Annabel

(Paperback)

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Description

Shortlisted for the Orange Prize - this is a moving novel about a young hermaphrodite growing up in the 1960s. In 1968, in a remote part of Canada, a mysterious child is born- a baby who appears to be neither fully boy nor girl, but both at once. Only three people share the secret - the baby's parents and a trusted neighbour. Together the adults make a difficult decision- to go through surgery and raise the child as a boy named Wayne. But as Wayne grows up within the hyper-male hunting culture of his father, his shadow-self - a girl he thinks of as 'Annabel' - is never entirely extinguished, and indeed is secretly nurtured by the women in his life. As Wayne approaches adulthood, and its emotional and physical demands, the woman inside him begins to cry out. The changes that follow are momentous not just for him, but for the three adults that have guarded his secret. Shortlisted for the Orange Prize.

Reviews

An uplifting exploration of love, parenthood, and all that we become * Daily Mail *
Remarkable... at once deeply moving and a powerful rallying cry * The Times *
[A] powerful and important debut...about friendship, parental love and its limitations * Irish Times *
This haunting, powerful story is about much more than the problems of being a hermaphrodite...This is a remarkable first novel, an accomplished debut by an exciting new voice with a confident, mature style * Daily Express *
Kathleen Winter has the steadfast clarity and quietly assured talent to make this difficult subject her own...Winter has a strikingly mellifluous voice, and she has created a potent story exploring gender categorization and humanity * Independent *

Author Bio

Kathleen Winter is the author of the international bestseller, Annabel, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Giller Prize, the Governor General's Literary Award and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Boundless has already been shortlisted for the prestigious Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize - the richest non-fiction prize in Canada. A long-time resident of St John's, Newfoundland, she now lives in Montreal.