Published in 2025
8 hours and 15 minutes
Tina Makereti writes novels, short stories, and personal essays, and co-edited Black Marks on the White Page, an anthology that celebrates Maori and Pasifika writing. She has received numerous awards for her fiction and creative nonfiction, including the 2016 Pacific region Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize and two Nga Kupu Ora Maori fiction awards, and has been longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award twice. She is a New Zealander of Te Atiawa, Ngati Tuwharetoa, Ngati Rangatahi-Mata descent.
What is this book about?
A literary page turner that explores the intertwined lives of three neighboring families in a small coastal New Zealand town—a blend of Little Fires Everywhere and The Island of Missing Trees, combining domestic drama, suspense, indigenous folklore, and the threat of extremism on ordinary lives.
Three women give birth in different countries and different decades. They eventually become neighbors in a coastal town in Aotearoa—New Zealand.
Single parent Keri has her hands full with rambunctious four-year-old Walty and Wairere, a teen with a unique gift that allows her to connect to the world in extraordinary ways. Drawn to the waters of the indigenous wetlands, Wairere finds peace and solace communing with nature.
Living next door is Janet, a sharply opinionated older white woman. New to the neighborhood is Sera, her husband, and their two-year-old daughter, refugees from ecological devastation.
When Janet’s adult son Conor unexpectedly arrives home sporting a fresh buzzcut and a disturbing tattoo, no one suspects just how extreme the young man has become—no one except Wairere, who can feel the danger pulsating around him. As friendship are formed, prejudices, too, arise, and discord surfaces between the trio of households, threatening to tear them apart.
Their fate rests with young Wairere. By accepting who she truly is, the teenager can become the connective tissue that unites her community and helps them forge a better future together.
