'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