Authors: Fiona Kidman
Preservation (5 page)
An insightful sequel to the successful At the End of Darwin Road.
In her first acclaimed volume of memoir, Fiona Kidman described her background and childhood, evoking the places she lived in and the people she knew. It finished with the publication of her first, hugely successful novel.
In this sequel, she explores further the influences that shaped her subsequent books, her championing of New Zealand writing and writers and the significant people she has met along the way. There are political protests, controversial stands, family quests and journeys overseas — to Europe, North America and the East — journeys that marked her hard-won independence.
Beautifully written and thought-provoking, this is an important record of the last twenty-five years.
‘We cannot talk about writing in New Zealand without acknowledging her … Kidman’s accessible prose and the way she shows (mainly) women grappling to escape from restricting social pressures has guaranteed her a permanent place in our fiction.’
— New Zealand Books
Fiona Kidman has worked as a librarian, creative writing teacher, radio producer and critic, but primarily as a writer. She has published over 20 books, including novels, poetry, non-fiction and a play. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, her most recent novel
The Captive Wife
being runner up in the 2006 Montana Book Awards Deutz Medal for Fiction. She was created a Dame (DNZM) in 1998 in recognition of her contribution to literature and more recently a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour.
‘In her craft and her storytelling and in her compassionate gutsy tough expression of female experience, she is the best we have’
— The New Zealand Listener
A RANDOM HOUSE EBOOK published by Random House New Zealand
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand
Random House New Zealand is part of the Random House Group New York London Sydney Auckland Delhi Johannesburg
First published 2013
© 2011, 2013 Fiona Kidman
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
ISBN 978 1 86979 955 7
This book is copyright. Except for the purposes of fair reviewing no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
