A Piece of Land

Te Ao Hou, September 1963, Page 55

A Piece of Land by Noel Hilliard Whitcombe and Tombs, 12/6d This collection of short stories is by the author of the novel ‘Maori Girl’. Many of the stories are concerned with Maori characters, and they present a good-humoured and convincing picture of Maori life in both the cities and the country. These people are real; one has met them. The circumstances in which they find themselves are equally true to life; sometimes painfully so—as, for example, in the story of the two brothers who, unknown to each other, answer the same accommodation advertisement in Wellington. The first brother to reach the house doesn't get the room, but later the landlady lets the second brother have it. That's right, how did you guess. Though they are full brothers, the first brother was obviously Maori—while with the second one, his Maori blood was not noticeable. These things are true, and it is good to have someone writing about them, if only to make more pakehas aware of them. But I don't want to give you the idea that this is a gloomy book. It's thoroughly enjoyable.