A refugee in the Hutt
A Sri Lankan-born novelist creates an indelible and endearing heroine.
SODDEN DOWNSTREAM (Lawrence & Gibson, $29) is local author Brannavan Gnanalingam’s fifth novel, but the first to feature a character from his country of birth, Sri Lanka. Sita is a Tamil refugee, who lives in the Hutt Valley and works as a cleaner in Wellington. When a flood halts all transport, Sita’s boss warns her that if she doesn’t show up, she’ll lose her job. As Sita supports her husband and son, she must find a way to get to work. But for every step she takes closer to her goal, she seems fated to be set back two, despite the willingness of everyone around her to help. Longlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, this novel is a gem. Sita is a gentle, endearing vessel for the themes of social injustice, and her determination and optimism should qualify her as one of fiction’s great heroines. Highly recommended.
In FOOLS AND MORTALS (HarperCollins,
$36.99), Bernard Cornwell diverges from his usual battle-scarred heroes to give us an actor, Richard Shakespeare, the younger brother of the betterknown William. Tired of the female roles his brother somewhat maliciously insists on casting him in, Richard starts looking around for companies that might give him more manly parts. In doing so, he uncovers a plot to steal his brother’s latest play, and has to decide where his loyalties lie. It’s not often you see the Bard cast as an action hero, but here he and his company of players are quite the tough gang, scrapping it out in London’s back alleys. Comparisons with the movie Shakespeare in Love are inevitable, though Cornwell is no Tom Stoppard. But if the plot loses focus at times, it’s pacy, and the description of the debut performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is gripping fun.
Just after his wife dies, Henry Calder is fired from his job as editor of a fashionable New York magazine. Henry has both fond and dark memories of his working life and marriage, and when young, stroppy artist Maggie enters his life, Henry is forced to admit that the reality of who he is may differ from what he’s always preferred to believe. THE BENEFACTOR (Text Publishing,
$37) is the second novel by young local author Sebastian Hampson, who writes so nicely that you wish you could like the book more, but it needs much more emotional depth. We’re told a lot about feelings, but not given enough convincing demonstrations of them for us to truly connect. And although Henry’s endless recitations of New York’s cool spots and the brand names of his possessions make a point about his character, they start to grate. Fewer swanky restaurants and more intimacy are what this book needs to shine. l
It’s not often you see the Bard cast as an action hero, but he and his company of players are quite the tough gang.