Sunday, February 14, 2010

Grace Cleave we love you


A love story for Valentine's Day - a pile of the different editions and translations so far, of Janet Frame's novel TOWARDS ANOTHER SUMMER, first published just over two years ago in Australia, then New Zealand, then in 2008 in the UK, and in 2009 in the USA. The first four of the translations have been published already. There's also a 'talking book', produced by Bolinda.

Janet Frame has brought her character Grace Cleave alive and Grace has resonated deeply with many readers. Does she have Asperger's Syndrome? Or is she just a sensitive artist? That argument will never be settled - but one thing is clear, Grace has become real to many readers, and she speaks to them with an authentic and lovable voice, and with a humorous light touch too, and with a knowing irony, of homesickness, of loneliness, and of longing. And of coming to know who you are and where you belong.

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