The Good Settler

‘Where once I saw a view as I drove around the Taranaki coast along State Highway 45, I now see confiscated land from an invasion road. The creation story I used to subscribe to, the one in which hard-working people came here and settled the land, now jars. Weirdly, even the lawn looks different. The form of things just won’t settle.’

So writes Richard Shaw in his third book examining colonisation. Both have been warmly welcomed by readers and this third volume of powerful essays, wit…