Notes
The little-known fact that Maori prisoners served as convicts in 1840s Tasmania provides the inspiration for this engrossing, sweeping new novel by Witi Ihimaera. Hohepa Te Umuroa is with Te Rauparaha at the Wairau killings in the 1840s, and at Boulcotts Farm in the Hutt Valley when white settlers lose their lives. Convicted of insurrection, he and four companions are transported to the convict town of Hobart to serve their sentences. Ismay Glossop and her doctor husband Gower McKissock have also come to Tasmania, via Nelson, New Zealand. On Maria's Island near Hobart, their lives intersect with the five Maori, with unexpected consequences.
