The Panopticon
Published on 4. April 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-0-09-955864-4 (ISBN)
Description
***Jenni Fagan's new novel The Delusions is available now***
A GRANTA BEST YOUNG BRITISH NOVELIST AND WINNER OF THE GORDON BURN PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR FICTION AND THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE
'One of the most cunning and spirited novels I've read for years'
ALI SMITH
'Knocked the breath out of me'
OBSERVER
'Glorious, unforgettable'
THE TIMES
Fifteen-year-old Anais Hendricks is smart, funny and fierce, but she has also been let down by every adult she has ever met. Sitting in the back of a police car, she finds herself headed for The Panopticon, a home for chronic offenders where the social workers are as suspicious as its residents. But Anais can't remember the events that have led her there, or why she has blood on her school uniform...
Bold, brave and joyous, Jenni Fagan's critically acclaimed debut is a masterful depiction of systematic failure and one girl's fight back.
'An astonishing debut'
JACKIE KAY
'Ferocious and devastating'
ELEANOR CATTON
'A true literary masterpiece'
EMMA JANE UNSWORTH
'Startlingly accomplished'
FINANCIAL TIMES
'Simply unforgettable'
THE SCOTSMAN
'Confident, deftly wrought, compelling'
FINANCIAL TIMES
A GRANTA BEST YOUNG BRITISH NOVELIST AND WINNER OF THE GORDON BURN PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR FICTION AND THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE
'One of the most cunning and spirited novels I've read for years'
ALI SMITH
'Knocked the breath out of me'
OBSERVER
'Glorious, unforgettable'
THE TIMES
Fifteen-year-old Anais Hendricks is smart, funny and fierce, but she has also been let down by every adult she has ever met. Sitting in the back of a police car, she finds herself headed for The Panopticon, a home for chronic offenders where the social workers are as suspicious as its residents. But Anais can't remember the events that have led her there, or why she has blood on her school uniform...
Bold, brave and joyous, Jenni Fagan's critically acclaimed debut is a masterful depiction of systematic failure and one girl's fight back.
'An astonishing debut'
JACKIE KAY
'Ferocious and devastating'
ELEANOR CATTON
'A true literary masterpiece'
EMMA JANE UNSWORTH
'Startlingly accomplished'
FINANCIAL TIMES
'Simply unforgettable'
THE SCOTSMAN
'Confident, deftly wrought, compelling'
FINANCIAL TIMES
Reviews / Votes
It's in the Margaret Atwood/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 * It is the most assured and intriguing first novel by a Scottish writer that I have read in a decade, a book which is lithely and poetically written, politically and morally brave and simply unforgettable. ... As a debut, The Panopticon does everything it should. It announces a major new star in the firmament. -- Stuart Kelly * Scotsman * Jenni Fagan is the real thing, and The Panopticon is a real treat: maturely alive to the pains of maturing, and cleverly amused as well as appalled by what it finds in the world. * Andrew Motion * An indictment of the care system, this dazzling and distinctive novel has at its heart an unstoppable heroine...Fagan's prose is fierce, funny and brilliant at capturing her heroine's sparky smartness and vulnerability...Emotionally explosive. * Marie Claire * Ferocious and devastating, The Panopticon sounds a battle-cry on behalf of the abandoned, the battered, and the betrayed. To call it a good novel is not good enough: this is an important novel, a book with a conscience, a passionate challenge to the powers-that-be. Jenni Fagan smashes every possible euphemism for adolescent intimacy and adolescent violence, and she does it with tenderness and even humour. Hats off to Jenni Fagan! I will be recommending this book to everyone I know. * Eleanor Catton, author of The Rehearsal * Reminiscent of Girl, Interrupted...The novel is as bold, shocking and intelligent as its central character...The institutional details (magnolia walls, screwed-down chairs) anchor The Panopticon in realism, giving it a greater bite. Much of Anais' life is the stuff of tabloid shock stories and The Panopticon's strength lies in giving you an insight into the lonely, damaged girl behind the headlines...This week's winner. * Stylist *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Cornerstone
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
245 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-955864-4 (9780099558644)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Jenni Fagan was born in Scotland. She won the Gordon Burn Prize for her memoir, Ootlin, which was also longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction. Her debut novel, The Panopticon, saw her selected as a Granta Best Young British Novelist, and her second novel, The Sunlight Pilgrims, gained her Scottish Author of the Year. Jenni has been listed for the Encore Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes, the Desmond Elliott Prize, the Sunday Times Short Story Award, and the Pushcart Prize. She is a Doctor of Philosophy, a member of Liberty, and a Royal Society of Literature Fellow. She lives in Edinburgh with her son.