Heartland / Jenny Pattrick.
Material type:
TextDescription: 328 pages ; 24 cmISBN: - 9781775535850
- 1775535851
- NZ823.3 23
- General.
| Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiction | Pātea LibraryPlus Fiction | Fiction | PATT (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | i2131531 | ||
| New Zealand Fiction | Stratford Fiction | Fiction | PAT (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | A00723267 |
Donny Mac was released at Eastertime about a month before Pansy Holloway, also known as Nightshade, disappeared for good. After a short stint in prison on trumped-up charges, the loveable simpleton Donny Mac returns to the house left to him by his grandfather in the small settlement of Manawa, in the shadow of Mt Ruapehu. Now inhabited by a handful of colourful locals, the once prosperous milling town is only bustling in the ski season when the out-of-towners arrive. Awaiting Donny's return is the drunken and pregnant Nightshade, who claims he is the father. Donny's friends keep anxiously: the lace-making Bull Howie; Vera who can be seen every evening wheeling Bull's dinner in a pram down to his house in her own version of meals on wheels; farmer George Kingi and his fey four-year-old daughter Lovey; and the strange elderly sisters who have moved in next door. Also watching is the Virgin Tracey, a sixteen-year-old hiding out in one of the abandoned houses, with her own tiny baby. When an accident threatens to put Donny back into prison, he and the Virgin Tracey come up with a solution. But can the secret remain hidden?
General.
Patron comment on 10/03/2015
I've read two earlier books by Jenny Pattrick (The Denniston Rose and The Landing) and thoroughly enjoyed them both but I found this book very, very different from the those two. Heartland is set in a very typical, rural, very small town in the centre of the North Island and concerns the lives of the residents as they interact with each other. Filled with great characters, all close to the breadline, they help each other wherever they can. The characters are beautifully and sympathetically drawn with great good humour. A lady who cooks dinner at home and then carries it, in a wheelbarrow, to a lonely friend on the other side of the town, three elderly spinsters and a rather simple young man. As you read, you cannot help but become friendly with all these somewhat odd characters who are getting on with their lives in the best way they can. Lovely snatches of comedy enliven this lovely book. Very highly recommended.
Patron comment on 21/10/2014
A heartwarming tale set in Heartland NZ. Manawa, a small rural settlement in the shadow of Ruapehu. It used to be a bustling logging town but now seems to be inhabited by the sad remnants of modern life. They battle bureaucracy, weekend 'townies' and the weather but look out for each other in their own brand of community spirit. A reminder of how things used to be.