Explorative writing puts reader in safe hands

Sue McCauley, author of many works including her latest, Landed, is a visiting author at this year’s Whanganui Literary Festival. Photo / NZME

Landed by Sue McCauley

Published by Bateman 2023

Reviewed by Joan Rosier-Jones

Landed is an epic novel covering the years between WWII and the arrival of the 1984 Labour Government which made radical changes, based on the free market reforms of ‘Rogernomics’.

The changes brought about across that time-span are explored through the life of Briar Howland whose husband, Brewer, has just committed suicide. Briar was a traditional housewife of her time — a stay-at-home mother and supportive spouse, leaving financial issues to her husband. Now she has to face this ‘tsunami for progress’ on her own. Advice comes from all quarters, but is it the right advice? And what does she want to do for the rest of her life, which time is eroding?

The novel is populated with a large cast of family members – siblings, children, their spouses and grandchildren. The flashbacks are woven seamlessly through the narrative.

One of Sue McCauley’s greatest strengths is her ability to live in her protagonist’s head. Here we share Briar’s anxieties over navigating this strange new world. We feel her concerns about her relationship with the grandchildren. We can appreciate her dislike of some in-laws and empathise with her affection for Honda, the dog, and her appreciation of other people, including the Māori neighbours of her childhood.

Briar yearns to return to the family farm, Glenmorrin, run by her brother Calum. Ever since she left home she says she has felt ‘out of kilter, away from the North Canterbury countryside’; but life has a way of thwarting one’s wishes.

Patricia Grace describes the book as: “Such good explorative writing, wit, clarity, images sharp and fresh. As a reader I am in safe hands with Sue McCauley.”

Sue McCauley catapulted to fame with her first novel 40 years ago. Other Halves won awards and was made into a movie. Since then, Sue has been a journalist, playwright and screenwriter. She has also published four more novels and two collections of short stories. Landed is her first novel in decades, and it is well worth the wait.

Sue will be a visiting author at the Whanganui Literary festival, September 29 to October 1.