Beneath Pale Water

Description

Set amidst the physical and psychological landscapes of New Zealand's southern hills and grasslands, Beneath Pale Water is a social realist and expressionistic novel that follows a triangle of three damaged individuals - a sculptor, a vagrant and a model - who have grown calcified shells against the world. Their search for identity and belonging leads them into dangerous territory that threatens both their sanity and lives. As their protective shells crack they are left vulnerable - both physically and emotionally - to the high country winds and their own conflicts that, ultimately, might free or destroy them.

"Powerfully evokes the landscapes and seasons of inland Otago." Owen Marshall

Winner of the IPPY Gold Medal Award, Australia/New Zealand - Best Regional Fiction, 2018

Author description

Thalia Henry who grew up in Karitane, Otago features in the upcoming Cloud Ink Press anthology, Fresh Ink. In 2008 she was awarded a place in the Dunedin Write Out Loud Festival for her play Powdered Milk. Extending the narrative of that play, and also inspired by the landscapes of the rugged South Island high country, where she spent time as a teenager learning to glide with her late father, Terry, Beneath Pale Water is her debut novel.