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  • Published: 7 June 2013
  • ISBN: 9781775533061
  • Imprint: RHNZ Vintage
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $37.00

White Lies




A powerful, prize-winning novella from the much-loved author of The Whale Rider, plus a moving screenplay, film stills and commentary on writing and movie making.

A powerful, prize-winning novella from the much-loved author of The Whale Rider, plus a moving screenplay, film stills and commentary on writing and movie making.

A medicine woman — a giver of life — is asked to hide a secret that may protect a position in society, but could have fatal consequences. When she is approached by the servant of a wealthy woman, three very different women become players in a head-on clash of beliefs, deception and ultimate salvation.

This compelling story tackles moral dilemmas, exploring the nature of identity, societal attitudes to the roles of women and the tension between Western and traditional Maori medicine. This book, though, is also about the richness of creativity, illustrating the way a single story can take on different lives. The original novella, Medicine Woman, has been rewritten and expanded by Witi Ihimaera to become White Lies. It has also evolved into a screenplay by internationally acclaimed director and screenwriter Dana Rotberg, which has been made into a superb film by South Pacific Pictures. Thus this book offers an intriguing insight into the process of adapting work, as well as offering new versions of this potent story.


Nga Kupu Ora – Aotearoa Maori Book Awards 2013, winner of the Te Pakimaero / Fiction category

  • Published: 7 June 2013
  • ISBN: 9781775533061
  • Imprint: RHNZ Vintage
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $37.00

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

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Awards & recognition

Nga Kupu Ora – Aotearoa Maori Book Awards

Winner  •  2013  •  Fiction / Te Pakimaero category

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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.