The Right Thing C K Stead Auckland University Press, $19.95, ISBN 1 86940 221 9 On the dust jacket of his 1972 collection Crossing the Bar can be read the words: “C K Stead is not a prolific poet; this…
Freda Stark: Her Extraordinary Life Dianne Haworth and Diane Miller HarperCollins, $39.95, ISBN 1 86950 352 X The dramatic moment of Freda Stark: Her Extraordinary Life comes at the end of the second chapter when Thelma, Freda’s friend and lover,…
The Dream of Nikau Jam Peter Hawes Vintage, $24.95, ISBN 1 86941 421 7 The Craymore Affair Kevin Ireland Vintage, $24.95, ISBN 1 86941 426 8 One of the great fears among actors is being typecast, bound up in the…
Fragments: New Zealand Social and Cultural History ed Bronwyn Dalley and Bronwyn Labrum Auckland University Press, $39.95, ISBN 1 86940 185 9 Fragments bills itself as a step towards a Brave New World of sophisticated histories of New Zealand life,…
Sport, Society and Culture ed Brad Patterson Stout Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, $24.95, ISBN 0 473 06403 0 It is extraordinary, to say the least, that sport and academe in New Zealand have squared off against each…
Shadrach Girl Joy Cowley Puffin, $15.95, ISBN 0 14 130899 0 On my eighth birthday I was given a book from a French friend of my parents. It was beautifully bound in pink, with gold lettering, a French children’s classic…
Crime in New Zealand Greg Newbold Dunmore Press, $34.95, ISBN 1 86469 348 6 This is only the second proper survey and consideration of criminal statistics in New Zealand, the first being Crime and Deviance published in 1992 by the same…
Posted Love: New Zealand love letters Sophie Jerram Penguin, $24.95, ISBN 0 14 029010 9 In March 1888, James Crooks left Wanganui on the 300-mile walk back to his home in Petone, hoping to pick up odd jobs so as…