Tree of Strangers

(Hardback)

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Description

Like many adopted children, filmmaker Barbara Sumner yearned to know who her mother was. New Zealand's closed adoption laws made that almost impossible and coloured her chaotic adolescence and adult life. When she finally tracked her mother down, a longed-for reunion ended in tragedy. This remarkable, moving, beautifully written memoir explores Sumner's conviction that everyone who loses their mother suffers some degree of physiological damage. They are all grafted onto the tree of strangers.

Reviews

'It packs a wallop' - John Campbell, TVNZ; 'A rare window into the inner questions one asks around identity, family, right and wrong, which, if you are anything like me, will leave you reflecting on your own journey for some time to come.' - Royna Ngahuia Fifield-Hakaraia, Shepherdess; 'Barbara Sumner's Tree of Strangers is, through her sharp intellect and exquisitely cinematic writing, a book of ... social and literary importance.' - Caroline Barron, Kete.

Author Bio

Barbara Sumner has had a long career in film and television and a journalist. She now runs the film production company Cloud South Pictures with her husband, Tom Burstyn. She has produced three feature documentaries, a number of television commercials and instructional films. In 2009 This Way of Life, their documentary movie about a family living simply in the Ruahine Ranges, won awards at film festivals around the world. In 2020 she is enrolled at the IML at Victoria University. She lives in Napier.