This historical novel, told in two stories 20 twenty years apart, explores the relationships that unfold on the West Coast of Te Wai Pounamu New Zealand, in the mid-19th century, as isolated, difficult to access parts of the country are entered by European explorers guided by local Maori.

Set in the 19th Century, it plaits together as a flax-root narrative prose and poetic imagery to tell a timeless love story. It links people with the natural environment, and blends languages, cultures, shared endeavour and compassion in a vivid multi-cultural epiphany of life in Aotearoa-New Zealand. - John Weir

Kathleen Gallagher is a poet, playwright, filmmaker and novelist. She received the New Zealand Playwrights Award in 1993, and the Sonja Davies Peace Award in 2004 for the film Tau Te Mauri Breath Of Peace. She has authored three collections of poetry, 16 plays, six feature films, and two novels.

Stephanie Frewen