It’s 1818 on the East Coast of Te Ika-a-Maui, Aotearoa. Hine-aute, granddaughter of the legendary warrior Kaitanga, is fleeing through the bush; a precious yet gruesome memento contained in her fishing net. What follows is the gripping tale of a people on the cusp of profound change that is destined to reverberate through many generations to come. The Europeans have arrived, and they’ve brought muskets and foreign diseases, ushering in a whole new world of terror and trouble. They’ve also brought a new faith, which will cause Maori to question everything they had believed to be true. Hine and her sons, Ipumare and Uha, are caught in the crossfire of change that is creating fractures in their close familial bonds and undermining everything they hold dear. From raids by musket-wielding war parties to heightened internecine warfare; from the influx of whalers, traders and Christian missionaries to the signing of The Treaty of Waitangi, Kawai: Tree of Nourishment strikes hard and deep into the heart of the impact of colonisation on Maori, and is guaranteed to leave readers stunned.
