Patricia Grace - Free Library Land Online - Novels

From the Centre

Sun, 27 Oct 2013 23:50:52 +0200

'We live by the sea, which hems and stitches the scalloped edges of the land.' Renowned writer Patricia Grace begins her remarkable memoirs beside her beloved Hongoeka Bay. It is the place she has returned to throughout her life, and fought for, one of many battles she has faced: 'It was when I first went to school that I found out that I was a Maori girl . . . I found that being different meant that I could be blamed . . .' As she shows, her experiences — good and bad, joyous and insightful — have fuelled what became a focus of her life: 'I had made up my mind that writing was something I would always do.'

Mutuwhenua

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:05:18 +0300

This is the story of Ripeka, who leaves her extended family and its traditional lifestyle to marry Graeme, a Pakeha schoolteacher. In the strange world of the city, Ripeka discovers that she cannot make the break with her whanau and that the old ways are too strong. Patricia Grace s first novel is a powerful, moving story of contrasts - between light and darkness, old and new, young and old, and Maori and Pakeha. Also available as an eBook

Potiki

Mon, 03 Mar 1986 17:11:34 +0300

'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.

Electric City

Wed, 03 Jul 2013 18:05:20 +0300

These are short stories about ordinary folk leading seemingly ordinary lives. The power of community, extended family and culture are central to all. Thirteen stories in which the joys of discovery are tempered by the knowledge of a harder, colder world. Sunlight, childhood and nature set against conflict and misunderstanding, in the ever-present shadows of the spirit of the land.

Baby No-eyes

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:00:30 +0200

This major novel merges contemporary headlines with stories of a heartfelt family history. 'Do you hear the people calling?' 'No.' 'See there, dummy, you're nowhere near dead.' 'Well, I don't believe you. How would you know?' 'Of course I know, I do, I do, I know all about it . . .' Tawera and his sister are inseparable, in a relationship that is impossible for others to share. In fact his whole whanau is bonded by secrets, a genealogy stitched together by shame, joy, love and sometimes grief. This is an account of the mysteries that operate at many levels between generations, where the present is the pivot, the centre of the spiral, looking outward to the past and future that define it. There's a way the older people have of telling a story, a way where the beginning is not the beginning, the end is not the end . . .

Chappy

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:10:12 +0300

Spanning several decades and several continents and set against the backdrop of a changing New Zealand, Chappy is a compelling story of enduring love.Uprooted from his privileged European life and sent to New Zealand to sort himself out, twenty-one-year-old Daniel pieces together the history of his Maori family. As his relatives revisit their past, Daniel learns of a remarkable love story between his Maori grandmother Oriwia and his Japanese grandfather Chappy. The more Daniel hears about his deceased grandfather, the more intriguing - and elusive - Chappy becomes. In this touching portrayal of family life, acclaimed writer Patricia Grace explores racial intolerance, cross-cultural conflicts and the universal desire to belong. Also available as an eBook.

Small Holes in the Silence

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:10:11 +0300

This is a fine new collection of short stories by the much-loved Patricia Grace, probably never more popular since the great commercial success of the novel Tu. The feast of stories is varied: urban, rural, New Zealand, overseas, tribal, contemporary. An elderly woman, whose husband has died, gathers firewood on the beach while the appliances in her house fall to bits one by one. Willie falls in love with a statue. Great-grandmother reveals how she chose her husband-to-be both of them. Rona curses the Moon. Petina tells Raycharles she's looking for a father for her baby. The thread that runs through all the stories, though, is Grace's huge sympathy for the underdog and the perspective of the outsider. The world she depicts is often a stark and unsentimental place, in which people struggle against ageing, rejection, violence and betrayal. Also available as an eBook

Tu

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:10:14 +0300

Three brothers, one war and multiple secrets. Tu is proud of his name: it belongs to the Maori god of war. But for the returned soldier there's a shadow over his war experience with the Maori Battalion in Italy. Three young men from the one family went to war, but only one returned – Tu is the sole survivor. Now, when his young niece and nephew come looking for answers, Tu is brought face to face with the past. What really happened to the three brothers as the Maori Battalion fought in the hills and valleys of Italy is contained in the pages of his war journal, and this he now decides to give to his niece and nephew. The time for revelations has come. Patricia Grace has drawn on the war experiences of her father and other relatives and ventured into new territory. The result is a prize-winning novel of great authenticity and drama from one of our finest storytellers.

The Dream Sleepers

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 12:11:12 +0300

Stunning and insightful stories of family life in the country and the city, of the contrasts between young and old, of relationships between people who know what it means to be Maori in a society whose predominant values are alien.

Cousins

Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:52:06 +0200

This is a stunning novel about tradition and change, about whanau and its struggle to survive, about the place of women in a shifting world. Makareta is the chosen one - carrying her family's hopes. Missy is the observer - the one who accepts but has her dreams. Mata is always waiting - for life to happen as it stealthily passes by. Moving from the forties to the present, from the country to the protests of the cities, Cousins is the story of these three cousins. Thrown together as children, they have subsequently grown apart, yet they share a connection that can never be broken.

The Sky People

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:00:29 +0200

In this collection of Patricia Grace's stories we meet the sky people, those under the guardianship of Ranginui and Sky Parent, who are the unwanted, the dispossessed, the wounded in love. But shining through even the darkest human condition is the light to which sky people everywhere aspire. To love and in turn be loved; to create and to belong; even, perhaps, to fly. Also available as an eBook

Dogside Story

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 17:11:33 +0200

There is conflict in the whanau. The young man Te Rua holds a secret for life, the one to die with . But he realises that if he is to acknowledge and claim his daughter, the secret will have to be told. The Sisters are threatening to drag the whanau through the courts. But why? What is really going on? Meanwhile, wider events are encroaching. Visitors will arrive in numbers to this East Coast site, wanting to be among the first in the world to see the new millennium. There are plans to be put into action, there's money to be made, and there's high drama as the millennium turns . . . Like Potiki before it, Dogside Story is set in a rural Maori coastal community. The power of the land and the strength of the whanau are life-preserving forces. This rich and vivid novel, threaded with humour, presents a powerful picture of Maori in modern times. Also available as an eBook

Waiariki

Wed, 03 Jul 2013 18:05:19 +0300

Patricia Grace's popular first collection - sensitive stories of Maori life which explore Maori spirituality and values and pursue relationships between people, family and races. Also available as an eBook