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The Strength of Eggshells

Kirsty Powell (Goodreads Author)

4.33 · Rating details · 30 ratings · 15 reviews

New Zealand literary fiction with a part historical setting.

Kate sets out on a motorbike to find her past. Why does her mother Jane only communicate through poetry? What became of her grandmother Meredith who travelled up the Whanganui River on a paddle steamer to marry a returned soldier in an ill-fated valley beyond the Bridge to Nowhere? And what should Kate do about h ...more

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Paperback, 1st Edition, 274 pages

Published October 22nd 2019 by Cloud Ink Press Ltd

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Jan 06, 2020 Marcus Hobson rated it really liked it

Shelves: new-zealand

What a remarkable first novel. This is such good storytelling and great writing. There are three stories weaving through the book, three generations of women from the same family, all looking for one-another.
In the present day, Kate has many insecurities about herself. At six feet tall she is constantly self-conscious, but her escape is to go hard on her motorbike. She knows almost nothing about her mother Jane. We hear Jane’s story from Dr Bean, the Medical Officer at a mental hospital. Jane c What a remarkable first novel. This is such good storytelling and great writing. There are three stories weaving through the book, three generations of women from the same family, all looking for one-another.
In the present day, Kate has many insecurities about herself. At six feet tall she is constantly self-conscious, but her escape is to go hard on her motorbike. She knows almost nothing about her mother Jane. We hear Jane’s story from Dr Bean, the Medical Officer at a mental hospital. Jane cannot tell this in her own words, as she has been badly scarred in a fire and the doctor is trying to find her somewhere inside of herself. He tries to reach her with poetry, and rather than speaking she writes poetry for him which hints at her past and her life. Her eloquent words hint and suggest much more than she is willing to allow “Beanstalk” to understand.
Going further back into the past, we hear the story of Meredith, who after the First World War went to settle in a remote valley off the Whanganui river. The land was given to war veterans to clear and farm, but for several years they had gradually deserted the farms until only a handful were left, battling the regenerating bush and the wild pigs. Here Meredith entered into a loveless marriage with James Stanley. As he increasingly turns to whiskey and lives in the wharre behind the farm house, she runs the farm single-handed learning all the skills she needs to muster sheep, kill and butcher pigs and still cook an evening meal. You can really feel the harshness of those pioneering times in her story. I love her strength and determination.
As Kate forces herself to look deeper into the past, she begins to learn a little more about her mother and grandmother, until she eventually discovers the aged Dr Bean who had kept her mother’s book of poetry.
Each chapter allows us different narrators, so when we reach the aged Dr Bean, this is what he tells us about himself:
“Retirement be damned. All the damaged beach folk around these parts seemed to find a reason to come and visit Beanstalk. An old man with time on his hands, he would listen to their woes in a confidential manner. They would depart his bach with a lighter step, leaving him nothing but the burden of their sad words and his advancing years.”
The story of Meredith is the most poignant for me. Her journey along the Whanganui river by paddle boat to a remote valley where she is met by a friend, is the start of a tragic sequence. She is introduced to the farmer, James Stanley, who is looking for a wife. The clumsy, unfeeling, proposal of marriage: “James looks over at Meredith and then straight ahead. ‘Mrs Anderson tells me you are looking for a husband. You could do worse than me.’
Meredith glances at his profile. It tells her nothing of his thoughts. She nods.
‘So it’s settled then. Reg said he’d help me build another room onto my hut down at Jack Ward’s old place. It’ll take us a few weeks to get it all shipshape, so shall we say Saturday five weeks from now? There is a registry office out at Raetihi.’
Meredith nods again. They walk on in silence, the horse with no name filling the space between them. At the first bluff, Meredith turns back and walks home alone. Tears fall down her face.”
Meredith’s life is so hard and so tragic. There is no intimacy between her and James and no children. The arrival of Peter to shear the sheep one year, changes all that and life will never be the same again.
A wonderful story, at times confronting, but very real and gritty.
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Oct 31, 2019 Helen McNeil rated it it was amazing

I couldn't put it down. I loved Kate, the kick-ass six foot tall heroine. I loved Ursula with her flouncy dresses and her anguish about who she really is. I loved Meredith, the pioneering grandmother of Kate who wound up in the Mangapurua Valley before the Bridge to Nowhere was built. It's a must read, fast paced but not sacrificing depth of characters. Enjoy. ...more

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Mar 15, 2021 Julie rated it really liked it

4.5 stars. Outstanding debut novel. The stories of the three women of different generations are woven seamlessly together, the mystery of Kate’s parentage a thread which isn’t resolved until the very end.

It’s beautifully written, so many vivid images and descriptions. These passages, for example:

Looking back now it seemed to Meredith that Aunt Gwyneth’s impending death had really just been about reducing the pillows. The clock ticked as the patient sank further down in the bed. The last pillow ...more

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Jan 12, 2021 Karen R rated it it was amazing

Really enjoyed this novel, the stories of the characters, from different time periods melded beautifully and drew you in - always wanting to learn more about their lives and eager for the character chapters to surface again to draw the story threads and build connections.

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Apr 12, 2020 Felicity Price rated it really liked it

Writing about some of the most striking, unusual and out-of-the-way places in New Zealand to reveal their human truth, and why they deserve a place in our hearts, resonates deeply. It’s evident, from the way she writes about the historic settlement in a remote valley up the Whanganui River, that author Kirsty Powell was so haunted by it, she was driven to write her debut novel and set it there.. Visiting the remote location of Burnett’s Face on the Denniston Plateau near Westport had the same ef Writing about some of the most striking, unusual and out-of-the-way places in New Zealand to reveal their human truth, and why they deserve a place in our hearts, resonates deeply. It’s evident, from the way she writes about the historic settlement in a remote valley up the Whanganui River, that author Kirsty Powell was so haunted by it, she was driven to write her debut novel and set it there.. Visiting the remote location of Burnett’s Face on the Denniston Plateau near Westport had the same effect on me, leading to my first novel too. And also like me, she took some very good advice on how to write, with a resulting work of fiction everyone who cares about our country’s herstory should read. Tutored by such greats as Witi Ihimaera during her Master of Creative Writing at AUT, Powell has mastered the art of creating believable, if somewhat quirky characters, telling a powerful story.
Kate, a six-foot motorbike-rider, is seeking to find her identity through slowly emerging clues about her family’s past. Adopted at birth by a down-to-earth farming couple, she never knew her mother. All her birth mother left behind was poetry. No photos, no legacy. She knows more about her grandparents, though. Her grandfather was among the many World War I returned servicemen to be given a settlement block on a hostile piece of land in the remote Mangapurua Valley, almost as far up the Whanganui River as the paddle steamers could go. No roads, no electricity, hardly any contact with the outside world. By the time the government got around to putting a road in and building a bridge over the deep ravine above the Mangapurua Stream, the servicemen and their families could subsist no longer (nor could they ignore the fact that the many landslides after heavy rain meant the valley was literally slipping away), and the valley was abandoned. The road has long been grown over but the handsome arched bridge remains and is a much-visited tourist spot and cycle/walkway, as Kate sees for herself when she at last finds the courage to go there.
Kirsty Powell has clearly done her homework on the historic settlement, apparently interviewing the families and even one of the original settlers who lived there, but she never overloads the story with historic facts. Instead, we remain intrigued at Kate’s incessant anger and denial – at her family, the people and incident encountered on her long journey, and particularly at her also-adopted brother Ian, who becomes a very feminine Ursula at weekends, then permanently. Kate is incensed at losing the Ian she grew up with and loves, and her journey naturally includes reaching an acceptance that “bloody Ursula” can have her uses too.
But the best story of the three generations of Kate’s family belongs to her grandmother Meredith – the pioneering, incredibly stoic young woman who journeys alone to the Mangapurua Valley, marries one of the returned servicemen – whose demons from the war remain – and makes quite a life for herself until the tension-filled denouement of her time there. It’s her story that becomes the page-turner, as well as a valuable reminder that New Zealand’s her-stories are well worth telling.
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Aug 25, 2020 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: new-zealand, ngaio-marsh

Another in a long line of amazing family saga novels out of New Zealand, THE STRENGTH OF EGGSHELLS is the debut novel of Kirsty Powell.

A tale of the women of three generations of one family, this novel is the story of discovery, understanding and acceptance.

In the present day Kate is self-conscious about her height, and unsure of her background, and the circumstances of her birth mother Jane's residency in a mental hospital. Jane's story is told mostly by the Medical Officer there, Dr Bean, Jane Another in a long line of amazing family saga novels out of New Zealand, THE STRENGTH OF EGGSHELLS is the debut novel of Kirsty Powell.

A tale of the women of three generations of one family, this novel is the story of discovery, understanding and acceptance.

In the present day Kate is self-conscious about her height, and unsure of her background, and the circumstances of her birth mother Jane's residency in a mental hospital. Jane's story is told mostly by the Medical Officer there, Dr Bean, Jane having been badly burnt in a fire. He is a gentle man, and he and Jane use poetry to communicate, with Jane providing hints about her past life, although it's obvious she is holding back details from her daughter as well.

Then there is Kate's Grandmother Meredith. An incomer to a remote valley surrounding the Whanganui River post the First World War, in a soldier settler area that eventually was deserted, and allowed to return mostly to its original splendour. Meredith has a loveless marriage with a man who turned to whisky, and ends up living in a Maori hut behind the farm house, contributing little to the running of the farm. Meredith, however, had turned her hand to everything, she was a strong, determined, calm woman of infinite capacity and longing. You can't hope but think that Kate will discover a connection with her Grandmother, and find some of that strength and capability is somehow genetic.

Kate is looking backwards to the women in her family at a time of need in her own life, discovering a book of Jane's poetry kept by Dr Bean. The overall story is told in a series of chapters narrated by each of these characters. It's a journey of discovery that the reader is taken on at the same time as Kate, which sometimes can be a bit cliched or corny, but in THE STRENGTH OF EGGSHELLS is anything but. The story of women's lives and their strength and commitment to the development of places and families seems to be all too frequently missing from the history of our places, and this novel takes us into interesting territory with the connection between three female generations. The strong, resilient determined but sad Grandmother; the damaged and struggling Mother, and now Kate - the inheritor of much potential and a background that's unclear and needs to be swept into the open to allow her to take advantage of the future. It also doesn't flinch from the violence and sexism of the past, as well as non-gratuitous depictions of rape and murder.

It's an elegant reminder of the rural roots of so many families. Not just that we had somebody who came from the Bush, but that the bush provided those families with a start, and the chance to create strong connections to the place. It reminded this reader yet again that we owe understanding and respect to people who have a much longer connection to the land and know that it's part of their identity and their existence.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...

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Sep 04, 2020 Ineka rated it really liked it

Shelves: nz

Kate has grown up in rural North Waikato, adopted into a farming family and with very little knowledge about her parentage other than that her mother died while a patient at Kingseat when she was a baby.

When we meet her, she’s living in Auckland, having a quarter-life crisis that’s affecting her work as a teacher, and in a complicated love/hate dependent relationship with her best friend Ian - sober professional by day, and glamourous, straight-talking Ursula on nights and weekends. Ian nurtur Kate has grown up in rural North Waikato, adopted into a farming family and with very little knowledge about her parentage other than that her mother died while a patient at Kingseat when she was a baby.

When we meet her, she’s living in Auckland, having a quarter-life crisis that’s affecting her work as a teacher, and in a complicated love/hate dependent relationship with her best friend Ian - sober professional by day, and glamourous, straight-talking Ursula on nights and weekends. Ian nurtures her through her emotional swings and roundabouts, and ‘bloody Ursula’ gives it to her straight, urging her to take control of her narrative and set some demons to rest.

In her search for her heritage and her birth family's stories, she jumps on her motorbike and visits first Kingseat and then later, Whangamomona and Mangapurua Valley in Whanganui.

We get to hear from three generations within the same family – the contemporary story of Kate's search for connection to the past and meaning in the present; the pioneering spirit and stoicism of her grandmother Meredith, living a lonely life in the remote Mangapurua Valley with her war-traumatised and disengaged husband; and her mysterious mother Jane, who we mainly learn about through the diary entries of her psychiatrist and through her revealing and poignant poetry.

Won the New Zealand Booklovers award earlier this year – it's an impressive first novel! The Strenth of Eggshells is a real grassroots New Zealand story, with super-authentic depictions of rural life both current and historical. .Let me put it this way - I now feel fairly confident I could wring a chicken‘s neck, put sheets through a mangle and maybe even shear a sheep. She's meticulously researched the post WWI sections in particular, even adding in real historical figures as side characters (with the permission of their families) to the fictional main characters’ lives. This book has lots of twists and turns in the tale, and I read it in just one or two sittings. The poetry sections were a lovely addition, quite beautiful and full of little clues and hints.

For a taster, hear Kirsty read from a section of the book on the New Zealand Society of Authors YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbfe4... ...more

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Jul 23, 2020 Sheryl rated it really liked it

I grew up in Waiau Pa so the chapters set in the area were familiar.

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Feb 20, 2021 Anne rated it liked it

Interesting insight into part of NZ history, but the book needed a lot more polish. I found the constant mutterings of “bloody Ursula” rather tiresome after about the sixth time.

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Mar 13, 2020 Josie Laird rated it it was amazing

This debut novel by Kirsty Powell is highly recommended.
The Strength of Eggshells is the story of Kate, a six-foot-tall rural girl with an uncertain heritage. It is firmly set in New Zealand, and the locations in the story are instantly recognisable and vividly described.
Seeking answers to her past, Kate sets off on her motorbike to find out what happened to her grandmother Meredith. Rather than leaving us to know the story only by following Kate’s investigations, we also have chapters written ...more

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Mar 23, 2020 Stephan vanOs rated it really liked it

A fascinating story. Once I got into the way the author set out the narrative it all worked very successfully. The descriptive passages of the journey up the Wanganui River to Jerusalem and Pipiriki were almost lyrical (I know the area so was able to identify) and the author keeps us guessing about things right up to the end. This book was definitely worth the effort.

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Mar 13, 2020 Glenys Wild rated it it was amazing

One of the best books I have read recently and I could not believe it was by a first time author. Having spent quite a lot of time in the area of the Whanganui River and having stayed three times at the Jerusalem Convent on retreat, this was like reading about an old friend. The characterisation of feelings, relationships and how each of these carries through our lives is stunning. I can't wait for the sequel to be written and released. ...more

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Jan 27, 2020 Dione Jones rated it it was amazing

The book start with an interesting motor-cycling farmer's daughter trying to find out about her mysterious birth mother and leads into a fascinating story of her grandmother, involving a remote valley beyond the Bridge to Nowhere, Many in New Zealand have heard of this but not too many have seen it. The isolated valley beyond was settled by hopeful farmers early in the twentieth century. Beautifully written and based on fact. A great read ...more

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