State of Siege

Frame's book deals with the last days of Malfred Signal, a retired single art teacher who nursed her mother through her final illness. Malfred has shifted from her South Island provincial city to an isolated island community.At first, there are no hints that anything is amiss, but then, Malfred starts to hear noises outside, and makes a panicked telephone call. One becomes aware that the telephone line is not connected. Over the next few days, she becomes increasingly disoriented. One evening, a stone is thrown through her window...The theme of a man alone is one of the staples of a particular period in New Zealand fiction,which highlights a man isolated from the city, dependent on his own wits for survival. Malfred Signal is a response to this- an indictment of a society that could find no purpose for older women, and also indicative of a general humanist need for human community in circumstances of adversity.Malfred's psychological disintegration is handled well and sensitively.