Shortlisted for the 2012 Barbara Jefferis Award
Shortlisted for Best First Fiction 2012 Ned Kelly Awards
‘When We Have Wings is hence densely layered. It’s smart and political, raising the kind of questions the best science fiction should raise (about ethics, about progress, about how future generations will make meaning), but it’s also just damn entertaining.’ – Angela Meyer, LiteraryMinded, April 2012
‘This unmissable book from a strong new talent should be put at the top of your to-read list….Claire Corbett catches the exhilaration, the thrill and the dangers perfectly. I was totally immersed in this book, and the world that was created. When We Have Wings works as crime fiction, speculative fiction and literary fiction.’ – Mark Harding, Shearer’s Books, Jan 2012
…written in language so assured and masterly that it’s easy to suspend disbelief and be taken on the journey into the clouds with the flyers, experiencing terror and exhilaration with equal force… compelling in every way… an outstanding debut. Five stars – Maryanne Hyde, Good Reading, Sept 2011.
… takes the reader on an exhilarating ride. Corbett’s prose has the clarity, luminosity and beauty of a well-cut diamond…. this flight of fancy deserves to soar. – Thuy On,The Weekend Australian 30 July 2011
The flying sequences … have a vivid, dreamlike intensity. Corbett skilfully depicts a bleak future…. The plight of her characters is gripping and often moving. – Jay Daniel Thompson, Australian Book Review July-August 2011
a beautiful story, written with such poetic rhythm and elegance that is was almost like reading a sonnet or poem. Brilliant piece of writing. Scott Wilson – The Fringe Magazine July 1st.
Not one of the moral quandaries in this book is improbable ….This is what makes When We have Wings unsettling–the realisation that this is a metaphor for today’s world….
The pages of her solo flight are truly memorable, exhilarating and terrifying…. But as with all thoughtful fiction, everything is not what it seems. Humanity is still the force that matters and endures. And it is this which gives strength and depth to this book.
– Mary Philip – The Daily Telegraph, 25 June, 2011