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Woman's Hour Drama: Annabel

15 Minute Drama: Annabel: Episode 1

Annabel

Episode 1

BBC Radio 4 - 15 Minute Drama, Annabel, Episode 1

Kathleen Winter's novel about an intersex child growing up in the Canadian wilderness.

In 1968, a mysterious child is born into the bleakly beautiful environment of remote coastal Labrador: a baby with both male and female sex organs.

Kathleen Winter's compelling debut novel is the moving story of a child born as both a girl and a boy, growing up in the Canadian wilderness

In 1968, a mysterious child is born into the bleakly beautiful environment of remote coastal Labrador: a baby with both male and female sex organs. Only three people share the secret - the baby's parents, Jacinta and Treadway, and a trusted neighbour, Thomasina. Together the adults make a difficult decision: to go through surgery and raise the child as a boy named Wayne. 

But as Wayne grows up within the masculine, Labradorian hunting culture of men such as father, his shadow-self - a girl he thinks of as 'Annabel' - is never entirely extinguished. As Wayne approaches adulthood, the woman inside him begins to cry out. The changes that follow are momentous not just for him, but for the three adults that have guarded his secret.

CAST:

Narrator ..... Buffy Davis
Thomasina ..... Genevieve Adam
Jacinta ..... Madeleine Sims-Fewer
Treadway ..... Simon Lee Phillips
Eliza ..... Gwenneth Holmes
Joan ..... Teresa Gallagher
Wayne ..... Kristopher Bosch
Young Wayne ..... Amelia Clarkson
Young Wally ..... Jessica Little
Derek Warford/ Dr Ho ..... Jason Durran
Steve/ Dr Lioukras ..... Christopher Bailey
Roland/ Dr Carr ..... Simon Bubb

Adapted for radio by Emma Harding and Miranda Davies

Directed by Emma Harding 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kathleen Winter has written dramatic and documentary scripts for Sesame Street and CBC Television. Her first collection of short stories, boYs, was the winner of both the Winterset Award and the Metcalf-Rooke Award. A long-time resident of St. John's, Newfoundland, she now lives in Montreal. Annabel has been shortlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction.

15 Minute Drama: Annabel

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Kathleen Winter's moving story of an intersex child growing up in the Canadian wilderness

By Kathleen Winter. Moving story of a child born as both a boy and a girl growing up in the Canadian wilderness

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