The Penguin Book of New Zealand Letters ed Louise Lawrence Penguin, $34.95, ISBN 0143018663 Oh friends, friends – where would we be without them? Sometimes they move far away, as did Charlotte Bronte’s school friend and confidante Mary Taylor, who…
Dance of the peacocks: New Zealanders in exile in the time of Hitler, Stalin and Mao Tse-tung James McNeish Vintage, $34.95, ISBN 1869415647 This is an engaging and readable book. James McNeish tells a multitude of stories about a number…
The House at Karamu Beryl Fletcher Spinifex, $29.95, ISBN 1876756357 Travelling with Augusta 1835 and 1999 Ingrid Horrocks Victoria University Press, $34.95, ISBN 0864734476 Initially, when I received these two books for review, I thought I would resist the contrast-and-compare…
A Friend in Paradise Des Hunt HarperCollins, $14.95, ISBN 1869504429 Henry and the Flea Brian Falkner Mallinson Rendel, $16.95, ISBN 0908783779 The Dragon’s Apprentice Linda McNabb HarperCollins, $14.95, ISBN 1869504127 Artists Are Crazy and Other Stories Ken Catran Lothian Books,…
Awatere: A Soldier’s Story Arapeta Awatere (ed Hinemoa Ruataupare Awatere) Huia, $49.95, ISBN 1877283819 During the early 1970s, an elderly Maori man, who had been convicted of murder, sat in his cell in Mt Eden Prison and penned his memoirs.…