HISTORY MADE AND IN THE MAKING

 Sarah Thornton reports:

Seventy seven years to the day after Jean Batten famously landed at Mangere on her record-breaking flight and the day it was announced that Eleanor Catton had won the Man Booker, we gathered at The Women’s Bookshop in Auckland to celebrate the publication of Dame Fiona Kidman’s evocative and arresting new novel, The Infinite Air. Jean Batten broke “men’s records”; Eleanor Catton broke another sort of record as the youngest person to win the Man Booker. How appropriate that both these women were so warmly recognised and at Fiona’s book launch; herself, an award-winning writer and one of our best-loved literary luminaries.

Carole Beu, who is reviewing The Infinite Air on RNZ’s Nine to Noon programme next Tuesday (22), welcomed everyone in inimitable style, and spoke about the free and courageous spirit that was Jean Batten. Fiona said that she personally identified with Jean Batten, remembering the time some 50 years ago when she was an aspiring writer as well as a suburban housewife, pegging out nappies on the line, hoping to get them whiter than white. “Who does she think she is”, people said, such was the mood of the time for any pioneering women who broke with tradition.

Fiona went on to talk about the high-octane glamour of Jean Batten’s life, but also her struggles and heartaches. She recalled the dangers of early aviation, which claimed the lives of so many that Jean loved, including the great love of her life, Beverley Shepherd, and her passion for flying which dated back to when she was a very young child. With few notes, Fiona spoke of Jean’s enduringly close relationship with her mother Nellie, and of their sojourn in Jamaica, where they partied with Ian Fleming and Noel Coward. It is rumoured that Jean had an affair with Ian and left Jamaica suddenly, when he had to honour a marriage commitment to an English viscountess. Halcyon days.

Jean Batten died in obscurity in 1982 and was buried in a pauper’s grave, no one knowing who she was. Thanks to Dame Fiona, we rediscover Jean Batten – an extraordinary aviator and one of New Zealand’s truly great heroines. 

Author Fiona Kidman with bookseller Carole Beu and friends.