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Owls Do Cry

By: Janet Frame, Margaret Drabble (Introduction by)

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Paperback | 22 January 2026

At a Glance

Format
Paperback

Dimensions(cm)
19.81 x 12.62 x 1.37

Paperback

$29.75

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''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

''All my preoccupations as a writer - my notions of home, beauty, madness of sorts and longing - come from her'' MEG MASON

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.

Written with lyrical beauty and a deep sensitivity in its depiction of hardship and tragedy, Owls Do Cry is a poetic masterpiece and regarded as one of the best New Zealand novels ever published.

INTRODUCED BY MARGARET DRABBLE

''The first great New Zealand novel and a modernist masterpiece . . . the book''s immense power to unnerve, astonish and impress endures'' Guardian

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