Author(s): Lauris Edmond

NZ Non Fiction

To write your life story is to go down to the dark and steamy kitchen of the soul, to lift the lids of cooking pots and examine the contents, one by one... This book distils into a single compelling volume the three autobiographies of poet Lauris Edmond: Hot October, Bonfires in the Rain and The Quick World. Although all three books have been edited and reshaped, the substance and flavour of the originals remain the same, given greater power through their concentration into an unbroken narrative. From the memories of a country childhood and wartime student life in Hot October, through the eloquent account of the growth and death of a marriage in Bonfires in the Rain, to the liberating, difficult yet ultimately healing voyages of The Quick World, Lauris Edmond is unflinchingly honest and perceptive in telling a story that is both her own - and that of a generation.