Past Perfect
Page 35
It has been a great pleasure to assist you in your search. I did enjoy meeting you and your sister and trust that we will meet again some day.
Yours truly,
Gérard du Jardin
Sue riffled through the contents of the envelope. Letters. More letters from Brigitte. She was desperately curious, yet she wanted to savour them. And tonight she felt Ben deserved her attention. With great forbearance, she set the letters aside. So far she had been pleased for the solitude she found in the cottage, but now she was glad of the company. And it was so much more companionable being with Ben than it had been for, for … she didn’t know how long. Was it him, or her? Both, she decided, and it felt good.
They had a leisurely breakfast next morning in the light shade of the apple tree. Ben had been out for an early stroll, returning with croissants and a copy of The Press. The nutty aroma of freshly brewed coffee hung in the morning air.
‘Shall I see if Russell can come for dinner this evening?’ Sue asked, folding the world news section and laying it on the rustic table before Ben. ‘Here. I’ll read this later. It’s too nice a day for all this depressing stuff.’ She stood and stretched.
Ben grinned. ‘I suppose it’s time I met the famous Russell.’
‘I’ll only ask him if you behave yourself. I thought academics were supposed to be liberal.’
‘I am. I am.’
‘Says you.’ Sue cleared the breakfast things away and re-emerged a while later with the package of letters. ‘It’s too early for the museum. I’m going to sit inside and read the letters from my three-times-great-grandmother to her mother in La Rochelle. Oh, Ben!’ Ben stood and hugged her. He said nothing, but kissed her gently on the top of her head. Sue felt the warmth of the sun on her back, the warmth of her husband’s arms about her and the warmth of the letters clutched to her bosom.
She went into the cottage and placed the package on the couch. Through the window she could see the flowers bobbing brightly in the breeze, crisp against the white fence. Sue made herself a mug of tea, slipped off her sandals and propped herself on the couch with cushions, the letters on her lap. She took a sip of tea and started to read:
Akaroa,
Nouvelle-Zélande,
20th August, 1840.
Ma chère Maman,
How thoughts of you have given me strength by day and sadness by night, these long months past!
You came to me again last night, little Albert held to your bosom, Sophie and young Madeleine clutched at your side, Jacques standing tall at your shoulder. The ship’s deck lurched beneath my feet. Yet you stood steadfast. The spars groaned. Wind and swirls of icy rain swept over us. I reached out to you, clambering up the steep incline, but with every step, you drifted further away, out of my grasp, until you were beyond the ship’s rail, hovering over the waves, becoming more and more distant. How my heart ached! …
Crest to Crest
Impressions of Canterbury:
prose and poetry edited by Karen Zelas
Also published by Wily Publications
Crest to Crest is an anthology of contemporary writings about Canterbury gleaned from 78 authors nationwide. The content is organised on a geographic theme: Coast, City, Plains, High Country, each section featuring a selection of memoir, nonfiction, creative nonfiction, short stories and poetry.
Although the focus is Canterbury, every New Zealander has gazed at the sculptural form of a cabbage tree, heard the melodious call of the bellbird, and in every corner of this land our mountains, our maunga, are revered.
Many writers are of national and international repute, while others are established or emerging writers of all ages. Works by Owen Marshall, Fiona Farrell, Apirana Taylor, Bernadette Hall, James Norcliffe, Tony Beyer, Harvey McQueen, Tom Weston, Rachel McAlpine, Michael Harlow, Mark Pirie, Laurence Fearnley, David Eggleton stand alongside poems by Charlotte Trevella (written aged 11) and the delightful ‘Notes from a Godwit’s Diary’, a collaboration by St Andrew’s College Year 3 Students (aged 7). Coral Atkinson, Ruth Arnison, Nancy Cawley, Siobhan Harvey, Jenny Haworth, Claire Hero, Helen Lowe, Frankie McMillan, Diana Menefy, Jenny Powell, Barbara Strang, Pamela Wade are also featured, along with many others.
Through the eyes of these writers the reader can assemble an impression of Canterbury, its variety and richness.
Interesting historical works … memoirs very moving … and those landscapes!
– Lynn Freeman, ‘Chapter and Verse’, Radio New Zealand Arts on Sunday
Very strong sense of place … A good selection.
– Helen Lowe, ‘Women On Air’, PlainsFM
Crest to Crest is a worthy publication, and I recommend it.
– John Fletcher, The Press
… something for everyone … with leading lights such as Owen Marshall, and promising newcomers of the calibre of Charlotte Trevella, it will surely find a place.
– Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, New Zealand Listener
… features a fine array of writers …
– Cy Mathews, Takahe
Wily Publications Ltd
Wily Publications Ltd is a small publishing house interested in historic fiction and non-fiction.
Recent publications include:
Crest to Crest – Impressions of Canterbury: Prose & Poetry, ed. Karen Zelas Work by seventy-eight New Zealand writers, some internationally known, some emerging.
Russian At Heart, Olga and John Hawkes
The story of Olga’s parents’ escape from Russia at the time of the Bolsheviks and their life in Shanghai in the 1930s.
The Art of War: New Zealand War Artists in the Field 1939–1945, Jenny Haworth
The first major study of the work and experiences of New Zealand’s commissioned World War II war artists.
The Undone Years, Jenny Haworth
Set at the end of World War I, this novel tells the story of a New Zealand artist who travels to Paris at the time of the Paris Peace Conference and then on to the war-torn countries of Germany, Austria and Hungary.
To be published in 2010:
Swimming Upstream: the Story of Salmon Farming in New Zealand, Jenny
Haworth
The story of the industry and how it grew from small, experimental beginnings to a multi-million dollar enterprise that put New Zealand salmon on restau- rant plates and supermarket shelves here and overseas.
The Sacrificial Pawn, Peter Jackson
A memoir that tells the story of Peter’s experiences in World War II, when he was captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore. Now over 90 years old, Peter has recaptured in amazing detail the story of his survival.
Capturing Mountains: A Biographical Sketch of Austen Deans, Nathalie Brown
A study of the life of Canterbury painter Austen Deans, with reproductions of a selection of the paintings he has completed over the course of his 94 years.
Braving the Barbed Wire: Studies of New Zealand Artists Who Painted During World War One, Jenny Haworth
Based on the National War Art collection held by Archives New Zealand and a companion to her popular The Art of War: New Zealand War Artists in the Field 1939–1945.
If you are interested in receiving information about any of these books please contact Wily Publications Ltd at info@wily.co.nz
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks to Jenny Haworth for getting me started; to the members of my writers’ groups: Ted Loughnan, Brendan Smith and Janine Sowerby; Jane Seaford, Mary Fitzgerald and Shirley Eng, for keeping me going and for their no-holds-barred feedback; to Anna Rogers for showing me “less is more”; to Claire Hero for her incisive critical comment; to Antoinette Wilson for her thoughtful editing; and to my husband, Henry, for his support, encouragement and forbearance.
My deep appreciation to Carolyn Bull for her advice, to Helen Halliwell for information about genealogical research and to Dave Quested for information about current management of young offenders. Any inaccuracies in incorporating their information into the story are en
tirely mine.
Thanks also to the staff of the Akaroa Museum (with apologies for liberties taken in fictionalising their institution) and to the staff of the Archives de la Marine, in Rochefort, France.
Acknowledgements to Peter Tremewan’s French Akaroa (University of Canterbury Press, 1990), T. Lindsay Buick’s The French at Akaroa (Capper Press, 1980) and Muriel de la Gironiére’s La France en Nouvelle- Zélande 1840–1846: Un Vaudeville Colonial (Gerfaut, 2002), upon which I have relied heavily for historical data.
Thanks to Kristal S Clark for the use of the photograph of her great-great-grandmother, Fanny Turner, on the front cover of the book.
Other Prose @ IP
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ISBN 9781922120014, AU$33
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ISBN 9781922120052, AU$33
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ISBN 9781922120151, AU$33
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