{"product_id":"9781925095647","title":"Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop: Text Classics","description":"\u003cp\u003eIsobel Callaghan is struggling to make a career as a writer in Sydney. She is isolated, poor and hungry, and fears she's going mad. Leaving her room in a boarding house in search of food, she has a breakdown on the way to the corner shop.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWaking in hospital, Isobel learns that she will be confined to a sanatorium in the Blue Mountains. There, among the motley assortment of patients, and with the aid of great works of literature, she will confront the horrors of her past. But can she find a way to face the future?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eConfronting and compassionate, profound and funny, the second Isobel Callaghan novel is every bit as brilliant as its much-loved predecessor. It confirmed Amy Witting as one of the finest Australian writers of her time.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAmy Witting\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Sydney in 1918. She attended Sydney University, then taught French and English in state schools. Beginning late in life she published six novels, including \u003ci\u003eThe Visit\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eI for Isobel\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eIsobel on the Way to the Corner Shop\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eMaria's War\u003c\/i\u003e; two collections of short stories; two books of verse, \u003ci\u003eTravel Diary\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBeauty is the Straw\u003c\/i\u003e; and her \u003ci\u003eCollected Poems\u003c\/i\u003e. She had numerous poems and short stories published in magazines such as \u003ci\u003eQuadrant\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e. Her acclaimed short fiction is collected in the volume \u003ci\u003eFaces and Voices\u003c\/i\u003e. Witting was awarded the 1993 Patrick White Prize. \u003ci\u003eIsobel on the way to the Corner Shop\u003c\/i\u003e won the \u003ci\u003eAge\u003c\/i\u003e Book of the Year Award. Amy Witting died in 2001.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e'Her reflections on human nature are eloquently drawn, intimate, compassionate and witty.' \u003ci\u003eAustralian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAmy Witting is comparable to Jean Rhys, but she has more starch, or vinegar. The effect is bracing.' \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e'[Witting] lays bare with surgical precision the dynamics of families, sibling, students in coffee shops, office coteries. One sometimes feels positively winded with unsettling insights. There is something relentless, almost unnerving in her anatomising of foibles, fears obsessions, private shame, the nature of loneliness, the nature of panic.' Janette Turner Hospital\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e'A beautifully but unobtrusively honed style, a marvellous ear for dialogue, a generous understanding of the complex waywardness of men and women.' Andrew Riemer\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘Sparkling prose and extraordinary ability to enter the minds of a wide variety of characters.' \u003ci\u003eA Reader's Guide to Australian Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘Quietly brilliant…Witting’s characterizations are staggeringly sharp—it is hard to imagine a novel more keenly observed—simultaneously heartbreaking and (subtly) hilarious, not because they’re exaggerated, but because they are so unsettlingly, overwhelmingly true…A compassionate masterpiece.’ STARRED Review, \u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Text Publishing Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47137516093680,"sku":"9781925095647","price":11.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781925095647_p0.jpg?v=1763635769","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781925095647","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}