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A gripping historical novel set amid the New Zealand Wars in 1860.
As English settlers wage war upon local iwi in colonial Taranaki, two women confront their pasts to survive the present.
Frances is an unmarried Londoner newly landed in New Zealand, 1860, at the dawn of the First Taranaki War. Once well-regarded, her family’s fall from grace sees them struggling to learn the strange etiquette of settler life.
When Frances comes face-to-face with Henry White, the man who jilted her a decade earlier, he’s standing outside Thorpe’s General Store with a sack of flour in his arms. Henry is married now – to the proud and hardy Mataria, who is shunned by her whanau due to this controversial marriage.
As conflict between settlers and iwi rises, both women must find the courage to fight for what is right, even if it costs them everything they know. As their lives intersect in surprising and catastrophic ways, the question remains – will they ever belong, or do their fates lie in the uncomfortable space between?
This gripping historical debut by Lauren Keenan (Te Ati Awa ki Taranaki) is a story of the transformative power of hope, the unbreakable bonds of whenua and family, and the discovery of love in the least likely of places.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Imprint: Penguin Books NZ
Publication date: 05/03/2024
The Space Between
by Lauren Keenan
Review by Marija
This is an enthralling story set in the 1860s during the New Zealand Wars, in particular the impending Taranaki War in New Plymouth. The main protagonists are two women, on what would be the opposing sides, linked by their relationship to one man. Frances is a spinster, recently moved to New Plymouth due to her family’s dwindling fortunes. Matāria is a Māori woman, married to a white man. Both women are forced to navigate their lives in the space in-between, neither rejected, nor fully accepted, by their families. I really enjoyed the confluence of the women’s vastly different lives, with the universal human themes of love and acceptance. Together with the seamless weaving of historical facts throughout, I felt that I learnt as much as I took pleasure in reading this book. Highly recommended for historical fiction buffs, those wanting to learn more about NZ history, or anyone looking for a great story.
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