Annabel, By Kathleen Winter
A debut novelist takes on the difficult subject of hermaphroditism in a lyrical story set among hardy people in a 1960s Canadian settlement
Reviewed by Leyla Sanai
Sunday, 24 April 2011
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/annabel-by-kathleen-winter-2273982.htmlIt is a brave debut novelist who tackles the subject of human hermaphroditism, not only because the condition is exceptionally rare ("pseudo-hermaphroditism", where only the outer organs look ambiguous, is more common), but because similar themes have been touched on by such accomplished authors.
Rose Tremain wrote of gender dysphoria in Sacred Country, and Jeffrey Eugenides's Middlesex was centred on intersex. But Kathleen Winter has the steadfast clarity and quietly assured talent to make this difficult subject her own, and Annabel was listed for the Giller and the Rogers prizes and the Governor General's Literature Award in her native Canada, before being listed for the Orange prize, here.
