Books

There’s A Cure For This

by Dr Emma Espiner

Emma Espiner grew up in two worlds, that of her Pakeha lesbian mother living in a state house and her Maori father living alone in a series of rentals. Espiner went to Otago University and fully embraced the student lifestyle – parties and alcohol to the max. Life back in Wellington with a degree in Art History and Classics meant very little job opportunities and she bounced through some temp jobs before working in recruitment. She then got a job working at Parliament, which is where she met her husband Guyon. Moving to Auckland, Espiner returned working in recruitment before falling pregnant. Around this time she realised that her hopes and desires were rooted in helping people who might look like her or have a background like hers, and medicine was that pathway. Dr Emma Espiner qualified in time to work at Middlemore Hospital as New Zealand went into Covid lockdown and hospitals were being over-run and under-staffed. Her story is raw and honest, and at times confronting. Highly recommended.

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

Who is Sally Diamond and what is her story? The story starts with Sally putting her dead father’s body in a rubbish bag and trying to burn him in the incinerator. He had jokingly told her to put him out with the rubbish when he died, and Sally followed his instructions. There’s a lot that’s different about Sally but when you learn where Sally came from and what happened to her mother, things begin to make sense. With help from family friends and neighbours, after sorting out the dead father situation, Sally learns what is appropriate and how to engage with others. This delightful and sometimes quite funny side of Sally’s story is juxtaposed against the dark and horrific story of her mother who was kidnapped at the age of 11 and held captive and abused for 14 years. There’s an unexpected New Zealand connection, which made the reading even more fascinating. This story is dark and twisted with moments of levity and humanity.