Backwards into the Future

Everyone knows you can't go back. Everyone except Mary apparently, because here she is - back in her old hometown. That's because of two women - Kui and Ana. One of them is pushing her, the other is holding back, and between the two there's much to be resolved. The plum tree and the manuka have gone, but a lemon tree thrives. The mystery of the Marakihau may never be solved; but if Ana returns, their friendship and some things from the past can be recovered. Can't they? Fiction. Novel. Literary fiction. New Zealand, cultural heritage, Maori-Pakeha, friendship, women, historical late 20th century, mystery

Table of Contents:
1 You Can't Go Back 2 You Can't Keep Anything Private 3 A Fair Share of Characters 4 For All the Time It's Been 5 Going Up in a Parachute 6 All Present and Correct 7 The Way Things Were 8 All On Her Own 9 Call Me Kui 10 That Sort of Guy 11 The Two of Them, Together 12 It's Your Number 13 The Cleverest Person in Waimamae 14 But Georgie Went 15 By Hook or by Crook 16 Mary Peary's Doom Day 17 Dreams of Gold and Silver 18 Shark-tooth Earrings 19 A Boon and a Curse 20 My Mokopuna Too 21 Welcome to One and All 22 The First Taniwha 23 At the Heads 24 Pumice Duck 25 The Marakihau 26 Hemi's Poem 27 Making Lemon Spread 28 Two-tone Zephyr Zodiac 29 Both of Them Together 30 Your Basket, My Basket 31 Taniwha From Maungatoka 32 Body of the Earth Mother 33 The Best Days For Sea Fishing 34 The Worst Day of All 35 Two Uncles 36 Ana Banana and Mary Peary 37 Just the Two of Them 38 Black Sheds 39 The Great Hine 40 Part of the Family 41 Guess What 42 Their Brilliant Career 43 As They Had Always Been 44 Picking the Alstromeria 45 Touching the Mauri Stone 46 Like Before, But Different 47 The Only Thing That Made Sense 48 A Small Red Book 49 We Used to Have a Plum Tree

About the Author :
Bronwyn Elsmore is a fifth generation New Zealander. She was born in Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, and has lived in several centres in North Island. She has a PhD from Victoria University of Wellington and lectured for many years at Massey University. Throughout her writing career she has written over a wide range of genres, fiction and non-fiction, and is the author of a large number of published works - short stories, articles, and ten books. She has three times been winner of Playwrights Association's playwriting competition and has earned awards for other forms of writing, particularly short stories. Twelve of Bronwyn's plays have been staged in NZ theatres. In 2006 she was Writer in Residence in Manukau Libraries, and sometimes mentors and tutors other writers. She lives in Auckland, where she is a full-time writer, now preferring to write fiction and plays.

Review :
I love Every Five Minutes from the same Author, and am delighted to find this book shows her beautiful writing just as well. The characters are very real and there's a similar delicate touch to the prose. Bronwyn Elsmore has a real gift for saying just enough without too much. Backwards Into the Future is a novel with the feel of a memoir about it - I find the combination very appealing. - J.M. -