Karen McMillan had the idea to write a novel set in 1890s Dunedin more than a decade ago. The central idea was to follow the story of a young woman during this time of social progress, her life counterpointed by William Larnach and his troubles later in life. It would be a love story but also a glimpse into the colourful social and cultural layers of the era.
When McMillan was awarded a Robert Lord Writers’ Cottage Residency, she was able to devote herself to the extensive research needed to make the novel a reality. Her book Turbulent Threads has just been published. Here, McMillan shares three things she hopes readers will take away from it and something she learnt while writing it.
The multicultural Devil’s Half-Acre in Victorian Dunedin
In the gold rush days, there was an area of Dunedin that was aptly named The Devil’s Half-Acre. With its ramshackle huts and small lanes, it was rife with crime, opium dens and unsavoury characters, and it rightfully deserved its infamous reputation. But by the 1890s, it was still poor but now a thriving community in Dunedin, where Scots, Irish, Chinese, and Lebanese people lived side by side, often new immigrants supporting each other in their endeavours. There was a palpable sense of community and people working together, setting aside any previous grievances from their homelands to start afresh in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Women getting the right to vote
Reading that New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to pass a law giving women the right to vote in the parliamentary elections could seem academic. But I hope when reading Turbulent Threads, readers will have a sense of how groundbreaking this was, the excitement of the women living at the time, and what a monumental piece of legislation this was for women then and now.
The 1880s in New Zealand was a time of depression and hardship, but the 1890s were exciting and prosperous times, especially for young women. Never before had they had so many opportunities in life, and I have tried to capture what it would have been like living in Dunedin in this decade.
Turbulent Threads celebrates the pivotal role women played in one of New Zealand’s most turbulent eras. My main character Greer’s journey stands as an imagined account that captures the essence of a historical milestone when women’s voices rose above the tumult.
William Larnach and his final years
Greer and most of the characters in this book are entirely fictional, but her story is counterpointed by the real-life story of William Larnach and his troubles, his marriage to his third wife Constance, scandalous rumours of an illicit love affair, and his suicide in Parliament in 1898.
Larnach was a highly successful businessman and politician in the 1890s, and many people will have visited Larnach Castle on the Otago Peninsula, a lasting legacy of his life. But when he committed suicide, it was very clear that this very public man also had private torment. While we will never know what brought him to the point of taking his own life, readers will get a glimpse into the life of this enigmatic man and his family, the success and glamour, but also the conflict and personal tragedies.
What I learnt from researching and writing the book
I’ve always been interested in stories of the Scots and Irish settlers who came to New Zealand as this is part of my heritage (Scots/Irish/Danish), so I was looking forward to researching Dunedin’s history in the 1890s. But what I really valued from writing this book was reading about so many extraordinary people.
I came away with an enormous appreciation of these settlers who worked together to create a vibrant, flourishing community. I was inspired to learn about the industrious and always beautifully attired Lebanese; I admired the way the Scottish immigrants placed such value on education. It was wonderful to read about the Chinese settlers, and the more I have read and learnt about Choie (Charles) Sew Hoy, the more impressed I am by this generous and successful businessman. Among his many achievements he set up the Cheong Shing Tong, a benevolent society helping the poor and elderly Chinese migrants.
Bendix Hallenstein has a cameo in my novel. I’m always indebted to the way the Hallensteins company looked after my father, who was one of their store managers, for the years he had cancer until his untimely death. I enjoyed discovering more about the company’s founder.
Turbulent Threads by Karen McMillan (Quentin Wilson Publishing, $37.99) is out now.
