Daniel is a spoilt little rich boy who’s bored, lacking direction and on the brink of throwing his life away. His exasperated mother decides he should spend some much-needed time with his grandmother, who lives half the world away in New Zealand. She hopes he will get a taste of how the other half lives and tells him to find out more about his mysterious grandfather.
Daniel arrives in a small North Island town, without any real knowledge of the Maori side of his family. Happily, he discovers his grandmother Oriwia and “Uncle Aki” are only too delighted to reminisce about the man they called Chappy – Daniel’s grandfather – who came and went throughout their lives. Daniel learns that Aki rescued Chappy when he discovered him, half dead, as a stowaway on board the merchant ship he worked on. Aki brings Chappy home to restore him to health and, despite the fact that he is from a different country and culture, Chappy is adopted into the Maori community. Oriwia decides that she will have him as her husband. She and Aki had once been promised to one another but they both realise that they are better off as friends, and so release one another.
Fierce, proud, funny, warm and loving, Oriwia reminds me of so many of the women who were the matriarchs of the small communities I grew up in. But even Oriwia’s iron will cannot save Chappy from his destiny. The Second World War shatters Chappy’s security and he flees, in the belief that his absence will keep the family safe. And so the novel shifts from 1930s New Zealand to post-war Japan, to Hawaii and back to modern day New Zealand, as the shared histories of Oriwia and Aki intertwine in the best tradition of family histories.
Patricia Grace is a unique talent. I love her lyrical writing and the warmth and the wry humour of her characters. I can’t even be cross with her for not being more prolific – this is her first novel in 10 years – because every one of her novels is worth the wait.
