Ricochet Baby Novel Vintage 1996 Synopsis ‘When Roberta falls pregnant her whole family is filled with joy.’ Fallen is not exactly how Roberta would describe it, for she and Paul have planned the baby and it has been conceived at exactly the time that they chose. But the birth itself is not as anyone chooses …
Category: Publications
Permanent link to this article: https://fionakidman.com/ricochet-baby/
The House Within
The House Within Linked Short stories Vintage 1997 A novel of linked stories about a woman’s search for identity beyond family ties, expectations and demands. Bethany Dixon is at the centre of a complex network of relationships. She is mother and stepmother, wife and ex, daughter-in-law, sister and lover. Earthy, generous, addicted to children and …
Permanent link to this article: https://fionakidman.com/the-house-within/
New Zealand Love Stories: An Oxford Anthology (ed)
New Zealand Love Stories: An Oxford Anthology Short stories Oxford University Press 1998 Synopsis Fiona Kidman offers a collection of thirty-eight love stories that includes some of New Zealand’s finest writers from the late nineteenth century to the present.
Permanent link to this article: https://fionakidman.com/new-zealand-love-stories-an-oxford-anthology-ed/
Palm Prints
Palm Prints Non-fiction Random House 1994 Synopsis In this collection of non-fiction writing and speeches, Fiona Kidman looks at the images that have made up her life, the influences and experiences that inform her works. She explores the process of writing and the world of books, and she takes her readers on many journeys as …
Permanent link to this article: https://fionakidman.com/palm-prints/
Where Your Left Hand Rests — excerpt
Marilyn at Malibu In that other country the one we call home on the faded apricot wall of my study hangs a great big silver framed portrait of Marilyn Monroe at Malibu standing on a terrace drinking champagne out of a slipper glass, her head thrown back and her white teeth sparkling in the sunlight …
Permanent link to this article: https://fionakidman.com/where-your-left-hand-rests-excerpt/
The Best New Zealand Fiction:2 — excerpt
The [only] significant theme to emerge was that of events taking place not just here, but ‘over there’, somewhere else, as if New Zealanders no longer look inward, but rather see themselves as part of an international literary community. I was, for instance, blown away by Eirlys Hunter’s story Frozen which might loosely be termed …
Permanent link to this article: https://fionakidman.com/the-best-new-zealand-fiction2-excerpt/
The Best New Zealand Fiction:1 — excerpt
‘In order to make such selections really work, you have to love short stories, or fictions – whatever you choose to call them. And I do. I enjoy reading richly textured short stories (whether it be texture of detail or nuance) every bit as much as I do novels, and the truth is I would …
Permanent link to this article: https://fionakidman.com/the-best-new-zealand-fiction1-excerpt/
The Captive Wife — excerpt
‘The pa at Te Namu was very small but also secure. It sat on a plateau, like the top of a very high table, on a rocky outcrop of the coast, almost surrounded by vertical cliffs. Around this, runs hollowed out land, some sixty yards wide, separating it from the mainland. Like a moat? Yes …
Permanent link to this article: https://fionakidman.com/the-captive-wife-excerpt/
Songs from the Violet Café — excerpt
‘A woman sat behind a low reception desk, her head bent over a large reservations book. She was an older woman, dressed in an impeccably tailored navy-blue linen dress that might have looked mannish had it not been for the drawn threadwork across her breast. There were no rings on her fingers but she wore …
Permanent link to this article: https://fionakidman.com/songs-from-the-violet-cafe-excerpt/
Paddy’s Puzzle
Paddy’s Puzzle Novel Vintage 1983 Synopsis Clare Bentley grows up in Hamilton during the Depression, mainly cared for by her older sister Winnie. Winnie is conservative and in Clara’s eyes dull. When life goes wrong for Clara, she goes to Auckland to look for work, and finds it in a chocolate factory. The chocolates represent …
Permanent link to this article: https://fionakidman.com/paddys-puzzle/