Book description
When the parcel first reaches Rosalind's mail box she is unable to take
it out or even to contemplate opening it. It throws her into a series of
painful recollections and comic-tragic events, which gradually reveal
the nature of the unfortunate experience she has undergone, and
eventually leads to an unexpected and, for the reader, superbly
satisfying resolution of her pain and distress. The novel combines the
robust good humour of Henry Fielding, with the sensitivities of Jane
Austen and the satirical playfulness of Evelyn Waugh. This delightful
combination produces a black comedy of manners, which, once taken up,
can't be put down. 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).
