The protective arms of two headlands bring us from the Hauraki Gulf into the
Wairoa River and up its meanders through wide valley flats, yet where steep
hills on either side foreshadow the narrowing gorge to the river’s source in
the Hūnua Ranges. At the end of the tidal reach is the village of Clevedon,
where the old McNicol farmhouse stands out on a slope above the landing. It is
now a museum for the district’s history, and where this book was born.
This story is brimful of people’s lives: Māori and Pākehā, men, women and children,
conveyed through a multitude of voices speaking from diaries, letters, farm
records, minute books and memories; hence the title Voices of Belonging.
Jessie Munro has set the immediacy of these experiences within the historical
context of each period: narrative and analysis intertwine.
Voices of Belonging speaks for its unique area, and for us all.
About the author:
Jessie Munro grew up on a farm near Kawakawa Bay and went to school in
Clevedon and Papakura before studying languages and history at the University of
Auckland. A former Commonwealth Scholar, she is the author of the acclaimed
biography The Story of Suzanne Aubert, Book of the Year in the 1997 New
Zealand Montana Book Awards. Jessie came to the McNicol Homestead in 2008 to
begin research for this book and found herself immersed in an ever-growing,
intensely rewarding story. Her abiding love for Clevedon — people and
place — has grown stronger than ever in the writing of Voices of Belonging.
Two hardcover volumes with slipcase • 828 pages
• 500+ images • RRP $95
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