Book details

Book description

A poignant and contentious novel by a rising star of New Zealand literature. Box Saxton just wants to bury his teenage stepson s body in the churchyard near the farm where Box grew up. What happens, though, when the boy s biological father, a Maori leader, unexpectedly turns up in the days before the funeral and forcibly takes the boy s body? According to Maori custom the boy must be buried in the tribe s ancestral cemetery at the small coastal town of Kaipuna. According to the law there is very little Box can do. With no plan and little hope, Box gets in his old truck and drives north, desperate and heartbroken. Settlers' Creek explores the claims of both indigenous people and more recent settlers to have a spiritual link to the land. Carl Nixon is a full-time writer of fiction and plays. As well as various works for theatre, such as The Birthday Boy and The Raft, he has written stage-adaptations of The Book of Fame and J. M. Coetzee's Booker Prize winner Disgrace. His first book, Fish 'n' Chip Shop Song and other Stories was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize best first book award, his debut novel Rocking Horse Road has been released in Germany and saw him described as 'a major talent' and more recently he has published the gripping novel Settler's Creek. He lives in Christchurch with his young family.