She needed to put it all behind her now. As they walked on, she linked arms with Deirdre.
Afterword
The idea for this work of fiction came to us after yet another conversation deploring inequalities in New Zealand. Both of us lived through the era of Rogernomics and were aware of the tensions in the Fourth Labour Government. Lois, who had been a political candidate herself in the late seventies and early eighties, was acquainted with David Lange.
The central motif of the book, a plot to kill David Lange, is of course fictional, as far as we know! We did read widely about the period and have otherwise kept close to the facts. There was a fire in David Lange’s flat and his health, particularly his stomach pains, did cause concern to his staff and associates before his heart condition was diagnosed and treated. There were huge tensions amongst rival factions in Cabinet, the Labour caucus and the Party and it is a matter of historical record that Roger Douglas and his colleagues joined forces in Lange’s second term to topple him. Some of the phrases we use, including ‘let’s roll the fat man’, were reported in memoirs of the time, although they clearly referred to staging a coup not an assassination. Although New Zealand has never had a prime minister assassinated, it is worth recalling that David Lange himself told television news that former US Vice-President Dan Quayle had said Lange would have to be ‘liquidated’. Apparently our Security Intelligence Services assessed the threat as not credible. Lange, demonstrating his characteristic jokiness, told CNN that he did not feel at risk from someone who couldn’t spell ‘potato’, referring to a blunder Quayle had once made.
Key sources for the history of the Lange government were:
David Lange, My Life. Auckland: Penguin Books, 2006.
Margaret Pope, At the Turning Point: My Political Life With David Lange. Auckland: AM Pub., 2011.
Harvey McQueen, The Ninth Floor: Inside the Prime Minister’s Office: A Political Experience. Auckland: Penguin Books, 1991.
Margaret Clark (ed.) For the Record: Lange and the Fourth Labour Government. Wellington: Dunmore, 2005.
Thanks also to Auntie Google for endless help with research and fact-checking.
We wish to acknowledge with gratitude those who helped make this book possible. For comments on drafts, Saffron Gardner, Paul Haines, Claire-Louise McCurdy, Lynn Scott, Penelope Todd, Sarah Welch, Jim Welch. For assistance on police procedure, thanks to our contact. For manuscript assessment, thanks to Fleur Beale. Jim Welch copy-edited, James McDonald designed the cover and title page and Christine Borra from Your Books gave us helpful advice. Constance Fein Harding (www.cfeinphotography.com) allowed the use of her artwork for the cover.
We’d like to acknowledge our Shakespeare Reading Group. They sharpened our ear for Shakespeare and his relevance to modern life. The quotes at the heads of chapters are all from Julius Caesar, a classic account of betrayal and political thuggery.
About the Authors
Jennifer Palgrave is the pen name of writing partnership Lois Cox and Hilary Lapsley. Lois and Hilary divide their time between Wellington and Waiheke Island. This is their first Lauren Fraser novel.
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