> Skip to content
  • Published: 6 July 2012
  • ISBN: 9781869799205
  • Imprint: RHNZ Vintage
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $38.00

The Thrill of Falling

Stories




A stunning collection of stories from one of New Zealand's favourite authors.

A stunning collection of stories from one of New Zealand's favourite authors.

What's new?

* A young woman utters her favourite mantras to take on the world.
* An old woman lives like a diva, re-enacting Casablanca.
* In a rewrite of a play, a singer becomes a rock chick in London.
* Moby Dick is reincarnated as an iceberg.
* Darwin’s giant tortoises on the Galapagos Islands are re-encountered.
* A young man adds a twist to his intriguing heritage.

In this richly imaginative and compelling collection of longer stories, Witi Ihimaera makes a playful and delightfully unique nod to influences from the past. Ranging across an intriguing and innovative variety of styles, subjects and settings, they defy the expected to reaffirm Ihimaera as one of New Zealand’s finest technicians and storytellers.

  • Published: 6 July 2012
  • ISBN: 9781869799205
  • Imprint: RHNZ Vintage
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $38.00

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.
 

Also by Witi Ihimaera

See all

Praise for The Thrill of Falling

"[Ihimaera's] works are beautifully written, clever and humorous"

Jolene Williams, Bay of Plenty Times

. . . full of experimentation and literary derring-do . . . the show-stopper is the final, title story, 'The Thrill of Falling' . . . is quite brilliant, and the story a beautiful, lambent note on which to finish.

John McCrystal, Weekend Herald

. . . a great combination of the punchiness of a short story, along with more development of character and plot. Add that to Ihimaera's knack for creating characters that seem to come alive off the pages, and you end up with a book that I read in a couple of sittings because I enjoyed it so much.

Mandy Evans, Saturday Express

All six stories are very imaginative and readable, combining references to Maori mythology and New Zealand history in an easy, playful and relaxed style, while pulling off twists and brilliant touches that certainly must keep the reader impressed.

Geoff Adams, Otago Daily Times

Discover more

Article
Looking for ways into Witi Ihimaera's works?

Writing about the Māori world, both rural and urban, often knocking into the Pākehā status quo, Witi Ihimaera’s writing has always offered a broader view of what New Zealand literature could be – should be – about.