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Hard life seen in hindsight

21/2/2025

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A Bird in the Bush: From Fledgling to Flight
by Marnie Anstis


This appears to be a coming of age story, as suggested by the title, but not so much about birds taking off. A better analogy would be of someone who was firmly grounded on the land, even if the farmland in question reverted back to bush. Marnie Fabish, as she was then, revisits her late teenage diaries, and memories of a farm that her family owned in the Pakihi Valley, in the Bay of Plenty, in the early 1970s. It is really a story of ‘Girls can do anything’, and incredibly ‘hard yakka’ for her.
    Marnie’s family were already established farmers in the Waikato, but her father fancied an extra property to develop, and later sell for a profit. That mostly relied on Marnie, and her older brother Len, doing an awful lot of unpaid labour during the periods in which they stayed on the farm in less than comfortable living. Marnie was a somewhat awkward, short-sighted, schoolgirl, who could not wait to leave after she achieved her School Cert pass. And so for the next 8 years she became a farmhand, a musterer, a ‘fleeco’ during the shearing, and many other things along the way.
    But as she sees it in hindsight: “I had the opportunity to live an alternate lifestyle in a beautiful environment under the conservative umbrella of farming, without compromising my conventional beliefs.” It may be true that she had an alternate occupation, certainly compared to her former schoolmates in the towns, but such hard, unpaid work, doesn’t really seem like any kind of lifestyle. However, it is the charm of the book, and its matter-of-fact recollection, that makes it so compelling. Like many young women of her time she got to wear a bikini and bask in the sun in the Bay of Plenty; except that she did this on top of her favourite horse while getting her dogs to bring the sheep in.
    Of course, those from a conservative farming background might say that this sort of work is a fairly standard expectation of those working in a family farm. But being so near the bush brings a few other challenges, from flooding to wrestling with wild pigs, confronting hunters who also might be poachers, and confronting local poachers who also turn out to be arsonists. Marnie finds one of the poachers to be a regular nuisance, and it becomes a criminal matter, with her being required to give evidence in a court case. And then their woolshed burns down and her horse goes missing.
     It’s not only a hard life for her mother and sister, as they commute between farms, but there is also a toll taken on her father. She is quite open about the fact that her father spent a bit of money on tobacco and booze, and that its consumption changed his mood in a bad way. Like many farming fathers he would not live a long life. But she got through by getting attached to her farming friend, Peter, and their decision to get married in their early twenties proved to be wise. As she said to him, it was her main objective to have four children and more grandchildren, and she succeeded in this.

Review by S A Boyce
Title: A Bird in the Bush: From Fledgling to Flight
Author: Marnie Anstis
Publisher: Boots Books
ISBN: 9780473712884
RRP: $45
Available: bootsbooks.com
​
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Climate change & social concerns at heart of novel

14/2/2025

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​Threads of Connection – a novel
by Jane Shearer


Jane Shearer’s second novel is set in Christchurch in the third decade of the 21st century, a time when the effects of climate change impinge upon daily life even more than they do at present. The novel suggests the presence of a substantial number of characters from her first novel, ‘Broken is Beautiful’ and this book presents a situation in which her earlier concerns with mental health are replaced by the struggle to conserve, protect and make optimum use of Earth’s dwindling resources. 
    In fact the battle against the causes of climate-induced social change is omnipresent, and leads, in the end, to something of an examination of such philosophical quandaries as the existence of ‘a just war’, ‘good vs evil’, ‘right vs wrong’ and the age-old question of whether or not the end justifies the means. In the context of the book these quandaries take the form of a decision to highlight the evils of climate change through the destruction of a laden coal-export ship at anchor in Lyttelton Harbour.
    The phrase ‘in the end’, above, is used advisedly, for just on half the book is devoted to the author’s story-bearers and the interactions between them that provide the title. This brings their characters into sharp focus, and the model that Shearer has chosen for their relationship is very much that of the ‘web of inclusion’ promoted by Sally Helgesen in the 1990s, even if the book’s initial methods of achieving it are unnecessarily (but typically) politically correct and cumbersome.   
     Whatever the merits of this approach to organisation, two of the three principal movers and shakers using it emerge as Earth Mothers convinced of their right to enlighten and judge anyone whom they feel needs it because they need to be needed. Only Julia resonates with reality in her asserting that ‘We don’t need to help everyone’ after launching a successful help programme for deprived children. 
    However, her reservations in that regard meet the same club-wielding response as those concerned with the mandatory use of Maori karakia, waiata and vocabulary in contexts where English is otherwise used: that is, “Julia, which stone are you hiding under?” This remark, together with the assertion on the same page that, “...Sumner is still awfully white......” indicates that Shearer may not be fully on top of all of New Zealand’s social currents.
    Moving on to the philosophical questions mentioned previously, though, the author does a much fairer job in portraying the response of her characters to the destruction of the coal ship, for their reactions vary from the enthusiastic support and involved complicity of the zealots to the stark horror at such illegality of those who recognise a greater duty to society. This mirrors the totality of the bemusement afflicting New Zealanders in the 1980s when ‘direct action’ both halted an international rugby match in one instance and sank a protest vessel only four years later. In both situations, the question of where one draws the line was well-asked if never solved.
    ‘Threads of Connection’ foreshadows a world that may well lie in wait for most of us but, as a recent government’s decision to halt New Zealand’s coal production in favour of importing foreign, and dirtier, coal demonstrated, dealing with our energy shortfalls will require action as well as identification.

Review by M J Burr
Title: Threads of Connection - a novel
Author: Jane Shearer
Publisher: 3Eyes Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-473-72330-9
RRP: $38.00
Available: Paperback available through Copypress
E-book available broadly on the internet, including Amazon
​
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Extremely well constructed mystery

5/2/2025

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Uncovered
by Jeannie McLean

 
This is the second Tova Tan Mystery written by Jeannie McLean and she has certainly raised the bar on the engrossing first offering. The events of the first tale are only hinted at here but with just enough detail that the books won't necessarily have to be read in order. Also just enough to encourage anyone who missed the first novel to want to know more. 
    An extremely well constructed piece with plenty of back story sitting with the characters giving the opportunity of red herrings and secondary plotlines. The drawing of the main characters was perfect, creating empathy for some and revulsion for others. 
    Ms Tan certainly lands up in some serious scrapes, this one the discovery of the remains of a murdered teenager, but seems capable of looking after herself (mostly) and sometimes thinking ahead of the police investigating the case.
    As with the first tale, Caught Between, the pace is a perfect build through to the ‘final showdown’. A thoughtful wrap-up concludes with the opportunity for another Tova Tan Mystery as there is still family business to clear up. 
    This reader certainly hopes so. Another great read from Jeannie McLean, keep them coming please.

Review by George Hollinsworth
Title: Uncovered
Author: Jeannie McLean
Publisher: Cross the Ditch Press
ISBN:  978-0-473-73032-1 (paperback); 978-0-473-73033-8 (e-Pub)
RRP: $38.00
Available: Paperback: from realnzbooks.co.nz, Dear Reader Bookstore, and selected bookstores. 
                     eBook: mebooks.co.nz,  amazon.com
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