To the is-land

"From the first place of liquid darkness, within the second place of air and light, I set down the following record with its mixture of fact and truths and memories of truths and its direction always toward the Third Place, where the starting point is myth." Thus opens this first volume of autobiography by Janet Frame, one of the most highly regarded writers of today. Recounting her childhood in New Zealand in the 1920s and 30s, Janet Frame not only takes us on a remarkable journey through her childhood and adolescence, but also shows us the evolution of a writer. It is a sensitive, endearing narrative, written simply and from the heart; full of the joy and wonderment of a child and the craft of an artist. To the Is-Land recalls in vivid detail the worlds which open up to Janet Frame; her initiations, her first encounters with death, the facts of life, and her exploration into the world around her leading to her discovery of the world of poetry. Janet Frame writes, "I remember my overwhelming sense of anticipation and excitement at the world - the world being My Place by the fallen birch log, with the grass, the insects in the grass, the sky, the sheep and cows and rabbits, the wax-eyes and hawks - everything Outside... and the way I was filled with longing for it."