The Space Between, by Lauren Keenan.

 

 

 

              

            Early 1860:  the British Crown has signed a Treaty with Maori and colonisation is in full swing;  settlers by the shipload have been arriving under the auspices of the New Zealand Company, new government agents (of a kind) charged with the immigration of those wishing to throw off the shackles of the stifling class system in Britain, hoping to make something of themselves and their families, and prepared to work hard to have a better life.  If only, for the class system has travelled on the ships with them:  it will take many, many years to shake off humble origins.

            In New Plymouth (called Ngamotu by those Maoris), a gentleman and his mother and shamefully spinster sister are trying their hand at farming.  George Farrington has been forced to leave England supposedly because their father lost all their money, then died – what was a man to do?  The Colonies seemed to be the only answer for someone so short of cash - the problem being that George was not a natural-born farmer, or a lover of the land, and his sister Frances, jilted cruelly by a ne’er-do-well called Henry White 12 years before has been raised as genteel – it is an entirely new experience for her to have to tend to fowls and milk cows, for their mother refuses to do anything that does not befit her station. 

            And to add insult to grievous injury, who should Frances meet outside Thorpe’s General Store but Henry White himself, there to meet his Maori wife Mataria – and Mataria shouldn’t have been there anyway because all Maori need a pass issued by the Military;  they are undergoing the laborious, humiliating process after their trip for supplies to the store.  Life has suddenly taken an equally harrowing turn for Frances and when brother George sees Henry and his wife talking with Frances he contrives to get the couple put in jail – no pass, no freedom!

            A military conflict is brewing, too:  the settlers want to expand the boundaries of New Plymouth and are dealing with a Maori representative who does not have tribal permission to sell any more land, but such is their desire to own more acres, they are arrogant in their belief in the rightness of their cause.  Of course!

            Lauren Keenan has portrayed events of the time with great clarity backed by strong historical research and her own tribal affiliation to Te Atiawa ke Taranaki.  She creates a superb portrait of a time that contained horrors that we can barely guess at – and the frail, perennial flowers of compassion, hope and affection that are essential for all of us to carry on.  SIX STARS.     

               

 

Joe-Nuthin’s Guide to Life, by Helen Fisher.

 

  

          Neurodiversity:  the 21^st century’s current euphemism for the many  psychological illnesses and anxieties that beset modern society.  In the ‘Old Days’, anyone who was afflicted with a mental illness was just that:  mental, but these days there has been a concerted effort to bring the neurodiverse into daily life, to integrate them into ‘normal’ society, thus helping them to live their very best lives.

            In theory, for ‘normal’ society can be anything but. 

            Such a person  is Joe-Nathan.  He calls himself  that (his proper name might be Jonathan) because two names are like Dinner and Dessert – should anyone ask.  Joe lives with his widowed mother Janet, and works for the Compass Store, a big supermarket whose Boss Hugo sees the Brownie points accruing for employing Joe, who has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, but comes to like and admire him anyway, not only for his ruthless attention to detail, but also for the fact that Joe-Nathan is a lovely young man, stricken by a cruel syndrome, but with the help if his indomitable Mum, making the very best of things.

            Except for workmates Mean Charlie and his mate Owen:  they delight in calling him names – Joe-Nuthin – and threatening to open cans of red sauce because they know that anything red upsets him terribly – BUT!  Joe is not without friends who will defend him, particularly workmate Chloe, whose language is so bad that Joe makes her a swear-box that he calculates will make her rich within a year.  Chloe puts Mean Charlie in his place with a physical attack so violent Boss Hugo is forced to consult HR, resulting in Mean Charlie’s sacking.

            Job done!  Time for all to live in happy diversity ever after, but life, particularly these days, seldom follows the best script:  Joe’s darling mum has a fatal heart-attack and Joe is forced to face vast, monstrous changes in his life, living alone being just the first;  however, Janet has anticipated life for Joe and his struggles after her death and to that end has left two books of instructions, the first a ‘how-to’ cook, clean, repair etc’, and the second more important advice about friends and how to treat them, particularly if one wanted to keep them – which makes Joe think of Mean Charlie and the fact that he might have more sadness in his life than everyone thinks, particularly when Joe inadverdently sees all of Charlie's bruises.  It’s time to make a new friend, and Joe has decided that for good or ill, Mean Charlie is the one!

            Helen Fisher has written a beautiful story on friendship, the courage to be ‘other’, especially when there is no choice, and the beauty and necessity of humanity’s desire for affection.  My heart was full at story’s end.  Thanks HEAPS, Ms Fisher!  SIX STARS