Sir Peter Blake - An Amazing Life by Alan Sefton

$12.00 NZD

Category: Sailing | Reading Level: very good

Sir Blake was a sailor, captain, and legend. The late Sir Peter Blake was perhaps the greatest competitive yachtsman of all time, the man who seized the America's cup and won the Whitbread. In his later years he turned away from international competition and used the yacht Seamaster to draw attention to threats to the world's environment. It was in pursuit of this cause that in 2001 Blake was tragically murdered at the mouth of the Amazon while defending Seamaster from pirates. In this first ever biography, close friend and colleague Alan Sefton traces Blake's extraordinary life. From the small boy crazy about the sea to the rigours of ocean racing and the America's Cup triumphs, to the decision to devote his life to saving the world's oceans and to his sad but brave end on the Amazon. Blake lived life to the limit. An Amazing Life offers both gripping adventure and inspiration to sailors and non-sailors alike. ...Show more

The Political Years by Marilyn Waring

$25.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: near fine

"When I entered Parliament in 1975, I joined a very small club: although women in New Zealand won the right to vote in 1893, only a tiny handful had been Members of Parliament in the hundred or so years that followed. I was number 15!" In 1975, Marilyn Waring was elected to the New Zealand Parliament a s the MP for Raglan. Aged just 23, she was one of only a few female MPs who served through the turbulent years of Muldoons government. For nine years, Waring was at the centre of major political decisions, until her parliamentary career culminated during the debate over nuclear arms. When Waring informed Muldoon that she intended to cross the floor and vote for the opposition bill which would make New Zealand nuclear free, he called a snap election. And the government fell. This is an autobiographical account of Warings extraordinary years in parliament. She tells the story of her journey from being elected as a new National Party MP in a conservative rural seat to being publicly decried by the Prime Minister for her feminist anti-nuclear stance that threatened to bring down his government. Her tale of life in a male-dominated and relentlessly demanding political world is both uniquely of its time and still of pressing relevance today. ...Show more

Fred the Needle - The Untold Story of Sir Fred Allen by Alan Sayers & Les Watkins

$30.00 NZD

Category: NZ Sport History | Reading Level: near fine

At last, the book they said would never be published. Few New Zealand rugby personalities can truly be labelled "legends". Sir Fred Allen, though, is one of those rare exceptions. Along with the great Colin Meads, Allen is an icon of the game, universally loved and a true New Zealand hero. For yea rs, the man who famously captained and then coached the All Blacks unbeaten through 37 matches in a golden era from 1966-68, has resisted the urgings of writers and publishers to tell his story. That is until now. At 90 years of age (he is New Zealand's second oldest living All Black) and recently knighted, the fit, razor sharp Allen has relented and will tell his incredible life story - impoverished childhood, War Hero, Rugby Legend, successful businessman, knight of the realm. His biography will be a blockbuster. Before he became All Blacks coach in 1966, Fred "The Needle" had already lived an extraordinary life. He served as a lieutenant in the 30th and 27th Battalions during WWII and saw more action than most in his role as a New Zealand commando. In the Pacific, he was badly wounded in the neck, but refused hospitalisation and instead chose to lead another mission with "my men". At the end of the war in 1945, Allen made his name as a player as a brilliant five-eighth for the famous and much-loved "Kiwis", the 2nd NZEF team which toured Britain and France. He then went on to captain the All Blacks in the two-test series against Australia 1946, in Australia 1947 and South Africa 1949, appearing in two tests in each series. Fred also captained Auckland and the North Island from 1946-48. Allen was one of the greatest post-war All Black backs, playing equally well at either first or second five-eighth. He had an outstanding record as selector-coach of the Auckland team 1957-63, including their 26-match tenure of the Ranfurly Shield, and of New Zealand 1966-68, during which the All Blacks won all 14 tests played. In this eagerly awaited book, Allen will talk about his entire life, including his army years. He will discuss with intimate knowledge and from close-hand experiences some of the greatest players ever to have worn the silver fern. He will offer observations from his role as coach of two of the greatest teams through two of the greatest eras in New Zealand rugby. And he will, for the first time, talk about his decision to step down as coach of the All Blacks - a decision which sent shockwaves through New Zealand rugby. His army exploits during World War II - of which he has rarely spoken - will leave readers flabbergasted. Fred Allen remains a true New Zealand hero. ...Show more

Robert Laidlaw - Man For OurTime by Ian Hunter

$20.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: good-very good

The inspirational story of Robert Laidlaw, business genius and founder of the Farmers Trading Company. A panoramic biography of one of the 20th century's greatest and most innovative businessmen.

Kippenberger - An Inspired New Zealand Commander by Glyn Harper

$20.00 NZD

Category: New Zealand | Reading Level: good-very good

Major General Sir Howard Karl Kippenberger, KBE, CB, DSO and Bar, ED, was an exceptional New Zealander and one of the truly great military commanders of World War Two. Here Glyn Harper examines his formative years, including his WW1 experiences, and shows how they influenced his style of leadership and performances on the battlefield. ...Show more

Tree of Strangers by Barbara Sumner

$15.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: near fine

A compelling memoir of adoption, loss and discovery  ‘I live at the end of a gravel road at the top of a valley consumed by bush. My husband is here, and my three girls. But the bush swallows them up like the road.’ I wrote those words at the kitchen table in 1983. A letter to the mother I’d never met . But how do you convey your life in a few sentences when almost every memory is missing? Barbara Sumner grew up in a family filled with secrets and lies. At twenty-three she decided she had to find her mother. Remarkable, moving, beautifully written, Tree of Strangers is a gripping account of a search for identity in a country governed by adoption laws that deny the rights of the adopted person. This remarkable, moving, beautifully written memoir explores Sumners conviction that everyone who loses their mother suffers some degree of physiological damage. They are all grafted onto the tree of strangers. ...Show more

Metamorphosis: A Scientist's Story by Glen Metcalf

$14.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: near fine

Metamorphosis is the story of one woman's transformation from a traditional Kiwi housewife of the 1950s into an internationally known scientist. Born in 1926, married at 21 and a mother shortly after, Glen Metcalf's life changed when at age 35 she met Dr Donald Beaven, the founding professor of the Chri stchurch School of Medicine. It was at his Medical Unit that she metamorphosed into a scientist engaged in biomedical research, developing an interest in hormonal changes in the reproductive cycle of women and presenting her work around the world. A keen walker all her life, retirement saw Glen become a DOC volunteer and environmental campaigner, which included taking a wind-farm objection to the Environment Court. She is a prolific letter writer, to family and the newspapers, and Metamorphosis rings with her keen observations, restless intelligence and passion for living. ...Show more

White Moko - Stories from my life by Tim Tipene

$15.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: near fine

A memoir from award-winning writer and inspirational speaker Tim Tipene. Tim founded the Warrior Kids programme 22 years ago. His courses now empower families and children. Himself the product of rape, Tim spent a miserable childhood in which he was abused by both his birth and foster families. This me moir is a recollection of his life raised in violence, and follows on from a junior collection published last year, Mrs Battleship. It is a tribute especially to the few teachers who acted at different times to protect him, as well as his discovery that not everyone endured what he did. This is funny, sad, poignant and telling. Tim has found jewels of wisdom and love in a world that had no place for him. ...Show more

Leading Lady: Eva Poole: A Life in the Spotlight by Vivienne Allan

$25.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: near fine

Articulate and intelligent, Eve Poole had a passion for the theatre and the arts. Her desire to protect one of Invercargill’s cultural icons led her into politics and she was elected as the city’s first woman mayor in 1983. Cath Tizard broke similar ground in Auckland that year – the two becoming trailb lazers at each end of the country. As a member of the QEII Arts Council (later Creative New Zealand), Eve played an active role in encouraging the visual and performing arts across the country. She was equally at home on the stage as an actor and director; on hugely popular national TV shows such as Beauty and the Beast, and as a member of the NZ Committee on Women, an early forerunner of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, during the UN Decade for Women. She gained national prominence for her leadership when the 1984 floods ravaged her adopted city and the surrounding region. Vivienne Allan tells the story of her mother’s life with warmth and honesty, beginning with the struggle to find passage out of Germany in the 1930s. When war broke out Eve, still only 17 and living with her family in Tel Aviv, joined the British Army, serving as a driver in Egypt. There she met the New Zealander who was to become her husband and, after discharge, moved to Invercargill to raise their family with him. Eve’s practicality, determination and humanity saw her retain the mayoralty for four terms until her untimely death in 1992. ...Show more

Purple Hands - A Kiwi Nurse-Midwifés Response in Times of Crisis by Barbara Walker

$14.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: near fine

"What is life like for aid workers who gather from around the world so serve refugees who have fled their homes due to famine, political unrest, and disasters? Kiwi nurse-midwife, Barbara Walker - who spent 20 years working for international aid agencies - shares her dramatic, heart-rending, and inspiri ng stories of the situations she faced and the people she sought to help. From the Sakeo One Refugee Camp in Thailand, where she cared for those fleeing Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia in a make-shift bamboo-framed field hospital to her last placement in Mozambique that ended due to a death threat, Barbara's Christian faith gave her strength and kept her focussed. We also learn of Barbara's early life in New Zealand, and her later call to ordained ministry as a chaplain when she returned after serving overseas. Barbara hopes that her story will inspire and encourage all who read it to think outside the square and seek to make a difference in the world in which we all live"--Page 4 of cover. ...Show more

Ripiro Beach - A Memoir of Life after Near Death by Caroline Barron

$16.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: near fine

Does DNA write our destinies? Or do the hands that nurture triumph over nature? What is it that determines who we really are? Caroline Barron's father never found his birth mother. After he dies suddenly on her twentieth birthday, Caroline develops an insidious fear of her own untimely death. When she n early bleeds out on an operating table during childbirth, it almost seems her greatest fear is justified. Emerging from the experience a changed woman, Caroline spends the next six years poring over her family history in an attempt to make sense of her inexplicable rage. The family secrets she unearths threaten to destabilise her identity and carefully built life, eventually leading her to Northland's rugged Ripiro Beach, where past and present dramatically collide. Ripiro Beach is a beautifully written, relentlessly honest memoir about one woman's determination to gather the threads of a life that has come undone. ...Show more

The Flying Farmer - Remarkable Rural Recollections of Bruce Galloway: A Memoir by Bruce Galloway

$20.00 NZD

Category: Agriculture | Reading Level: near fine