KEY POINTS:
The 'memoir accompanied by favourite recipes' genre looks in no danger of disappearing and may be a publisher's ploy to attract more readers. If so, the ingredients in Shonagh Koea's writing - among them a delicate yet incisive wit, keen perception, irony, and an abundance of sensuous imagery - are good enough to stand alone. Still, the 25 plain and tasty very mid-century New Zealand recipes are skillfully interwoven with the episodic memories they give rise to, and slowly build up a fascinating portrait.
Koea's ear for language and sharp observational powers were honed young. She grew up, solitary and fearful, in sad houses with a violent father and passive mother. Just how abusive her father was becomes evident as the memoir proceeds. She left home as soon as she could and worked as a proofreader, then a reporter, before marrying a man with whom she felt happy and safe. When her husband died suddenly she had to reinvent herself. Houses, antique furniture, a particularly creative piece of clothing, and art give her great joy. But the memoir is as much about being a writer as it is about culinary delights. By including excerpts from her fiction, Koea reveals how fragments of her life are reworked, embellished and slipped into her novels.
Her mastery of her craft is such that she weaves back and forth returning to incidences already touched on. This provides a layering effect that adds depth and richness. Quirky, subtle, moving, lovers of fine prose will savour this.
*Random House, $34.99
- Detours, HoS
