by Jane Bowron
Foreword by Pauline O’Regan
Awa Press - $33
A portion of money from each book sold goes to Red Cross 2011 New Zealand Earthquake Appeal
Note: Publication Nov.5, 2011
Note: Publication Nov.5, 2011
A rare account of life after a devastating earthquake as a community of strangers are thrown together to try and resume their shattered lives.
On February 22, 2011, journalist Jane Bowron had been living back in her hometown of Christchurch for three years when the city was struck by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake – just five months after a 7.1 earthquake. The first quake had caused damage but no fatalities. This time it was the ultimate horror story. Countless city buildings crashed to the ground and many people were killed. Others were trapped in rubble and raging fires. Whole suburbs were decimated as houses collapsed, hillsides fell away, and the ground liquefied into oceans of silt.
As the historic city lay in ruins Bowron managed to find a phone, call her newspaper, and deliver a moving human account of the scene around her. For the next three months, she continued to send regular dispatches of everyday life being lived in the most extraordinary of circumstances as she and everyone else in Christchurch struggled to cope with grief, loss and the new reality.
Brilliantly written and suffused with unexpected humour, Bowron’s stories have become a modern classic – a rare and priceless account of how human beings can survive and overcome even the most terrible of tragedies in the most ordinary of ways.
About the author: Jane Bowron is a freelance journalist based in Christchurch.
TV columnist for The Dominion Post and columnist for The Press, she has been a TV reviewer for The Evening Post, The Sunday Star-Times, National Radio’s Nine to Noon, Radio Live and Newstalk ZB, media commentator for Newstalk ZB, feature writer for The Sunday Star-Times, and agony aunt for The Dominion.
2 comments:
It's a shame that Jane has ignored a number of Christchurch citizens who have expressed their concerns over her insensitive naming of Christchurch's catastrophic February quake as 'Old Bucky'. Our life-changing event can not possibly be likened to the re-action of an agitated animal with a unwanted load on its back. Her book title reflects further bad judgement.
Sounds like an interesting book. Shame about the awful cover.
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