Paperback. Pub Date: 2010 Pages: 544 Publisher: Virago Press Ltd One of the great Autobiographies of the twentieth century ... A journey from Luminous childhood through the dark experiences of supposed madness to the renewal of her life through writing fiction. It is a heroic story. and told with such engaging tone. humorous perspective and imaginative power 'Michael Holroyd. Sunday Times After being misdiagnosed with schizophrenia as a young woman. Janet Frame spent several years in psychiatric institutions. She escaped undergoing a lobotomy when it was discovered that she had just won a national literary prize. She then went on to become New Zealand's most acclaimed writer. As she says more than once in this autobiography: 'My writing saved me.' 'One of the most beautiful and moving books I have ever read ... A masterpiece ... Janet's autobiography had an enormous effect o...