A.C. (Archie) Barrington was a leading New Zealand pacifist during World War 2. Incarcerated in Mount Crawford Prison for his beliefs in 1941, he kept an illicit diary, scrawled in the margins of books. Many years later his son John happened across the diary and painstakingly reconstructed it. Such documents are exceptionally rare – until recent times prisoners were not allowed to keep any record of their experiences and many were illiterate anyway. Barrington vividly and compellingly recorded the squalid, rundown conditions, monotonous and exhausting labour, the intense cold from which there was little protection, and the strategies he and his fellow pacifists adopted to enable them to cope with prison life. John Pratt has edited the diary and provides a fascinating commentary on the issues it raises in relation to prison life then and now. He also addresses a fundamental question – what were Barrington and his like doing in prison, when similar expressions of dissent would almost certainly have been ignored in Australia or Britain? Why was New Zealand, with its ‘fair go’, egalitarian reputation, so intolerant and punitive? Pratt chronicles a history of intolerance, suspicion and deep-seated antipathies that may go some way towards explaining the current penal saturation in this ‘friendly’ land.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 280

Dimensions: 150 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 19-02-2016

A haunting, off-the-beaten-track destination, the little-known Catlins region of New Zealand is as mysterious today as it ever was. In this first in-depth look at the lives of its inhabitants, award-winning writer Diana Noonan and photographer Cris Antona collaborate to capture the thoughts and feelings of 26 women from this remote outpost. As the subjects speak for themselves on topics as diverse as family, work, isolation and their relationship with the environment, there is, at last, an opportunity for readers to enter into the heart of this rugged, unknown landscape where few venture and only the strongest make it home.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 192

Dimensions: 250 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 15-04-2016

Botticelli is one of the most admired artists of the Renaissance period and his seductive Venus and graceful Primavera are among the world's most recognisable works of art. This catalogue raisonne of Botticelli's paintings offers more than two hundred full-colour illustrations and meticulous scholarship by the distinguished Renaissance art historian Frank Zollner , described by The Financial Times, when reviewing this book's previous edition, as "a fabulous, accessible scholar; his book has luscious reproductions and exquisite detail." Presented in chronological order, the facts of Botticelli's life and career are insightfully discussed against the background of the artistic upheaval that marked the Renaissance period. The artist's reinterpretations of ancient myths as well as his religious paintings are thoughtfully explored in this sumptuously illustrated volume, which will please scholars and delight lovers of fine art books everywhere.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 320

Dimensions: 222 x 320 mm

Publication Date: 11-08-2015

Autobiography of New Zealand dance legend Sir Jon Trimmer, whose timespan and durability as a performer is unique in world ballet. The first part, a narrative, follows Jon’s journey - The fledgling years of New Zealand Ballet founded by Poul Gnatt Training at London’s Royal Ballet School International performance with Sadler’s Wells, Australian Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet Dancing alongside Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev A career with Royal New Zealand Ballet, and his knighthood The second part gives a whole quota of tips for emerging dancing, including dancing for males, retaining fitness, character dancing, and ways of making a career out of dance.

Bind: paperback

Dimensions: 165 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 30-06-2018

‘John has written an account that had me alternately laughing and crying as I read it. … A fascinating introduction to the sport of triathlon, its personalities and its progression to the Olympic sport it is today.’ Erin Baker. In Never, Ever Give Up? John Hellemans looks back on his long career in triathlon, initially as a successful competitor, and subsequently as a coach, sports medicine doctor and advisor for some of New Zealand’s best-performing triathletes, including Erin Baker, Kris Gemmell and Andrea Hewitt. In this frank, entertaining and often poignant account he provides a fascinating insight into the professional triathlon world and its personalities, including athletes and other coaches. His exploration of the compulsive attraction of one of the toughest sports, which has kept him hooked into his 60s, will appeal to anyone with an interest in human nature as well as to sports enthusiasts. Adding context and subtext to his sporting career, Hellemans relives significant episodes from his family life in Holland where he grew up under the threat of the Cold War, and his adventures as a young doctor in rural New Zealand, adjusting to a different culture and its customs. A former competitive swimmer, he was captivated by a TV broadcast of the 1979 Les Mills New Zealand Ironman Championships in Auckland and his passion for the new sport was ignited. Along with Erin Baker, whom he coached in her early career, Hellemans competed at the forefront of triathlon as it swept the world, experimenting with training strategies and technical innovations. Struggling to balance his medical and family responsibilities with professional competition, he made a successful move into coaching and mentoring. As well as relating his own trials, triumphs and tribulations in the sport, Hellemans describes the courage and determination of athletes he has coached, as they overcame injury and other setbacks to compete at world level, and he shares the excruciating intensity of watching when they sometimes came to grief. Never, Ever Give Up? explores the motivation that kept Hellemans going back for more and that saw him completing the gruelling Hawaii Ironman in searing heat at the age of 60. Less than two years later, he suffered an exercise-induced cardiac event after a local cross-country run. Was his body telling him that it was time to give up?

Bind: paperback

Pages: 240

Dimensions: 152 x 228 mm

Publication Date: 20-08-2018

Forewords by the Right Honourable Helen Clark and Right Honourable James Bolger When young Pat Lynch was growing up in south Auckland, helping his father in the garden and enjoying the beach with his siblings, little did he know that in his future he'd be influencing politicians of all persuasions, and even a prime minister or two. This book tells the story of his path through New Zealand's education system. Starting as a De La Salle teaching Brother, he eventually became involved in smoothing the way for the integration of church schools into the state system, and doing his best to make sure all were dealt with fairly and equitably.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 153 x 233 mm

Publication Date: 01-04-2018

Letters from WWII New Zealand Expeditionary Force 1940-1943 R.G. (Dick) Harris These letters are from Egypt, Greece, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Italy: Dick Harris travelled huge distances in North Africa, the Middle East and Southern Europe. For more than three years he lived with bombing from the air and shelling fro the ground. He manoeuvred guns and ammunition, lived in slit trenches and tents, talked with people from other cultures, and learned the skills of radio operation. He was a quiet gentle person who liked his own company, read widely, enjoyed writing and painting. World War II brought adventure, exploration, companionship, challenges, hardship and loss. It changed his life forever. This is his story, told in his own words, and the story of many New Zealanders who set out to defeat tyranny and make the world a better place.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 151

Dimensions: 160 x 222 mm

Publication Date: 31-10-2017

Owning chickens is fast becoming the latest in metropolitan chic. If you can't own them, you'll still want to read about them. Primal urges, the quest for ultimate power, sex, death, gender bending, and huge vet bills--these are the things that chickens are made of. Martin Gurdon's hilarious Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance relives the highs and lows of chicken ownership. This unique chicken memoir follows the Gurdon family through the ups and downs of a wonderful hobby. In addition to providing eggs, the hens offer distractions from everyday life. You'll meet a cast of unusual characters, from the frightening disciplinary measures of Bossy Chicken, and the maternal instincts of Psycho Chicken, to the bizarre tales of Mike the headless chicken from Colorado, and the physical rehabilitation and sexual transformation of Yvette. The relationship between bird and human is by turns heartwarming and bewildering, but always entertaining. In fact, readers might even learn a thing or two about raising chickens in this lively book. Inside Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance, Updated Second Edition Hilarious account of a rookie poultry-owner's experience raising birds in his backyard. James Herriot meets Bill Bryson in this wryly amusing memoir of one man's relationship with his chickens. Chronicles the daily life of a chicken, including dust baths, brutal pecking-order rituals, gender-bending encounters, and for its owner the possibility of huge vet bills. Updated second edition features new photographs and a new chapter. A must for chicken lovers and a must for anyone with a quirky sense of humor. Beyond the laughs there are even some practical lessons to be learnt about what not to do when keeping chickens!

Bind: paperback

Pages: 176

Dimensions: 153 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 10-05-2018

Hudson & Halls: The food of love is more than just a love story, though a love story it certainly is. It is a tale of two television chefs who helped change the bedrock bad attitudes of a nation in the 1970s and 80s to that unspoken thing – homosexuality. Peter Hudson and David Halls became reluctant role models for a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ generation of gay men and women who lived by omission. They were also captains of a culinary revolution that saw the overthrow of Aunty Daisy and Betty Crocker and the beginnings of Pacific-rich, Asian-styled international cuisine. Their drinking, bitching and bickering on screen, their spontaneous unchoreographed movements across the stage that left cameras and startled production staff exposed broke taboos and melted formalities. They captivated an unlikely bunch of viewers, from middle-aged matrons to bush-shirted blokes. Hudson and Halls were pioneers of celebrity television as we know it today: the naughty, not-quite-normal boys next door who rocketed to stardom on untrained talent and a dream. When Peter Hudson became seriously ill with prostate cancer, David Halls was inconsolable. What remained unchanged through it all was their abiding love for each other. In this riveting, fast-paced and meticulously researched book, New York Times bestselling author Joanne Drayton celebrates the legacy of the unforgettable Hudson and Halls.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 304

Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 19-10-2018

From the classrooms and playgrounds of early 1900s New Zealand to the battlefields of Gallipoli, the tragedy of the Marquette, and the trenches of France, this is the story of Private Leslie McAlpine. Many families in New Zealand have an Anzac who served in the First World War. Leslie is the Anzac in our family. He is a fit, healthy young man who never completely loses hope that he will get back home. His story shows how decisions made in the wider world affect our lives and our opportunities. Leslie leaves New Zealand as one of the 2235 men in the 4th Reinforcements and the story follows their lives and deaths. In 1914, as New Zealand goes to war, Leslie is in the navy, on the Torch, and loving it. But he wants to see a bit more action. He reads the accounts in the papers describing what the New Zealand and Australian soldiers are doing as they travel across the world in convoy and he wants to be part of that. So in January 1915 he enlists in the army in the 4th Reinforcements. He is just 18. With an adventure before him that everyone in New Zealand approves of and celebrates, what can possibly go wrong? The Allied forces and politicians plan strategies and make decisions. Leslie and the 4th Reinforcements follow orders and do their very best. Surviving Gallipoli and the Marquette disaster, Leslie is killed in action on the Western Front. He is just 19.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 242

Dimensions: 170 x 239 mm

Publication Date: 30-03-2018