The Canoes of Kupe is a comprehensive account of Martinborough and its personalities from the beginnings of settlement by Maori through to the 21st century.
The Martinborough district, at the southern end of New Zealand’s North Island, has had a colourful history – some similar to other parts of the country and some distinctively different. From the large sheep runs of the 19th century to today’s boutique wineries, it is a story enhanced by Roberta McIntyre’s comprehensive research in private and public archives and her oral history interviews. The author also skilfully places the district’s history within the context of national and international events that had repercussions for life in the town and through its hinterland.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 344

Dimensions: 160 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 05-12-2012

Gina Campbell, last surviving member of a remarkable dynasty, will forever be most closely associated with the fatal attempt by her father to break the water speed record in his astounding boat. In that sense she is indeed the 'daughter of Bluebird' and has played a ceaseless role in the boat's restoration. In this absorbing autobiography she talks about:

Her life with Donald Campbell as father, early-day 'celebrity', and holder of many world records on land and water.
Her personal life three failed marriages, a suicide attempt and finding happiness in later life, only to have it snatched away; her power-boating career and setting two women's world water speed records in 1984 and 1990.
Her reaction to her father's death while attempting to set a new world water speed record on Coniston Water in January 1967.
Her complete shock at the discovery of Bluebird and Donald Campbell's body by divers in 2001.
Her decision to authorise the removal of the boat and Campbell's remains from the lake despite widespread opposition.
The decision to restore Bluebird and house her in the Ruskin Museum on Coniston Water. Her dream of once again seeing and hearing Bluebird on the lake.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 286

Dimensions: 160 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 01-09-2012

Banks Peninsula, treasured by Christchurch
city dwellers, peninsula residents
and visitors from afar, is a unique volcanic landform jutting eastwards into the Pacific from the otherwise unsurprising Canterbury Plains.
Once forested from side to side, and from sea to summits, the land was stripped of nearly all its trees, and much of its original
wildlife, by two great waves of human colonisation, Polynesian and European. Much indigenous biodiversity remains, however,
and native forest cover is increasing.
This book traces what happened, and presents a concise and up-to-date summary of today’s landscape, vegetation and wildlife.
The text is accompanied by stunning photographs and charming drawings, as well as by figures, tables and full checklists of species.
The author is well qualified to write about the region’s flora, fauna, geology and ecology. For more than 20 years Hugh Wilson has worked on Hinewai, a privately owned and funded nature reserve that is freely open to the public. Before that he undertook
a five-year detailed botanical survey of Banks Peninsula.
Natural History of Banks Peninsula, now in this revised edition, is essential reading for locals and visitors alike. For the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust, which sponsored
its publication, the book is part of a mission to disseminate information and foster the protection and restoration of the region’s special natural values.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 144

Dimensions: 148 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 20-04-2013

LORNA STAVELEY ANKER was born in 1914. She used to joke that this was the cause of the First World War. In truth, the poems in this fine collection reveal her as New Zealand’s first woman war poet. There are poems here that arise from her childhood memories of Kaiser Bill. Three of her uncles died in France.
She was a ‘war widow’ in the Second World War, one of the civilian casualties who make up what is known as ‘the unsung generation’.
This collection contains the best of her published poems and a substantial number never seen before. Edited with loving care by Canterbury poet Bernadette Hall, this is a book that will open your eyes to our nation’s invisible history, the story of a seemingly ordinary life that proves to be extraordinary in the telling.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 96

Dimensions: 148 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 20-04-2013

Alison Jackson's staged realism toys with our voyeuristic and fame-fueled fantasies. Her mockumentary approach uses look-alikes to create elaborate imaginary scenes of famous people. Cheeky and often shocking, her fabulously fake scenarios question the level of reality present in our media-saturated existences. Along the way, she challenges us to question how much of what we know (or think we know) about well-known figures can actually be true: Could it all be a deluded projection of our own mundane lives? Is loneliness and disconnection at the heart of wanting to come close to our famous "friends?" Why are we so curious about people we'll probably never meet - whose whole existence might just be a carefully constructed performance?

Bind: hardback

Pages: 96

Dimensions: 270 x 360 mm

Publication Date: 01-01-2013

Stewart Ferris uses his industry know-how to give you all the tips, tricks and inside knowledge you will need to become a successful writer, covering all types of writing from books to scripts and beyond. This accessible and informative guide is packed with advice to equip you with the skills you need to launch a writing career:

• Find the time and place to write

• Make the most of new technologies

• Maximise your chances of selling your work

So what are you waiting for? Pick up your pen, open your laptop and fire up your imagination. Whichever tools you choose, the time to start is now.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 129 x 198 mm

Publication Date: 07-01-2013

William Shakespeare and John Milton are the two most important poets in English. Shakespeare’s achievements are unchallengeable and secure. Milton can make a far more controversial claim to eminence. He wrote the only poem in English recognized as an epic, Paradise Lost, a poem which challenged the beliefs and presuppositions of all of its readers. As a literary writer, his political and historical significance is unique; he was at the centre of the most traumatic period of modern British history, and this left an imprint on his writings.
Richard Bradford addresses two key topics in this short account of Milton’s life and work: the parallels between Paradise Lost and the events in England of the mid-to-late-seventeenth century; and the question of whether Milton’s writings reflect his sense of despair at man’s apparent failure to make the best of our world after the Fall and is thus the first testimony of his religious doubt.

Fascinating for both the general reader and for academics, Richard Bradford brings new understanding to the life, times and works of one of Britain’s most significant writers.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 120

Publication Date: 22-02-2013

Say thank you to someone special with these fun and stylish little books, packed full of lovingly selected quotations and retro illustrations for a special person in your life.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 96

Dimensions: 101 x 136 mm

Publication Date: 07-01-2013

Say thank you to someone special with these fun and stylish little books, packed full of lovingly selected quotations and retro illustrations for a special person in your life.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 96

Dimensions: 101 x 136 mm

Publication Date: 07-01-2013

Any mother could perform the jobs of several air traffic controllers with ease. Lisa Alther Say thank you to someone special with this fun and stylish book packed full of lovingly selected quotations and grateful words for a MARVELLOUS MUM

Bind: hardback

Pages: 96

Publication Date: 07-01-2013