When We Have Wings

In a world divided into fliers and non-fliers, how far would you go to be able to fly? How much would you sacrifice - perhaps your own child? A beautifully written and compellingly original novel of sacrifice, betrayal and love.

'This book is intoxicating; it made me imagine things I never imagined before. The world of flying is so complete, so detailed and real, it was as if I was flying, as if I could feel my wings. This is an addictive mystery, clever and compelling.' Jane Campion, director of The Piano and Bright Star Flight - you'll dream about it. 'She had never seen the sky in all her life before. How high could she fly? What was the limit? She was already so high the earth was no longer real. Only her in the sky. Every spiral pure joy. This was Flight. It was for this she'd risked and endured so much. It had to be worth it.' The dream of being able to fly is now 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. 'A brilliantly conceived vision, bold in its execution and utterly convincing in its detail. When We Have Wings is that rare thing, a compelling read that is both emotionally and intellectually satisfying.' Amanda Lohrey

Claire Corbett was born in Canada and has worked in film and government policy. She has had essays and stories broadcast on Radio National and published in a range of publications, including Rolling Stone, Cinema Papers, Picador New Writing and The Sydney Morning Herald. She was a finalist in The Independent Young Writer of the Year awards 1991, completed the MA Writing at UTS in 1997 and a Varuna Mentorship in 2000. When We Have Wings is her first novel. Claire currently lives with her husband, son and daughter in the Blue Mountains.