Adam’s Ale Bronwyn Tate Brava Publications, $30.00, ISBN 9780473133986 Reading a novel written while the author was dying and published posthumously, is, inevitably, an experience tinged with sadness. I knew Bronwyn Tate only slightly, but I admit I’ve been unable…
The Swinging Sixties: When New Zealand Changed Forever Graham Hutchins HarperCollins, $49.99, ISBN 9781869506537 Missed opportunities – don’t you just hate them? I was a little apprehensive about The Swinging Sixties, given that Graham Hutchins was primarily known for his…
Two Little Boys Duncan Sarkies Penguin Books, $28.00, ISBN 9780143020912 Acid Song Bernard Beckett Longacre Press, $29.99, ISBN 9781877460111 Girlie Gillian Ranstead Penguin Books, $28.00, ISBN 9780143010005 “I thought it was one of those boys’ books,” said a friend when…
First Catch Your Weka: A Story of New Zealand Cooking David Veart Auckland University Press, $49.99, ISBN 9781869404109 There’s an Aberdeen sausage, rosy pink and coated in breadcrumbs, on a plate in my fridge. I’d never made one before and…
Into the Wider World: A Back Country Miscellany Brian Turner Godwit, $44.99, ISBN 9781869621421 Near the beginning of the seventh of the 34 essays in this book, the 16-year-old Brian Turner, full of teenage angst and contemplating suicide, is sitting…
Settlers: New Zealand Immigrants From England, Ireland and Scotland 1800 to 1945 Jock Phillips and Terry Hearn Auckland University Press, $39.99, ISBN 9781869404017 Over the next few years, our official historians have announced, they will concentrate attention on our immigrant…
Charles Fleming’s Cape Expedition Diary: Auckland Islands, 1942-43 Mary McEwen McEwen Associates, $40.00, ISBN 0473113848 Strange to think that the welcome swallow – a common sight everywhere in the North Island, and absent only in Fiordland and parts of Southland…