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An entertaining read

29/5/2014

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The Case of the Distant Relative 
by Jill Darragh


Sitting down to relax and read The Case Of The Distant Relative by Jill Darragh was something I was looking forward to.
   The cover, depicting a bloodied knife and a camellia, and the blurb on the back cover were omens of a ‘good read’ and I wasn't disappointed with how it moved along.
   The story is set in Wellington a few months before New Zealand women were granted the vote (1893) and revolves around Sophia Holmes, an intelligent independent woman newly arrived in the colonies, ready to set up business and start a new life. Sophia, however, has a past, which is hinted at throughout and is finally made known at the critical time.
   Interwoven into the story is the drama of the suffrage movement as it gains momentum throughout the country, and this weaves its way into the life of our heroine also.
   Although it is a work of fiction there are many aspects of the story that make it believable. There is also plenty of drama, with murder, arson, intrigue, and romance to keep the book flowing, and it comes to a very satisfactory conclusion.
   The book is 269 pages long, with an impressive bibliography that shows the author has done considerable research to present the facts pertaining to political facts and Wellington’s environs as they were at the time. However, I have questions about some of the information included.
   The word ‘suffragette’ is used, and this term wasn’t coined till eleven years later when it was first used in relation to the British suffrage movement. The New Zealand fighters for the vote were not known by the term, which did not exist at that time.
   Sophia talks of gaining suffrage as being a beginning to women being able to become anything they wished. Fair enough, though her thought of being a policewoman puts her more than fifty years ahead of the reality. And though there is mention of the new science of fingerprinting, this was still ten years away, as it did not come to New Zealand till 1903.
   In a work of fiction there is room for interpretation, but such facts of history should be accurate. For anyone happy to ignore these points, The Case of the Distant Relative can still provide an entertaining read.


Review by Merilyn Mary
The Case of the Distant Relative
Publisher: Rangitawa Publishing
Trade hardback perfect bound, ISBN 978-0-473-22795-1
Available: Unity Books Wellington, Wheelers online books New Zealand, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Rangitawa Publishing www.rangitawapublishing.com
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Good gift for a word-nerd

23/5/2014

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Aardvarks After Dark
by Michael Gould    

Michael Gould says he has a condition identified as titleitis, and he has produced a book to prove it. Aardvarks After Dark contains lists of them.
    No stories – just titles! He says the chance of his ever writing a novel is unlikely, and a book of non-fiction just as slim, but if he does at least he’ll have the title ready.
    Most of the titles are 2 (Rattlesnake Cake) to 5 (The Turkey Man From Turkestan) words long, with the longest extending to 11 words (The Word of the Lord is Like A Biblical Umbilical Cord). These make the current trend of flash fiction look verbose. It is in the subtitle (Sex and Subtext in 1000 Curious Book Titles And How to Find the Right Title For Any and Every Occasion) where the Author is as loquacious as he gets.
    The titles are written with a sense of fun concentrating on the bizarre, and employing rhyme and alliteration.
    If by any chance some of the suggested books do get written I’ll definitely avoid The Duchess Takes a Douche, Psychosis and Halitosis, Memoirs from the Abattoir, Scrotum of a Factotum, Repository of Suppositories, Caress My Carcass When I’m Gone, and many more.
    On the other hand, some might prove fascinating if anyone has a mind to try – Oysters in the Cloisters, The Hearse Driver’s Dress Rehearsal, the Monkey Played in One Key Only, Kissing the Toad at the End of the Road.
    In the case of a book like this it’s hardly possible to judge the writing. Let me just say I had no animosity to the verbosity, and spotted just one apostrophe catastrophe.
    A good gift for a word-nerd, perhaps.


Review by Kauri Wood
Aardvarks after Dark: Sex and Subtext in 1000 Curious Book Titles and How to Find the Right Title for Any and Every Occasion
By Michael Gould. Illustrations by Doug Allen
Publisher: Feel the Surreal Books (Wellington)
ISBN: 978-0-473-19624-0 (coil bound)
ISBN: 978-0-473-25307-3 (e-book)
Currently only available as an e-book:
Amazon Kindle, Kobo and meBooks (NZ)
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Reader’s interest firmly held

8/5/2014

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Misplaced
by Lee Murray


Set in Tauranga, Misplaced follows a teenage boy, Adam, as his life unravels after his mother goes missing one evening. As a teen novel, the story uses the mystery as a jumping point to explore the confusing and fractured life of a teenage boy as he tries to navigate his way through school, family drama, friendships and romance. From the opening chapter to the last page, Murray holds her reader’s interest firmly in the palm of her hand.
    Murray makes the thriller aspect of the novel feel realistic by setting the story in small town NZ suburbia, using the mundanity of everyday life to highlight the shock of Adam’s mother’s disappearance.  The mystery surrounding Adam’s mother and the clues that lead to nowhere only emphasise the helplessness of Adam.
    Murray succeeds at both mystery and teen fiction here, using the disappearance to amplify already existing concerns that come with being a teenager.  Aside from trying to find his mum, Adam is also worried about his blossoming romance with Skye, his friendships, juggling school exams with sports commitments and having his first experiences with drugs and parties. Although the drama remains fairly tame, Murray’s depiction of teen life is light but not altogether untrue. The characterization, particularly of the teenagers, is accurate and endearing, showing them as alternately confident, funny, sweet and awkward.   
    Despite the inciting incident focussing on Adam’s mother, the novel keenly explores other tensions too: Adam coping with his Dad’s new girlfriend, Skye’s desperation to connect with her father, Adam’s grandfather’s Alzheimer’s disease and his relationship with his grandmother. Listing it makes it sound like the story tries to do too much, but Murray manages to strike the delicate balance of it all and hits every note. She adds humour in the right places but also knows when to let the darker moments hold their ground. Using failed romantic relationships, family relationships and friendships, Misplaced focusses on the universal pain of missed connections in such a poignant way that readers, teenage ones especially, can relate to it.
  
  Murray’s writing is excellent, balancing beautiful descriptions with believable teen language and grounding the story in reality, although Adam’s interior monologues at the end of most chapters are less believable. In these instances Murray lets her own skill with prose interfere with the language of a teenage boy, making the eloquence and poetic introspection feel a little forced and unnatural, however she always gets it right when writing his dialogue from third person. Murray is an excellent storyteller, and Misplaced is an easy and entertaining read.

Review by Jemma Richardson
Misplaced
Publisher: Leapy Sheep, P0 Box 6133 Brookfield TAURANGA 3146
ISBN  print 978-0-473-26600-4; epub 978-0-473-26601-1; mobi 978-0-473-26608-0
Available from Amazon/Createspace http://www.amazon.com/Misplaced-Lee-Murray-ebook/dp/B00H006HR8
Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/382956
Or directly from the publisher.

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Dramatic events in story

1/5/2014

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The Secret of Spirits Bay
by Stephen Barker


Two boys called Tom travel from England to New Zealand, but about 130 years apart. The first, Tom One, works his way as a cabin boy on an immigrant ship. Tom Two’s family moves here in present times. 
   The past and present stories are told in different chapters.
   Those about Tom Two are easily followed by children from early teens, or perhaps younger. The others tell the first Tom’s story and they are more difficult to read, because of the present tense.
   The story mainly concentrates on the second Tom in the present day. As a new student at school in a very small community he is largely alone till he makes friends with a girl called Ana and an old man called Mata who looks after the local marae. Tom is a keen runner who likes to train along the beach, and this is where he spots a mystery runner – another boy. Is he real, or isn’t he?
   The truth is revealed after some dramatic events during which Tom comes into the possession of a powerful object from the past.
   The story ends well there, but you know there is more to be told, and to find out what happens after this, you have to read the next story about Tom, told in the sequel The Riddle of the Stones. 
   I want to know what happens so I will have no trouble reading this next one.


Review by C.R.
C.R. is an intermediate school student

The Secret of Spirits Bay
ISBN paperback - 9780473229450
eBook – 9780473229467
Publisher: Scripta
Available: via Amazon, Wheelers NZ, other online retailers, some local bookshops.
Or from SCRIPTA LTD DIRECTLY – via www.stephenbarker.co.nz 

or email Stephen at spiritsbay1882@windowslive.com
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