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The main characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
© Craig Cliff, 2013
First published by Random House New Zealand. This edition published by arrangement with Penguin Random House New Zealand Ltd.
Craig Cliff has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Suite 300, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415.
(800) 520-6455
Published 2017 by Milkweed Editions
Cover design by Mary Austin Speaker
Author photo by Darren Cliff
Interior design by Carla Sy
Interior illustrations by J. G. Keulemans
The text of this book is set in Wilke
17 18 19 20 21 5 4 3 2 1
First US Edition
Milkweed Editions, an independent nonprofit publisher, gratefully acknowledges sustaining support from the Jerome Foundation; the Lindquist & Vennum Foundation; the McKnight Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Target Foundation; and other generous contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals. Also, this activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and a grant from Wells Fargo. For a full listing of Milkweed Editions supporters, please visit milkweed.org.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cliff, Craig, 1983- author.
Title: The mannequin makers: a novel / Craig Cliff.
Description: First U.S. edition. | Minneapolis, Minnesota: Milkweed Editions, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017000247 (print) | LCCN 2017006031 (ebook) | ISBN 9781571319661 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: City and town life--New Zealand--Fiction. | Interpersonal relations--Fiction. | New Zealand fiction.
Classification: LCC PR9639.4.C55 M37 2017 (print) | LCC PR9639.4.C55 (ebook) | DDC 823/.92--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017000247
Milkweed Editions is committed to ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book production practices with this principle, and to reduce the impact of our operations in the environment. We are a member of the Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the world’s endangered forests and conserve natural resources. The Mannequin Makers was printed on acid-free 100% postconsumer-waste paper by Thomson-Shore.
For Margaret Cliff
1925–2013
Notre nature est dans le mouvement; le repos entier est la mort . . . Rien n’est si insupportable à l’homme que d’être dans un plein repos, sans passions, sans affaire, sans divertissement, sans application. Il sent alors son néant, son abandon, son insuffisance, sa dépendance, son impuissance, son vide. Incontinent il sortira du fond de son âme l’ennui, la noirceur, la tristesse, le chagrin, le dépit, le désespoir.
Our nature lies in movement; complete calm is death . . . Nothing is so insufferable to man as to be completely at rest, without passions, without business, without diversions, without study. He then feels his nothingness, his abandonment, his insufficiency, his dependence, his impotence, his emptiness. There will immediately arise from the depth of his heart weariness, gloom, sadness, grief, anger, despair.
— Blaise Pascal
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