Cover of Wenn Eulen schrein.

Book 2002

Wenn Eulen schrein.

3.02 22 readers shelved it

Publisher
Suhrkamp
Published
2002
  • Fiction, general
  • Mentally ill
  • Fiction
  • Families
  • Electroconvulsive therapy
  • Alienation (Social psychology)
  • Nineteen forties
  • Social life and customs

Set in provincial, pre-1940 New Zealand, this novel explores the Withers family and in particular Daphne. When one of Daphne's sisters, Francie, dies at the rubbish dump where the children search for treasure, a crisis is provoked which leads Daphne to a mental asylum where she is given shock treatment. Her voice from 'the Dead Room' haunts the novel with its poetic insights.