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Inspiring story

6/14/2018

Adrift in the Fog: a Journey of Rediscovery
by C C Johannes Peet

From despair and depression to hope and new directions.
Peet’s misfortunes began with the onset of blindness caused by Stargardt’s disease, a form of macular degeneration. He was 42 years old and a wine expert and winemaker. Within 6 years he was legally blind.
In Adrift in the Fog he recounts his frustration at not being able to fend for himself and how easily he was taken advantage of by his would-be carer. He tells of the bleak depths of his subsequent depression, bordering on suicidal.
When it seems his life can’t get any worse the New Zealand Blind Foundation come to his aid with special computer software and gadgets and he gradually emerges from his depression and begins to take an interest in life again. He inadvertently joins a computer dating site and almost as an afterthought takes a second look at a photo of the Russian woman he now calls his Mona Lisa. He’s in his mid-50s by now, legally blind, struggling on a disability benefit and understandably full of misgivings about himself. Thanks to Mona Lisa he is back on an optimistic, upward curve.
With unflinching honesty, blind, and writing in his second language, he shares his most intimate feelings as the relationship develops.
Peet’s blindness aside, I feel many people, women as well as men, will be able to identify with his story of embarking on a new relationship in middle-age – an experience that is further complicated by issues of mental health and alcohol misuse.
Adrift in the Fog is, in spite of its gloomy title and muted cover, an inspiring read. The author comes to terms with himself. Defying his blindness and the dramatic changes that it has brought to his life, he re-finds himself and rediscovers a sense of optimism and of self.
Peet writes in a straightforward, no-nonsense style, making Adrift in the Fog an easy read. The ending leaves us wondering What next? so there is scope here for more of Peet’s engaging story telling. Discerning readers will pick up on proofreading oversights, but these shouldn’t interfere with an appreciation of Peet’s story.

Review by Carolyn McKenzie
Writer, freelance proofreader, copy editor, & translator from Italian to English.
Carolyn kindly offers accommodation at reasonable rates for FlaxFlower writers
in Thames (Waikato) and Ventimiglia Alta (Liguria, Italy). carolynmckenzie@libero.it

Title: Adrift in the Fog: a Journey of Rediscovery
Author: C C Johannes Peet
ISBN: 978-0-473-42384-1
RRP: $24.95 incl. P.&P.
Available: Paperback private sales: info.redhenbooks@gmail.co

Really good story

6/7/2018

Out of the Wild
by Charlie Paterson

This book tells the experiences of Charlie Paterson who discovered that there were surveyed, legal titles that could be bought in Fiordland National Park, in the abandoned settlement of Jamestown Bay which was originally designed to connect the goldfields of Central Otago to Sydney. If the local body rates were not paid, the sections reverted to the Southland District Council.
Charlie managed to locate the owners of two sections that were still in private hands and was able to buy the land. His intention was to build and operate an upmarket lodge to cater for trampers, hunters and nature lovers. The struggle he had overcoming bureaucracy, vested interests, and the severe climate is the theme of this book.
I found his account of getting the building materials to Jamestown Bay by floating them down the Hollyford river on a totally inadequate boat, and then across Lake McKerrow to the building site quite heroic. When the boat sank and deposited all his supplies into the lake, Charlie was plunged into the depths of despair, rescued only by the efforts of locals who aided him without thought for themselves or money.
He took two years to build the lodge, aided by friends and some tradesmen helicoptered in for brief periods. He succeeded finally, but the lodge did not prosper. The delay in building saw his idea overtaken by people with much more money to spend on advertising and transport, and they creamed the tourists.
Because Charlie had no money to buy a fridge or freezer, his diet consisted of venison he hunted, and rolled oats and other food that would not perish. This lack of fresh vegetables or fruit, and the continual stress of fighting bureaucracy affected his health, and Charlie became malnourished and ill. Finally, he was forced to sell the property, albeit at a significant profit.
However, the story is not a negative one. It is written in flashbacks, giving the story of the build. The scenes written in the present beautifully describe the peace of the forest and its inhabitants. Although Charlie is appalled by the harm done to the environment by introduced predators such as stoats, rats, and the destruction of the forest by deer and possums, he finds in the majesty of the wild mountains and the forest, the presence of a Creator and becomes firmly convinced of the existence of a caring God.
I found the latter part of the book a little disappointing because in several places Charlie expresses his desire for a meaningful relationship with a caring woman. Further on he includes a beautiful colour photo of his wife Bronwyn, and their two children, followed by a photo of him on a volunteer house build in North Malawi. However, there is no explanation of these events, and I felt that the book was not complete without telling these parts of his story.
The book is printed on good quality paper, which allows the inclusion of many colour photos which I really appreciated. There are several spelling mistakes which grate a little, but which do not detract from a really good story, and I can recommend this book as a good read.

Review by Harold Bernard

Title: Out of the Wild
Author: Charlie Paterson
Publisher: Charlie Paterson
ISBN: 978-0-473-41454-2
RRP: $39.90
Available: bookshops; email charliewilderness@hotmail.com, website https://purewilderness.co.nz/
Amazon as ebook (ASIN:B079NMTWFL) or paperback (ISBN 9781980245544)

Truth being stranger than fiction

5/31/2018

An End of Honour
by M J Burr

It is a brave undertaking to write any novel, and even more so in the case of an historical novel as the author must know every aspect of the period. The inclusion of real people among the characters, details of whose lives are recorded and known, adds a further huge dimension and demands careful handling in order to portray them fairly.
M J Burr has taken up such a challenge in his novel An End of Honour, and he succeeds admirably.
The main period covered is the 1860s; the places – southern states of USA, and New Zealand. The American Civil War is drawing to a close and the Land Wars in this country escalating.
The central character, John Selby Hunter, Captain of a Confederate cavalry troop, leaves his West Virginia home for good reason and travels to New Zealand where he is persuaded by Governor Grey to accept a commission in the mounted division of the New Zealand Armed Constabulary.
The working in of actual battles in Taranaki, details of weaponry, cultural customs of different peoples and their intersection, all show there has been a huge amount of research undertaken by M J Burr to inform his crafting of this work. Real figures from New Zealand history are brought alive on the page as they are encountered by Hunter – Thomas McDonnell, Gustavus von Tempsky, Donald McLean, Robert Wynyard, George Whitmore, Governors Gore Browne and George Grey, premier Edward Stafford, and others of colonial society; Maori leaders and personalities including Rewi Maniapoto, Tikaokao, Titokowaru, Kereopa; with the renegade American Kimble Bent between the two.
The author notes – This novel follows the historical record as faithfully as a work of fiction might, because I am wedded to the notion of truth being stranger than fiction.
If I have any criticism of this novel, it is with the subtitle – a novel of Titokowaru’s War. It is that, yes, but it is more than that, and I found myself becoming immersed in further storylines that are part of the whole book – Hunter’s Civil War experiences, gun smuggling, details of the social life of settlers in this country 150 years ago. There’s some consideration of varying views of Darwin’s work On the Origin of Species, recently published at the time. And there’s a love story intermeshed with the main story – well handled, not sentimental.
All’s fair in love and war, it is said, but is it really? As the title points to, the main theme of the book is that of honour, and this is developed well through the story lines – relating to society, ethics, warfare, and love.
Throughout, the fluent writing and realistic dialogue makes this book easy reading.
Recommended for anyone with any interest in New Zealand’s past, or for those who simply enjoy a good story. It's one that will stay with me while others fade from memory.

Review by I Reddit

Title: An End of Honour
Author: M J Burr
Publisher: ClioWrite Ltd
ISBN: 978-0-473-26061-3
Available: paper via www.cliowrite.com; Email info@cliowrite.com; Post 36 Wairau Road; Oakura, Taranaki 4314. Telephone / fax 06 7527 50; Ebook via Amazon

Important grief story

5/25/2018

The Gift Horse
by Sophie Siers
Illustrated by Katharine White

The Gift Horse, written by Sophie Siers and illustrated by Katharine White, is the rural tale of a girl named Olivia and her family, following the loss of her mother. It is an important grief story, with lovely, relatable descriptions of sadness such as -
...in her bed where she can pull the duvet over her head and make the world silent around her.
and expressive metaphors like -
She feels like there's a balloon in her chest which is blown up so tight that there's no room for anything else. It squishes right up into her throat; sometimes she feels like she can't breathe.
The portrayals of feelings as they change - questioning why, being angry and feeling numb - will be so recognizable and validating to children experiencing loss or sorrow. All the grief stages, and the importance of one's unique walk through them, are thoughtfully referenced through Olivia's emotions.
People just don't understand. She would cry, but there aren't any tears. The big
balloon has pushed everything away and her heart feels empty inside.
In this backdrop, the arrival of a young horse, himself traumatized – a parallel to Olivia's character – is an uplifting, hopeful storyline. It's a special connection to Olivia's mother, who also had a way with horses, and a path towards feeling close with her again. It's also a chance for Olivia to find some catharsis and to help herself through this journey, in her own time and her own way.
The overall themes of grief and the healing of time and love are well handled in The Gift Horse. The illustrations really support the feelings, with dark pastel scribbles isolating bleak moments and whirls of moving, colourful pastel giving movement and life to turnaround scenes. They're appropriate for children in their style, as is the simple text, so there is a wide range in age appeal.
The ideas are universal, helpful and, of course, we all love a happy, hopeful ending.

Review by Jenny Palmer

Title: The Gift Horse
Author: Sophie Seirs. Illustrator: Katharine White
Publisher: Millwood Press
ISBN: 9780473408558
RRP: $19.99
Available: bookshops

One for yachties

5/18/2018

Doumar and the Doctor
by Neville de Villiers

This is the story of a mostly solo yachting expedition by the author from England to New Zealand, via the Mediterranean, in 1980. It seems to have been a one way passage in his smallish yacht, the Doumar, as he finally reaches Whangarei and decides to settle there. The sub-title of the book labels him as a “courageous adventurer,” but perhaps it might be best to describe de Villiers as being very lucky.
The book is certainly a vivid tale, and a well remembered blow by blow account of all the action at sea. On the one hand it has an element of ‘derring do’ and the honest reflection of an amateur adventurer. On the other hand, the author leaves behind his wife and two young children, which could be seen as irresponsible in the extreme given the task he pursues after his crew abandons ship on the French canals. Indeed, it is hard to believe that it was a good decision to carry on solo, but he does survive.
Unfortunately, the book itself seems to be limited by the subject matter and the ability of the storyteller. The description of the sailing experience inevitably uses very specific terminology that the general reader won’t understand. Even with a glossary of sailing terms at the end of the book it is still difficult to follow. The author provides some biographical context at the beginning of the book but the rest is more like a diary, rather than a story. He does make the odd aside about certain aspects of his life, but without any continuity as a story. For instance, he often refers to a book by Naomi James which is apparently about her solo yachting, but doesn’t bother to give the title.
Although the cover of the book is well-designed the contents indicate the limitations of self-publishing. The sentences and paragraphs are not especially well constructed, particularly for grammar; and the book needs more proof-reading. There are hand-drawn maps at the beginning of each chapter which are inadequate really, and while the other illustrations are better drawings they don’t add much to the book. The author’s photographs have come out well but are mostly too small to be effective.
So this is one for the yachties mostly, as a tribute to a man’s relationship with his beloved boat, but it could have been the basis for a broader memoir of more interest.

Review by S A Boyce

Title: Doumar and the Doctor
Author: Neville de Villiers
Publisher: Neville de Villiers in association with Wild Side Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-473-407674
RRP: $29.99
Available: ask at Paper Plus and independent bookshops

Challenging poems

5/11/2018

ternion
by Vaughan Rapatahana

The cover leads the reader into any book. This cover, with its ribbons of vivid colours that stream both up and down, yet never seem to mingle, presents an apt context for the poems.
Overall, on first read-through, I felt I’d been hurtling down a busy highway in some alien place, picking up only random, disconnected signs as they flashed by, some in a language I didn’t recognise. Discordant, cacophonous, unruly, a sprawling city of symbols and sirens.
The editor has chosen to begin with death. New life evokes old death, in ‘Blake’. The blank, final gaze of a corpse mirrored in the static slices of life on the wall. Chilling.
For me, ‘my father’s death’ with its plethora of double adjectives, over-does the emotion, descending into cliché with ‘pearly gates’, though I like very much the final word ‘limn’. I paused in ‘park plaques’ to try to allow an umbilical cord that conjugates us all from within the group, but failed.
In ‘endgame’, not knowing who ‘you’ addresses, I’m unable to run the images together into coherence. ‘I carry a rage’ delights me with its sound-play: conniption, Wittgenstein, submission, and mis interpreted. In ‘the rain’ the poet recognises himself, coming out of his safety zone, his ‘house’, to identify with the rain, as a ‘dirty old man’.
I like the use of direct speech in ‘waharoa’, offered ‘like a dirty lolly’. From such brief, personal exchanges, an image of loss that’s universal, yet unvoiced.
In ‘rua kenana century’ many of my concerns about many of the poems appear, so I’ll address them all here:
1. The bold underlining of the poem titles separates their meaning from the poem. This feels like an odd alienation, as more usually, poem titles work together with the text.
2. White space works better on an online page, where the constraints of page and font size, and the ratio between them, are not the same. Here, and in many of the poems, the different fonts and their sizes, the use of bold and underline, italics, translations, and footnotes that aren’t clearly divided from the text of the poem, all combine into a messy image on the limits of the printed page.
3. Although not present in this poem, the same confusion occurs when epigraphs are used. In ‘pipiwai’, for example, the epigraph appears directly under the ruled-off title, and includes, in brackets, its own translation. Further translation of other terms used in the poem appear at the end of the poem. What is the poem, then, if it can’t stand without these crutches, imprisoned by these fences?
The final poem was about death, too. Death, seen as a universal destination, that requires a lessening of faculties as words devolve to whimper. ‘Nough said.
Ultimately, I’m left with these impressions: dis-ordered, jagged words that attack rather than understand, and a sense of a poet who, though familiar with three different cultures, no longer feels entirely at home in any one of them.

Review by Mercedes Webb-Pullman

Title: Ternion
Author: Vaughan Rapatahana
Publisher: erbacce-press, Liverpool, U.K.
ISBN: 978-1-907878-91-6
RRP: NZ$17.50; US$12.75, UK£9.95
Available: http://erbacce-press.webeden.co.uk/vaughan-rapatahana/4593968366

Author builds up suspense

5/4/2018

Glory Days and Other Stories
by John Mack

I enjoyed reading these stories, given that I had the occasional qualm or two – which I will refer to further on.
At best, John Mack certainly has the ability to propel a reader onwards, to want to keep on until the story or novella – of which there are two – is finished. Mack builds up the suspense like a sleuth unravelling the next clue thread .
He writes in clear prose, with plotlines that are well thought through, given that in the Hammett-like novella Mike Dunn, Sleuth, the concluding sicko-sex connections between the murdered Harold Withers and the sleazy Polynesian gang are not so clear to me. The obvious connotations in this piece are to the Lundy murders, yet the twist through to the gang involvement perhaps needed a bit more of a back story.
Accordingly, also, his dialogue is colloquial and crisp; his settings – most especially the rural scenes – well depicted.
Mack, then, certainly achieves his avowed back cover aim, as here, “Each story stands alone as a tale with no particular message or function other than to provide for the readers entertainment.”
The topoi of the ten tales are varied too. From country living near Morenawhira (Morrinsville) through to perhaps the ‘best’ and most personal piece in the collection – the realistic World War Two saga, War Bride, the remaining content and concern ranges over fascinations with fast cars; private detectives patrolling and extolling socially tangential methodologies; wanna-be rip-off criminals; the sweet revenge obtained after such criminals’ activities. The trope is generally the underdog winning out in the end, and some sort of street level justice being served, regardless of the moral scruples involved. The tales titled Three Bros; Easy Money; Long and Short; Chronicle of a Hitman; A Town like Taumaranui; Revenge for Mrs Arkwright, most definitely revolve around and in this axis.
I did mention earlier a couple of concerns. One is that there are some typos and confusions here. For example, in War Bride, a certain Mike appears (pg. 262). Up until then and indeed, afterwards, through denouement and climax, this person is non-existent. More, the Contents lists the novella commencing on page 209, when it starts on page 219.
Then, in the shorter story Pongaroa Passing, we come across this sentence on page 43, “Janey had grown up the daughter of her father’s sister who had married an Englishman.” Certainly “a bit incestuous,” (page 53) and I think the reference to ‘her’ father is meant to be ‘his’ father i.e. Tom, the cousin she married.
It would also be good if Māori and Ngāti had the apposite macron, eh. Which leads me to address my wider concern that Mack is often not exactly PC. Polynesians, for example, do not like being referred to as ‘Polys’ – as they are consistently throughout the first novella. So there we sight such statements such as, “the most formidable front office Poly in the city,” (page 159) et al. Again, “the Māori thing,” (page 53 x2) isn't the one, either.
Given that this is fictive entertainment, I also know that the sentence remarking on Captain Cook’s legacy to Aotearoa New Zealand, “Steve wanted to see the statue of the man who had claimed that faraway place for the Empire and given it the values that led to Bill and all the other New Zealanders coming to its aid,“ (page 255), will not sit well with everyone in 2018.
Mack can however twist a tale back toward the politically astute. As in Pongoroa Passing, where the reader encounters an earlier statement of, “Though it was fashionable now for people to say that other people had owned the land before his great-grandfather, he knew in truth it was once long ago as good as empty of all human life,” (page 38). This is somewhat abnegated by the later plot development, whereby, “The iwi were going to get their land back after all,” (page 53).
He can also be socially acute and astute, as in the pithy, “The only good thing about tabloids since they shrunk from broad-sheet is that they are easier to read outside in a breeze. Quicker too, because the intellectual rigour of the contents has atrophied along with the size,” (page 68) from People Actually.
To conclude. These are well-written tales with a fair bit of brio and – in places – a little too much salt.
Tena koe John Mack.

Review by Vaughan Rapatahana

Title: Glory Days and Other Stories
Author: John Mack
Publisher: Little Red Hen Community Press
ISBN: 978-0-473-41888-5
RRP: $20 from author, $US15 (plus postage) from Amazon
Available: Paperback obtainable from author www.johnmack.co.nz and online www.amazon.com and kindle.

Well-researched biography of challenging figure

4/29/2018

Constant Radical: The Life and Times of Sue Bradford
by Jenny Chamberlain

When I first held this book and felt the weight of its 390 pages I had to wonder – do I want to know that much detail about anyone? And a one-time member of parliament at that – I being adamant in rejecting any political party affiliation. On the other hand, what I knew of this woman urged me to delve deeper.
Deeper revealed a family history with similarities to, and differences from, my own. It is always the differences that intrigue, and these far surpassed the others. Though our lives have been largely contemporaneous, mine felt quite safe and even featureless in comparison.

"Hers was the profile of an educated, 70s middle-class drug-taker: a risk-taking intellectual hippie from a Bohemian background, whose father was addicted to alcohol, who lived in a nest of radicals – which doubled as a crash-pad for all-comers including Vietnam servicemen – and whose favourite pub was the haunt of dealers."
The intrigue increased as details of the life of this woman unfolded. Riches of detail. In the 1950s and ‘60s she is labelled “stroppy and challenging”, “willful and stubborn”, the result of high intelligence and some extraordinary family influences. By age 15 she had an SIS file, sold copies of Mao’s Little Red Book to high school friends, and was a seasoned protester against the Vietnam War even before entering university.
In the following year or two she became even more radicalized, being involved in movements politically, socially, and gender-based.
Motherhood at age 24 brought another facet to her life, one that was to remain central to her being. In the following decades her energies spread to many further issues of social concern, including opposition to nuclear activity, apartheid, the 1981 Springbok tour, Maori sovereignty, poverty. She was involved in movements pro peace, feminism, environment, childcare, housing, employment, both here and overseas. By age 43 she had earned the title “veteran protester”. And all this achieved while bringing up five children!
Then there are the parliamentary years, when she finds herself “a legitimate member of the system she most bitterly opposed”, though also a “rare creature: the ego-free politician”.
This biography is the result of 65 lengthy interviews with Sue, taking place over the best part of a decade, and copious other sources including a long list of other interviewees.
Necessarily, it gives a wider coverage than Sue herself, including details of her missionary forebears and, because of her wide-ranging involvement in so many issues, there are fascinating references to a host of other people well known in this country’s cultural and political life – artists, literary figures, academics, and more. Any New Zealander of any note or notoriety during the mid 20thcentury to the present is likely to get a mention because of some connection to the subject and the causes she espoused. No doubt there’ll be people all over the country who go first to the index to see if and how they are mentioned.
Jenny Chamberlain’s writing is fluent, polished, and definitely not dry to read. Speaker of the House, Lockwood Smith, is said to be “gowned like Gandalf”; some of Sue’s teenage Sundays “were spent in Albert Park – lying on grass and smoking it”.
A useful list of acronyms is given – essential given the references to organizations included – together with a bibliography and index.
By the end of this well-researched work, I felt well rewarded. And much better informed. Had I been asked weeks ago for a one-word summary of this woman, now Dr Sue Bradford, based on my knowledge of her from media sources, I’d have considered ‘formidable’. Yes, she has been a formidable figure in NZ policies and politics, but now I know how she has pushed herself against her basic shy nature, despite poverty, need, attacks both physical and mental, loss, and heartache, to achieve all she has.
It needed all those pages to give a full appreciation. Having read them, it leaves me wondering how one woman has fitted so much into her life. My respects to both the subject and the author.

Review by Bronwyn Elsmore

Title: Constant Radical: The Life and Times of Sue Bradford
Author: Jenny Chamberlain
Publisher: Fraser Books
ISBN: 9780994136008
RRP: $39.50 (softcover)
Available: Fraser Books, 53 Essex Street, Masterton; ifgrant@xtra.co.nz or tel: 06 3771359; Nationwide Book Distributors, P O Box 65, Oxford, North Canterbury.

Kiwi emblem cure for low morale

4/19/2018

The Bulford Kiwi: The Kiwi we left behind
by Colleen Brown

This is the story of an emblem on a hillside in southern England, in the shape of a large kiwi, that was created in 1919 by New Zealand servicemen waiting to return home.
Colleen Brown has researched both the plight of the waiting Kiwi servicemen, and their symbolic kiwi on Beacon Hill overlooking the Salisbury plains. Though the link becomes clear as the book unfolds, it takes a while to get to the creation of the iconic kiwi carved in chalk, and then in the second part we read about its resurrection.
As Brown states, this is a social history, albeit one focussed on servicemen, not a military history. The predicament facing the soldiers returning from the Western Front after hostilities ceased in 1918 is not well known, and most became marooned in the Sling training camp for an indefinite period while ships were found to return them home. Boredom and then disease began to eat away at morale, as well as news of labour unrest on the English docks, and scheduled sailings being postponed. Into the spring of 1919 and frustrations boiled over, the result was a ‘riot’ by the lower ranks. Only a few soldiers were punished but some positive new activity had to be found.
The idea for the symbolic kiwi to be created appears to be that of the departing New Zealand commander Brigadier-General Stewart. Although the genesis of the kiwi is somewhat sketchy, the drawing of the native bird was by Percy Blenkarne, a member of the army education unit originally from Auckland. The translation of the drawing to sloping hill site was assisted by Victor Low, a Chinese New Zealander from Dunedin who had been an engineer in the tunnelling company, famous for active service at Arras, France. The completion of the task was overseen by Harry Clark, a veteran of Gallipoli, who had to try to find 250 men each day to construct the kiwi. Eventually, mainly due to the exertions of Canterbury contingent, it was completed.
The author sticks to the specifics of the story, and closely to the archival sources she has uncovered. After the kiwi was finished and the New Zealanders returned home the question became who would look after the huge emblem. Initially this was undertaken by an Australian shoe polish company, known as Kiwi Polish, as a mark of respect to the servicemen. The emblem was then left to grow over during World War 2, and then there were attempts to rebuild it after the war, including those of the local scout group. The New Zealand government failed to co-ordinate and pay for the local maintenance, so by 1980 some individual British soldiers came to the rescue.
This is quite a charming story and heart-warming, but also somewhat brief. It is in a way too specific and lacks some broader context. In particular, there is no detailed map of the location of the training camps, other than a very general illustration of the south of England. Beacon Hill and the Salisbury plain are in the county of Wiltshire, but this is never made clear.
And there is only a brief mention of the other symbols that were created by servicemen at the Australian training camps nearby. For instance, a recent episode of the TV programme Escape to the Country, based in Wiltshire, identified another symbol near Codford which was described as an ‘Anzac badge’. It would have been good to have more of an overview of all the symbols created in the Wiltshire hills by servicemen from down under, to provide more context for the Bulford Kiwi.
But Colleen Brown has done a great service by bringing the story to light, and the publishers have also provided a very sympathetic design for the book.

Review by SA Boyce

Title: The Bulford Kiwi: The Kiwi we left behind
Author: Colleen Brown
Publisher: Bateman Publishing
ISBN: 978-186953-984-9
RRP: $39.99
Available: bookshops

Thought and caring in the production

4/6/2018

Everyday Strength: Recipes and Wellbeing Tips for Cancer Patients
by Sam Mannering & Karen McMillan

No one wants to read this book. No one wants to need to.
There are a lot, however, who will gain much from doing so, for it is more than its title suggests.
   Everyday Strength has a dual purpose – not only does it offer tips and recipes for those facing cancer, it’s an informative work for others when someone they care about, and for, is in that position. I fall into one of those categories.
     The advice it offers is more acceptable because it does not take a purely clinical approach but is a sharing from people who have already trodden the path to those setting out on the journey.
   Its two authors have fought melanoma and breast cancer respectively. They tell their stories in a straightforward way – briefly, not over-dramatically. Sam says – Telling my story now is about context and a platform for positivity. Karen explains her purpose for its writing – I hope that Everyday Strength will be a valuable resource for people…It has much information that I wish I’d known when I was in the middle of my own battle.
   The chapters that follow their introductions deal with the effects of various treatments, covering exhaustion, lack of appetite and weight loss, nausea, common side effects of hormone therapy, dealing with pain and discomfort, the symptoms you don’t want to talk about, hair care and skin care and nails, emotional wellbeing.
   These chapters are separated by sections with recipes selected to minimize unwanted side effects. They cover drinks, soups, salads, mains, baking and desserts. Each of these sections, as with the best quality cookbooks, is beautifully illustrated with full-page full colour photographs.
   Then comes the hardest part for anyone to accept – a chapter on caring for children with cancer. Again, this one discusses effects of treatment, and also the emotional support of the patient and their siblings. This too is accompanied by a separate section of recipes, chosen to appeal to children.
   Much thought and caring has gone into the production of this book.  It’s a high quality volume – hardback, beautifully presented on top quality paper. Some of the thoughts in the text repeated as quotes in a side column are printed in a pale shade and can be a little hard to read, but that’s a small quibble.
More importantly, it’s clear throughout that this has been written by someone who has been there. Overall,it strikes just the right balance in presenting facts, feelings (It’s ok to have a good cry when you feel the need), practical advice, and recipes. There’s no doubt that this is a book that will be appreciated by many forced to face some form of this illness.

Review by Meg

Title: Everyday Strength: Recipes and Wellbeing Tips for Cancer Patients
Authors: Sam Mannering and Karen McMillan Publisher: Auckland University Publisher: Beatnik Publishing
ISBN: 97809941138361
RRP: $44.99
Available: bookshops

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Reviewers from countries other than New Zealand are welcome to apply.

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