The Crocus Hour Charlotte Randall Penguin Books, $28.00, ISBN 9780143008927 Whatever criticism you make of Charlotte Randall’s novels, you cannot say that she has no sense of place. In The Crocus Hour, as in her four earlier novels, she ventures…
Back and Beyond: New Zealand Painting for the Young and Curious Gregory O’Brien Auckland University Press, $34.99, ISBN 9781869404048 This is a delicious book. As a child, I would have loved it. It reminds me of children’s books that were…
Rita Angus: An Artist’s Life Jill Trevelyan Te Papa Press, $69.99, ISBN 9781877385391 Reading Rita Angus: An Artist’s Life, it’s difficult not to be periodically overcome by frustration at Angus’ exasperating personality. The picture that emerges is of a woman…
The Theatre Royal: An Illustrated History Clerestory Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780958288804 Grand temples of pleasure and entertainment, rather like temples of prayer and meditation, have the power to galvanise a particular kind of angel when they come under threat of…
The Best Man Who Ever Served The Crown? A Life of Donald McLean Ray Fargher Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 7980864735607 The name Donald McLean pervades the historiography of colonial New Zealand. But despite this ubiquity, until now no extensive…
Speaking for Themselves: Ex-pats Have Their Say Jan Morgan Cape Catley, $29.99, ISBN 9781877340123 Visitors to New Zealand are asked, not long after arrival, a little question that comes up again and again – “So, what do you think of…
The Plumb Trilogy Maurice Gee Penguin Books, $40.00, ISBN 9780143007562 Towards the end of Sole Survivor, the final instalment of Maurice Gee’s The Plumb Trilogy, journalist Ray Sole reflects on both the desire and difficulty of writing the story of…
Roosters I Have Known Steve Braunias Awa Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780958275057 When my kids were small, we kept a bantam rooster called Mr Wingspan. The name was meant to be ironic, but what Mr Wingspan lacked in stature he more…