The 1988 shortlist

Press, 19 July 1988, Page 28

The 1988 shortlist

Of the 54 entries from 24 publishers, 5 authors have been previous winners of the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards. However, only Patricia Grace (3rd in 1986) and Maurice Gee (Ist in 1979) have been selected for the shortlist.

The shortlist this year includes some unlikely books and is sure to spark controversy. Of the ten, three are works of fiction, six non-fiction and one short stories category. In addition, for the first time in the 21 year history of the Awards, four of the 10 books are from one publisher and a new one in New Zealand at that. Penguin has three fiction titles and also a non-fiction entry.

The ten finalists chosen to compete for New Zealand’s most prestigious and lucrative book awards, the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards, are:

Dirty Work A fictional work by Nigel Cox, depicts a bizarre assortment of seedy guests at a low Wellington hotel. It explores the kinds of love possible between women and the men who need them. In this astonishing second novel Nigel Cox dares his characters to the edge of self-discovery. (Benton Ross).

Oracles and Miracles

A novel by. Stevan Eldred-Grigg, is a stimulating and compulsive tale of twin sisters living in Christchurch in the 1930’s and 40’s. A city of “peeling paint, flaking iron, cracked linoleum, dusty yards, lean-tos and asphalts, dunnies and textile mills.” (Penguin).

Prowlers In this colourful work of fiction, Maurice Gee tells the story of Sir Noel Papps, a retired scientist who is prompted by events to map the territory of his own life. Noel’s repossession of the past leads to some unexpected discoveries. (Penguin).

Electric City and Other Stories

A haunting collection of short stories by Patricia Grace, in which the joys of discovery are tempered by the knowledge of a harder, colder world. Sunlight, childhood and

nature are set against conflict and misunderstanding, in the ever-pre-sent shadows of the spirit of the land. (Penguin). What’s Wrong With Bottoms? Writer Jenny Hessell has combined her talents with illustrator Mandy Nelson to produce this children’s eye view of child sexual abuse. This sensitive yet frank book is already becoming a bestseller overseas and is possibly the simplest book ever to make the Awards top ten list. (Century Hutchinson). Richard Henry of Resolution Island Susanne and John Hill have rescued Richard Henry, one of New Zealand’s first conservationists, from unjustly slipping into obscurity. This is the first full biography of Henry, and the authors are generous with their quotations from Henry’s own writings. This admirable book, which is fully illustrated throughout, eloquently tells of the character, hopes, achievements and disappointments of this remarkable man. (John Mclndoe). The Treaty of Waitangi Author Dr Claudia Orange has spent many years researching the history of this most topical book, which included a year spent in England. It is the first comprehensive study of the treaty, dealing with its place in New Zealand history from its making to the present

day. (Allen and Unwin/ Port Nicholson). A Man’s Country? Jock Phillips has . documented a penetrating, provocative history of the “Kiwi” bloke and how few pakeha men grow up in New Zealand without a strong sense of the stereotype they are expected to become. Today, says Phillips, we now know the costs we have paid as both men and women. (Penguin). Images from a Limestone Landscape Craig Potton and Andy Dennis reveal some of New Zealand’s natural secrets as they burrow into the limestone landscape of the West Coast’s Punakaiki district. It is a testimony, not only to the shape of the limestone landforms themselves, but also to their setting and mood. (Kel Aiken/Craig Potton). The Father and His Gift: John Logan Campbell’s Later Years Professor Russell Stone completes the story of Sir John Logan Campbell, nineteenth-century businessman and benefactor, venerated in old age as the Father of Auckland. Few New Zealand biographies are so rich in social and personal detail or give such varied private glimpses of a public man. This book and its predecessor, Young Logan Campbell, present a portrait of a Victorian colonist unrivalled in its scope and depth. (Auckland University Press).