Annie John

A haunting and tragicomic tale of the end of childhood, Annie John is told with Jamaica Kincaid’s trademark candour and complexity, and is a true coming-of-age classic. An adored only child growing up in Antigua, Annie has until recently lived a peaceful and content life. She is inseparable from her beautiful mother, a powerful and influential presence, who sits at the very centre of the little girl’s existence. Loved and cherished, Annie grows and thrives within her mother’s shadow. When she turns twelve, however, Annie’s life changes, in ways that are often mysterious to her. She begins to question the cultural assumptions of her island world; at school she makes rebellious friends and frequently challenges authority; and most frighteningly, her mother, seeing Annie as a ‘young lady’, ceases to be the source of unconditional adoration and takes on the new and unfamiliar guise of adversary. Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.

A haunting and tragicomic tale of the end of childhood, Annie John is told with Jamaica Kincaid’s trademark candour and complexity, and is a true coming-of-age classic. An adored only child growing up in Antigua, Annie has until recently lived a peaceful and content life. She is inseparable from her beautiful mother, a powerful and influential presence, who sits at the very centre of the little girl’s existence. Loved and cherished, Annie grows and thrives within her mother’s shadow. When she turns twelve, however, Annie’s life changes, in ways that are often mysterious to her. She begins to question the cultural assumptions of her island world; at school she makes rebellious friends and frequently challenges authority; and most frighteningly, her mother, seeing Annie as a ‘young lady’, ceases to be the source of unconditional adoration and takes on the new and unfamiliar guise of adversary. Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.

Annie John er et lykkeligt, ubekymret barn på Antigua i Caribien. Som tiårig er hendes yndlingsbeskæftigelse at sidde og se på, mens hendes mor finder minderne frem fra den gamle kuffert som rummer hele hendes tilværelse. Men Annie er ikke ti år gammel for evigt. Hun forandres, og den kærlighed hun kendte i moderens omsorg bliver til modvilje og uforsonlighed. Annie John er et både smukt og smerteligt portræt af en ung piges opvækst, hendes længsel efter at finde og forstå sig selv, og en fortælling om det lille skridt fra kærlighed til afsky, som det kan udspille sig i en familie.

The essential, urgent coming-of-age novel by Jamaica Kincaid, a reinventor of the form. Since her first, prizewinning collection of stories, At the Bottom of the River , Jamaica Kincaid's work has been met with nothing short of amazement. The New York Times hailed her "prophetic power" and the Los Angeles Times Book Review said, "No one else seems to be writing quite this way." With Annie John , the story of a young girl coming of age in Antigua, Kincaid tore open the theme that lies at the heart of her fierce, incantatory novels: the ambivalent and essential bonds created by a mother's love. In this book, written in Kincaid's lucid, elemental style, Annie John's ambivalence is universally familiar and wrenchingly real.

The essential, urgent coming-of-age novel by Jamaica Kincaid, a reinventor of the form. Since her first, prizewinning collection of stories, At the Bottom of the River , Jamaica Kincaid's work has been met with nothing short of amazement. The New York Times hailed her "prophetic power" and the Los Angeles Times Book Review said, "No one else seems to be writing quite this way." With Annie John , the story of a young girl coming of age in Antigua, Kincaid tore open the theme that lies at the heart of her fierce, incantatory novels: the ambivalent and essential bonds created by a mother's love. In this book, written in Kincaid's lucid, elemental style, Annie John's ambivalence is universally familiar and wrenchingly real.