In the Memorial Room

Harry Gill, a moderately successful writer of historical fiction, has been awarded the annual Watercress–Armstrong Fellowship—a ‘living memorial' to the poet, Margaret Rose Hurndell. He arrives in the small French village of Menton, where Hurndell once lived and worked, to write. But the Memorial Room is not suitable—it has no electricity or water. Hurndell never wrote here, though it is expected of Harry.



Janet Frame's previously unpublished novel draws on her own experiences in Menton, France as a Katherine Mansfield Fellow. It is a wonderful social satire, a send–up of the cult of the dead author, and—in the best tradition of Frame—a fascinating exploration of the complexity and the beauty of language.Praise for In the Memorial Room

"This short, funny and often beautifully written novel — completed in the early 1970s but just now being published — provides an excellent occasion for remembering the weird wisdom and genuine talent of Janet Frame."—Scott Bradfield, The New York Times, Sunday Book Review

"[T]his book is marvelous experimental fiction…Frame's sentences are marvels, winding like narrow alleys through hill towns: They open spectacular vistas…Brilliant."—Kirkus, Starred Review

"[T]he story is also a beautifully crafted artistic and philosophical creation that explores the nature of communication and exposes Frame's love of language…this is a terrific introduction to an original writer who deserves her own serious league of fans. Recommended for all fiction collections."—Library JournalJanet Frame (1924 - 2004) was one of New Zealand's most distinguished writers. She is best known for An Angel at My Table, which the Sunday Times of London called "one of the great autobiographies written in the twentieth century," and inspired Jane Campion's internationally acclaimed film. Throughout her long career, Frame received a wide range of awards, including every literary prize for which she was eligible in New Zealand, honorary membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Literature.