19th book from prolific NZ author
What were some of the challenges you encountered in writing it?
The sheer scale of the subject matter was daunting. I started in 1841 with the very first Auckland jail — that meant a 170-year timeframe. Later I found it impossible to access many restricted records such as prisoners’ files. And the overwhelming bleakness of the material got me down at times.
Were there some particular research breakthroughs?
I’m really grateful to the many exinmates who told me about their memories of the prison. I tracked down ‘Diamond Jim’ Shepherd, once part of the Mr Asia drug gang, on Queensland’s Gold Coast. We had several long phone calls about his stretches inside, which began when he was just 16 and ended with the
The Jacaranda House By Deborah Challinor, HarperCollins, $36.99
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Unquestionably Deborah Challinor has become one of this country’s most prolific writers, this is book number 19.
Despite confiding in the Acknowledgements section she was late delivering the manuscript for this book because of unforeseen family circumstances, it’s appeared remarkably quickly after its predecessor.
That was From the Ashes released only 18 months ago. It’s not unknown for authors to take longer than that to come up with a title.
Not Challinor, she’s a research and writing pro, her PhD in history giving her pole position in both fields.
The Jacaranda House is the third in her Restless Years series, continuing the saga of the Mania wha¯ nau met in Fire,
The ‘roll of honour’ of inmates is pretty remarkable. Some very famous and infamous New Zealanders have languished behind those stone walls. Who stands out for you as one of the most significant inmates?
Col. Pita Awatere DSO MC stands out for me. He was a Ma¯ ori Battalion commander, an Auckland City Councillor, a renowned expert in taiaha and other traditional arts, who could also read Latin and quote Shakespeare by the hour. He became the kauma¯ tua of the prison in the 1970s, and inspired many young Ma¯ ori inmates to engage with their language and culture.
There have been some great personalities among them, and you got to interview a couple of them. Can you tell us a bit about that?
the collection’s debut work.
Polly is their wild child, her relationship with her mother Awhi is fraught, at best.
She quits Auckland for Kings Cross at the height of the swinging 60s.
Polly’s daughter Gina, now 11, remains in Auckland with Awhi but Polly’s desperate to have her back.
When she surreptitiously whisks Gina across the Tasman a tug-of-love between
What are the lessons one can take from the history of this place do you think?
■ the measure of a civilised society is the way it treats its lowest-status citizens
■ poverty causes crime — always has, always will
■ behaviour that we regard as criminal in one era becomes normal in another, so we should be alert to what activity we currently regard as criminal
■ and no one likes living with a brimming chamberpot under their bed.
The old prison is now empty and deteriorating. What do you think should happen to it?
I end the book by setting out the various new uses people have suggested for this large, unique, publicly-owned facility which sits on the most valuable real estate in the country. Personally, I’m strongly in favour of turning at least part of the old prison into a national museum of our penal system, as other countries have done. the pair reignites each’s animosity for the other.
Awhi’s distraught, demanding her return but Polly’s resolute, Gina’s hers and she has no intention of letting her go. Gina quickly adapts to her new home and the “out there” characters who frequent the Cross, Polly’s transgender flatmates Rhonda and Star included.
When Gina joins them in the house with jacaranda of this book’s title in the garden, Polly’s already drug dependent.
When she succumbs to temptation and becomes a heroin addict Gina, mature for her years, helps Star and Rhonda care for her.
But drugs aren’t Polly’s only demons. She nurses a deeply buried secret relating to Gina’s birth.
Only an author of Challinor’s calibre can weave a scenario as complex as this into such an outstanding novel with every element so totally believable.
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