An Angel at My Table proves once again that Janet Frame's magical command of language is not confined to fiction. It starts with her journey to begin life as a student, continues with her incarceration in mental hospitals, 'a concentrated course in the horrors of insanity', and ends with her meeting with Charles Brasch, Karl and Kay Stead, and most importantly Frank Sargeson who supported and encouraged her.

It is this slow release from the past, this taking of a deep breath, figuratively speaking, that the reader will recall, rather than her descriptions of 'forced submissions to custodial capture'.