‘I can honestly say that this is one of the best books I have ever read’ - Booksellers NZ blog

Wry, moving, beautifully observed and politically astute, this novel from one of our finest chroniclers pinpoints universal truths through very New Zealand lives.

Life isn’t always like it appears in the movies. In 1952, Irene Sandle takes her young daughter to Motueka. Irene was widowed during the war and is seeking a new start and employment in the tobacco fields. There, she finds the reality of her life far removed from the glamour of the screen. Can there be romance and happy endings, or will circumstances repeat through the generations? Each subsequent episode in this poignant work follows family secrets and the dynamics of Irene’s children. The story doesn’t just track their lives, but also New Zealand itself as its attitudes and opportunities change - and reverberate - through the decades.

‘… she is at a literary point when age is all gain - consummate craft, passion aplenty, the complex resonance of memory, and the edginess that comes from knowing about loss’ - New Zealand Books

Winner of the Heritage Book Awards, Fiction Category