‘The SUV advanced, without slowing as it passed; the driver probably didn’t even register him. Roland watched until it reached the canal crossing, where the curve of the hill and the trees swallowed it up. And then he was alone with his frosted breathing, the mist, another breath, a sob.’ Having returned to the Mackenzie Country to deal with the unexpected death of his brother, Roland has more than enough on his plate. He could do without the demands of a cantankerous neighbour, the complaints of his partner back in Australia and discovering that someone is impersonating him online, stirring up the locals against him. Even the weather is hostile, rendering roads unpassable and his old home an icebox, the fire offering little comfort. And yet, when cycling on the empty roads, cocooned in a snow-muffled landscape, he finds he can confront what he actually feels. A vivid novel about familial love, friendship and how our lives touch, connect and impact upon one another.
Funny and moving, this novel subverts notions of 'man vs. wild' while showcasing female experience through encounters with family, friends and the natural world. Loretta is a school librarian, who embarks on compiling The Dangerous Book for Menopausal Women while waiting to collect her son from after-school activities. Chance is a teenager, who discovers an unusual creative outlet to offset the strain of her controlling mother. Riva is the founder of a wetlands sanctuary, who is seeking a way to fulfil her promise to her dying sister to do something 'absolutely spectacular'. Within a clearing in the woods by a lake stands a den, a secret sanctuary and eventual meeting place for all three women . . .
A compelling and poignant search for identity through perfume. Granny Seren told me I had a natural talent for perfume making, and I believed her because she seemed to know what she was talking about and she never lied. It was Seren who introduced me to the idea of a signature scent. As a university lecturer, Siân didn’t need a signature scent to know who she was. But, prompted by her job loss following restructuring of the humanities - and the effect this has on her identity - she begins to construct a perfume of herself. Note by perfume note, referencing scent memories and recent events, she rebuilds herself, Scented.
On board an aircraft as it makes its way slowly from the Antarctic to New Zealand, three people sit quietly, reflecting on their past summer on the ice. Sally, a composer, has been searching for inspiration. She wasn't prepared for the silence of Antarctica. William, a bird scientist, has been visiting since the 1960s. Estranged from his family, he has just completed his last summer on the ice. Marilyn, a young communications operator, has spent three months at Scott Base feeling isolated and lonely. She has had an affair with a young field-training instructor and now dreads the future. Contrasting the beauty and vastness of the Antarctic with the banality and discomfort of life on ice, Laurence Fearnley's new novel focuses on themes of love and memory to capture the stories of three people stuggling to understand their journey.
Following a disastrous family holiday, Libby and Curtis make a promise: If they ever visit the West Coast of the South Island again, it will be to stay at the majestic Grand Glacier Hotel. Twenty years later, Libby is recovering from cancer and the couple finally return to the resort. Except the glacier has retreated, nothing goes to plan, and after a storm separates her from Curtis, Libby finds herself alone in the isolated hotel. Disappointed, she tentatively begins to explore her surroundings. Could the inaccessible hotel and its curious collection of staff and guests hold the key to Libby reconnecting with the person she once was? At the Grand Glacier Hotel is award-winning novelist Laurence Fearnley’s third novel responding to the five senses. Drawing on a varied soundscape, this tangible, moving portrait of physical and emotional recovery offers a way forward, one hopeful step at a time. Praise for the author’s other books: ‘I am such a fan of Laurence’s writing . . . I devoured Winter Time in two sittings, breathlessly, compulsively, saying to myself, this is what fiction can do.’ — PAULA GREEN ‘An experienced and accomplished writer with a command of language . . . Her evocation of the snow country is convincing and compelling.’ — OWEN MARSHALL ‘Fearnley pulls the reader into her story with a deft and inescapable grip that keeps you peering into the plot, arms out in front to keep your place in the narrative, to the last page.’ — SALLY BLUNDELL
A heart-warming new novel by the author of Edwin and Matilda, runner-up for the Montana Award in 2008. Life is tough for 40-year-old solo mother Maggie, a home help caregiver. Her three children are all giving her a hard time, especially Bevan, who's in trouble with the police. But when she's assigned a musician in a wheelchair to care for, something new enters her life. Maggie's a singer, Tim a fine guitarist. They'll make music together, but tragedy is just around the corner. Then it's Mother's Day, and Maggie and her family gather . . . This touching new novel from Laurence Fearnley contains many gems of warmth, affection, love and hope. It confirms her position as one of New Zealand's finest writers. 'It is Fearnley's prose that woos you, precise in its observations and judicious in its use of dialogue. It's the kind of writing you don't really notice, which makes it rare, and such a pleasure.' Margot White, Next
One of the reasons she was attracted to etchings was the deep, rich, black of the oily ink. A good layer of black ink was fathomless, like the sky or the sea at night. It was black as the unconscious mind, full of life but beyond reach. Quinn is a successful artist creating new works for an upcoming exhibition. She lives on the coast with Marcus, a vet who left his wife for her and lost contact with his young daughter Audrey as a result. Entering their lives is Callum, a deep-sea diver with a love of the ocean. As the countdown to Quinn's exhibition progresses, each must face challenges and make choices that will test their loyalties and have far-reaching consequences for their future. A brilliant novel from award-winning author Laurence Fearnley, Reach is about risk-taking and the ways in which creativity, struggle and danger empower individuals and enrich life. Also available as an eBook
I wonder why Edwin's mother left him — why his mother left and mine stayed? I mean, which is the more damaging — the mother who tells you she loves you and leaves, or the mother who calls you stupid and stays? This beautifully written novel by Laurence Fearnley is about finding love in the most unlikely of places. Set in the southern South Island, it describes the unusual bond formed between sixty-two-year-old photographer Edwin and twenty-two-year-old Matilda, as their relationship grows in ways neither could possibly have predicted. I liked the look of concentration on his face when we made love. His hands moved gently over my body; it was as if he was turning the pages of some fragile book - the type of book that has tissue pages, like an old-fashioned Bible. He reminded me, too, of a child learning to read. I pictured his fingertips tracing the words on the page, his lips mouthing the sounds, so intense was his focus. 'Edwin,' I teased, 'am I a good book?' Also available as an eBook
In this story of male friendship, Fearnley reproduces the cadences and rhythms of rural life and offers insight into a provincial male world seldom explored in recent New Zealand fiction. Best friends Warwick and Dean live in rural Southland. Dean, a farmer, is single and lonely - if only he'd admit it to himself. Warwick is caught between his love for a place and his love for Sabine and Ecki, his estranged wife and child now living in Germany. Dean observes Warwick's struggle but has problems of his own: a domineering father he neither loves nor respects, and on-going feelings of guilt and grief for his brother. Suddenly, Sabine and Ecki return to New Zealand, bringing the past with them to threaten the fragile worlds Warwick and Dean have created for themselves.
As a boy in the late 1930s, young Boden's life is changed for ever the day his neighbour Dudley drives him over the mountains into the vast snow-covered plains of the Mackenzie Country. He realises he will never be the same again. Years later, the 20-year-old Boden, now a university student, helps build an alpine hut high up on the eastern slopes of Mount Cook. Living in snow caves while the hut is built, Boden forms important relationships with members of his working party, most notably with Walter, a conscientious objector from the Second World War" --Back cover.
Provocative, stirring, and beautifully co-written by novelist Laurence Fearnley, Lydia Bradey: Going Up is Easy is the story of how one woman took on the mountaineering world and won. In 1988, Lydia Bradey became the first woman to climb Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen. She made the ascent alone and to date she is the only New Zealander to have made an oxygen-free ascent. Her climb was a truly remarkable achievement but also an internationally controversial one. Going Up is Easy details for the first time the events surrounding Bradey's historic feat, as well as her many hair-raising expeditions through Alaska, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, India, China, Europe, and New Zealand. In the spirit of John Krakauer's Into Thin Air or Joe Simpson's Touching the Void, Going Up is Easy celebrates a life lived on the edge. Through her stories, we encounter a woman propelled by curiosity and passion to become one of the greatest female high-altitude adventurers of recent times. Co-written with acclaimed novelist Laurence Fearnley, a long-time friend of Bradey, and stunningly illustrated throughout, Going Up is Easy is a life story by turns dramatic, tender, funny, frank and inspiring. Lydia Bradey is one of Australasia's foremost high-altitude mountaineers. Beginning her alpine career in the 1970s, she made her first ascent of Aoraki/Mount Cook while still a teenager. Following her dream to become a climber, she travelled to Alaska, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan, where, in 1987, she became the first Australasian woman to climb an 8000-metre peak, Gasherbrum 2. In 1988, she made a historic ascent of Mount Everest, becoming the first woman to reach the summit without supplementary oxygen. Employed as a professional mountain guide, she has made two further ascents of Everest as well as climbed and guided extensively throughout Nepal, Pakistan, Antarctica, South America, Africa and Europe. She lives at Lake Hawea, Otago, with her partner — and fellow mountain guide — Dean Staples. Also available as an eBook
One morning a young patient fails to keep an appointment. Room is the story of what happens to Amelia in the days that follow. A compelling novel from a remarkable new writer of New Zealand.
The 45th parallel south is a circle of latitude that lies 45 degrees south of the equator and theoretically marks the mid-way point between the equator and the South Pole. Unlike its northern equivalent, it passes mainly over ocean. New Zealand is one of the few land masses to lie in its path. In 45 South photographer Arno Gasteiger travels the 45th parallel, documenting the dramatic variety of landscapes that lie along this invisible southern marker as well as the interesting characters who call it home. Alongside Gasteiger's photographs, award-winning novelist Laurence Fearnley writes of her deep love of this part of the world, and the events and people that have shaped it. From the rugged river mouths on the east coast of the South Island to the sprawling landscapes of Central Otago and the untouched beauty of the west coast fiords, 45 South offers a captivating view of southern New Zealand.
Provocative, stirring, and beautifully co-written by novelist Laurence Fearnley, Lydia Bradey: Going Up is Easy is the story of how one woman took on the mountaineering world and won. In 1988, Lydia Bradey became the first woman to climb Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen. She made the ascent alone and to date she is the only New Zealander to have made an oxygen-free ascent. Her climb was a truly remarkable achievement but also an internationally controversial one. Going Up is Easy details for the first time the events surrounding Bradey's historic feat, as well as her many hair-raising expeditions through Alaska, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, India, China, Europe, and New Zealand. In the spirit of John Krakauer's Into Thin Air or Joe Simpson's Touching the Void, Going Up is Easy celebrates a life lived on the edge. Through her stories, we encounter a woman propelled by curiosity and passion to become one of the greatest female high-altitude adventurers of recent times. Co-written with acclaimed novelist Laurence Fearnley, a long-time friend of Bradey, and stunningly illustrated throughout, Going Up is Easy is a life story by turns dramatic, tender, funny, frank and inspiring. Lydia Bradey is one of Australasia's foremost high-altitude mountaineers. Beginning her alpine career in the 1970s, she made her first ascent of Aoraki/Mount Cook while still a teenager. Following her dream to become a climber, she travelled to Alaska, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan, where, in 1987, she became the first Australasian woman to climb an 8000-metre peak, Gasherbrum 2. In 1988, she made a historic ascent of Mount Everest, becoming the first woman to reach the summit without supplementary oxygen. Employed as a professional mountain guide, she has made two further ascents of Everest as well as climbed and guided extensively throughout Nepal, Pakistan, Antarctica, South America, Africa and Europe. She lives at Lake Hawea, Otago, with her partner — and fellow mountain guide — Dean Staples. Also available as an eBook
‘The SUV advanced, without slowing as it passed; the driver probably didn’t even register him. Roland watched until it reached the canal crossing, where the curve of the hill and the trees swallowed it up. And then he was alone with his frosted breathing, the mist, another breath, a sob.’ Having returned to the Mackenzie Country to deal with the unexpected death of his brother, Roland has more than enough on his plate. He could do without the demands of a cantankerous neighbour, the complaints of his partner back in Australia and discovering that someone is impersonating him online, stirring up the locals against him. Even the weather is hostile, rendering roads unpassable and his old home an icebox, the fire offering little comfort. And yet, when cycling on the empty roads, cocooned in a snow-muffled landscape, he finds he can confront what he actually feels. A vivid novel about familial love, friendship and how our lives touch, connect and impact upon one another.
A heart-warming new novel by the author of Edwin and Matilda, runner-up for the Montana Award in 2008. Life is tough for 40-year-old solo mother Maggie, a home help caregiver. Her three children are all giving her a hard time, especially Bevan, who's in trouble with the police. But when she's assigned a musician in a wheelchair to care for, something new enters her life. Maggie's a singer, Tim a fine guitarist. They'll make music together, but tragedy is just around the corner. Then it's Mother's Day, and Maggie and her family gather . . . This touching new novel from Laurence Fearnley contains many gems of warmth, affection, love and hope. It confirms her position as one of New Zealand's finest writers. 'It is Fearnley's prose that woos you, precise in its observations and judicious in its use of dialogue. It's the kind of writing you don't really notice, which makes it rare, and such a pleasure.' Margot White, Next
A compelling and poignant search for identity through perfume. Granny Seren told me I had a natural talent for perfume making, and I believed her because she seemed to know what she was talking about and she never lied. It was Seren who introduced me to the idea of a signature scent. As a university lecturer, Siân didn’t need a signature scent to know who she was. But, prompted by her job loss following restructuring of the humanities - and the effect this has on her identity - she begins to construct a perfume of herself. Note by perfume note, referencing scent memories and recent events, she rebuilds herself, Scented.
One of the reasons she was attracted to etchings was the deep, rich, black of the oily ink. A good layer of black ink was fathomless, like the sky or the sea at night. It was black as the unconscious mind, full of life but beyond reach. Quinn is a successful artist creating new works for an upcoming exhibition. She lives on the coast with Marcus, a vet who left his wife for her and lost contact with his young daughter Audrey as a result. Entering their lives is Callum, a deep-sea diver with a love of the ocean. As the countdown to Quinn's exhibition progresses, each must face challenges and make choices that will test their loyalties and have far-reaching consequences for their future. A brilliant novel from award-winning author Laurence Fearnley, Reach is about risk-taking and the ways in which creativity, struggle and danger empower individuals and enrich life. Also available as an eBook
Following a disastrous family holiday, Libby and Curtis make a promise: If they ever visit the West Coast of the South Island again, it will be to stay at the majestic Grand Glacier Hotel. Twenty years later, Libby is recovering from cancer and the couple finally return to the resort. Except the glacier has retreated, nothing goes to plan, and after a storm separates her from Curtis, Libby finds herself alone in the isolated hotel. Disappointed, she tentatively begins to explore her surroundings. Could the inaccessible hotel and its curious collection of staff and guests hold the key to Libby reconnecting with the person she once was? At the Grand Glacier Hotel is award-winning novelist Laurence Fearnley’s third novel responding to the five senses. Drawing on a varied soundscape, this tangible, moving portrait of physical and emotional recovery offers a way forward, one hopeful step at a time. Praise for the author’s other books: ‘I am such a fan of Laurence’s writing . . . I devoured Winter Time in two sittings, breathlessly, compulsively, saying to myself, this is what fiction can do.’ — PAULA GREEN ‘An experienced and accomplished writer with a command of language . . . Her evocation of the snow country is convincing and compelling.’ — OWEN MARSHALL ‘Fearnley pulls the reader into her story with a deft and inescapable grip that keeps you peering into the plot, arms out in front to keep your place in the narrative, to the last page.’ — SALLY BLUNDELL
In this story of male friendship, Fearnley reproduces the cadences and rhythms of rural life and offers insight into a provincial male world seldom explored in recent New Zealand fiction. Best friends Warwick and Dean live in rural Southland. Dean, a farmer, is single and lonely - if only he'd admit it to himself. Warwick is caught between his love for a place and his love for Sabine and Ecki, his estranged wife and child now living in Germany. Dean observes Warwick's struggle but has problems of his own: a domineering father he neither loves nor respects, and on-going feelings of guilt and grief for his brother. Suddenly, Sabine and Ecki return to New Zealand, bringing the past with them to threaten the fragile worlds Warwick and Dean have created for themselves.
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