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Image courtesy of Allen & Unwin.
y separately published work icon When We Have Wings single work   novel   crime   science fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 2011... 2011 When We Have Wings
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The dream of being able to fly is now a physical reality but only the rich and powerful can afford the surgery, drugs, and gene manipulation to become fliers. Peri, a poor girl from the regions, will sacrifice anything to get her wings and join this elite but the price is higher than she could have imagined. So why then does she throw it all away? Feel the exhilaration and terror of flight - over vertiginous skyscrapers, into wild storms and across hypnotic wilderness - in this beautiful and daringly imaginative novel that explores the limits of self-transformation.' (Trove record)

Exhibitions

8877513
8857860

Notes

  • Dedication:


    For Sam and Sophie with all my love
    Alis Volbitis Propriis
    You will fly with your own wings.

  • Epigraph:

    John Wilkins (one of the founders of the Royal Society and Lord Bishop of Chester) outlined the four ways that a man might fly:

    1) with the help of angels;
    2) with the help of fowls;
    3) with wings fastened to his body; and
    4) in a 'flying chariot', meaning presumably a device or vehicle powered by something other than human muscular effort.

    Wilkins judged the first three rather improbable, and in this he was largely correct. Birds and angels are strangely unwilling to assist humans in flying, whilst attempts to fasten wings to humans are notoriously dangerous.

    - Pat Shipman, Taking Wing: Archaeopteryx and the Evolution of Bird Flight

  • Epigraph:

    Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks?
    Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom?...Doth the eagle mount
    up at thy command?

    - Job xxxix

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2011 .
      person or book cover
      Image courtesy of Allen & Unwin.
      Extent: 464p.
      ISBN: 9781742375564 (pbk.)
Alternative title: Vleugels
Language: Dutch
    • Utrecht,
      c
      Netherlands,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Signatuur ,
      2012 .
      image of person or book cover 7996118264317088115.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 464p.p.
      ISBN: 9789056724115

Other Formats

  • Large print.
  • Sound recording.

Works about this Work

What I’m Reading Angela Savage , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2017;
Winged Words : An Interview with Claire Corbett David Golding , 2014 single work interview
— Appears in: Writers in Conversation , February vol. 1 no. 1 2014;
'When We Have Wings by Claire Corbett is an interesting and unusual novel from an Australian writer. Interesting because it is so beautifully written and thoughtful. Unusual because it is set in a future where climate change and genetic engineering have brought great changes – and some people have been given the ability to fly. The reality of what it would mean to fly is powerfully explored through the stories of Zeke, a private detective, and Peri, the flier he has been sent to find. She has run away, taking with her the child that she used to mind for a rich couple – the job that made it possible for this country girl to be given wings. Published by Allen & Unwin in July 2011, When We Have Wings has since been published in the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, and Spain. It is Claire’s first. novel. ' (Author's introduction)
The Year's Work in Fiction Annabel Smith , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Westerly , July vol. 57 no. 1 2012; (p. 137-152)

— Review of When We Have Wings Claire Corbett , 2011 single work novel ; Shooting the Fox Marion Halligan , 2011 selected work short story ; Sarah Thornhill Kate Grenville , 2011 single work novel ; The Waterboys Peter Docker , 2011 single work novel ; Traitor Stephen Daisley , 2010 single work novel ; Inherited Amanda Curtin , 2011 selected work short story ; The Courier's New Bicycle Kim Westwood , 2011 single work novel ; That Deadman Dance Kim Scott , 2010 single work novel ; The Street Sweeper Elliot Perlman , 2011 single work novel ; Thought Crimes Tim Richards , 2011 selected work short story ; Black Glass Meg Mundell , 2011 single work novel ; The Cook Wayne McCauley , 2011 single work novel ; Wild History 1996 single work poetry ; A Common Loss Kirsten Tranter , 2011 single work novel
Ladies' Man Shortlisted Marc McEvoy , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 11 March 2012; (p. 7)
[Review] When We Have Wings Christian Mondeil , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 25 no. 3 2011; (p. 42)

— Review of When We Have Wings Claire Corbett , 2011 single work novel
Human Flights of Fancy Colin Steele , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 9 July 2011; (p. 25)

— Review of When We Have Wings Claire Corbett , 2011 single work novel
[Review] When We Have Wings Jay Daniel Thompson , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July-August no. 333 2011; (p. 11)

— Review of When We Have Wings Claire Corbett , 2011 single work novel
First Book Lands after Long Flight Blanche Clark , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 16 - 17 July 2011; (p. 22)

— Review of When We Have Wings Claire Corbett , 2011 single work novel
[Review] When We Have Wings Hannah Cartmel , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , June vol. 90 no. 9 2011; (p. 28)

— Review of When We Have Wings Claire Corbett , 2011 single work novel
Fiction Cameron Woodhead , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 23 July 2011; (p. 32)

— Review of When We Have Wings Claire Corbett , 2011 single work novel
Ladies' Man Shortlisted Marc McEvoy , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 11 March 2012; (p. 7)
Winged Words : An Interview with Claire Corbett David Golding , 2014 single work interview
— Appears in: Writers in Conversation , February vol. 1 no. 1 2014;
'When We Have Wings by Claire Corbett is an interesting and unusual novel from an Australian writer. Interesting because it is so beautifully written and thoughtful. Unusual because it is set in a future where climate change and genetic engineering have brought great changes – and some people have been given the ability to fly. The reality of what it would mean to fly is powerfully explored through the stories of Zeke, a private detective, and Peri, the flier he has been sent to find. She has run away, taking with her the child that she used to mind for a rich couple – the job that made it possible for this country girl to be given wings. Published by Allen & Unwin in July 2011, When We Have Wings has since been published in the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, and Spain. It is Claire’s first. novel. ' (Author's introduction)
What I’m Reading Angela Savage , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2017;
Last amended 17 Mar 2021 09:44:04
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