Secrets of the Land - by Kate Mahony (Paperback)
About this item
Highlights
- In Melbourne, 2018, Imogen is bewildered when a mysterious stranger says her grandfather in New Zealand needs her help.
- Author(s): Kate Mahony
- 272 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Historical
Description
About the Book
An engrossing thriller involving a mysterious stranger, a grandfather in New Zealand Imogen did not know existed, and shadows from the past, from Ireland in 1862 to the present day.
Book Synopsis
In Melbourne, 2018, Imogen is bewildered when a mysterious stranger says her grandfather in New Zealand needs her help. Her grandfather is dead - isn't he? Imogen, a former journalist, decides to investigate and travels to Taranaki where she finds someone is trying to frighten the old man off his farm.
A long shadow hangs over her grandfather's land - from 1864 when two young Irishmen join the British army in its fight against the Taranaki Māori, to 1975 when Imogen's grandparents arrive, fleeing trouble in Ireland.
Their daughter Aoife - Imogen's mother - hates the new country her parents have brought her to, yet she knows it is impossible to return. The Irishman she encounters in a hedge, is as lost as she is.
Ghosts haunt the present, while the land holds its secrets close. Yet some secrets won't stay hidden in the past.
Review Quotes
Secrets of the Land draws parallels between the domination of Ireland by the English in the 19th century and colonialism in Taranaki, New Zealand. The stories range from 1864 to 2018 through characters who fight over farming rights, past hurts and secrets, and those who try to make peace with the present. Kate Mahony is a skilled writer and blends well-researched historical facts with vibrant, believable fiction to create an engrossing novel.
- Sandra Arnold, author of Soul Etchings, The Ash the Well and the Bluebell, The Bones of the Story
What seems to be a novel about generations of a family swiftly becomes much deeper and more intriguing. Kate Mahony deftly weaves past and present, reality and the supernatural into a richly textured story of the effect of colonisation and war on communities, families and individual identity. An engrossing, wonderful read.
Catherine Robertson
- Author of What You Wish For, Gabriel's Bay, Spellbound, The Hiding Places and others