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Book description

An internationally acclaimed novel, the Kirkus Reviews wrote,  Shrewdly balanced between earthy tenderness and the dreadful trauma of disillusionment: a grave yet limber narrative-and a very welcome import. In a strange old building referred to as Paddy's Puzzle, Clara Bentley endures the fears of wartime and awaits the arrival of her lover, Ambrose. He's an American Marine. And he's black. Having grown up in suburban Hamilton, her move to Auckland marks an escape from the dreariness and restrictions of her childhood. In this building, full of an odd assortment of people, she waits, not just for Ambrose, but for the air-raid siren, for the culmination of her illness and for the sister to whom she dreads having to explain her new life in the Puzzle. The novel was shortlisted for the New Zealand Book Awards. The San Francisco Chronicle commented:  The supple flow of Kidman s language is a pleasure to read. She s particularly alive to the sudden swelling of emotion just below the surface of a carefully worded conversation. And she tosses off startlingly true images in the most offhand manner. Fiona Kidman has published over 20 books, including novels, poetry, non-fiction and a play. She has worked as a librarian, creative writing teacher, radio producer and critic, scriptwriter for radio, television and film, but primarily as a writer. The New Zealand Listener wrote:  In her craft and her storytelling and in her compassionate gutsy tough expression of female experience, she is the best we have. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships; in more recent years The Captive Wife was runner-up in the 2006 Montana Book Awards Deutz Medal for Fiction, and her short story collection The Trouble with Fire was shortlisted for both the NZ Post Book Awards and the Frank O Connor Award. She was created a Dame (DNZM) in 1998 in recognition of her contribution to literature, and more recently a Chevalier de l Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour.  We cannot talk about writing in New Zealand without acknowledging her, wrote New Zealand Books.  Kidman s accessible prose and the way she shows (mainly) women grappling to escape from restricting social pressures has guaranteed her a permanent place in our fiction.Â