Dear Oliver: Uncovering a Pakeha History

(Paperback)

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A fresh way to look at New Zealand's history When writer and historian Peter Wells found a cache of family letters amongst his elderly mother's effects, he realised that he had the means of retracing the history of a not-untypical family swept out to New Zealand during the great nineteenth-century human diaspora from Britain. His family experienced the war against Te Kooti, the Boer War, the Napier earthquake of 1931 and the Depression. They rose from servant status to the comforts of the middle class. There was army desertion, suicide, adultery, AIDS, secrets and lies. There was also success, prosperity and social status. In digging deep into their stories, examining letters from the past and writing a letter to the future, Peter Wells constructs a novel and striking way to view the history of Pakeha New Zealanders.

Reviews

There is extensive research and content in this work, in what is a poignant and deeply sensitive portrayal of his ageing mother and confronting mortality. Jessie Neilson, Otago Daily Times; You dont just read this memoir; you feel it. ... Its a meticulously written story, pitch-perfect and pace-perfect most of the time ... generous, forgiving, yet forensically unflinching when necessary. David Hill, Weekend Herald; Dear Oliver is an important, meticulously researched book that will resonate with readers on many levels. It certainly brought a few tears of recognition to my eyes. Linda Herrick, NZ Listener; A wonderful feat of dexterity ... beautiful writing ... riveting and exciting Tilly Lloyd, Unity Books

Author Bio

Peter Wells is a writer of fiction and nonfiction, and a writer/director in film. His fiction looks at a world of secrets, identity, subterfuge and illusion, frequently using the lens of a gay narrator. His first book, Dangerous Desires, won the Reed Fiction Award, the NZ Book Award, and PEN Best New Book in Prose in 1992. His memoir The Long Loop Home won the 2002 Montana NZ Book Award for Biography, and he has won many awards for his work as a film director. He is co-founder of the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival. In 2006, Wells was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature and film. His most recent histories examined William Colenso and Kereopa Te Rau, the Pai Mairere follower who was hanged for murdering Rev Carl Volkner.