Five Quick Questions with Jenny Pattrick
1 Do you still make jewellery?
I still have my jewellery bench and I make just for family and close friends. Not commercially. My hands are arthritic and fumble a bit over intricate work. When I was chairperson of the Arts Council in the 80s I didn’t have time for serious jewelling. And after that it seemed time for something new. Writing.
2 You have lived in the same house for 50 years. What do you love about it?
I love the solid bones of this 116-year-old house: its high stud and big rooms. It sits on a hill looking over the harbour — morning sun to the east and warm, west-facing rooms to keep the house cosy in the evenings. Wind of course too; you can’t have views and sun like this in Wellington without the gales. We look out on tall trees that we planted, and a park where schoolchildren and families play. But mostly I love the memories that live in these rooms: the children and grandchildren growing up here; the family parties; students singing and dancing at after-show hoolies; our great Christmas carols evenings. And Laughton’s long illness and death. This house was perfect for that. He was able to enjoy life at home till the end, so that memory is precious.
3 You became a bestselling novelist in your 60s. What advice do you have for those who wish they could do what you do?
You need perseverance, a tough hide and a good dollop of luck. It took me six years of rejections and rewriting to get Denniston Rose published. Being older and having survived the Arts Council’s slings and arrows were an advantage. And that first novel coincided with a time when readers in Aotearoa were ready to read fiction about our own past. The publishers thought they were taking a great risk, but Denniston Rose became an instant bestseller. My good luck.
4 Any unfulfilled dreams?
I would like to be fluent in sign language, which I think is beautiful to watch. Every morning I practise the word of the day on the NZ sign language app. But I will never be fluent, because I have no deaf friend to practise with. My greatest unfulfilled dream is to be able to play piano. Laughton made sure the family could sing as a choir in four parts. Now that he has died we lack a pianist and the singing is suffering. We have other instrumentalists but the piano seems vital. Is it too late? Perhaps not. We tend to live long lives after all.
5 What are you most pleased with/proud of
in Harbouring? It took some courage on my part to write this novel. The 1840s in Port Nicholson (now Wellington) was a controversial time: the first mass arrivals of white settlers; highly questionable land transactions. I’m pleased that I chose, as my main characters, Hineroa, bonded to Ngati Toa but desperate to live as a free woman, and the poverty-stricken Welsh couple Huw and Martha Pengellin: three travellers to this harbour who had nothing to lose. I enjoyed speaking in their different voices; imagining what difficulties they might have encountered, how they saw the leaders, what might have angered or entertained them; brought laughter or hope.