Janet Frame (1924–2004) was a celebrated New Zealand author of novels, short stories, poetry and the three-volume autobiography An Angel at My Table that was adapted for cinema by Jane Campion. Janet Frame won numerous local and international literary prizes including the Commonwealth Prize for Best Book. She was an Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and held two honorary doctorates. She was awarded a CBE in 1983 and in 1990 she was made a Member of the Order of New Zealand, the country’s highest civil honour. Her work is in print around the world and has been translated into many languages.

‘This begins where most novels fear to tread: in middle age. Malfred Signal is a retired art teacher who has spent the best part of her adult life caring for her invalid mother and who would now like to have her “view” of the world…. A storm descends, and soon Malfred is terrorized by someone knocking ceaselessly on her door, leading her to search her past and ask the ultimate question of our age: what good is a room of one’s own if it’s in hell?’ — John Vaughan, Irish Times