Elspeth Sandys

A competent historical novel about the founding of my home town and province. As a result of eviction from his family croft on Isle of Mull, John MacLaine decides his best prospects lie in emigrating to the "New Geneva", a Free Church of Scotland dream of fresh untainted settlement in New Zealand.
The novel's narrative focuses on a long standing love for one, Heather Drummond who is left behind in Glasgow, and to whom he writes letters desiring her to come out and join him but without response.
We are witness to the horrible voyage out, during which rivalries among the settlers quickly surface. It is the often repeated story of over blown boosterism and wildly optimistic illusions about what establishing a colony entails.
MacLaine breaks in new land near the settlement, falls for a neighbouring half-caste young woman in the belief that his original love has faded. Politics between rival interests, Free Church isolationists versus those who realise a colony like Dunedin must be part of the growing entity, New Zealand, develop; MacLaine, by dint of his education, is encouraged to start a rival liberally positioned newspaper.
Finally, a resolution to his attempts to create a new life for himself are achieved through much self-sacrifice, relationship upheavals and persistence.
Competent, historically interesting showing good understanding of the Maori world and with convincing characters.… (plus d'informations)

I am enjoying discovering this author's writing. This story is set in a bay near Dunedin, in the 1950's. It is a small isolated community. much of the community life revolves around the Presbyterian church. The story opens with the arrival of a new teacher, Tom Matheson for the senior primary school class.
He brings fresh ideas and enthusiasm. The children respond positively to his teaching style and some of the girls become enamoured of this charismatic, sincere and caring teacher. Their previous teacher having been a strict, strait-laced spinster. Jennie Anderson bright, intelligent dreams of escaping the oppressive rule of her overbearing father and her friend Mary Begg is full of romantic ideas.
Tom's modern interpretation of the Maori Wars is monitored and frowned upon by the head teacher and Ron Anderson, Jennie's father.
Meanwhile, Tom's landlady is offended when he rebuffs her advances. The building resentment against Tom comes to a head when he takes his class on a trip to explore an early Maori site to increase the children's knowledge of the early history of the area.
The author portrays well the mores of the 1950's, where the move for social change comes up against the older puritan, traditional beliefs.… (plus d'informations)

This is a poignant and sad story of the author's life, and that of her birth mother. Due to the prevailing social conditions of the times, her birth mother found she could not keep her baby, so she was adopted by an elderly couple. Her adoptive father loved her dearly, and she him, but her adoptive mother, likely troubled by mental illness, did not love Elspeth, and in fact treated her very cruelly as she was growing. She lost her father when she was only fourteen years of age, and her adoptive mother's cruel treatment of her continued until she was able to live independently. She attended university, married, and moved to the United Kingdom where she pursued her career as a writer. It is evident that aspects of her early life have affected her adult life. I found the book to be well written, and quite captivating. To readers familiar with New Zealand, there is much interest in the story and it's connection to Otago and other places in the country, and reference to well-known families.… (plus d'informations)