Book description
An evocative memoir about the emergence of a pre-eminent writer in a
changing world 'What I have to tell is largely a personal narrative
about how I came to inhabit a fictional world' This absorbing memoir
explores the first half of writer Fiona Kidman's life, notably in
Kerikeri amid the 'sharp citric scent of orange groves, bright heat and
. . . the shadow of Asia' - at the end of Darwin Road. From the distance
of France, where Kidman spent time as the Katherine Mansfield Fellow in
Menton, she reconsiders the past, weaving personal reflection and
experience with the history of the places where she lived, particularly
the fascinating northern settlements of Kerikeri and Waipu, and further
south the cities of Rotorua and Wellington. Her story crosses paths with
those of numerous different New Zealanders, from the Tuhoe prophet Rua
Kenana, to descendants of the migration from Scotland led by a
charismatic Presbyterian minister, to other writers and significant
friends. We learn of Kidman's struggles to establish herself as a writer
and to become part of different communities, and how each worked their
way into her fiction. At the End of Darwin Road is a vivid memoir of
place and family, and of becoming a writer: 'I was certain that . . . I
would continue to write, if possible, every day of my life.' Fiona
Kidman has published over 20 books, including novels, poetry,
non-fiction and a play. She has worked as a librarian, creative writing
teacher, radio producer and critic, scriptwriter for radio, television
and film, but primarily as a writer. The New Zealand Listener wrote: Â
In her craft and her storytelling and in her compassionate gutsy tough
expression of female experience, she is the best we have. She has been
the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships; in more recent years
The Captive Wife was runner-up in the 2006 Montana Book Awards Deutz
Medal for Fiction, and her short story collection The Trouble with Fire
was shortlisted for both the NZ Post Book Awards and the Frank OÂ Connor
Award. She was created a Dame (DNZM) in 1998 in recognition of her
contribution to literature, and more recently a Chevalier de l Ordre
des Arts et des Lettres and a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour.
 We cannot talk about writing in New Zealand without acknowledging
her, wrote New Zealand Books.  Kidman s accessible prose and the way
she shows (mainly) women grappling to escape from restricting social
pressures has guaranteed her a permanent place in our fiction.Â
