The Talking Competition

Nyree Brennan lived of the fat of the land. She was 100% Pure New Zealand – as the tourist ads on the London Underground would have it – bloated with Spring lamb, butter and cream.

To escape the fallout from a racist incident fuelled by her nicotine cravings, Nyree is sent by one daughter in Aotearoa (New Zealand) to another in London. The reader is taken into the lives of her offspring to witness the contest between disharmonious voices engendered by family conflict and the dynamics of colonial legacies.

The novel’s afterword – What Makes Pakeha Tick? – explores the question raised by Patu Hohepa that ‘no one has any idea of what Pakeha society is and how it ticks.’