Book Overview

''Provocative, compassionate and beautiful'' - Joy Harjo, US Poet Laureate

WINNER OF THE 1987 NEW ZEALAND BOOK AWARD; WINNER OF THE 2008 NEUSTADT INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE

A moving story of a Maori community's fight for survival, from one of New Zealand's most prominent and celebrated authors.

On the remote coast of New Zealand, at the curve that binds the land and the sea, a small Maori community live, work, fish, play and tell stories of their ancestors. But something is changing. The prophet child Toko can sense it. Men are coming, with dollars and big plans to develop the area for tourism. As their ancestral land becomes threatened, the people must unite in a battle for survival.

Weaving together myth and memory, Patricia Grace's prize-winning novel is a spellbinding portrait of a defiant community determined to protect their way of life at any cost.