Nell

Forged in the freedom of New Zealand’s high country in the early years of the twentieth century, Nell will yearn for a life that transcends the confines of family expectation.

Vowing to keep alive the flame of inner freedom, Nell finds that freedom tested: by husband Herb’s pride and the demands of family life on a Maniototo sheep station. Herb betrays her trust. Love comes calling and must be reckoned with. There is tragedy.

Two wars, a pandemic and the Depression keep Nell pinned within society’s matrix. Is it even possible for a woman of Nell’s era to hold her own?

A captivating novel, conjured from impressions of the author’s grandmother,each scene a bright bead in the necklace of Nell’s life.

Speaking of the experience of writing a novel of her grandmother’s life, Todd says: I expected gaps and guesswork, but instead found a presence and a life, vivid and corporeal, that unfolded scene by scene.

Author Fiona Farrell describes the bookPowerfully authentic, with a deep truth at its core, Penelope Todd’s latest novel celebrates the beauty of a life of quiet stoicism, following a simple path. The clamour of twentieth century history fades beyond the richly observed detail of one woman’s life: from childhood to youth and love, marriage, childbirth, loss and the consolations of friendship, a garden, and the wide vistas of Otago’s high country. To read it becomes a kind of meditation.