Defensive Book; Riddle Book; Ghost Book.

Bookseller Notes

A highly successful emotive triptych, concerning various aspects of female existence, the shared aesthetic across the three works contributing to a sense of shared experience across generations. The text of Defensive Book is derived from a manual supplied to female undergraduates on their arrival at college, highlighting the potential threats of campus life in a list of advisory orders, 'Don't tell anyone you live alone', 'Keep the curtains closed', punctuated by the repeated 'Don't trust anybody', the diminishing page sizes, which allow more pin points to emerge (painfully) at the page edges, adding to the sense of danger. The captions for the small spectral images of Riddle Book suggest isolation and fear, 'This door does not open', 'This ear does not hear,' etc. (the implication that this is a reaction to the atmosphere of the Defensive Book is unavoidable); while the printed calligraphic diary text of Ghost Book describes the final days of the author's grandmother, and her thoughts on her past self, her physical and her mental deterioration - the tissue paper allowing the lines to be seen through several pages, suggestive of eras running into each other.