Sea Change, by Jenny Pattrick.
Jenny Pattrick is New
Zealand’s premier historical novelist – who hasn’t
read ‘The Denniston Rose’ and ‘Heart of Coal’ - and IF you say to your
shame ‘not me’- then it’s time to start
gorging yourselves on her lovely stories of early New Zealand and its turbulent
history, BUT!
This is a contemporary
novel, dealing with and exposing 21st century problems and the
differing solutions according to those with the power, and what’s available
those who have none.
A huge earthquake
devastates the top of NZ’s South Island;
the damage and loss of life is huge and all the North Island’s first
responders are sent to the worst-hit areas;
meantime, the quake has struck a small Kapiti Coast village not far from
capital city Wellington – the damage from that was bad enough, but a huge tsunami
has inflicted a fatal blow to property and people living close to the
beach. Those few whose houses are on
higher ground fare better than others, like Lorna, a retired public servant,
and her neighbour Toddy, a retired engineer – who is also blind. And their next neighbour is Eru, 9 years old
and an orphan: his father was fishing in
his dinghy when the tsunami rolled in.
When everyone
eventually meets up at the school hall (still standing, but the school isn’t)
there is a very disparate group: those
who want to stay and get electricity and communications up to speed again; those who want to get out immediately – not so
easy – there is only access by sea; two gay plumbers (the Plumbelles) who will
try everything to get fresh water piped again if they can only find a
source; and several jack-of-all-trades
including a brilliant engineer (‘but he’s a recluse!’) who are undaunted by the
situation – if only they could get some assistance from Wellington, which is
sending manpower, firepower and dollars to the worst-hit in the South Island.
Eventually the word
from Wellington is that the village is too inaccessible to save: there will be a managed retreat. Which is not acceptable to everyone who has
worked so hard to get everything up and running again, and definitely NOT
cricket when it is found that the ‘managed retreat’ is to enable Lorna and
Toddy’s very rich neighbour Adrian Stokes to eventually buy up cheaply all the
undamaged land to build an exclusive private resort: betrayal of the worst kind, and so easily
done with friends in the right places.
Jenny Pattrick has
charmed us yet again with a story of triumph over adversity that could be
ho-hum and mawkish in other hands;
instead she shows us all what logic, kindness and common sense can
achieve when backs are against the wall – in a very logical, kind and
common-sensical way! SIX STARS.
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