In 1841 a young woman, a slave on a whalers’ ship, is left behind in Port Nicholson. She happens across a strange man with sharp cheekbones and a long nose, locally named Ōkiwi Brown after the bay in which he lives.
Known as Brownie by the whalers for the colour of her skin and Hannah in her distant memory, the woman mumbles an introduction; the man hears Nan Brown and as such she becomes wife to Ōkiwi Brown.
A terrible sense of danger and menace sets in as soon as Ōkiwi appears on the page. Locals avoid him and gossip about him, children sing songs of the “resurrection men” from the old country. There are rumours.
He runs a hostelry of sorts, providing filthy accommodation and foul grog to those passing through the area. Nan falls into behaviours that will keep her safe, rousing only when given direct instruction.
Into the story come William Leckie and his infant daughter, Mary. They will weave in and out of Ōkiwi’s orbit, finding and losing work; William is determined to get sober and keep his child.
A missing boy, skirmishes with Māori, the stinking traps of colonialism and men sold a lie propel the story that inevitably comes back to Ōkiwi, never venturing far from the bay in which he skulks, enabling and encouraging violence and misery.
Sanders’ prose is captivating. Its constant action and convincing dialogue immerse the reader in the characters’ personalities and lives.
The Burke and Hare connection plays out in flashback chapters as the men slide into their escalating reign of terror.
Fiction is a wonderful vehicle for the most exciting facts and this novel is a propulsive investigation into what might have happened to William Hare.
Expect to see Ōkiwi Brown on the next Ockham New Zealand Book Awards list.
