AN ISLAND KINGDOM
CRUSOES OF SUNDAY ISLAND, by Elsie K. Morton; G. Bell and Sons, 15/-. Miss MORTON has written the fascinating story of a family who lived for many years on Sunday (Raoul) Island in the Kermadecs. It is a story of hardship, misfortune, and adventure, as told to the author by the second daughter of the "hero," Thomas Bell, who, with his wife and six children, landed on the island in 1878. Bell had fought in the Maori wars, married in Napier, tried sheep-farming, flax-mill-ing, and hotel-keeping (finally in Apia), before settling on Sunday Island, where for over 30 years he struggled with the romantic notion of making an island kingdom for himself. The book centres on the two eldest children, from one of whom (surviving in Auckland) Miss Morton derived most of.the story. Both girls, and only 11 and nine years old when they landed on the island, they were called on to work as men to help their indomitable father establish a home. They cut raupo and nikau for building huts, dug ground for kumaras, chased, killed and ‘skinned wild goats. Four more children, born on the island, grew up there after the older children had left to settle in New Zealand. ; The book will appeal to young people, but older readers may be disappointed that Miss Morton has cast the story in the particular form she
has chosen.
L.J.
W.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570920.2.22.6
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 945, 20 September 1957, Page 16
Word count
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235AN ISLAND KINGDOM New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 945, 20 September 1957, Page 16
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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