It’s been twenty years plus, since I read the Tamar Dean’s trilogy series by Deborah Challinor. I loved them and it’s been neat to see more Aotearoa NZ historical fiction novels reviewed on bookstagram. Plus an excellent means to learn more of our history.
The Space Between - Lauren Keenan.
Set at the onset of the Taranaki war 1860, The Space Between features two strong women, Frances and Matāria. Frances has her battles with her family(a domineering brother and snobby mother).
They have lost the majority of their family wealth in London and leave there to settle in New Plymouth, Aotearoa. Matāria feels lost and isolated from her whanau (family) due to a previous family tribe occurrence and being married to a settler doesn’t help. Marāria and Frances’s life intertwine and we get an insight into the beginning of the Taranaki Wars.
Secrets of the Land - Kate Mahony
This novel is told in three timelines.
2018 - Imogen who lives in Melbourne, is approached by a stranger telling her, her grandfather, who she thought was dead, needs her help in Aotearoa NZ.
1977 - Aoife, Imogen’s mother, who left the family farm to go to Australia.
1864 - Michael of Irish descent, who travelled to Aotearoa to join the British Army in its fight against the Taranaki Māori. Imogen travels to New Plymouth to help her Grandfather and here she discovers the importance of spiritual connections and what are the secrets of her families land?
Both these novels have such interesting historical facts and a particular whakataukī (Maori proverb) that carries through The Space Between, applies to both novels and really life in general. Haere whakamua, hoki whakamuri. We go forward, but we look back. The past is in front of us - even if it causes pain - because the past has set the conditions for the present. I love this!
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