Talk of Treasure Jane Carswell Submarine, $35.00, ISBN 9780994137913 How do you depict the process of writing? Very few of the many films about writers try to show their protagonist actually doing it. Doctor Zhivago demonstrates why: Omar Sharif sits…
Passing Through
Coral Atkinson
Dancing Tuatara, $35.00,
ISBN 9780473262693
Heartland
Jenny Pattrick
Black Swan, $37.00,
ISBN 9781775535850
Tropic of Guile
Sue McCauley
Xlibris, $42.00,
ISBN 9781483683195
All three of these novels centre on hard-won survival against the odds of poverty, violence and malice, offset by love, loyalty and friendship; but the clashes they chronicle range widely in time, place and complexity.
The Colour of Food: A Memoir of Life, Love and Dinner Anne Else Awa Press, $12.00, ISBN 9781877551925 Back in the days when most New Zealanders ate the same stuff – mince, chops, sausages, a roast on Sunday – the…
A Woman’s Place Redmer Yska Penguin Books, $20.00, ISBN 97840143568087 A Woman’s Place is a small book in every sense. Penguin’s web page classes it as both “humour” and “gift book”. Though it does have pages and a cover, it…
Inside Stories: A History of the New Zealand Housewife 1890-1975 Frances Walsh Godwit, $49.99, ISBN 9781869621650 I was really looking forward to this book. As soon as I could read, I started reading my mother’s magazines. Every week she…
A History of the “Unfortunate Experiment” at National Women’s Hospital Linda Bryder Auckland University Press, $45.00, ISBN 978186940435 The Cartwright Papers: Essays on the Cervical Cancer Inquiry, 1987-88 Joanna Manning (ed) Bridget Williams Books, $39.99, ISBN 9781877242458 July 2008 marked…
Saltskin Louise Moulin Black Swan, $27.99, ISBN 9781869419608 Ribbons of Grace Maxine Alterio Penguin Books, $35.00, ISBN 9780143006442 Acts of Love Susan Pearce Victoria University Press, $29.99, ISBN 9780864735652 Three first (or at any rate, first published) novels, all by…
Looking Back, Moving Forward: The Janus Women’s Convention 2005 Dale Williams (ed) The Janus Trust, price not available, ISBN 095826452X Hands up all those who immediately switch off as soon as they see those tedious, ever-so-70s words “w—n” or “f—–sm”? …
To Cry Inside: Love, Death and Prison Lesley Martin Penguin, $29.95, ISBN 0143020382 “You are best to read To Die Like a Dog first”, writes Lesley Martin, introducing To Cry Inside. So I did. Written as a film script, the…
They wrote it
Call me Hairy Past back-page contest entrants showcase their talent. Wince-making dedication To my late wife without whose unfailing stimulus and example this novel of infidelity and retribution could never have been written. Christine Johnston Haiku…
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