Butcherbird
by Cassie Hart
(Huia, $25)
Things are rough out here in the arts at the moment but one ray of sunshine is that kaituhi Māori (Māori writers) are absolutely nailing it. Cassie Hart (Kāi Tahu, Makaawhio) was awarded a place in the prestigious Te Papa Tupu mentoring programme and the
result, from premiere Māori publishing house Huia Publishers, is the horror novel Butcherbird. (A butcherbird is a carnivorous black-and-white songbird similar to a magpie.)
Jena's grandmother, Rose, is dying. After 20 years in exile, Jena returns to the Taranaki family farm where as a child she survived a horrific fire in which her parents and siblings died. There she finds Will, Rose's live-in carer, with whom she immediately butts heads. It's a horror novel so you know things are only going to get worse and indeed they soon do: the magpies are behaving strangely, Will has a hidden agenda, Rose is keeping secrets about what really happened with the fire, and The Dark Man (Jena's childhood bogeyman) might not be so made-up after all.
It's a gripping and well-paced pakimaero (novel), with enough dark comedy to leaven the ratcheting dread. (Readers should also be aware that Butcherbird contains scenes of rape and other intimate partner violence.)
Hart is an experienced writer of speculative fiction and her treatment of the supernatural elements is one of my favourite things about the book. Rose is a Pākehā immigrant of Celtic heritage who, like the magpies, has come to Aotearoa from Australia. There's a definite sense that Rose has brought some kinds of magic, both light and dark, with her. Hart never explains this fully and Butcherbird is the better for it.
