In a dangerous world, Deep Salt strikes terror into the heart of everyone. Hari lives in Blood Burrow, deep in the ruined city of Belong, where he survives by courage and savagery. He is scarred from fighting, he is dangerous and cruel, but he has a secret gift: he can speak with animals. When his father, Tarl, is taken as a slave and sent to the mine known as Deep Salt, from where no worker ever returns, Hari vows to save him.Pearl is from the ruling families, known as Company, which has conquered and enslaved Hari's people. Her destiny involves marriage that will unite her family with that of the powerful and ambitious Ottmar. But Pearl has learned forbidden things from Tealeaf, her maid, and will never submit to a subordinate life.A long journey through the badlands towards Deep Salt finds Pearl and Hari united for a common cause. It soon becomes clear that the survival of their people depends entirely upon the success of Pearl and Hari's mission.
Long regarded as one of the finest novels ever written by a New Zealander, Maurice Gee's Plumb introduces us to the intolerant, irascible clergyman George Plumb, one of the most memorable characters in New Zealand literature half saint, half monster, superhuman in his spiritual strength and destructive in his utter self-absorption. What personal...
For all the promise of his name, Jack Skeat cannot be a poet. His friend Rex Petley eel-catcher, girl-chaser, motorbike rider takes that prize. Is he also a murderer? And why, forty years later, does he drown out on the Gulf? Jack has to find out, and is drawn to examine their lives. Going West has long been regarded as one of the most autobiogr...
When people like Herbert Muskie take up residence in your mind, there's nothing you can do to get them out. Colin Potter is a skinny boy, hungry for chocolate. Herbert Muskie is enormously fat, hungry for revenge. A dramatic encounter down at the creek forges an unhappy alliance between the vindictive man and the fearful child. But who is the fat man and why does he hate the people of Loomis? What guilty secrets are hidden in the past and why are Colin's parents such special targets? A taut thriller from the award-winning author of The Fire-Raiser, Salt and Gool. Also available as an eBook
As a young man in the 1930s, Josef battled the Nazis on the streets of Vienna. He fled to New Zealand, only to be interned as a dangerous enemy on Somes Island in Wellington Harbour. After the war, he rebuilt his life and married Nancy. Despite his success, Josef still stands askew from his times. In his chosen home he is both an insider and an ...
Worlds separate Brent Rosser from Ulla Peet, but a burglary gone wrong brings them into a confrontation that will change their lives - and end one of them, or perhaps both. There are many crimes in this chilling novel - brutal murder, corporate fraud, domestic violence and spiritual bankruptcy. Through the chance meetings of the Peet and Rosser families, Crime Story asks questions about the victims and perpetrators of crime, and about the price of greed and personal isolation. It is a haunting portrayal of human frailty but also of human courage. Parr's adaptation is an intelligent and respectful adaptation of Gee's novel. His script makes Leeanne Rosser (Brent s sister) the pivot of the story. Also available as an eBook
There's no street like Orchard Street, and no year like 1951. So much happened to me and my family, and to Teresa and hers, that our lives could never be the same. Some very strange things are happening in Orchard Street. Ossie's dad is doing something illegal under the house; everyone is talking about the waterfront strike; adults are behaving in odd ways towards each other - and Ossie is falling in love. As he moves out of the safety zone of childhood, Ossie begins to understand that life will never be predictable again. Also available as an eBook
Sixteen years have passed since Pearl from Company and Hari from Blood Burrow defeated the tyrant Ottmar. Now their children, Xantee and Lo, face an even more dangerous foe. Hari lies dangerously ill with a fragment of a strange creature wrapped around his throat, draining his life. The beast is called Gool, meaning Unbelonger. It is one of many, destroying the mountains and jungles of the world. Somewhere a hidden mother nourishes her Gool brood - the children must find and destroy her to save Hari and the world they know. Tealeaf the Dweller tells them of a thousand-year-old legend in which a similar beast is vanquished. The place where they might learn the legend's missing knowledge is in the library in the ruined city of Belong. There is only one person who can guide them there: Tarl, the Dog King, Hari's father. Xantee and Lo, accompanied by Duro, a brave and practical youth who is also a 'speaker', set out on a dangerous mission that takes them through the jungle and over mountains to the ruined city, and on to Ceebeedee, where a terrifying clash with the cruel rival leaders and lurking Gool awaits them.
The old family home in Access Road, where Lionel, Roly and Rowan grew up, is crumbling away - but after more than fifty years Lionel and Roly are back. Rowan, too, safe in 'upper crusty' Takapuna, is drawn more and more strongly 'out west'. The past is dangerously alive. Clyde Buckely, violent as a boy, enigmatic, subterranean as an old man, ret...
He let the matchstick burn, knowing the power in his hand... flame filled the inside of his head. It ran along his arteries. It licked around his bones. Kitty Wix is knocked over as a strange loping figure is seen fleeing the burning stables. But who is the 'fire-raiser' and why is he creating such terror? Kitty has her own suspicions, and so do other children in the town. When the crazed man with fire in his head strikes again, the children find themselves in terrible danger. A thrilling children's classic from the award-winning author of The Fat Man, Salt and Gool. Also available as an eBook
When Celia Inverarity, aged seventeen, is found brutally murdered in a secluded West Auckland park one Sunday afternoon, Paul Prior, her English teacher and mentor, is suspected of being her murderer. Celia's death and the violence which follows send Prior back to examine the past ? which proves as secret as his father's den in the old poison sh...
Wellington, 1935. James Tinling, a former cabinet minister, plans a political comeback, although a brash newcomer stands in his way. James has methods of dealing with people who stand up to him, but is held back by the secrets in his life. Eric Clifton, world-renowned moon scientist, has secrets too. He lives hot-bloodedly and is at war with patrician James. Sam Holloway, literary man and moralist, records their year with its sexual intrigues, sudden violence and the overturning of the political norms. What role does the young poet Owen Moody play? And what about brothel madam Lily Maxey? There's James's daughter Charlotte, painting desperately in a shed at the bottom of the garden. The Scornful Moon deftly recreates the moral and political mood of Wellington in the 1930s. Constantly surprising the reader, it combines drama and suspense with a master writer's exquisite story telling. Also available as an eBook
Alice Ferry is a retired Wellington scientist, a mycologist (fungi is her thing). One day a young man knocks on her door. Adrian is a great-nephew she never knew she had, the grandson of her brother Gordon. As her story unfolds we learn of her childhood with Gordon in West Auckland and of the divergent paths their lives have taken. While Alice has gone on to have a successful career, Gordon has mentally deteriorated to the point where he is a silent derelict living on the streets of Wellington. Adrian wants to meet him. But Alice resists.As Adrian persists, Alice becomes more and more edgy. What is she hiding from her nephew? How has Gordon ended up in this state? And what does Alice have to do with it? Blindsight shows Gee the master playing with characters and complex story structures with immense skill.
A letter for Gloria was waiting in the rack. The envelope looked ordinary - Miss Gloria Wood written in ink - but Ailsa knew that crazy words lay hidden inside. Ailsa takes a dislike to Calum Page from the day she is invited to play tennis with his sister. The Pages looks down on her because her mother is the matron at Woburn Hostel, but Ailsa enjoys her life there. In particular, she is fascinated with the love life of her beautiful, aloof roommate, Gloria. Gloria begins to receive menacing love letters from an anonymous writer, and the girls realise he must be watching her - day and night. As the stalker closes in, Ailsa becomes increasingly convinced of his identity. And as she struggles to protect her friend from the complexities of obsessive love, Ailsa finds an unexpected ally. A chilling story of obsessive love set in Lower Hutt in 1955. Also available as an eBook
She closed her eyes. That was it then. She had found herself a pair of magic glasses. They showed more than the eye could ever see. When Caroline discovers an old pair of spectacles in her father's junk shop she has no idea how important they are. Even when she puts them on and sees things very differently, she doesn't guess that the safety of another world depends on them. In a race against time, Caroline has to tackle the ghastly Grimbles and keep her promise to return the spectacles to their rightful owner.
Long regarded as one of the finest novels ever written by a New Zealander, Maurice Gee's Plumb introduces us to the intolerant, irascible clergyman George Plumb, one of the most memorable characters in New Zealand literature half saint, half monster, superhuman in his spiritual strength and destructive in his utter self-absorption. What personal price is this man prepared to pay in the pursuit of his conscience, no matter what the consequences are for those he loves?
The Burning Boy is a vivid picture of life in a provincial town in times of disturbance and change. Certainties collapse in the face of violence. People start along strange ways, some to loss or ruin, others to unexpected happiness. The Burning Boy won the New Zealand Book Awards in 1991. 'Written with verve and economy, Maurice Gee's novel has a wealth of penetratingly observed incidents, some spectacular and dramatic, some distinctly unpleasant. Most, however, are ordinary, everyday events from which Gee builds an engaging narrative and a detailed picture of the life of the city - a city which, under different names in successive novels, he is steadily making into his equivalent of Hardy's Wessex.' - Times Literary Supplement
What is the source of the Limping Man's monstrous power? Nobody can withstand it, a soft crawling that seeps into your skin and wriggles into your mind, making you powerless with love for him even as his cruelties multiply. When Hana's mam chooses to swallow frogweed poison rather than die in the great witch-burning in People's Square, Hana flees the burrows before she too is taken. Deep in the forest she meets Ben, son of Lo, and the two journey back to the burrows to find a way to destroy the Limping Man before his evil consumes the world. But first they must discover the secret of his strength. Also available as an eBook
Widely regarded as one of New Zealand’s greatest fiction writers, Maurice Gee has written virtually no non-fiction. The exceptions are the two exquisite childhood reminiscences combined here into a memoir in this BWB Text. In this little known work, Gee describes in fascinating detail his boyhood and family life in West Auckland and offers illuminating insights into some of the creative forces which have driven some of his fiction: the creek with its dangers – where, he writes, he glimpsed ‘sex and death’ – the kitchen with his mother preparing dinner in the gathering dark, and his elderly uncle, later the model for the magnificent Plumb.
Beneath Auckland's extinct volcanoes giant creatures are waking from a spellbound sleep of several thousand years. Their goal to destroy the world is thwarted by eleven-year-old twins, Theo and Rachel.
In the second volume of Maurice Gee’s acclaimed O Trilogy, Susan must stop terrible things being done in her name... Face the High Priest. Face him alone. That was why she was back on O. To end the religion grown up in her name. Susan Ferris and her cousin Nick return to the world of O, which they had saved from the evil Halfmen, only to discover that a hundred years have passed and O is now ruled by cruel and ruthless priests. Susan is inspired by the dreams and prophecies related to her to face the most dreadful dangers and free the inhabitants of O. Also available as an eBook
A novel in which a retired businessman, Josef Mandl looks at his past, battling the Nazis in Vienna, interned as an enemy alien in New Zealand, rebuilding his life after the war with his wife Nancy. Gee explores themes of loss and dispossession of family, friendship, and love. He has previously written 12 novels, two collections of stories, and eight books for children.
The first volume of Maurice Gee's acclaimed trilogy wherein Susan and Nick are transported to the terrifying land of O... 'Nick had seen the birthmark on Susan's wrist. It had two parts. Each was shaped like a tear drop, curved like a moon. One was bright red and the other golden brown.' Susan had always been a bit odd and never really got on with her cousin Nick, but the mark on her wrist draws them together in a frightening adventure. They are summoned to the beautiful land of O in a last-ditch attempt to save the planet from cruel Otis Claw and his followers, the evil Halfmen, who have lost every trace of human goodness and kindness. Also available as an eBook
A bundle of the first four BWB Texts by Paul Callaghan, Maurice Gee, Kathleen Jones and Rebecca Macfie. A moving selection of Sir Paul Callaghan’s writing, offering eloquent narratives that will endure in this country’s literature. Published on the first anniversary of Sir Paul’s death, with a foreword by Catherine Callaghan, Paul Callaghan: Luminous Moments celebrates the life of a remarkable New Zealander. Widely regarded as one of New Zealand’s greatest fiction writers, Maurice Gee has written virtually no non-fiction. The exceptions are the two exquisite childhood reminiscences combined here into a memoir in Creeks and Kitchens. ‘I think … I am going to die’, the stunning chapter from Kathleen Jones’s biography Katherine Mansfield: The Story-teller (2010), describes Mansfield’s last days and death at chateau near Paris, the centre of a spiritual movement led by the mysterious Russian philosopher-mystic Georges Gurdjieff. Written over a period of two years, Rebecca Macfie’s searing account of the Christchurch earthquakes, Report from Christchurch, traces the city's struggle to recover from the disaster and plan for the future. Published in association with the New Zealand Listener. BWB Texts are short books on big subjects by great New Zealand writers. Commissioned as short digital-first works, BWB Texts unlock diverse stories, insights and analysis from the best of our past, present and future New Zealand writing.
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