She looked over at Riria. Her friend, clothed at last in the black of mourning, sat with her back straight and her head high. Her parents contemplated their daughter with loving concern but Tamar could see that under her veil Riria was dry-eyed. And neither were her children crying. They sat regally, with the grace and dignity Riria had instilled in them since they were tiny.
Tamar glanced at her own children. Keely was sniffling but her boys were still as statues, eyes big and blinking but clear. She could see they were struggling, and hoped she would not cry herself and set them off. At the end of the pew sat her precious first-born, Joseph, out of uniform now and staring resolutely ahead with only the white knuckles of his clenched fists suggesting the grief and anger he felt. She could hear several people weeping openly in the pews behind her, one of them poor Basil Stokes.
Finally the minister stopped talking and the congregation sang several hymns, the Maori voices soaring to the rafters and filling the church with clear and beautiful harmonies, then the service drew to a close.
As they stood to leave, an eerie, ululating cry rang out over the shuffling of hundreds of feet, a cry so poignantly heartfelt the hairs on Tamar’s arms stood up. The Maori sitting on the floor rose as one and moved back towards the ancient woman voicing the lament. There was a moment of utter silence, then the group began a haka, slow at first then gaining energy and momentum. As the men moved backwards and forwards between the lines of women they hissed and slapped their chests and rolled their eyes. The women, their feet rhythmically striking the floor, swayed in unison as their voices rose and fell above the men’s chant.
Tamar was transfixed. This was a tremendous tribute to John’s memory — a war haka for a deeply respected man who had fallen bravely and honourably in battle. She looked over at Riria and saw she had discarded her hat and veil and was weeping uncontrollably and clutching her children. Tears coursing down her own face, Tamar felt her heart contract briefly, then release; none of their lives would be the same without John, but at least Riria could begin to live hers again.
As she and Andrew walked out of the church into the early spring sunshine, she saw her husband was weeping. She gave him a watery smile and he reached out a loving and supportive hand, as he always had, and he always would.
In a tree nearby, a fantail laughed joyously.
About the Author
Deborah Challinor is a freelance writer and historian living in New South Wales. She is the author of many bestsellers including Isle of Tears and the trilogy Kitty, Amber and Band of Gold, and several non-fiction titles including Who’ll Stop the Rain? and Grey Ghosts.
OTHER BOOKS BY DEBORAH CHALLINOR
Children of War trilogy
Tamar
White Feathers
Blue Smoke
Trilogy
Kitty
Amber
Band of Gold
Isle of Tears
Grey Ghosts
Fire
Union Belle
Who’ll Stop the Rain?
CHILDREN OF WAR TRILOGY
TAMAR
When Tamar Deane is orphaned at seventeen in a small Cornish village, she seizes the chance for a new life and emigrates to New Zealand. In March 1879, alone and frightened on the Plymouth quay, she is befriended by an extraordinary woman. Myrna McTaggart is travelling to Auckland with plans to establish the finest brothel in the southern hemisphere and her unconventional friendship proves invaluable when Tamar makes disastrous choices in the new colony. Tragedy and scandal befall her, but unexpected good fortune brings vast changes to Tamar’s life. As the century draws to a close, uncertainty looms when a distant war lures her loved ones to South Africa. This dramatic story — the first in a sweeping three-volume family saga — has a vivacious and compelling heroine who will live with the reader long after the final page has been turned.
WHITE FEATHERS
In 1914, Tamar Murdoch’s brothelkeeping days are behind her. Her life is one of ease and contentment at Kenmore, a prosperous estate in the Hawke’s Bay, as storm clouds over Europe begin casting long shadows.
In this gripping second instalment of Deborah Challinor’s sweeping family saga, Tamar’s love for her children is sorely tested as one by one they are called, or driven, into the living hell of World War One.
During the Boer War, Joseph, her illegitimate eldest son, fought as a European, but this time he is determined to enlist in the Maori Battalion, despite his growing attraction for his childhood friend, Erin. As loyalties within the Murdoch clan are divided, and the war takes Tamar and Andrew’s only daughter far from her sheltered upbringing, the people and experiences their children encounter will shape the destiny of the Murdoch clan for generations to come.
BLUE SMOKE
On 3 February 1931, Napier is devastated by a powerful earthquake — and Tamar Murdoch, beloved matriarch of Kenmore, is seriously injured. As she recovers, Tamar is preoccupied with the ongoing effects of the Great Depression. When her grandson threatens to leave for Spain to join the International Brigade, she feels a familiar dread — once again her family is threatened by war and heartbreak, as Hitler’s armies march.
In this final volume of the Children of War trilogy, the story of the feisty Cornish seamstress who became a brothelkeeper and landowner is brought to a stirring and memorable conclusion.
Copyright
This novel is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events; to real people, living or dead; or to real locales are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. Other names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental.
HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in 2002
This edition published in 2012
by HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
PO Box 1, Shortland Street, Auckland 1140
Copyright © Deborah Challinor 2012
Deborah Challinor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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National Library of New Zealand Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Challinor, Deborah.
Tamar / Deborah Challinor.
Originally published: 2002.
ISBN 978-1-86950-775-6
I.Title.
NZ823.3—dc 22
ISBN: 978 1 86950 775 6 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978 1 74309 728 1 (epub)
Cover design by Priscilla Nielsen
Cover images by shutterstock.com
Tamar Page 47