White Oleander

White Oleander is a painfully beautiful first novel about a young girl growing up the hard way. It is a powerful story of mothers and daughters, their ambiguous alliances, their selfish love and cruel behaviour, and the search for love and identity.Astrid has been raised by her mother, a beautiful, headstrong poet. Astrid forgives her everything as her world revolves around this beautiful creature until Ingrid murders a former lover and is imprisoned for life. Astrid's fierce determination to survive and be loved makes her an unforgettable figure. 'LIQUID POETRY' - Oprah Winfrey 'Tangled, Complex and extraordinarily moving' - Observer Review: 'Hard-hitting, compelling and brilliantly written' COSMOPOLITAN 'Graceful' THE TIMES 'Poignant, virtuosic and utterly captivating' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 'Extraordinary ... Her prose is full of startling images, snippets of poetry and one magnificent, blisteringly angry 'found' poem. This highly impressive debut takes on all the big themes' OBSERVER 'Tangled, complex and extraordinarily written' OBSERVER Author Biography: Janet Fitch's fiction has appeared in A Room of One's Own, Black Warrior Review and Rain City Review, among other publications. She lives in Los Angeles.