An Angel At My Table

‘One of the great autobiographies of the twentieth century . . . It is a heroic story, and told with such engaging tone, humorous perspective and imaginative power‘ Michael Holroyd, Sunday Times Gathered here are all three volumes of Janet Frame‘s vivid and haunting autobiography, with a heartfelt introduction from Jane Campion, in a new edition to celebrate the centenary of Frame‘s birth. Illuminated with her skill and lyricism as a novelist and poet, An Angel at my Table records not only the extraordinary facts of Janet Frame‘s life, but her flourishing as a writer. Born into a poor but intellectually intense family, she was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia as a young woman and incarcerated for several years in psychiatric institutions. She escaped undergoing a lobotomy when it was discovered that she had just won a national literary prize - and went on to become New Zealand‘s most acclaimed writer. As she says more than once in this autobiography: ‘My writing saved me.‘ ‘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 ‘Frame‘s haunting and powerful trilogy is one of the greatest of autobiographies‘ Hilary Mantel