Pages: 224

Dimensions: 156 x 234 mm

Publication Date: 01-04-2009

This gem of a memoir was first published in hardback in November 2006. Two printings sold out in a year to critical acclaim. Born in Hatfield but raised in Eire and educated at Eton and Cranwell, 1940 found Tim Vigors flying Spitfires and seeing frantic and distinguished service over Dunkirk and then during the dangerous days of The Battle of Britain, when he became an ace. Transferred to the Far East in January 1941 as a flight commander on 10th December he led a flight of Buffaloes to cover the sinking Prince of Wales and Repulse. Dramatically shot down, burnt and attacked on his parachute, he was evacuated to Java, and from there to India. And this is where his hand-written account ends. Throughout, the author describes his experiences in an honest, refreshing way. It is a fascinating and valuable record, one which is now regarded as a classic.

Pages: 320

Dimensions: 128 x 196 x 25 mm

Publication Date: 14-04-2008

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 171 x 243 mm

Publication Date: 01-06-2011

Back in Print - Limited Stock “If ever any one man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I don’t believe it is realized how much that one man, with his leadership, his calm judgement and his skill, did to save not only this country, but the world”. So wrote Marshal of the RAF Lord Tedder in 1947. As commander of No. 11 Group, Fighter Command and responsible for the air defence of London and South-East England, Keith Park took charge of the day-to-day direction of the battle. In spotlighting his thoughts and actions during the crisis, the author reveals a man whose unfailing energy, courage and cool resourcefulness won not only supreme praise from Churchill but the lasting respect and admiration of all who served under him. However, few officers in any of the services packed more action into their lives, and this book covers the whole of his career – youth in New Zealand, success as an ace fighter pilot in World War I, postings to South America and Egypt, Battle of Britain, Command of the RAF in Malta 1942/43, and finally Allied Air Commander-in-Chief of South East Asia under Mountbatten in 1945. His contribution to victory and peace was immense and this biography aims to shed light on the Big Wing controversy of 1940 and give insight into the war in Burma, 1945, and how the huge problems remaining after the war’s sudden end were dealt with. Drawn largely from unpublished sources and interviews with people who knew Park, and illustrated with maps and photographs, this is an authoritative biography of one of the world’s greatest unsung heroes.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 320

Dimensions: 156 x 234 x 25 mm

Publication Date: 30-04-2001

Jimmy Sheddan was one of the many New Zealanders who joined the RNZAF, then left his native land to come to England to fight the enemies of Great Britain and her Empire during World War Two. During the war, Jim Sheddan rose from the rank of sergeant pilot to squadron leader with 486 Squadron, a considerable achievement. This title tells his story.

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 128 x 196 mm

Publication Date: 01-04-2011

A moving and insightful biography of the later years of classic British author E.M. Forster's life. \n Tim Leggatt knew E.M. Forster for the last half of his life, decades after the last of his acclaimed novels was published, and in this memoir he draws on the unpublished correspondence he held with Forster over this period, as well as journals of their travels together, Forster's own confidential diary and his Commonplace Book. 'In Forster's declining years,' Leggatt writes, 'his thoughts often concerned sex and his health, his increasing blindness and deafness, his hospital visits, all of which led him to think about death and how he would meet it and how others did. But this was not as gloomy as it may well sound. 'He was much concerned about the world's growing population and in this country about the disappearance of the countryside. I have also included many of his sharp and attractive descriptions of people and scenes, those of a very perceptive and thoughtful writer.'

Pages: 120

Davey Gunn lived 30 years in Fiordland's rugged Hollyford Valley, where he had one of the most isolated cattle runs in New Zealand. When he moved there in 1926 he left behind his wife and children - and civilisation- for a tough and solitary life he grew to love.
Although quiet and modest by nature, Davey became known throughout New Zealand as a back-country hero for his 20-hour journey to raise the alarm after a fatal plane crash at Big Bay on 1936. His efforts saw the four survivors rescued, and the legend of Davey Gunn began.
Against the almost insuperable odds of difficult country, isolation, the Depression, the depredations of a burgeoning deer population and the constant threat of losing his short-term leases, Davey wrestled to make a living from his largely wild cattle.
He was also keen to open up and share the land he loved, and in the mid-1930s pioneered guided walking and riding trips in the Hollyford and Pyke Valleys. Hollford Camp, also known to this day as Gunns Camp, is testament to the efforts of this true No.8 wire man, who did more than any other individual to alert travellers throughout New Zealand and the world to the unparalleled beauty of this part of Fiordland.
It is somehow fitting that, on Christmas Day 1955, the Hollyford River eventually claimed this remarkable man. The Land of Doing Without brings to life the memories of many of Davey's contemporaries, and explores the man behind the legend: his quirks, his fortitude and his legacy.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 176

Dimensions: 170 x 240 x 15 mm

Publication Date: 14-08-2012

‘Delicious.’ I licked my lips. The wine filled me with joy. A picture of a vineyard drenched in sunlight formed in my mind. Sean drew me rudely back to the lounge of our semi-d. \n 'How can they be in liquidation if they make wine this good?’ \n When Caro and Sean find the perfect ten-hectare vineyard in Saussignac, it seems their dreams of becoming wine-makers in the south of France are about to come true. But they arrive in France with their young family (a toddler and a newborn) to be faced with a dilapidated eighteenth-century farmhouse and an enterprise that may never, ever make them a living. \n Undeterred by mouse infestations, a leaking roof, treacherous hordes of insects, visits from the local farm ‘police’ and a nasty accident with an agricultural trimmer, Caro and Sean set about transforming their ‘beyond eccentric’ winery into a successful business as they embark on the biggest adventure of their lives – learning to make wine from the roots up.

Pages: 288

Climbing entered the world stage in the 1950s: this was the era that produced not only Sir Edmund Hillary but a strong body of world-class New Zealand climbers. In this important and dramatic book Brian Wilkins, who was part of the adventure, shares his experiences of climbing in the Southern Alps and the Himalayas.

During the New Zealand Alpine Club expedition to the Himalayas in 1954, the year after Everest, Wilkins was the climber most closely associated with Hillary. Hillary’s two narrow escapes from death during the expedition saw Wilkins in a unique position to gauge the character and actions of this legendary figure at a formative stage in the famous climber’s career.

Wilkins’ New Zealand climbing includes the first ascent of the northeast ridge of Mt Aspiring, a gripping drama of survival and human endurance and a test of the ethics of mountaineering.

In this account he also submits the writings of his contemporaries to robust critical attention, writing with warm gentle humour, honesty and insight.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 220

Dimensions: 150 x 230 x 12 mm

Publication Date: 20-12-2013

For most of his adult life, Charles Brasch’s most intimate companion was his diary. In these journals, written in London during the Second World War, he is a young man searching for answers. Is he a pacifist? Should he join the army? Is he homosexual? Should he marry? Should he return home to New Zealand when the war ends? Are his poems any good? Some questions are resolved in the course of the journals, others not, but it all makes compelling reading. So, too, do the people we meet in these pages: kith and kin, conscientious objectors, civil servants working at Bletchley Park (as Brasch was to), members of the Adelphi Players, fellow fire wardens, refugees from Europe, and artists and writers both English and Kiwi. As Rachel Barrowman writes in her introductory essay, on his return home Brasch was to hold ‘a central place in New Zealand literary life for two decades’, as founder of Landfall, and as patron, mentor and writer. In these splendid journals, he prepares for that role.



I have to think about my return to NZ & the possibility of living there; the thought of it haunts me, part vision, part nightmare … Charles Brasch, 21.6.42

Bind: hardback

Pages: 648

Dimensions: 170 x 245 mm

Publication Date: 15-10-2013