About the Author

Margo Lanagan is an acclaimed writer of novels and short stories. Her three collections of short stories have been rapturously reviewed around the world and have garnered many awards, nominations and shortlistings. Her second collection, Black Juice, was a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and won two World Fantasy Awards, as well as the 2004 Victorian Premier's Award for Young Adult Fiction. Red Spikes was a Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year and a Horn Book Fanfare title, and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer's Prize and longlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. Margo lives in Sydney.

Reviews

A prize-winning writer, Lanagan is a creator of superbly unearthly tales...Lanagan is in a class of her own...Lanagan's range of invention is breathtaking, her assuredness and unerring tact a joy to savour.' Michael Sharkey, The Weekend Australian 13/3/04so haunting and unusual This is talent of a rare order.' Moira Robinson, Viewpoint 12, Winter 2004With enormous skill, Lanagan disturbs as she entertains, stimulating our minds and playing havoc with our hearts.' Melissa Balfour, Good Reading March 2004

A prize-winning writer, Lanagan is a creator of superbly unearthly tales...Lanagan is in a class of her own...Lanagan's range of invention is breathtaking, her assuredness and unerring tact a joy to savour.' Michael Sharkey, The Weekend Australian 13/3/04so haunting and unusual This is talent of a rare order.' Moira Robinson, Viewpoint 12, Winter 2004With enormous skill, Lanagan disturbs as she entertains, stimulating our minds and playing havoc with our hearts.' Melissa Balfour, Good Reading March 2004

While I already blurbed this book as a best of 2008, it deserves a place here for its complex and unflinching portrayal of motherhood. Young Liga wants to protect her baby girls from the cruelty of the world. Her wish is granted, and she is allowed to raise them in a magical place of her own imagining. When one daughter finds her way to the real world, Liga is forced to confront the consequences of her choice. Working so hard to protect her children has cost her years of time and possibly her future happiness. Why It Is for Us: Seldom does a reader experience such a profoundly adult insight in a book written for teens. No lie, the world Liga rescues her family from is cruel. The lines between human and animal, magic and reality are blurred. Lanagan's writing is reminiscent of Toni Morrison's or Isabel Allende's-elegant, complex, and worth savoring every word. Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

Gr 10 Up-Life is difficult for Liga in Margo Lanagan's dark fairy tale (Knopf, 2008), a Printz Honor book. Liga lives in a dreary medieval village with her father who forces her into an incestuous relationship. She becomes pregnant, her father dies, and Liga gives birth to gentle, sweet Branza. Life becomes more tolerable until her home is invaded by a mob of boys and Liga is gang-raped. Liga is pregnant and decides to end her life, but magic intervenes and Liga is transported to her personal heaven where she is treated kindly and accepted by the people. She gives birth to a second child, wild Urdda, and Liga and her daughters find refuge in this peaceful world. From time to time the tranquility is interrupted when the border between heaven and reality is breached. Men appear as bears-some good, some not so good. Eventually Liga and her daughters must choose between the heavenly life with little passion and the earthly life with all its brutality. Anne Flosnik and Michael Page narrate. Flosnik voices the females with distinct voices, pitch, and pacing. Page's male characters are more difficult to discern because his strong Scottish accent remains constant, challenging listeners to determine which character is speaking. While the print version has been praised by reviewers, this disturbing dark tale of good and evil and what it means to be human is not likely to have wide appeal. The conclusion for Liga is disheartening and few listeners will endure to its bitter end. This story is simply too odd for a majority of teens to enjoy.-Tricia Melgaard, Centennial Middle School, Broken Arrow, OK Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.