In Haruru Mai, a Maori Battalion veteran returns to his small Northland hometown after forty years. His arrival revives anxieties over land and family, and Maori participation in the war. He becomes romantically involved with Paloma and, haunted by the death of a fellow Maori soldier, he shelters a young man battling his own demons. Strange Resting Places is a hilarious and often poignant exploration of the collision of Maori and Italian culture during World War Two. Big band music, traditional waiata and bomber planes are woven together in this beautiful tale of unlikely friendship and impossible love"--Publisher information