'Sala' from 'Sala' album by Mircan

When Olivia Krull, 'self-made woman of the world', realises, one cold New York morning, that she hasn't had a lover in eight years, the ensuing attack of panic has her taking off home to New Zealand in the first of a series of flights and falls that leave her wondering if she was ever meant to get off the ground.

Amazon Review

 

So you'd like to... Learn about New Zealand before you go
A guide by Bron Mitchell, who just got back


I always like to know as much as possible about a country before I visit. While you'll undoubtedly find out more while you're there, knowing something beforehand adds depth and dimension to your cultural experience.

My recent visit to New Zealand was only twelve days, and just to the North Island. In that short amount of time there was no way I could absorb everything the country had to offer, so I did as much reading as I could first. Apart from guidebooks, I also looked for travelogues, history, literature, music and film. If you're off to NZ I hope you find these resources useful and inspiring.

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Literature and Music

I'm just beginning to acquaint myself with the wealth of NZ talent, so this section is only the tip of the iceberg and shouldn't necessarily be taken as representative ofwhat NZ has to offer, simply what I've discovered so far.

Keri Hulme's Booker Prize winner 'The Bone People : A Novel' is probably the best-known NZ novel since about 1980 and is at #20 on the list of New Zealanders' all-time favourite books. But while there I wanted something less well-known to read, mostly because I didn't want to be reading the same thing everyone else would be (although I saw more people reading The Da Vinci Code than NZ fiction!)

I chose 'The House of Olaf Krull' by Vivienne Jepsen, a New Zealand author who seems to have eluded public notice. It's the story of a woman who, after eight years in New York, returns to her New Zealand home, and finds herself the target of family hostility. A marvellous novel of self-exploration and identity, it won the Reed Fiction Award when it was published, and it's a pity that no one I've spoken to has heard of her.

Other well-known authors in New Zealand are, of course, Katherine Mansfield and Janet Frame. For an introduction to their work try 'The Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield' and 'Journal of Katherine Mansfield', 'Janet Frame: An Autobiography; Volume One : To the Is-Land, Volume Two : An Angel at My Table, Volume Three : The Envoy from Mirror City/ 3 Volumes' or Michael King's biography 'Wrestling with the Angel: A Life of Janet Frame'.