The Panopticon
Author(s): Jenni Fagan
Modern & Contemporary Literature
Pa'nop'ti'con ( noun). A circular prison with cells so constructed that the prisoners can be observed at all times. [Greek panoptos 'seen by all'] Anais Hendricks, fifteen, is in the back of a police car, headed for the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can't remember the events that led her here, but across town a policewoman lies in a coma and there is blood on Anais' school uniform. Smart, funny and fierce, Anais is a counter-culture outlaw, a bohemian philosopher in sailor shorts and a pillbox hat. She is also a child who has been let down, or worse, by just about every adult she has ever met. The residents of the Panopticon form intense bonds, heightened by their place on the periphery, and Anais finds herself part of an ad hoc family there. Much more suspicious are the social workers, especially Helen, who is about to leave her job for an elephant sanctuary in India but is determined to force Anais to confront the circumstances of her birth before she goes. Looking up at the watchtower that looms over the residents, Anais knows her fate: she is part of an experiment, she always was, it's a given, a liberty - a fact. And the experiment is closing in.
In language dazzling, energetic and pure, "The Panopticon" introduces us to a heartbreaking young heroine and an incredibly assured and outstanding new voice in fiction.
Product Information
JENNI FAGAN HAS BEEN NAMED AS ONE OF GRANTA MAGAZINE'S BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELISTS 2013 The Panopticon is a bold, shocking and heartbreaking story of a young girl in a care home SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR FICTION AND THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2013
Shortlisted for Desmond Elliott Prize 2013 and James Tait Black Memorial Book Prizes: Fiction 2013.
"It's in the Margaret Attwood/The Handmaid's Tale vein - very literary and suspenseful.Set in an altered reality - one that feels familiar and yet deeply unfamiliar, that embodies some of the dailiness of life, and yet slowly reveals itself to be a very different, much more sinister place." -- Gillian Flynn, author of GONE GIRL "Each page sparkles with the ebullient and sinister magic of great storytelling ... An utterly magnificent achievement." Irvine Welsh "Not just uncompromising and courageous. I think it's one of the most cunning and spirited novels I've read for years... An intelligent and deeply literary novel." -- Ali Smith "Written with great verve and brio ... An astonishing debut, I have a feeling that Fagan is a name we will hear more of." -- Jackie Kay "The 15-year-old heroine and narrator, has a rough, raw, joyous voice that leaps right off the page and grabs you by the throat.This punkish young philosopher is struggling with a terrible past, while battling sinister social workers.The glorious Anais is unforgettable." The Times
Jenni Fagan was born in Livingston, Scotland, and lives in Edinburgh. She graduated from Greenwich University with the highest possible mark for a student of Creative Writing, and won a scholarship to the Royal Holloway MFA. A published poet, she has won awards from Arts Council England, Dewar Arts, and Scottish Screen among others. She has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and was shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the James Tait Black Prize. Jenni works as a writer in residence, in hospitals and prisons. The Panopticon is her first novel.
General Fields
- :
- : Cornerstone
- : William Heinemann Ltd
- : 0.51
- : 02 May 2012
- : 222mm X 144mm X 31mm
- : United Kingdom
- : books
Special Fields
- : Jenni Fagan
- : Jenni Fagan
- : 336
- : 336
- : 823.92
- : 823.92
- : 6-Dec
- : 6-Dec
- : Hardback
- : Hardback