyrical beauty.' * Irish Times *
'The first great New Zealand novel and a modernist masterpiece...Owls Do Cry remains innovative and relevant. Frame's idiosyncratic and startlingly visual style means that the book's immense power to unnerve, astonish and impress endures.' * Guardian *

More in Modern & Contemporary Fiction

The Shock of the Light - Lori Inglis Hall

RRP $34.99

$22.99

34%
OFF
Pilbara - Judy Nunn

Paperback

RRP $34.99

$19.99

43%
OFF
Flesh : WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2025 - David Szalay

RRP $24.99

$19.99

20%
OFF
The Names : 'The best debut novel in years' Sunday Times - Florence Knapp
The Deadly Dispute : A Tea Ladies Mystery - Amanda Hampson

RRP $24.99

$19.99

20%
OFF
On Not Climbing Mountains - Claire Thomas

RRP $32.99

$22.99

30%
OFF
Glyph - Ali Smith

Hardcover

RRP $39.99

$31.75

21%
OFF
The Winter Belle - Dilly Court

RRP $24.99

$20.75

17%
OFF
The Soul Catchers - Naoko Higashi

RRP $34.99

$22.99

34%
OFF
The Island Retreat - Cathy Kelly

RRP $32.99

$17.60

47%
OFF
Felicia's Favourites - Danielle Steel

RRP $32.99

$18.66

43%
OFF
When the Cranes Fly South - Lisa Ridzen

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF
Hooked - Asako Yuzuki

Paperback

RRP $34.99

$19.99

43%
OFF
The Boyfriend Clause - Bridie Blake

RRP $34.99

$19.99

43%
OFF
Cleopatra - Saara El-Arifi

Paperback

RRP $34.99

$24.64

30%
OFF
Something New - Alex Sarkis

SIGNED COPY

Paperback

RRP $34.99

$26.99

23%
OFF
Like, Follow, Die - Ashley Kalagian Blunt

RRP $34.99

$24.59

30%
OFF