Janet Frame's first important collection of stories–and first published book–appeared in New Zealand in 1951, while she was confined in a mental hospital.

The stories were immediately recognised as outstanding in their perception of childhood and the child's world. Some are fragmentary, some are fully rounded achievements and mostly confined to the home, school, boarding-house and mental hospital; but within these limits they display an acute sensitivity and awareness of the small things and actions that influence the everyday life of both child and adult. Written without sentimentality they have an authentic ring and touch of loneliness and insecurity of mankind with compassion and humour.

The Lagoon and Other Stories won the Hubert Church Award, and a threatened brain operation was averted. These stories bring into focus a crucial turning point in Frame's life.