Whitireia Publishing announces new novel from Maggie Rainey-Smith

Student projects: New novel from Maggie Rainey-Smith Emma Bryson is managing the production of Maggie Rainey-Smith's as-yet unnamed new novel. The Whitireia students are working on a wide variety of projects this year, including a number of fantastic fiction projects. I was lucky enough to be assigned as the project manager for Maggie Rainey-Smith’s third novel, to be published by Mākaro Press in November. For this project, Megan is taking on the role of editor, and TJ will be typesetting. I’m really glad to be working with Maggie, who has two previous novels, About Turnsand Turbulence, published with Random House New Zealand under their Black Swan imprint. Maggie is really friendly and open – and she’s a seasoned veteran when it comes to the editing process! Her novel meshes the tangle of WWII and the subsequent Greek civil war with the present. It explores generational secrets and griefs through a matriarchal family line, and it acknowledges the convolutions of history and how they still play out today. Most of all, it shows how problems and hurts can be healed through the coming together of family. I really enjoyed my initial read-throughs of Maggie’s manuscript, and I’m really excited to play a part in the publication of this story. Maggie’s novel is something I’d recommend to friends and family, and it’s fantastic as a student to be working on such a riveting and emotional piece of fiction. Mary and Paul at Mākaro Press have also been amazing to work with. They answer all of my (seemingly endless) questions, and sometimes have so much confidence in me it’s a little scary! I know under their guidance we’ll end the year having published a great book that we can all be proud of.