Owls Do Cry

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.

Set in

• ★
  New Zealand · New Zealand

  Fictional New Zealand seaside town Waimaru (South Island) where the Withers family unravels over twenty years
  ★ primary
• ★
  South Island · New Zealand

  South Island seaside town; autobiographical saga of the Withers siblings across 20 years of poverty and loss
  ★ primary