Farm history hefty tome
tive focuses on Scarfe’s account of the men hired to run the place and their frequent differences of opinion. Often, McLean is away on Government business and getting his decision is frequently a long, drawn out process.
Eventually son Douglas inherits the property and his first action is to head off overseas to get a law degree, the better to handle the many issues of land ownership.
He too earns a knighthood and as a major figure in farming history, carries the station into the 20th century. It was government policy to break up large land holdings rather than mismanagement that led to the fragmentation.
The most amazing thing abut this book is that author Scarfe was a builder and not an academic. It was only on retiring from building that he turned to study and obtained a Master’s degree in history.
In recent years New Zealand readers have been well served with histories of New Zealand farms. Scarfe’s book will be a welcome addition to the genre. It may be a bit of a read to get through in one take but it makes an interesting volume to delve into.
And if it hadn’t been for Sir Donald, McLean Park could well have had a different name. Ben Casper is not the kind of guy you would like to be button-holed by at an office party. But he would be a useful member of the staff’s pub quiz team.
You see, Casper is a mine of information on topics such as movies and US Presidents. Along with statistics concerning his sex life, he trots out snippets of trivia at the slightest opportunity.
Despite this unwanted information and the suggestive title, this is a thriller. It is not even a romantic thriller.
The book starts with Casper, an online journalist, seeing his girl friend tumble to her death from the sixth floor of her apartment. Suicide?
As Casper starts to dig into the details the story widens into an international incident which vested interests, including the US, China and Russia, want to keep secret.
While digging through the dirt, Casper must also mind his back because all these competing forces would feel safer without him looking on their patches.
Here’s where the trivia fit in. Most thrillers lack authenticity because the characters are fictitious and unknown. Having Casper name dropping is a clever way of disguising the fiction with a layer of famous names, none of whom, incidentally, have anything to do with the plot.
James Patterson has long been