Drybread

Rich and subtle, this is a compelling novel from one of New Zealand's finest writers. It is a moving study of love and disappointment, of the harm we do to each other, knowingly and unknowingly, of the power and significance of landscape in our lives. A graveyard is all that's left of the remote Central Otago settlement of Drybread, which miners, often hungry and disappointed, once searched for gold. It is to an old cottage nearby that Penny Maine-King flees with her young son, defying a Californian court order awarding custody of the child to her estranged husband. And seeking her in this austere, burnt country is journalist Theo Esler. He is after a story, but he discovers something far more personal and significant.

Brief history of Hereford cattle: v. 1, p. 359-375.

Documenting a theater project for incarcerated youth in a New Mexico juvenile detention facility, this book presents the script of a play about prison life, and interweaves the author's creative, self-reflective text (autoethnography). The collaborative experience of writing and staging such a play enacted by prisoners frames a discussion of larger social and political themes in the criminal justice system, and of the complexities of getting juveniles to engage with variously positioned mentors.

Brief history of Hereford cattle: v. 1, p. 359-375.