Diana Menefy

The second book in the Kiwis at War series, following on from '1914: Riding Into War' by Susan Brocker, which was published in 2014. The story follows two New Zealand nurses, cousins Mel and Harriet, who volunteer during World War I alongside their brothers. They join the NZ Army Nursing Service. Harriet spends most of her time in the Egyptian hospitals whilst Mel is aboard hospital ships, such as the well known 'Maheno'. Both have to learn to deal with the sheer overwhelming numbers of wounded and the horrific injuries caused by war as well as the pain of personal loss and waste of young lives. Really well done, well researched and written. The contents page, detailed map, timeline, glossary, author's note and photographs all combine to make this another fantastic installment in this important commemorative series. Highly recommended.… (plus d'informations)

Thomas Davidson is an apprentice seaman on the sailing ship Boyd, loaded with Irish convicts and headed for Australia. He finds the chained convicts, as well as the lashings dished out as punishment by Captain Thompson, disturbing as he copes with seasickness and stormy weather. In Sydney the convicts disembark and settlers bound for New Zealand, including some Māori, are taken on board. Along with passenger Mrs Anne Morely, Thomas befriends George, the son of a Māori chief. George is brutally flogged when he becomes too ill to do his job. When the ship reaches Whangaroa, George, still smarting from his flogging and muttering the word utu, is sent ashore to negotiate with Māori for kauri spas. That evening returns with a Māori war party. The crew and passengers are slaughtered and consumed except for the second mate, Mrs Morley, her baby daughter, a young girl Betsy Broughton and George. The Boyd is set on fire but the resulting explosion kills several Māori. Enslaved by the tribe, Thomas learns that contact with a previous ship’s crew caused the local tribe to be decimated by European diseases and that the attack on the Boyd was a form of utu for that event as well as for George’s lashing. Thomas apprehensively awaits his fate.

This children’s historical novel is a realistic retelling of the incident of the sailing ship, Boyd, which occurred in 1809 when almost 70 crew and passengers were massacred in Whangaroa harbour as an act of utu. Diana Menefy has skilfully blended fact and fiction to tell the story through the eyes of young apprentice crewmember, Thomas, who was 15 at the time. I found this to be a vivid account of the incident and the circumstances leading up to it. The factually based events clearly illustrate a culture clash that was all too common in Aotearoa’s colonial past. This historic account is brilliantly written and thought provoking.… (plus d'informations)