The Trowenna Sea: A Novel

Front Cover
Raupo, 2009 - Fiction - 528 pages
The little-known fact that Maori prisoners served as convicts in 1840s Tasmania provides the inspiration for this engrossing, sweeping new novel by Witi Ihimaera. Hohepa Te Umuroa is with Te Rauparaha at the Wairau killings in the 1840s, and at Boulcotts Farm in the Hutt Valley when white settlers lose their lives. Convicted of insurrection, he and four companions are transported to the convict town of Hobart to serve their sentences. Ismay Glossop and her doctor husband Gower McKissock have also come to Tasmania, via Nelson, New Zealand. On Maria's Island near Hobart, their lives intersect with the five Maori, with unexpected consequences. Witi Ihimaera returns from rewriting his early books with this brand-new novel, a compelling historical drama that places one of New Zealand's master storytellers at the height of his powers.

About the author (2009)

Witi Ihimaera was born in Gisborne, New Zealand on February 7, 1944 into a Maori family of Mormons. After completing a B.A. in English, he worked as a journalist in New Zealand and started writing fiction. His first collection of short stories, Pounamu Pounamu, was published in 1972 and his first novel, Tangi, was published in 1973. His other works include Whanau, The Matriarch, The Whale Rider, The Dream Swimmer, Sky Dancer, The Trowenna Sea, and The Parihaka Woman. In 1982 he coedited an anthology of Maori writing, Into the World of Light, and continues to be a champion of literature in English by Maoris. In 2015 his title's Maori Boy: A Memoir and White Lies made The New Zealand Best Seller List and in 2016 it won the New Zealand Award general nonfiction award.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Trowenna Sea: A Novel
New Zealand Bestsellers List
AuthorWiti Ihimaera
PublisherRaupo, 2009
ISBN0143202456, 9780143202455
Length528 pages
Subjects › 

Fiction / General
  
Export CitationBiBTeX EndNote RefMan