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NEW ZEALAND BOOKS
AND AUTHORS -1- |
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Butterscotch - Lyn Loates
Large paperback in excellent condition. David Ling Pub. NZ (2009). 292pp. NZD: 8.50 / P & P : B The effects of a violent crime on a young person have been well aired in recent years. But it goes both ways. If the victim's report of the event is not quite right, it can have a devastating effect on the innocent. Lyn Loates examines both directions in Butterscotch, a novel that has more than a little going for it. With a journalist's eye for what makes news, Loates has developed her main characters well, and they continue to be memorable after the book is put down. The narrative initially shifts from character to character, and each retold story has a twist in the tail. Christchurch as it was in the second half of the 20th century is deftly recreated. When Helen Mainyard was eight years old, her father suddenly uprooted the family from their home in Christchurch and settled them in Melbourne. Helen had always believed the move was her father's response to a vicious murder that happened in the city because, as she remembers, the murder affected 'everyone - all the people of Christchurch.' But when she is twenty-one the real reason for the family's departure declares itself and causes Helen to re-visit scenes from her childhood, in particular a dark, brooding homestead called Amberley which, together with its climbing tree, had once held the inquisitive girl in its thrall. The remembered murder and the remembered house - both surreptitiously woven into her psyche, ultimately collide and together lead Helen to unearth a trail of human transgressions. The story is told against the background of what appears to be the Parker and Hulme murder case (Christchurch - 1954), although Loates stops short of naming names. That case reverberated through Christchurch at the time, and Loates uses it to add a further note of realism to her plot. A gripping book from start to finish, the mysteries being less important than the ambiance, which is very real. A sad and brilliant story. 
Susan On Saturday - Susan Graham
Hardback in very good used condition with d/j in average condition showing some signs of wear. A.H. & A.W. Reed (1959). 195pp. NZD: 6.50 / P & P : B A Blast From NZ Past..!! "For thousands of morning paper readers all over New Zealand Saturday begins with Susan, for hers is the most widely read newspaper column in the country, and her name has become a household word. Followers of her feature in the New Zealand Herald, the Otago Daily Times, the Dominion and the Press look to Susan for a laugh, a lead, a lesson; for a commentary, an insight and sometimes an inspiration. All these, with the accent on laughter, are to be found in Susan on Saturday, for the book has been compiled from those articles which her readers of both sexes and all ages would appear to have enjoyed most. They include some serious thoughts, but generally represent a light and often amusing commentary by a New Zealand woman on many different aspects of life at home and abroad. Her "American Adventure", which many readers have wished to re-read at leisure, is here reproduced in full, and indeed with some leisurely additions. Susan on Saturday is illustrated by Ron Stenberg, with a sprightly Susan of his own witty imagination." 
The Spin - Anonymous
Large paperback in excellent condition. Hodder Moa Beckett (1996). 244pp. NZD: 6.00 / P & P : B A novel set in the world of New Zealand politics. The title refers to the role of Ben Bradshaw, a 'spin doctor' in the Beehive. The many characters of the novel include politicians, journalists, and party officials, and the action centers on a general election and the fate of the government. But come election night he finds himself presiding over the death throes of a Government and he discovers that in politics your friends can become your bitterest enemies. Allegedly written by a government insider, hence the anonymity, this is a barely disguised expose of the appalling behaviour of our elected representatives behind closed doors. Upon the book's release Kiwis were shocked by the revealing insight into current politicians and the political structure that allows them to prosper at our expense. 
Jubilee - Nepi Solomon
Paperback in very good condition. Tandem Press - NZ (2000). 184pp. With numerous b&w pics from the 2000 NZ film, starring Cliff Curtis and Theresa Healey. NZD: 4.50 / P & P : A This book is attributed to one Nepi Solomon, although that may not be his real name. He served a term inAuckland Prison at Paremoremo and has lived in the King Country and on the East Coast since his release,however his identity and whereabouts remain a mystery. Tandem Press, who published Jubilee have actuallystated : "It's as much of a mystery to us as it is to you... When the manuscript came to us he was quiteadamant he didn't want to meet anyone. We dealt exclusively with Solomon's agent..." Nothing much ever happens in Waimatua; only the school jubilee every twenty-five years. When BillyWilliams is elected chairman of the Jubilee Committee, his wife Pauline is not pleased. It just gives him moreexcuses for not tidying up the backyard and for going to the pub with his mates 'to discuss strategy' after thecommittee meetings. While Billy is busy with the small town politics, Pauline is quietly undergoing atransformation and becoming more assertive, and their fourteen year old daughter is falling in love. And thenthere's the local gang, the Death Raiders, and the Irish publican, Michael O'Reay, and the voluptuous Boboand the former local hero, Ace Neville, and Billy's extended family and ..... Basically a good-natured comedy about a group of small-town hard cases arranging anniversary celebrations of the local school. A slice of life set in mid- North Island rural New Zealand with Maori/Pakeha families and adultery... Praised at publication for its originality, humour and authenticity, this is a really funny story, full of great NZ humour. 
Thirty Pieces of Silver - Anthony Molloy, QC
Large format paperback in excellent condition. Howling at the Moon Ltd. NZ (1998). 420pp. NZD: 8.50 / P & P : B Anthony P Molloy QC is New Zealand's leading authority on Tax Law. In "Thirty Pieces of Silver", Molloy examines the events surrounding New Zealand's infamous "Wine Box" tax frauds of the 1980's, and in particular he examines the legal ethics of one of New Zealand's premier Law Firms in setting up, administering, and then covering up the transactions that made up the "Wine Box". An investigation into legal ethics in New Zealand's history. Every person who has ever had reason to question the ethics of a lawyer will find this book compelling, as one of the country's most respected jurists, Dr Anthony Molloy QC, examines the conduct of his own profession specifically the country's self-proclaimed top law firm: Russell McVeagh McKenzie Bartleet & Co. Dr Molloy analyses what drives the modern commercial lawyer and investigates specific examples where ethics have given way to greed, and that greed has deprived Inland Revenue, and sometimes even clients, of millions of dollars. He alleges that the above law firm has assisted clients to commit fraud and, in doing so, have themselves aided that fraud and profited from this. This book pulls no punches! Dr Molloy QC names names, and outlines what ethical and criminal misconduct appears to have arisen in pursuit of these "Thirty Pieces of Silver". Molloy's love and passion for the majesty of the Law in general and Tax Law in particular is obvious in this book. It is also infectious: one leaves this book with a whole new Respect for the Law and for ethical Lawyers who serve the Law -- as well as for a deep and well-founded suspicion of and contempt for Lawyers who choose to be Client-Driven rather than Principled, and thereby sell their ethical birth right for Thirty Pieces of Silver. What is clear is that the legal profession must now seriously examine its ethics. 
The High Jump: A New Zealand Childhood by Elizabeth Knox
Large Paperback in excellent condition, near new. Publisher: Victoria University Press (2000). 272pp. NZD: 4.50 / P & P: A In The High Jump, internationally acclaimed novelist Elizabeth Knox recreates the sensory pleasures and gathering shadows of a New Zealand childhood in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Knox's early works included the partly-autobiographical novellas Paramata, Pomare, and Tawa, which examined a young girl's childhood and adolescence. In 2000 the trilogy was collected together in one volume, as The High Jump. The themes of private experience, reticence, and the struggle to articulate are common ones in New Zealand literature, not often handled more sensitively than here. --- "A powerful and complicated take on childhood, not as parents would like to perceive it but as - many readers will find somewhat painfully - children, teenagers, live it."- The Listener --- "Vivid and well-judged: no fuss, no excess, the images often unexpected but right and in the right places."- Times Literary Supplement --- "Elizabeth Knox...allows mundane lives to reveal themselves as rich and thrilling, with inner individual mysteriousness - communicable only afterwards, and in story."- Margaret Mahy, Evening Post ELIZABETH KNOX is the author of several books for adults, including award winning The Vintner’s Luck, and Dreamhunter & Dream Quake for younger readers. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand. 
Morrieson's Motel - Gordon McLauchlan (Editor)
Large paperback in NEW condition. Tandem Press NZ (2000). 232pp. NZD: 6.00 / P & P: B Moteliers Clarry and Lucy Claridge own a twelve-unit establishment in a small town in South Taranaki. On a weekend in March 1999 Morrieson's Motel is fully booked as several events and escapades just happen to coincide. Twelve of New Zealand's leading writers of fiction have combined to write a chapter each of the story of what happened at Morrieson's Motel on this eventful weekend. The result is mayhem, mystery, sex, suicide and an entertaining collection of short fiction. Authors are: Barbara Anderson, Catherine Chidgey, Tessa Duder, Maurice Gee, Kevin Ireland, Stephanie Johnson, Graeme Lay, Sue McCauley, Owen Marshall, Vincent O'Sullivan, Sarah Quigley, and Elizabeth Smither. 
Once Were Warriors - Alan Duff
Large paperback in NEW condition. Tandem Press (2001). 198pp. NZD: 5.00 / P & P: B Once Were Warriors is New Zealand author Alan Duff's bestselling first novel, published in 1990. It tells the story of an urban Maori family, the Hekes, and portrays the reality of domestic violence in New Zealand. It was the basis of a 1994 film of the same title, directed by Lee Tamahori and starring Rena Owen and Temuera Morrison. Once Were Warriors is Alan Duff's harrowing vision of his country's indigenous people two hundred years after the English conquest. In prose that is both raw and compelling, it tells the story of Beth Heke, a Maori woman struggling to keep her family from falling apart, despite the squalor and violence of the housing projects in which they live. Conveying both the rich textures of Maori tradition and the wounds left by its absence, Once Were Warriors is a masterpiece of unblinking realism, irresistible energy, and great sorrow. This is a brutal book. No punches are pulled in the descriptions of domestic violence, gang culture, alcoholism, sexual abuse and suicide. It is a raw account of the erosion of cultural identity in the Maori community, and the attempts of individuals to reconnect with their heritage. Duff's writing is excellent and immediate, so that the violence of the characters lives never feels contrived for effect, although, twenty four years on I would like to think that things have become better for the Maori in New Zealand... 
Beyond the Bus stop - Delph Gay
A Hitch-hiker's Story 1970-71 Hardback with brown cloth covers in excellent condition - d/w in very good used condition with some light fading on edge and spine. Caxton Press, Christchurch, N.Z. (1980). 236pp. NZD: 9.00 / P & P: A Reminiscences of the author's travels in Australia and New Zealand. Delph Gay's thumb has taken her around the world, travelling with a violin by bus, Landrover, rickshaw, kayak, pushbike, boat, plane, truck and even railway jigger. Beyond the Bus Stop brings together an incredible collection of experience in Australia and New Zealand. Of necessity she has learned how to survive without money, how to lamb a ewe, and how to cook a steak in the leaves of a coolibah tree. She has slept in a wrecked boat, on the snake-infested desert floor of the Northern Territory, on a New Zealand butcher's bench, and at a hippie commune. She has whipped up an Irish jig or two on her fiddle in the outback pubs of Australia, (in exchange for a plate of sausage rolls), on a tour bus (in exchange for her fare), and on board a liner waiting to sail. She has found jobs in a cake shop, as a toilet cleaner, in the woolshed, and as the "experienced" operator of an intricate calculating machine which she had never seen before. She has tried her hand at rifle shooting, pot-holing, jet-boating, and "lion-hunting", and still survived to tell the tale. The often humorous and moving story of her exploits, her disappointments and successes, are told here in fun-loving and entertaining style. 
Dreams of America - Tina Shaw
Large format paperback in excellent, AS NEW condition. Published by David Ling Publishing Ltd. NZ (1997). 188pp. NZD: 6.00 / P & P: B To realise your dreams you have to cross the abyss, and survive... Girly Moran dreams of riding in the great circuses of the world. Angelo Delgardo dreams of crossing the Niagara Falls by tightrope, just as his hero Blondin once did. Sly McGee wants to be Gene Autry. It is New Zealand, 1953. Hanging is still in force and it is illegal to wear a mask in public. In Auckland the first Easter show is held, mostly in the rain. Angelo and Sly are the Fabulous Funambulists and Girly, disguised as a boy, rides the motorcycle Wall of Death. It is Girly who provides the catalyst for Angelo and Sly to perhaps realise their dreams, but casting a shadow across them all is Madame Soukowsky, a mafia-like show figure whose reputation goes back to Blackpool in the 1930s. Soukowsky holds two things dear: money and Girly. When Angelo threatens these she proves the truth of the rumours that surround her, and shows that dreams can turn to nightmares. Girly and Angelo learn that to realise their dreams, it is not enough to simply cross the abyss, the trick is to survive the crossing. Tina Shaw, Award-winning Waikato-raised novelist, is the author of five novels. Currently based in Auckland where, apart from writing, she is involved in editing, manuscript assessment and teaching. 
Paperback in excellent condition. Published by New Holland Pub. (2006). 176pp. NZD: 7.50 / P & P: B Did ancient Celts, Egyptians or Vikings find Aotearoa before Maori? Are there really moa living undiscovered in the Southern Alps? Was the phantom canoe seen on Lake Tarawera shortly before a volcanic eruption an ill omen? And what's the real story behind one of the world's most celebrated UFO sightings...here in New Zealand? Science writer and paranormal investigator Vicki Hyde takes a good hard look at the evidence in a wide range of paranormal phenomena that have become a part of popular New Zealand culture over the last century. Chapters include Ancient Archaeology, Moose and Moa, Psychics and Mediums, Ghosts and Ghoulies, UFOs and Aliens in this informative, controversial and above all entertaining read. 
Mortmain - Judy Corbalis
Large paperback in very good condition. Random House (2007). 264pp. NZD: 5.50 / P & P: B This is a novel of small-town life. In Castletown, New Zealand, the stifling culture of 'the correct way to behave' crushes the unorthodox like a dead hand. Needless to say, just under the surface there is a tumult of rebellion. Which of the inhabitants of Castletown will escape, find self-expression, fulfill their dreams? Who is tormented by guilty secrets beneath a blanket of respectability? Who is murdering red-haired girls? The narrative is driven by the stories of three families: the snobbish, long-established lawyers; the eccentric impoverished aristocrats; and the Maoris who live outside the town. Each family is dominated by a stern patriarch, and once a week the patriarchs meet to play three-handed chess. Their children and grandchildren, meanwhile, begin to recognize that this structured, ordered world is rotten at its core ... This is a novel about the way the dead hand of the past stifles expectations and snuffs out possibilities. The picture of inter-wars colonial life that it paints is claustrophobic, compelling but ultimately optimistic as the younger generation struggle to find their own solutions to the limitations of their society. Along the way idealism must be brought down to earth and prejudices discarded. Judy Corbalis was born and brought up in New Zealand. Her adult novel Tapu (Chatto and Vintage) was highly praised in Britain and New Zealand. 
The Duel On the Creek and Other Tales of Victorian New Zealand -
R. Hargreaves & P. Holland Large paperback in very good used condition. Some age fading inside front cover and title page. Published by University of Otago (1995). 207pp. NZD: 7.50 / P & P: B - 'Miss Cornelia was religious. To her, mirth was an offence, and laughter a sacrilegious thing. Also she believed in the divine use of the rod. And the Villiers girls prayed for an earthquake, even if only a little one; they petitioned Providence to erupt the nearest volcano. But the gods were on a journey, or asleep, or something. ' - 'It was the dullest Christmas we had ever known on the Creek, which is saying a good deal, for at the best of times the Creek was not a lively spot.' - 'White and I went down to the Commercial Hotel, where Big Ben was staying. The house was open, and the landlord was sweeping out the bar. 'Well, boys,' he said, 'how are you after last night's spree? New Zealanders enjoy a good yarn - and here are some of the liveliest tales told in magazines and newspapers ofthe 1880s and 90s. In turn salty, ironic, mildly naughty, exotic and realistic, they are as engaging today as they were to readers a century ago. Contains over 20 stories from the late 19th century's popular magazines. 
It's Different for Daughters - Ruth Fry Large paperback in VG+ used condition. Numerous B&W vintage photographs. Published by New Zealand Council For Educational Research (1985).218pp. NZD: 6.00 / P & P: B A History of the Curriculum for Girls in New Zealand Schools, 1900-1975. 
Blokes And Sheds - Text by Jim Hopkins / Photography by Julie Riley
Large format paperback in excellent, NEW condition. Numerous B&W photos. Harper Collins (1998). 128pp. NZD: 7.50 / P & P: C Blokes and Sheds is a delightful tribute to the quirky individualist Kiwi male. A true bloke can make anything out of number 10 wire and has stacks of it just in case they might need to wire their way out of a pickle. A bloke's particular shed is more like a shrine to their vision of a man's world as being just out the back. They sit uncomfortably on sofas. Whether biker or CEO, every respectable bloke in New Zealand keeps a shed just in case. It is an honour to be invited to a shed. What could be more essentially Kiwi than a blokes shed? A good shed provides a safe haven where a bloke can be himself and do the things that he really wants to do. It's a stress-free, woman-free zone, where the normal rules of housekeeping don't apply. And it's a place for storing all those things that might just come in handy one day. In this superb book, Jim Hopkins peers into the sheds of blokes the length and breadth of New Zealand. He uncovers all sorts of stories, touching, funny and serious, stories of secret and not so secret lives played out in sometimes unlikely settings. Some sheds are for work, others are for play; some are for solitude, others are for socialising. But whether he uses his shed to make dreams or juggernauts, each is special to the bloke who owns it. With Julie Riley's stunning photographs, this is a unique portrait of life in New Zealand's masculine heartland. 
Queen of Beauty - Paula Morris
Large format paperback in excellent, near NEW condition. Published by Penguin Books (2002). 312pp. NZD: 5.50 / P & P: A Virginia Ngatea Seton leaves New Orleans, where she works as a researcher for a historical novelist, and returns home to Auckland for the wedding of her younger sister. Drawn back into the world of her Pakeha-Maori family, Virginia rediscovers many family stories and legends. She learns how the city of her youth has inextricably changed, as surely as the country of her grandparents is gone forever. At turns haunting, moving and comic, Queen of Beauty spans three generations. Shifting between modern-day New Orleans and Auckland, as well as New Zealand of the 1920s and 1960s, it explores the fragility of truth, the elusiveness of the past and the burden it places on the living. Morris tackles here some big themes: the meaning of home, hidden agendas in friendships, whose job is it to safeguard family history, what it means to be Maori or Pakeha or a mixture of both and she deals with these themes well. 
The Blue - Mary McCallum
Large paperback in excellent condition. Penguin Books (2007). 284pp. NZD: 5.50 / P & P: A Lilian lives in an isolated island community at the mouth of Tory Channel trying to make the best of a life that has at its core a secret grief. It is 1938 and for three months of every year the men take to the sea to hunt whales with fast boats and explosive harpoons. This year, the whales aren't the only ones returning Lilian's troubled son Micky has come home too. In this rugged, unsettled world, things are not always what they seem. The Blue creates in glowing detail both a community and a place, and tells a richly atmospheric and suspenseful story. It's a novel of delicacy when it treats the interior life of its characters but it also has absolute confidence when summoning the physical world. This is an involving, rewarding book made with care and skill and gusto. Mary McCallum was born in Zambia, and has lived in New Zealand since she was four. She has worked as a broadcasting journalist in New Zealand and Europe, and continues to work as a freelance writer and reviewer. The Blue is Mary's first novel. It won her the New Zealand Society of Authors' Lilian Ida Smith Award and an MA with distinction at Victoria University's International Institute of Modern Letters. 
An Irish Legacy - Ian Wishart The Real Danny Butler Story Large paperback in excellent condition. Numerous B & W Photographs. Howling at the Moon (1998). 302pp. NZD: 7.50 / P & P: B This is the story of Danny Butler, a Catholic from Belfast, who unsuccessfully sought political asylum in New Zealand. Regardless of whether you like or loathe Danny Butler, you'll find An Irish Legacy is a fascinating account of the savagery of the Northern Ireland conflict, and New Zealand's secret military role on it. Butler came from a country that is ancestral home to many New Zealanders, but he never found sanctuary here. 
Bloody Colonials - SIGNED by Doug McGilvary
A New Zealand Family Saga Large paperback in VG++ condition. Published by Spencer Books NZ (2000). 315pp. NZD: 10.50 / P & P: B The story of three generations of the Fulchard family during a tumultuous period of history. From provincial Canterbury and Nelson, the story moves in the 1930s to England and the Parliament of Westminster, then onto the battlefields of Greece and North Africa, finishing in April 2000 back in NZ. Bloody Colonials covers these generations of a Kiwi family through a tumultuous period of history, their ambitions and romances, their achievements, and the heroism of those who survived at home as well as those who went to war. It traces political bungling through the 1930s, the pageant of the Berlin Olympics with its threatening overtones of nationalism and racial tension, and the attitudes of soldiers forced to depend through their loneliness and fear on allies of doubtful reliability. Were the British too stereotyped, the Anzacs too undisciplined? Were any units more important than the New Zealand and Australian divisions? From all these influences in his family background, Prime Minister Fulchard in the new millennium must sift a mixture of human triumphs and bitter experiences as he wrestles with a fateful, defining decision. This is a military and political history with a human face. 
Dedications - J.C. Sturm
Softback in excellent condition. Cover artwork by John Baxter. Published by Roger Steele (1996). 90pp. NZD: 7.00 / P & P: B Accessible, haunting and wise poems about children, mokopuna, friends, her late husband (James K. Baxter), and Maori identity. Jacqueline Cecilia Sturm (Taranaki, Whakatohea), also known as Te Kare Papuni, Jacquie or Jackie Baxter, was a New Zealand writer of short stories and poetry. Born to Maori parents in Opunake in 1927, Jacquie was raised by her maternal grandmother. Adopted at the age of two, Jacquie grew up under the care of Pakeha parents Ethel and Bert Sturm. Her academic ability was obvious from an early age and she attended Palmerston North Girls' High School, then Napier Girls' High School. She passed away on December 30, 2009, in Paekakariki. |