The Mannequin Makers

In early twentieth-century New Zealand, a grieving man embarks on a bizarre project: "A story about obsession gone horribly wrong . . . spellbinding and original." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Excitement is rare in the small town of Marumaru, New Zealand. So when a young Maori man arrives on the morning train one day in 1903--announcing the imminent visit of a famous strongman--the entire town turns out to greet him, save one. Colton Kemp, a department store window-dresser, is at home, watching his beloved wife die in premature childbirth. Tormented by grief, he hatches a plan to make his name and thwart his professional rival, the silent and gifted Carpenter: over the next sixteen years he will raise his newborn twins in secrecy and isolation, to become human mannequins in the world's most lifelike window display. "At once fantastical and deeply human. Reminiscent of the likes of Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda or Tim Winton's Cloudstreet, there is something delightfully off-kilter, imaginative and original in Cliff's storytelling . . . a superb novel of parental obsession, the lure of the unattainable and the tragedy inherent within human nature." --The Hoopla "A book that makes grand promises and delivers." --The New York Times

About the Author :
Craig Cliff is the author of A Man Melting, a collection of short stories, which was previously published in New Zealand and won the 2011 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book. In 2012 he was a judge for the inaugural Commonwealth Story Prize, and he is the recipient of a Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago. He lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Review :
Praise for Craig Cliff and The Mannequin Makers "New Zealander Cliff makes a stunning American debut with a story about obsession gone horribly wrong. . . . This is a spellbinding and original tale, rife with perilous journeys, fascinating historical detail, and memorable characters."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A grim and glorious meditation on the cruelty of fate."--Kirkus "Craig Cliff has brought turn-of-the-century Australia and New Zealand entirely to life in his haunting novel. With shades of Herman Melville and Richard Flanagan, it is a story of dark obsessions and family entanglements that will pull you in like a strong undertow. There are shipwrecks and deserted islands and uncanny illusions. But it's Cliff's writing about wood carving and the New Zealand landscape that lends the novel its beautiful lyricism."--Eowyn Ivey, author of To the Bright Edge of the World "Cliff is a talent to watch and set to take the literary world by storm."--Citation for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book "Cliff is a determined and fiercely gifted writer, and the attention given to the details of his chosen settings, as a novel about a window dresser surely must be, is impressive."--The Australian "An engaging and deadly smart novel, one that wears a great deal of historical research lightly and that nicely plays out one engrossing theme: the human compulsion to produce ideal images of humanity, and the way those images and illusions are written back onto living bodies and lives. . . . The Mannequin Makers lives up to . . . Cliff as a talent to watch--it's tremendous, darkly entertaining and original from start to finish."--New Zealand Listener "At once fantastical and deeply human. Reminiscent of the likes of Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda or Tim Winton's Cloudstreet, there is something delightfully off-kilter, imaginative and original in Cliff's storytelling that is a reminder that storytelling can be anything it chooses to be. . . . This is a superb novel of parental obsession, the lure of the unattainable and the tragedy inherent within human nature."--The Hoopla