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King, Michael, 1945-2004

Wrestling with the angel : a life of Janet Frame / Michael King. - Auckland, N.Z. : Viking, 2000. - 583 pages, [24] pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 523-527) and index.

Janet Frame, born in 1924, is New Zealand's most celebrated and least public author. Her early life in small South Island towns seemed, at times, engulfed in a tide of doom: one brother still-born, another epileptic; two sisters dead of heart failure while swimming; Frame herself committed to mental hospitals for the best part of a decade. Later, her surviving sister was temporarily felled in adulthood by a stroke, an uncle cut his throat and a cousin shot his lover, his lover's parents and then himself. . This, then, is an inspiring biography of a woman who climbed out of an abyss of unhappiness to take control of her life and become one of the great writers of her time. And to enable her biographer to write this book scrupulously and honestly, Janet Frame spoke for the first time about her whole life. She also made available her personal papers and directed her family and friends to be equally communicative. The result is a biography of astonishing intimacy and frankness.

Montana New Zealand Book Awards Montana Medal for Non-Fiction, 2001 Montana New Zealand Book Awards Readers' Choice Award, 2001 Montana New Zealand Book Awards History and Biography, 2001

ISBN: 0670893714 9780670893713

LCCN: 00341166

Nat. Bib. No.: GBA066038 bnb

Subjects--Personal Names:
Frame, Janet, 1924-2004 author.

Subjects--Topical Terms:
Women authors, New Zealand--20th century--Biography.
Women and literature--History--New Zealand--20th century.
Authors, New Zealand--20th century--Biography.

LC Class. No.: PR9639.3.F7 / Z75 2000b

Dewey Class. No.: 823.2 B 920 FRA