To New Plymouth

Press, 2 May 1981, Page 17

To New Plymouth

The Black Shore. By Margaret Jeffrey. Heinemann, 1980. 218 pp. $17.95. i Margaret Jeffrey is a New Zealand writer who has already published several novels, but “The Black Shore” is her- first venture into the field of historical fiction. She has chosen a subject with personal associations, for her forbears travelled to New Zealand in the William Bryan, the, ■ship in which she places her main characters for their journey to the new. ; European settlement of New Plymouth. I* The story begins with the arrival of the > ship, describes the early struggles of .the settlers, skates' superficially over the causes and horrors of theMaori-wars.and •ends with the return oPtfee women and ' children to the settlement at the' end of the troubles. Despite Mrs Jeffrey's evident interest in and research of this period, she - fails to make it come alive for the reader? Interest is dispersed among a large number of characters, none of whom j. really, capture.the .imagination. The action .is episodic and the dialogin-; artificial. ! In all, it is a less tharr memorable nb.vel' though it may hold some interest for ; those, who, like the writer, have links with the past in that particular part of . New Zealand. — Margaret Quigley.