In the Memorial Room

By: Janet Frame

Narrated by: Humphrey Bower

In the Memorial Room is a brilliant black comedy by the celebrated author of An Angel at My Table.

Harry Gill, a moderately successful writer of historical fiction, has been awarded the annual Watercress-Armstrong Fellowship - a 'living memorial' to the poet Margaret Rose Hurndell. He arrives in the small French village of Menton, where Hurndell once lived and worked, to write. But the Memorial Room is not suitable - it has no electricity or water. Hurndell never wrote here, though it is expected of Harry.

Janet Frame's previously unpublished novel draws on her own experiences in Menton, France, as a Katherine Mansfield Fellow. It is a wonderful social satire, a send-up of the cult of the dead author, and - in the best tradition of Frame - a fascinating exploration of the complexity and the beauty of language.

©2017 Janet Frame Literary Trust (P)2017 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"[T]his book is marvelous experimental fiction.... Frame's sentences are marvels, winding like narrow alleys through hill towns: They open spectacular vistas. Brilliant." ( Kirkus, Starred Review)

"This short, funny and often beautifully written novel - completed in the early 1970s but just now being published - provides an excellent occasion for remembering the weird wisdom and genuine talent of Janet Frame." ( The New York Times)

Beautiful language

Miss Frame's ability to describe emotions and internal thought is beyond compare. You are able to know her characters not just follow their actions. All of her work is wonderful to read.