Miss Jane

By: Brad Watson

Narrated by: Tiffany Morgan

Since his award-winning debut collection of stories, Last Days of the Dog-Men, Brad Watson's work has been as melancholy, witty, strange and lovely as any in America. Inspired by the true story of his own great-aunt, he explores the life of Miss Jane Chisolm, born in rural early 20th-century Mississippi with a genital birth defect that would stand in the way of the central 'uses' for a woman in that time and place - namely, sex and marriage.

From the country doctor who adopts Jane to the hard tactile labor of farm life, from the sensual and erotic world of nature around her to the boy who loved but was forced to leave her, the world of Miss Jane Chisolm is anything but barren. Free to satisfy only herself, she mesmerises those around her, exerting an unearthly fascination that lives beyond her still.

2017, The Wellcome Trust Book Prize, Long-listed

©2016 Brad Watson (P)2016 Macmillan Digital Audio

Critic reviews

A bittersweet southern pastoral, the story of a forgotten woman written with unearthly beauty. If Raymond Carver and Flannery O’Connor had a child, it would be Brad Watson. (A. M. Homes, 'Best books of 2016')

For a beautifully observed study of a hopeless life bravely endured: Brad Watson’s Miss Jane, the story of an early-20th-century Mississippi woman with a devastating physical anomaly. (Anne Tyler)

[Watson's] sensuous prose eases its way through vivid, deliberate scenes, rich with profound meaning . . . Convincing, occasionally shocking and often overwhelming . . . The brutality of human existence and its random injustices are among Watson’s themes. But the harshness and candour are countered by interludes of extraordinary beauty . . . It is a novel that acquires immense stature as the narrative settles down into what it is: an extraordinary study of character, not just of Jane but also, more importantly and, perhaps, unexpectedly, of the people around her . . . This proud, gentle novel shimmers with a subtle defiance, a near-physical need to celebrate a woman who lived against the odds. (Eileen Battersby)

Exquisitely written . . . life in all of its unsentimental and symphonic complexity . . . Miss Jane is an artistic triumph, a novel that will linger inside you as long as your own memories do. Brad Watson's gifts are immense. (Andre Dubus III)

Miss Jane is both winning and big-hearted in its embrace of and appreciation for what seems to be a disabling difference. One of its great pleasures is its young protagonist's flowering from loneliness to a new understanding of her place within creation. (Jim Shepard)

I really admired Brad Watson’s limpid novel Miss Jane about a woman born with an irreparable and humiliating physical anomaly who manages to fashion a rich and enigmatic life despite all odds. (Tim Winton)