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  • Published: 2 March 2009
  • ISBN: 9780143011217
  • Imprint: Raupo
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 432
  • RRP: $30.00

The Dream Swimmer




'Eleven years have passed since that winter of 1986 when I put down my pen on the story of the woman who wore pearls in her hair, my grandmother the matriarch, Riripeti Mahana nee Pere, whom some called Artemis . . .'

So begins The Dream Swimmer, Witi Ihimaera's gripping sequel to The Matriarch, acclaimed winner of the Wattie Award.

The Dream Swimmer continues the odyssey of Tama Mahana, grandson and heir to the matriarch, as he assumes the mantle of leadership and, with it, his grandmother's battles with the Pakeha.  But at every step Tama is thwarted – by deception and intrigue, and by the woman whose destiny has intersected Riripeti's and his.  She is the enigmatic Tiana, his mother, the woman of no account.

Ihimaera continues to dazzle as he negotiates this story of great breadth and breathtaking climaxes, combining the heart of his early work with the deft experimentalism of his more recent novels and short stories.  At once an incisive character study and a deeply moving family saga, The Dream Swimmer is sure to enchant and delight.

'Part oracle, part memorialist, Ihimaera is an inspired voice, weaving many stories together.  The effect if epic, operatic., - David Eggleton, Metro
Also available as an eBook
 
 

  • Published: 2 March 2009
  • ISBN: 9780143011217
  • Imprint: Raupo
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 432
  • RRP: $30.00

About the author

Witi Ihimaera



Three-time winner of the Wattie/Montana Book of the Year award, Katherine Mansfield fellow and playwright Witi Ihimaera is one of New Zealand’s most prolific and accomplished writers. Witi’s first novel, Tangi, won the Wattie Book of the Year Award in 1974, a feat he repeated with The Matriarch in 1986. His celebrated novel Bulibasha, King of the Gypsies, now adapted as the film Mahana, won the Montana Book of the Year award in 1995. Witi’s other novels and short story collections include The Whale Rider (also adapted as an internationally successful film); Dream Swimmer (sequel to the award-winning The Matriarch); Pounamu, Pounamu and Nights In The Gardens of Spain. In 2015 he published the first volume of his autobiography, Maori Boy.
 

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