Book description
A memoir - with recipes - from a well-loved writer with a unique and
quirky take on life. Looking back over her varied life in a range of
roles, including daughter, wife, mother, journalist and novelist,
Shonagh Koea has collected a store of vivid memories that often centre
on food. In these moving vignettes, she recalls her past, giving us a
privileged insight into her life and into a New Zealand that no longer
exists, along with delicious recipes and a strong sense of the gentle
yet significant encounters we have with strangers and acquaintances.
Much more than a straightforward memoir, this book is an astute and
sometimes wry observation of social interaction, of New Zealand's recent
history and of the place that food has in our everyday lives. It is also
the intriguing story of a unique writer, of her life, her thoughts and
her work. Shonagh Koea s notable writing career met with early
success in a Woman s Weekly writing contest, in which (aged eight) she
won two guineas. She went on to become a journalist and to win the Air
New Zealand Short Story Award (1981), and more recently to write three
short story collections as well as seven novels. Of the novels, Sing to
Me, Dreamer was a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards (1995) and The
Lonely Margins of the Sea was runner-up for the Deutz Medal for Fiction
(1999). Shonagh Koea has also held the University of Auckland Fellowship
in Literature (1993) and the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship (1997).
