Berry Boys: Portraits of World War One Soldiers and Families by Michael Fitzgerald & Claire Regnault

$50.00 NZD

Category: NZ History | Reading Level: near fine

A powerful book of portraits, offering an extraordinary, evocative snapshot of New Zealanders facing the First World War. Berry & Co was a Wellington photographic studio in the early twentieth century. In the 1990s, a tenant of 147 Cuba Street, Wellington, discovered around 3,000 glass plate negativ A powerful book of portraits, offering an extraordinary, evocative snapshot of New Zealanders facing the First World War. Berry & Co was a Wellington photographic studio in the early twentieth century. In the 1990s, a tenant of 147 Cuba Street, Wellington, discovered around 3,000 glass plate negatives in a cupboard. This transpired to be the remarkable Berry & Co Collection, now held by Te Papa. Amongst the studio portraits in the collection are around 130 showing servicemen in uniforms, sometimes posing with families and friends. Many of these would have been taken before the men left to fight, or while on leave from the European theatres of war. Together, they offer a potent snapshot of the New Zealand of the time - and the changing face of the war itself. The beautifully reproduced portraits are accompanied by the carefully researched stories of the soldiers and their loved ones. Many of these stories have only recently come to light, with the help of public interest and information from descendants. Though these soldiers represent only a tiny fraction of the thousands of men who departed to join the fighting overseas, through their poignant stories we are granted a remarkable lens on New Zealanders' experiences of anxiety, hope, fear, pride and love over the span of the First World War. Publication of the book coincides with the broadcast of a brand new TVNZ documentary that tells the remarkable stories of several soldiers from the Berry & Co portraits. ...Show more

Late: A Novel by Michael Fitzgerald

$37.99 NZD

Category: No Category

'So, was it hard to pretend I was "dead"? Well, my motivation was abundant; it was splendiferous, endless, you might say.'An American actress, renowned for being late, is living with her two cats in a modernist clifftop apartment in Sydney in the late 1980s. The recounting of her story is prompted by th 'So, was it hard to pretend I was "dead"? Well, my motivation was abundant; it was splendiferous, endless, you might say.'An American actress, renowned for being late, is living with her two cats in a modernist clifftop apartment in Sydney in the late 1980s. The recounting of her story is prompted by the arrival of an old typewriter and a book addressed to Zelda Zonk. And by the arrival of a young man called Daniel, who is locked out while house-sitting her neighbour's apartment. Together Zelda and Daniel form an unlikely but close bond as they go walking, prepare dinner for Shabbat, traverse Sydney Harbour on a ferry and talk about their lives. Part of their bond is the discovery that they are both orphans. Daniel is also a habitué of the nearby sandstone cliffs where men have mysteriously gone missing.In Late, Michael Fitzgerald superbly captures the literary spirit and sensibility of an ageing woman and icon who has escaped celebrity. It is a haunting and lyrical novel about art, friendship, and confronting our fears. 'A big swing that works beautifully. Fitzgerald's affection and respect for his subject, whom we all know and don't know at all, results in a voice that rings true: warm, tender, passionate, smart, self-aware and very, very witty.' C. J. Johnson, President of the Film Critics Circle of Australia'Deeply referential, dramatic and allusive, Late balances on a tightrope between present and past lives, public and private roles. A riveting mystery unfolds. In the process the author delivers a meditation on celebrity and a love song to Sydney.'Catherine Phil MacCarthy, author of Daughters of the House and One Room an Everywhere ...Show more

Pieta by Michael Fitzgerald

$34.00 NZD

Category: Sarah Bestsellers

These are the last days of 1999. At St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, as the world waits for the new millennium, Lucy, a young Australian woman looks up at Michelangelo’s Pietà behind its pane of bullet-proof glass; a red kabbalah string circles her wrist. She has come with the mysterious parcel her recently These are the last days of 1999. At St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, as the world waits for the new millennium, Lucy, a young Australian woman looks up at Michelangelo’s Pietà behind its pane of bullet-proof glass; a red kabbalah string circles her wrist. She has come with the mysterious parcel her recently deceased mother asked her to bring to the box marked POSTE VATICANE. But before Rome there is Saint-Cloud. Here, on the outskirts of Paris, Lucy works as an au pair for Jean-Claude and his wife Mathilde. When Mathilde leaves for Central Australia to research the Aboriginal artist Kumanjayi, Lucy’s circle of contacts becomes smaller and strangely intimate: Jean-Claude, the baby Felix for whom she cares, and the couple’s charismatic friend Sébastien, a marble restorer. Yet Lucy’s homesickness for Australia and its vastness haunts her world, surfacing in the memories of her mother, the Australian garden at Empress Joséphine’s Malmaison, and Mathilde’s letters from Alice Springs. Lucy’s mother, Jude, who was a nun in the 1970s, once warned her daughter ‘to be careful what she wished for’. It is a caution that marks but rarely alters the choices these characters make. With lushness and tenderness, and revelation, Fitzgerald’s unforgettable novel Pietà exquisitely captures the glorious and imperfect relationships between parents and children, between art and life. ‘Vivid, clever and moving: Pietà is a timely meditation on art icons, iconoclasm and the mysteries of love and time.’ — Gail Jones, award-winning author of Our Shadows ...Show more

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; Michael Farris Smith (Foreword by)

$19.68 NZD

Category: No Category

Chiltern Publishing creates the most beautiful editions of the World's finest literature. Your favourite classic titles in a way you have never seen them before ; the tactile layers, fine details and beautiful colours of these remarkable covers make these titles feel extra special and will look strik Chiltern Publishing creates the most beautiful editions of the World's finest literature. Your favourite classic titles in a way you have never seen them before ; the tactile layers, fine details and beautiful colours of these remarkable covers make these titles feel extra special and will look striking on any shelf. This book has matching lined and blank journals (sold separately). They make a great gift when paired together but are also just as beautiful on their own. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Nick Carraway rents a property on Long Island, where the new moneyed class are given to ostentatious displays of wealth. None more so than the mysterious Jay Gatsby, a man who throws lavish parties for uninvited guests. After befriending his enigmatic neighbour, Nick helps reconnect Gatsby with his lost love Daisy Buchanan, now married and living tantalizingly close by. The rekindling of their passion has explosive ramifications, and the secrets of Gatsby's murky past are finally revealed. ...Show more

The Pacific Room by Michael Fitzgerald

$29.95 NZD

Category: No Category