The daylight and the dust: selected short stories by Janet Frame.

This short story collection covers four decades and themes from childhood to death. Frame was saved from a mental institution and a scheduled lobotomy when she won a most prestigious New Zealand literary award. Jane Campion directed the film adaptation of her autobiography ‘An Angel at My Table’ that details this suffering and recognition. Despite or perhaps because of her hospitalisation, she excels at exploring the complexities of the human consciousness through realism and fantasy. Her writing is truly sublime – “The sun’s hair stood on end. The sky accommodated all visiting darkness and light. Leaves were glossy green, gold, brown, dried dead and bleached in drifts beneath the trees.” This collection provides an insight into her brilliance over time.