Aylmer, Mrs J. E. (Isabella)

Mrs J. E. Aylmer was an Englishwoman, wife of an army captain who died in the Crimean War. She never visited New Zealand and based her 1862 novel Distant Homes, or the Graham Family in New Zealand on letters written by her husband’s cousin by marriage, also Isabella, wife of the Rev W. J. Aylmer of Akaroa. Not surprisingly, given Aylmer’s lack of first-hand knowledge of New Zealand, her novel is riddled with errors, one of the most glaring being an account of an eruption of a volcano on Mt Egmont which damages Wellington, causes a day long earthquake, creates water spouts in Cook Strait, and is witnessed by the Graham family as they sail towards the South Island.

Distant Homes, or the Graham Family in New Zealand (London: Griffith and Farran, 1862)

One of the earliest novels published about New Zealand, Distant Homes, or the Graham Family in New Zealand is a dually Puritan text, a novel of both settlement and salvation. The Graham family of the title are archetypal Puritan settlers; leaving England because of financial reverses, settling on a farm near Christchurch, and creating a prosperous ‘happy home out of the wilderness’ through hard work (173). Distant Homes is also infused with an Evangelical sense of mission. A key task of the Grahams is to bring Christian civilisation to Maori ‘savages’ through example and education (3). Aylmer’s Maori are childlike, articulating the author’s view that the duty of the Christian settler is to teach Maori and thus elevate them. A Maori tribe settle near the Grahams’ home and their chief tells Mrs Graham: ‘ ‘Bid us serve you and we will do it, even as a child obeys his parent...’ ’ (83). Captain Graham successfully dissuades the tribe from joining what he regards as the ungodly Taranaki uprising, while his wife and daughters teach in a local school and introduce Maori women to the domestic arts. The novel ends with Maori and European voices raised in praise to God in the newly built church. Aylmer’s novel is written to celebrate the work of Evangelical missionaries and pioneers, its paternalistic, jingoistic attitude to Maori a product of the author’s religious faith and nationalistic fervour.

‘Babbie the Egyptian’

‘Babbie the Egyptian’ is the pseudonym of a prohibition author. I have been unable to find out the name of the woman behind the exotic pen name. However, a letter from the editor at the front of Gleams and Glooms indicates that the author is a ‘Southland young lady’ who also wrote short stories for the Otago Witness.

Gleams and Glooms: A Story of 1905 (Dunedin: R. J. Stark, 1905)

Gleams and Glooms is a slight, trite prohibition pamphlet written as a piece of 1905 election propaganda. Like the other prohibition novelists, ‘Babbie the Egyptian’ is convinced that prohibition is a God-inspired cause. The prohibition zealots in her pamphlet pray for a ‘no license’ result, confident that ultimately good will triumph over the demon drink. The tract is full of stock prohibition motifs: the drunken father who neglects and abuses his child, the innocent victim left destitute because of alcohol, the publican intent on making money. The hero of the novel, Max Maitland, is of course a prohibition campaigner who tries to save the father, helps the child, and converts the publican. Max is a prohibition writer himself, writing stories and articles for local newspapers to persuade voters to choose ‘no license’.

Baker, Louisa (‘Alien’)

Louisa Baker is primarily a theological novelist, although her fiction also articulates moral feminist views. She was born in England in 1856 and arrived in Christchurch with her family in 1863. When she was 18 she married John Baker. The marriage was an unhappy one and in 1886 Baker separated from her husband and moved to Dunedin with her two children, working as a journalist for the Otago Witness. She was the original ‘Dot’ of the children's column and the creator of ‘Alice,’ who offered advice to women and discussed contemporary feminist issues. Moving to England in 1894, Baker became a successful novelist. Her pseudonym ‘Alien’ speaks both of her sense of dislocation from New Zealand and her sense of alienation as a woman. Baker's 17 novels were all published in London and sold well in England and America. While Baker was hailed as ‘a colonial George Eliot’ in her New Zealand obituary, earlier New Zealand reviews criticised her for writing ‘decadent books’ about ‘women who trifle with the sacredness of marriage’ (Oxford History, 500). This censure, absurd to a modern audience, serves as a reminder that in her time Baker was both a conservative moralist and a radical feminist. A similar dichotomy is evident in Baker's attitude towards Puritan theology. She was scathing of Calvinist repression and guilt, but preached a message of love and tolerance which has its roots in the Methodist branch of Puritanism. This bibliography only discusses Baker's New Zealand novels. In her later English novels the melodramatic romance formula is not leavened with theoretical considerations.

Another Woman's Territory (London: Constable, 1901)

Set in the North Island bush and in Melbourne, the main theme of Another Woman's Territory is the sanctity of marriage. Caroline Grey forbids Geraldine Ward, the rival for her husband's affections, to come near Howard: ‘ ‘You are on another woman's territory...you are on my territory...Your right and mine can never be equal - I am his wife…’(287-8). Wifely love ultimately triumphs over adulterous love. The sub-plot makes a strong statement about the importance of artistic integrity. The hero Howard Grey steals the plot of his best-selling novel from Frank Osmond. This is viewed by Baker as carrying a comparable burden of shame and guilt to Frank's embezzlement. Howard's recognition of his wrongdoing eventually makes him a finer man and a better novelist.

A Daughter of the King (London: Hutchinson, 1894)

Baker's insistence on the need for a movement away from the austerity and harshness of Calvinism to the love and forgiveness offered by denominations such as Methodism is seen most clearly in A Daughter of the King. Florence's father dies when she is young, his legacy to her: ‘You are one of the King's daughters. An heiress in all things…’(6). The novel traces Florence's journey towards this inheritance. Over time her father's faith is obscured by her foster mother's Calvinism. However, an uncongenial marriage leads her to rebel against God. Florence seeks to fill the subsequent void with a succession of new philosophies. The first - truth - helps her to break free from her husband Claude. She exposes the marriage as a fraud, declaring: ‘No law - no God - no man, shall compel me to live in respectable sin...’(153). However, this philosophy quickly reveals its inadequacy when Florence is forced to lie about her daughter's legitimacy in order to get a divorce. Moving to Melbourne, so often the mecca in Baker's novels, Florence finds temporary solace in feminism, humanism, music, and work. Everything fails to satisfy her until she hears a sermon on Christ's love at a city mission (the preacher is St John, the hero of The Majesty of Man). Florence finds her inheritance in God and at the heart of her new-found faith is ‘passionate, selfless love’ (314).

The Devil's Half-Acre (London: Fisher Unwin, 1900)

The Devil's Half-Acre articulates Baker's view that God's response to sin is forgiveness not punishment. The protagonist John Jermyn, a fire and brimstone preacher in a deep south mining community, believes in a retributive Calvinist God. John's life is a continual penance of self-abasement to propitiate God for his adultery with and murder of his childhood sweetheart Grace. In contrast to this harsh tenet, Grace's husband Holmes Hardcastle lives by the creed of forgiveness and love. His message of grace leads John to realise that mercy, not damnation, is God's purpose. While Baker critiques John's soul-destroying sacrifice, she applauds Rose Hardcastle's redeeming sacrifice. When the man she loves appears to be a murderer, Rose resolves to be an atonement for his sins so that he might be saved and his victim's father comforted. Sacrifice motivated by guilt is condemned in this novel, but relinquishment motivated by love is celebrated.

His Neighbour's Landmark (London: Digby, Long, 1907)

Set in the North Island bush and in London, the melodramatic His Neighbour's Landmark is perhaps most memorable for its account of the Tarawera eruption. This is a key plot device, separating Paul Featherstone and his wife Marah (he thinks she is dead and she thinks he is indifferent). They are reunited seven years later in London, remittance man Paul now an English landowner and country girl Marah now famous opera singer Te Wahini. The plot is of most interest in its critique of Paul's class-consciousness, Marah declaring: ‘ ‘No man shall stoop to me and be ashamed of me as wife…I will make my own distinction, my own world…I…scorn those who…assume greatness because of men and women of their name’ ’(60). The sub-plot reinforces Baker's theological position. Would-be minister Philip Stroud experiences temptation and failure while on a walking tour of New Zealand. A realisation that he is fallible and dependent on God's grace teaches him compassion. His mission in the London slums is the embodiment of Baker's Gospel of Love.

In Golden Shackles (London: Hutchinson, 1895)

Set in the South Island goldfields, In Golden Shackles is primarily a critique of materialism. Arthur Searell, a weak wastrel, becomes obsessed with finding gold, a pursuit which leads him to murder. His daughter Bell articulates Baker's view, declaring: ‘ ‘You are making a mistake in emphasising riches too much...There are noble and exquisite things money cannot buy...’ ’(156). The novel is also useful for its articulation of Baker's philosophy of sacrifice. Bell and her friend Ralph seek to atone for Arthur's sin, Ralph taking the blame for the murder and Bell marrying Ralph and relinquishing her love for Guy. Their Christ-like love and self-sacrifice stands in contrast to the legalism of Arthur's son Walter, who constantly urges his father to repent. For Baker individual responsibility is necessary, but this is aided by the redemptive acts of others.

The Majesty of Man (London: Hutchinson, 1895)

The Majesty of Man is central to Baker's Puritan vision of marital happiness. While the novel suggests that women ‘should be able to choose celibate separatism instead of marriage,’ Sister Lilian's celibacy is ultimately cold and joyless when contrasted with the vitality of family life (28). The heroine Dora's reply to Lilian's declaration that ‘earthly love must be rooted out’ (150) is: ‘ ‘You are violating a sacred principle of truth...there [can] be no higher ideal for the race...than that of a husband and wife working together side by side for their own uplifting and the uplifting of others…’ ’(177-8). Dora's vision of marriage is triumphant. Her husband Bret returns to her after years spent preaching in Lilian's order and even Lilian eventually acknowledges that marriage and motherhood are God-given vocations that satisfy the human craving for love. She dies cradling Dora's child and claiming it as her own, the implication being that her aesthetic ideals of chastity are ultimately sterile and unsatisfying.

Not In Fellowship (London: Digby, Long, 1908)

Not in Fellowship, set in Akaroa and Melbourne, is particularly useful for its demonstration of Baker's theological position. In contrast to A Daughter of the King and The Perfect Union, the focus is not solely the personal cost of Calvinism, but also the corporate cost to believers. Mark Hathaway's services where ‘those not in fellowship’ are instructed to ‘sit behind the board’ (18) are contrasted unfavourably with Wilfred Leigh's open church with its creed that ‘the Lord our God hath long mercies and forgiveness’ (237). On a personal level, Frances Marlow softens her uncle's Calvinist repression, teaching him to love rather than judge. Likewise, opium addict Cyril is redeemed through Wilfred's message of forgiveness. The novel also reinforces Baker's moral feminism. Frances speaks of the need for women to believe in their ‘individual power’ and capacity ‘to do as well as feel’ (157). Yet, through Frances, Baker also emphasises that a loving, equal marriage is preferable to a life of single endeavour. The stress is on loving marriage, when a marriage is lacking in love - as with Frances' unconsummated union with Cyril - Baker advocates separation and even divorce.

The Perfect Union (London: Digby, Long, 1908)

Set in the South Island mountains, The Perfect Union is an excellent illustration of Baker's anti-Calvinism and moral feminism. The novel is a stinging attack of the Calvinism doctrine of predestination and the self-righteousness and division this tenet breeds. Matthew Gordon is a staunch Calvinist whose beliefs ‘make of happiness a sin’ (207) and deny ‘humanity its humanness, God His fatherhood, and intellect and art its expression’ (31-2). His fanaticism warps his own nature, alienates his wife, and stunts the development of his daughter Christina. Salvation from this gloomy creed is made possible through his daughter Alma who redeems Matthew and Christina through the ‘higher call of love’ (208). Alma is also the medium through which Baker expresses her moral feminist views. As with so many of Baker's heroines, Alma calls for equality, particularly the freedom to decide ‘right and wrong’ and be one's own ‘moral conscience’ (76). Baker views women as the upholders of moral order and as such they have a duty to protect the sanctity of marriage. Through the intervention of Geoffrey Deane, Alma realises that her plans to enter a free love union are a ‘sin against her womanhood’ (183). Only within marriage can there be a ‘perfect union’.

The Untold Half (London: Hutchinson, 1899)

The Untold Half is set in the Lake Manapouri forest and is the only Baker novel to deal with a sexual relationship outside marriage (in the other novels characters contemplate free love unions but never put the ideas into practice). Marvel Meredith loves Wynne Winter and acts on her love during a storm. For Wynne it is just a casual encounter and Marvel marries Max Hawthorne who has been blinded by her father. Max’s blindness protects him from the knowledge that Marvel’s son Paul is not his but Wynne’s. Recovered sight leads to an explosion of blame and rage and Paul is tragically killed. Baker’s feminism is evident in her sympathetic portrayal of Marvel’s predicament. Max’s possessive love is found wanting, while the Puritan Cordelia Grey declares of Marvel’s love: ‘ ‘Some sins seem purer than other virtues and lift higher…’ ’ (356). Cordelia denounces Wynne, whom she loves, asking him: ‘ ‘Why didst thou not give to her [ Marvel] her rightful place?’ ’ (356) As in Baker’s other novels, love is the criteria by which Baker judges actions. Marvel is absolved because she sinned out of love. Wynne is condemned because he was motivated by a thoughtless, shallow passion.

Wheat in the Ear (London: Hutchinson, 1898)

While most of Baker’s novels concentrate on the need for pre-marital chastity, Wheat in the Ear speaks of the need for passion within marriage. Joan Jefferies at first appears to be the prototype of a new breed of intellectual, independent women. She rejects her mother’s domestic sphere in favour of education and marries the learned Christchurch Professor Stanley Stanton in order to expand ‘the life of the brain’ (251). However, Joan finds life with Stanley emotionally sterile and discovers passion with farm worker David Aubrey. In typical Baker fashion, Joan and David place duty and morality over the satisfaction of their adulterous sexual passion, but after Stanley’s death Joan returns to her parent’s Otira Gorge farm and a life of domesticity and child-rearing with David. While the ending undercuts the radical feminist message of much of the novel’s action, Baker’s emphasis on female passion is valuable because of its rarity. For most early feminist novelists, such as Ellen Ellis and Edith Searle Grossmann, passion is seen as something to subdue rather than celebrate and Baker provides a contrasting insistence that women are sexual as well as intellectual and moral beings.

Bathgate, Alexander

Alexander Bathgate was born in 1845 in Scotland and was educated at the University of Edinburgh. When his family came to New Zealand in 1863 he worked in several banks and then trained as a barrister. Later in life he became the director of several companies, including the Otago Daily Times and Witness Newspaper. He was a regular columnist in both these newspapers. Apart from writing, Bathgate’s main interest was conservation. He organised the Dunedin Suburban Conservation Society which designed and laid out both Queen’s Gardens and the Octagon. Bathgate also founded the Dunedin Art Gallery and encouraged railway development in Otago. His marriage to Fanny Gibson Turton lasted more than half a century and he died five years after his wife in 1930. As well as two pioneer novels, Bathgate published Colonial Experiences: Sketches of People and Places in the Province of Otago (1874) and a volume of poetry, Far South Fancies (1890).

Sodger Sandy’s Bairn: Life in Otago Fifty Years Ago (Sydney: New South Wales Bookstall, 1913)

Set in Scotland and Otago, Sodger Sandy’s Bairn has a pioneering setting, but is primarily a theological work. The novel is most memorable for its damning portrait of Calvinist frugality. John Thompson, a successful businessman and devout Calvinist, is a harsh, uncharitable man. He refuses to extend a loan to Mungo Craunstoun saying that Craunstoun’s poverty is ‘a judgment o’ Providence on ye for yer sins’ (28). Bathgate is scathing of this kind of hypocrisy. However, the novel also shows a system of divine retributive justice at work. The good, such as Mungo, prosper. He finds gold, protects the woman he loves, and eventually builds a fine farm for his wife and children. In contrast, John Thomson gets his just deserts when he becomes an encumbrance to his equally uncharitable son. His grandson, a rapist, comes to an even worse end, falling off the Devil’s Backbone to his death. Through the title character Bathgate demonstrates that the wrath of God can be averted through repentance. Bathgate’s God is both angry and merciful, an unusual blend of Calvinist and Methodist theology.

Waitaruna: A Story of New Zealand Life (London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1881)

Waitaruna is a pioneering novel which uses the stock motifs of the hard working youth and the wastrel to make its pro-work point. Gilbert Langton is a man of faith and moral standards. When he immigrates to New Zealand he resolves the make good and thus ensure that his mother’s nightly prayers for him are answered. Gilbert’s busy life on Waitaruna Station (fencing, shearing, mustering, and keeping the station diary) provide an accurate record of the type of work in which so many settlers were engaged. Through steady perseverance Gilbert achieves the position of station manager and is able to ask Ottalie Ewart to be his wife. In contrast, Arthur Leslie has a cavalier attitude to work, preferring to indulge in his love of a ‘spree’ (196). He is the embodiment of the moral Bathgate sets out in the Preface: ‘Young men who are inclined to be fast and reckless, here tend downwards with great rapidity.’

Cameron, Bertha

Little is known about Bertha Cameron’s personal history. She was a committed prohibitionist, dedicating her sole novel to the Reverend William Gillies of Timaru, ‘A Hero in the Fight’. In the foreword to the novel Gillies praises Cameron’s ‘contribution to the literature of Temperance, likely to help in the day of triumph.’ The fact that the heroine of In Fair New Zealand is called Bertie Cameron suggests that the novel is strongly autobiographical. As with most of the prohibition novels, Cameron’s tract was published in New Zealand and probably had a small, localised market.

In Fair New Zealand (Dunedin: New Zealand Bible Tract and Book Society, 1899)

Set in Auckland in the 1860s, In Fair New Zealand makes its argument about the need for prohibition through the personal journey of Bertie Cameron. As a child Bertie accepts the view of the Anglican minister, Mr Benson, that alcohol is ‘one of God’s good gifts’ (39). However, as Bertie matures she becomes increasingly antagonistic to the views of her mother and her church through her first hand experience of the tragic results of drink. Her stepfather, Herbert Russel, is a drunken brute who knocks over a lamp in a drunken rage, injuring Bertie and killing her brother Willie. This tragedy makes Bertie a committed prohibitionist and she initiates three personal campaigns. She strives unsuccessfully to make her mother leave Russel. Bertie also attempts to make her friend Henry aware of the evils of drink. This is so successful that Henry renounces the family brewery business and he and Bertie marry. Finally Bertie crusades against her church, questioning: ‘Why don’t the churches do something for this horrible evil?’ (55). This is an ongoing occupation. In Fair New Zealand is typical of prohibition fiction. It demonstrates both the spiritual and the human cost of drink, highlights that it is innocent victims who suffer most, critiques the failure of the non-Puritan denominations to be involved in the struggle, and emphasises the persuasive power of committed prohibition campaigners.

Cheeseman, Clara

Clara Cheesman was born in 1852 in England. The Cheesman family immigrated to Auckland when Cheeseman was two. From an early age she was interested in writing, creating newspapers and magazines with her brothers and sisters. Cheesman’s literary reputation rests on A Rolling Stone, the three volume novel she wrote when she was 34. One of her stories, ‘Married for His Money,’ a satirical look at mammon worship in New Zealand society, survives, as does an article in the 1903 edition of the New Zealand Illustrated Magazine. ‘Colonials in Fiction’ is highly critical of contemporary New Zealand writing, particularly the novels of Louisa Baker. Little is known of Cheeseman’s later life, except that she lived in Auckland, dying there at the age of 91.

A Rolling Stone, 3 vols (London: Richard Bentley, 1886)

The three volume A Rolling Stone centres on the importance of the work ethic. Cheeseman’s ideas about work are mainly articulated through the hard working John Palmer. Brought up in poverty, he repairs the family fortunes through a life of ‘work and self-denial’ (I, 174). Palmer believes that the world is not designed as ‘a grand lottery with few prizes and abundance of blanks’ but that ‘there are prizes for everyone who is born into it, if they are prepared to work’ (I, 152). Yet his devotion to work is not blind. He stresses that whenever possible work should be congenial and appropriate. If Palmer is the ‘voice’ through which Cheeseman articulates her doctrine of work, Henry Randal is the means whereby she demonstrates how these theories should operate in practice. Randal is the ‘rolling stone’ of the title, a man who wanders his way from job to job without any direction or purpose. Recognising the futility of this existence, he follows Palmer’s advice and chooses an occupation which he enjoys and is suited for – music. Artistic success brings inner satisfaction and helps him to win Maud Desmond. To ensure that the reader is in no doubt as to her message, Cheeseman contrasts Randal’s upward progression with the downward spiral of the idle Godfrey Palmer. His lazy lifestyle eventually lands him in penury and misery. Cheesman comments: ‘What does become of such men? Men who live luxuriously…on the fruit of another’s labour…There is a road which leads to bitterness, darkness, despair, and they have chosen it…’ (III, 301).

Elliot, Wilhelmina Sherriff

Wilhelmina Sherriff Elliot led a varied and frequently controversial life. She was born in Scotland in 1845 and came to New Zealand with her parents, John and Elizabeth Bain, when she was thirteen. The family settled in Southland with both a country estate and a town house in Invercargill. After the tragic death of her fiance, Eliot worked as a teacher, complaining that as a woman she was paid much less than her male colleagues. This readiness to challenge prevailing ideas is seen in her outspoken comments at meetings of the National Council of Women, of which she was a prominent member. She argued for protective laws for workers, women on juries, prison reform, and proper provision for the dependants of propertied men. Most controversial was her pacifist stance during the Boer War. She married Robert Elliot in 1914 and in later years travelled and wrote. She died in 1944, aged 99. Elliot’s published writing covers a very narrow range of concerns in comparison to her life. Her prose tract Human Betterment is grounded in the belief that marriage is ‘the supreme glory of womanhood’ (published under maiden name Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain, Gisborne: Gisborne Times Office, 1901, 3). Likewise, her two volumes of poetry, From Zealandia (1925) and Riverton Sands (1910), preach a pro-marriage message. In Elliot’s God-ordered universe marriage ‘hints of happiness divine’ (From Zealandia, London, J. M. Watkins, 1925, 23).

Service: A New Zealand Story (London: Stockwell, 1924)

As with Elliot’s poetic and critical writing, her novel Service reveals virtually nothing of her more radical feminist concerns. The novel is a highly Puritan domestic romance centering on Elliot’s belief that women need to choose their marriage partners wisely. Service makes its point through the formulaic device of the contrasting fortunes of two women. Elvin Carey chooses her marriage partner wisely. She marries Queenstown Presbyterian minister Cosmo Hallam, a man for whom ‘service is the watchword’ (36). Elvin may have few material blessings, but her marriage is emotionally satisfying and spiritually uplifting. In contrast, Isobel Alwyn is progressively debased by contact with her husband Max Gordon. He is governed by a ‘determination to be opulent’ and Isobel’s ‘gift of inner vision’ is deadened by his materialistic outlook (37, 39). In typical Puritan fashion Elliot argues, through the presentation of the two marriages, that marriage needs to be founded on love, common interests, and a mutual desire to live upright lives.

Ellis, Ellen

Ellen Ellis is a key early feminist novelist. She was born in England in 1820, the second of seventeen children. Her parents, Mary and William Colebrook, were fervent Calvinist-Methodists and strict teetotallers and Ellis inherited their beliefs. Educated at a ‘Seminary for Young Ladies, Ellis learnt the female accomplishments of music, needlework and drawing. Throughout her life she yearned for a wider, more liberal education. Ellis married Oliver Ellis in 1852. He was nominally Anglican, a social drinker, and a firm believer that a man was the head of the house. Ellis sought to reform Oliver and gain a measure of independence over household finances. Bitter arguments dominated their married life. Immigration to New Zealand in 1859 brought few changes. Ellis’ outspoken sympathy for Maori during the land wars antagonised both her husband and Auckland society. Relations between husband and wife improved after the death of their younger son Thomas. Oliver joined the Good Templars and Ellis’ religious views were modified when she embarked on a programme of self-education. This education involved what Ellis termed ‘five finger mental exercises,’ making lists of subjects about which she had strong opinions and looking at these issues with fresh eyes to see if she was unbiased (

Vera Colebrook, Ellen: A Biography, Dublin, Arlen House, 1980

, 139). While her ‘crepe and bombazine theology’ was softened as a result of this reassessment, her views about the importance of morality, the evils of alcohol, and the need for female emancipation were strengthened (Colebrook, 140). Ellis began writing a pamphlet on suffrage issues to articulate her views and this eventually became a novel. Everything is Possible to Will is strongly autobiographical. Indeed, Ellis’ son William burnt as many copies of the novel as possible, deeply offended at the picture of Oliver that emerges in its pages. Ellis died in Auckland in 1895.

Everything is Possible to Will (London: E. W. Whittle, 1882)

The narrative action of Everything is Possible to Will is virtually interchangeable with Ellis’ personal history, the only departures from fact being to make Wrax a debased version of Oliver and Zee a weaker version of Ellen. Ellis uses this framework as a vehicle to articulate her views about education, marriage, birth control, prohibition, religion, and female and Maori rights. All these issues are linked to her central concern, the emancipation of women, the novel pre-empting all the central early feminist arguments. Ellis’ broad contention is that women need to be emancipated in order to do their ‘God-given work’ which is to ‘bless mankind’ and ‘fulfil the divine plan of the universe’ (214, 72). She is specific as to the three areas in which emancipation is required, protesting against the spiritual and intellectual oppression of women, the legal oppression of women, and the physical oppression of women. The novel also offers practical solutions to improve the situation of women. One of the most radical of Ellis’ recommendations to women is the need to exercise birth control. She stresses that women have the right to control their own bodies and should ‘refuse to be sacrificed to [male] lust’ (135). Another forward-thinking aspect of Everything is Possible to Will is the connection Ellis makes between the plight of women and the oppression of Maori. She is the only early feminist writer to broaden the struggle for emancipation beyond the central preoccupation of female oppression.

Evans, Charlotte

Charlotte Evans was born in England in 1842. Her parents, James and Sophia Lees, were involved in the cotton industry, but immigrated to New Zealand in 1864 and settled on a farm in the Oamaru district. The Lees children were all talented, Sophia was known for her pen and ink sketches, Joseph played and taught the violin, and Charlotte wrote stories, poems, and hymns from an early age. In 1868 Charlotte married Eyre Evans, an Irish Protestant immigrant. They had 12 children, Charlotte dying at the age of 40 giving birth to a son. Evans’ published fiction was the product of both an ‘urge’ to teach and a need to ‘help to feed the family’ (Bauld, ‘The Story of Three Closely Linked New Zealand Colonial Families, Evans, Lees, Ogilvie-Grant, ATL MS 13/19/1, 22 Jan. 1992). Evans’ life demonstrates that she was a woman of grit, courage, and determination. Her novels, in contrast, are infused with a saccharine piety and a longing for Home. Most of her characters are aristocratic pleasure seekers rather than pioneers. Evans’ volume of poetry, Poetic Gems of Sacred Thought (1917), gives an insight into the committed Evangelical Anglican faith which shaped both her life and her fiction.

Guy Eversleigh, (Published in serial form Oamaru Times 5 October 1865 to 4 January 1866, ATL MS)

Evans’ first novel, Guy Eversleigh, is set predominantly in England, with a brief New Zealand interlude. The novel is unique in terms of the romantic genre in pre-1940 New Zealand fiction because it is written from the male perspective. Guy Eversleigh is dominated by the noble and godly personality of the hero. Learning that he can gain wealth and position by producing a will to disinherit his friend Elliot Hope, he puts temptation behind him. The only area where Guy fails to exhibit a God-like infallibility is in his selection of a bride. He falls in love with the cold, proud, self-confessed adventuress Cora Brandon. When Cora refuses to be his wife, Guy departs for New Zealand. In typical Puritan fashion he turns to work for solace. All ends well due to Evans’ melodramatic manipulation of events. Guy inherits a fortune and returns to England and a Cora who has been softened through a tragic accident which left her blind. Although physically marred, Cora is now a fit bride because she has learned humility and selflessness. Evans intones: ‘Let us…thank God that the sufferings as well as the joys of our earthly sojourning are arranged for us by a wisdom which is divine’ (24). The implication is that Cora’s blindness is part of a divine plan. God, in Evans’ novels, actively intervenes to ensure that marriage matches the Puritan ideal.

Only a Woman’s Hair (London: William Stevens, 1900)

Only a Woman’s Hair is a collection of three short novellas set in New Zealand. They are highly contrived and melodramatic, but do emphasise Evans’ marriage-orientated outlook and Christian morality. The title story is the most useful in this respect. Cathie Pelham is forced to marry Cyril Vane. On their wedding day she discovers a lock of her sister’s hair in a clock and realises that Cyril murdered her sister Rose. She flees, falling in love with Noel Beresford. They resist their adulterous passion, Noel declaring: ‘ ‘I won’t soil your whiteness even for a moment, Cathie – my little white snowdrop…’ ’ (46). All ends well when Cyril is shot and Cathie and Noel are free to marry. Cyril’s deathbed repentance is a recurring motif in Evans’ fiction. In the melodramatic A Narrow Escape Estelle Raleigh is saved from marrying a murderer by Hugo Northcote, who she of course falls in love with and marries. The murderer Wilfred drowns himself in remorse for his crimes. Our Nearest Neighbour emphasises that patience and virtue are ultimately rewarded. Mary Arnold and Eric Home resist their attraction because Eric is married. When his gambling wife Maud dies the pair are free to marry. Romantic satisfaction is coupled with material gain, Eric inheriting a title and returning to England with his bride.

Over the Hills and Far Away: A Story of New Zealand (London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Low and Searle, 1874)

Over the Hills and Far Away emphasises the need for women to choose their husbands carefully. The heroine falls in love with a man who appears to be noble and eligible, the doctor Rylston Dacre. However, there is an insurmountable barrier to her love – he is already married. When the pure and honourable Lucy finds out that Dacre is not free she sends him away, declaring: ‘ ‘…it is our duty, we must see each other’s faces no more…’ ’ (272). Her nobility is contrasted with Dacre’s lack of honour in wooing her. Lucy’s ability to resist temptation is the product of her committed faith. Dacre’s conversion, when he is dying, enables him to see clearly: ‘ ‘I have been all wrong…I coveted you Lucy, and I thought my life was spoiled because I could not have you. But He has forgiven me…’ ’ (327). Lucy’s purity and forgiving love save Dacre, but her initial, if unconscious, mistake in her estimation of his character means that she is denied wedded happiness.

A Strange Friendship: A Story of New Zealand Life (London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Low and Searle, 1874)

A Strange Friendship, like Over the Hills and Far Away, looks at the consequences for women of choosing a marriage partner unwisely. This time the focus is the unhappiness resulting from an imprudent, shameful marriage. Violet Somerset is vain and selfish, her only desire in life to ‘marry a rich man’ (3). She succeeds in this ambition, eloping with the dissolute Richard Carewe whose wealth is acquired through forgery. Inevitably Violet is destroyed by Richard’s cruelty and depravity. However, she dies acknowledging that she has erred and confident that she is forgiven. Evans highlights Violet’s foolishness by contrasting her to her sister Dolly who possesses all the Puritan virtues. She is good, moral, and hard-working. Her pure faith not only provides Violet with an example but also redeems Richard. In true Puritan fashion Dolly chooses the ‘quiet, reserved’ and moral Alan Carewe as her husband and is rewarded for her wisdom by becoming Lady Carewe of Curtis Knowle and returning to England (24).

Ferguson, Dugald

Dugald Ferguson, novelist and poet, was born in Scotland in 1833. Before settling in Otago in 1870, he spent time in Australia. His Bush Life draws heavily on his experiences in Australia and Otago, Ferguson referring to it as ‘my autobiographical novel’ (Poems of the Heart, Dunedin, James Horsburg, 1897, Preface). In later years Ferguson moved to Waipu and then worked as a bookseller in Takapuna. He died in 1920. Ferguson’s poetry, Poems of the Heart (1897), Job and Other Sacred Poems (1898), and Castle Gay and Other Poems (1912), stresses the importance of faith in God and hard work. These themes are also central to his two pioneering novels.

Bush Life In Australia and New Zealand (London: Swan, Sonnenschein, 1893)

Bush Life is a typical pioneering novel. It is set on sheep and cattle stations in Australia and New Zealand and attempts to give an idea of what was involved in breaking in the land in the 1850s and 1860s. Large chunks of the text are devoted to farm activities such as cattle mustering, lambing, bush clearing, and pig hunting. However, Ferguson makes his point that work is the key to success mainly through contrasting the steadily improving fortunes of the moral, hard working hero with the erratic, often disastrous fortunes of the lawless anti-hero. The hero, Duncan Farquarson, is a devout Presbyterian, By working hard on the land, exercising thrift, and utilising his talent as a novelist and poet he makes his way up in the world. Material success is accompanied by domestic bliss with Jessie Campbell. In contrast, Randal Marsden dismisses God, steals cattle, and ruins women. Predictably he comes to a tragic end, drowning in an attempt to escape justice. The moral is straightforward: hard work and morality is rewarded, extravagance and immorality lead to hell.

Mates (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1911)

Like Bush Life, Mates is set against a pioneering backdrop of bush clearing, cattle mustering, and sheep farming. It also uses the plot devices of the contrasting fortunes of the hard working man and the wastrel. This time there are not one but two prosperous heroes. Both Donald Fraser and David Lochead immigrate to Australia and then New Zealand, determined to succeed. They work hard and face setbacks with faith. These qualities are ultimately rewarded with prosperous farms and happy marriages. Likewise, there are two villains who come to a bad end. Both destroy themselves, Hugh Algood through his murderous actions and Mr Townsend through his alcohol addiction. The widespread perception of Australia and New Zealand as a land of opportunity for British immigrants is captured by David’s musings on departing Scotland: ‘…having…assured himself that there was a splendid field for fortune-building in the new country…he deliberately decided in favour of the enterprise’ (15).

Foston, Herman

Herman Foston is a pioneer novelist whose fiction is infused with his Methodist faith and Christian capitalist ethics. Born in England in 1871, Foston came to New Zealand with his family in 1882. Foston and his brother Charles were educated in Christchurch and then both decided to enter the Methodist ministry. Much of the information available about Foston’s life is found in records of Foston’s work as home missionary near Havelock. These records speak of a dedicated man who inspired communities to build their own churches and actively encouraged people to follow Christ. C. B. Oldfield writes that: ‘the story of the Carluke Church began in the eager mind of the Rev. Herman Foston, that enthusiast for the Kingdom of God. It was his desire, his intention, if at all possible, to commence services of worship in every local community and to build a Church at the earliest possible moment’ (Methodism in Marlborough 1840-1965, Blenheim, Express Printing, 1965, 178). Foston initiated the ‘plank’ scheme whereby local farmers donated rimu and totara to build churches and he went on long preaching tours to raise funds for other necessary equipment. His religious zeal and self-help outlook spill over into his two novels.

At the Front: A Story of Pluck and Heroism in the Railway Construction Camps in the Dominion of New Zealand (London: Arthur H. Stockwell, 1921)

At the Front articulates Foston’s Christian capitalist ethic through the faith and actions of Ralph Messenger. From his conversion in the opening chapter Ralph strives to be Christ-like: ‘…said Ralph to himself, true religion is Paul’s life lived over again – a grand heroism, the manliest and noblest of all pursuits and professions…’ (84). Ralph’s faith is the foundation stone on which his philosophy of work rests. He works hard and seeks to improve himself because that is what God requires. Unemployed and penniless, Ralph comes to New Zealand and works his way up the rungs of success through his willingness to improve himself. While working as a labourer on the railways he trains as a civil engineer through a correspondence course and eventually becomes a businessman and a Member of Parliament. His personal ideal of ‘manly self-reliance’ governs his political thinking (120). Ralph is opposed to the socialist philosophy of demanding that the state should foster equality, advocating competition and self-interest as God-given means of social health and individual upward progress.

In the Bell-Bird’s Lair or ‘In Touch With Nature’ (Wellington: Gordon and Gotch, 1911)

In the Bell-Bird’s Lair is both a pioneering novel and a salvation tract. It highlights the inseparability of Foston’s faith and his political beliefs. Edward Strangemuir is seduced from his parents’ faith by socialist theories. These lead Edward down the road of atheism. The fusion of socialism and atheism highlight Foston’s antagonism towards the Labour movement. Edward is brought back to God when he renounces his socialist ideals for a solitary, hard-working life in the bush. The sound of a bell-bird reminds him of church bells, Foston writing: ‘God had used the ‘Bell-Bird’ to lead Edward Strangemuir out of himself into the light of Truth’ (54). The converted Edward devotes himself to preaching tours in New Zealand and overseas. His message has a dual self-help and salvation focus.

Fraser, A. A.

My research in the National Library and Alexander Turnbull Library collections has failed to produce any details about Alexander Fraser’s personal history. The content of his novels and the fact that they were published by the Religious Tract Society suggest that he was a committed evangelical Christian. This bibliography focuses on the salvation and prohibition text Raromi. Fraser also wrote Daddy Crips’s Waifs (1885), a boy’s adventure story involving Te Rangiheata, Te Rauparaha and the fighting at Wanganui.

Raromi or The Maori Chief’s Heir (London: Religious Tract Society, 1888)

Raromi is a salvation novel which deals with both individual and collective salvation. The main narrative charts the regeneration of the hero Falconer, a disgraced Englishman who continues his downward spiral when he comes to New Zealand. When he meets Noble, a simple, godly man who saves his life, Falconer is forced to reassess his actions. He is filled with remorse for his drinking habits and neglect of his mother and turns to God, resolving to be and do ‘what God wants [him] to be and do’ (105). Conversion and a refusal to touch alcohol bring prosperity and reunite him with his sweetheart Clara. Redemption also eventually comes to the villain of the novel, Black Charlie. On his deathbed he is nursed by his mother, who urges him to reach out to God who is ‘ready to pardon to the uttermost all those who come to Him by Jesus Christ’ (159). Charlie is saved and dies with Christ’s name on his lips. The Christian example of Noble and Charlie’s mother is mirrored in the sub-plot by the redeeming blood sacrifice of the Nga-ti-tama chief Dog-ear. His Christ-like relinquishment of life puts an end to the war between Christian and non-Christian Maori and fosters Christianity among his people.

Heber, D.

Other than Davy Heber’s dates, 1870-1960, I have not been able to find out any personal details about this writer. The fact that Netta was published in Auckland suggests that Heber lived in New Zealand. Most of the action of the novel takes place in an English village and this perhaps indicates an English background. Heber appears to have very strong views about the need for a centralised state to ensure that individuals save to protect their futures.

Netta; or a Plea for an Old Age Pension (Auckland: Wilson and Horton, 1894)

Netta is a tract preaching the dual virtues of self-help and state intervention. Set in England, with references to Seddon’s New Zealand, this fictional pamphlet argues that legislation should be introduced to force people to be provident. The Evangelical heroine contrasts New Zealand favourably with her native England, where the elderly and improvident are dependent on charity. In New Zealand, the workers agitate for ‘a law to compel everyone that could, to make some provision for old age’ (32). Heber’s philosophy is a paradoxical blend of welfarism and self-help. He argues that the state has a paternalistic duty to care for its citizens. However, this duty involves ‘foster[ing] habits of thrift and independence,’ not providing handouts (32).

Inglewood, Kathleen (Kate Isitt)

Kathleen Inglewood is the pseudonym of the prohibition novelist Kate Isitt. Born in New Plymouth in 1876, she grew up in a committed Methodist family. Both her father Francis and her uncle Leonard Isitt were Methodist ministers and prominent members of the prohibition movement. Leonard Isitt founded The Prohibitionist, later The Vanguard, and Francis edited the paper. By 1891 25,000 copies of the paper were published each month, the largest circulation of any newspaper in the country. Inglewood was Leonard Isitt’s private secretary for several years and the hero of her novel Patmos resembles her uncle. Like Isitt, John Saxon is instrumental in lobbying the government to introduce the Alcoholic Liquors Sale Act in 1893. Inglewood’s contribution to the prohibition campaign is her novel. From 1907-10 Inglewood worked for the Dominion, editing the first women’s page. She was known for her interest in women’s rights and was a founder of the Wellington Pioneer Club for women. In 1910 Inglewood departed for England where she wrote about the women’s movement for New Zealand newspapers. She became London correspondent for the Manchester Guardian and died in 1955.

Patmos (London: Gordon and Gotch, 1905)

In Patmos Inglewood does what none of the other prohibition authors do; she examines the politics of prohibition. While the grounds on which she justifies her call for the abolition of alcoholic production and consumption (immorality, violence, poverty, ill health) are identical to those set out by G. M. Reed and Bertha Cameron, Inglewood stresses that prohibition is a political issue as well as a moral and social crusade. The novel focuses on the campaign of Sydenham activist John Saxon. He believes that the ultimate blame for the continued presence of alcohol in New Zealand lies with ‘the people who have callously looked on at this new young colony, who look and shudder; and permit these things to continue’ (96). Saxon works to raise awareness of the alcohol problem through public speeches and the distribution of pamphlets. When he is elected to parliament on a prohibition ticket he crusades for legislative change. Patmos spans the period from 1893 to 1902 and Inglewood is careful to chart the progress made by the prohibitionists during this period, ending with the triumph of the 1902 ballot where ‘no license’ was introduced in seven new districts. The fusion between prohibition as a religious and moral force and a political campaign is highlighted in the closing chapters of the novel. Struck down by a stroke that will not allow him to speak or write, Saxon concentrates his mind on a vision of ‘a new grand earth, where a noble race of men and women will live’ and holds ‘unspoken, unwritten communication’ with his successor Roger Pemberton, directing his actions (283, 319). Like the Apostle John on the island of Patmos, Saxon becomes a medium through which God communicates his will. Inglewood’s mysticism, like her political emphasis, is unique.

Kacem, Allie

An Alexander Turnbull Library check revealed that the surname ‘Kacem’ is not to be found in either electoral or postal records. ‘Allie Kacem’ is thus clearly a pseudonym, but the identity of the woman behind the name remains a mystery. It is clear from For Father’s Sake that the author is a committed Christian and particularly ardent prohibitionist. Kacem emerges from the novel’s pages as an earnest, overly pious, humourless individual who allows no truth but her own and deals in moral absolutes. Published in Wellington, it is likely that the novel had a small, localised market.

For Father’s Sake: A Tale of New Zealand Life (Wellington: Brown, Thompson, 1897)

For Father’s Sake is infused with a sense of mission. The plot is rambling and disjointed, the prose is hyperbolic, and the reading experience is frankly tedious, but the novel is useful for its particularly overt prohibition message. In the Preface Kacem writes: ‘O, New Zealand! New Zealand! My beloved home!…Would that thy internal workings were as fair as thine outward appearances…O my beloved! Thrice blessed isle! My love leads me to seek nard for thy sores, lint for thy bruises…’ (4-5). As this extract suggests, Kacem’s primary desire is to save and purify New Zealand, particularly from the evils of drink. More than any of the other prohibition writers, Kacem views the prohibitionists as God’s army doing battle against Satan and the demon drink: ‘…Satan trembles in his exalted in his exalted seat; and the thick walls of his fortress shake beneath the shells of truth hurled at him by our Prohibitionists. Fight on! Fight on and win!’ (349). The text is peppered with examples of the moral and economic degradation that accompanies drink, but emphasises that God is always at hand to offer salvation and a fresh start.

Kaye, Bannerman

Eliza Bannerman Maclaren was born in 1854 in Scotland, the daughter of Presbyterian minister Peter Maclaren. The Presbyterian influence remained strong throughout her life. She married Albert Kaye in 1873 in Australia and the young couple moved to Christchurch where Kaye was instrumental in forming the Christchurch Young Women’s Christian Association. Later she became president of the Christchurch branch and then president of the YWCA field committee. Kaye was a dedicated church attender and led a Bible Class for many years. She was also editor of the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union paper Harvest Field. Kaye died in 1923 in Wellington. Her tombstone in Karori cemetery reads: ‘They rest from their labours and their works do follow them.’

Haromi: A New Zealand Story (London: Clarke, 1900)

Bannerman Kaye’s committed Presbyterian faith underpins Haromi, infusing both her salvation theme and her moral feminist message. The novel is dominated by a series of conversions, all of which result in dedication to a life of saving others. Snobbish and materialistic Millicent Borland is transformed into the self-sacrificing ‘angel lady’ of the London slums through her love for and the example of the Presbyterian minister Dugald MacLeod (434). Her half-brother James is turned from violence and revenge by the godly shepherd Duncan and devotes his life to converting North Island Maori. In turn James redeems petty thief and con artist Jock McLennan who becomes a Salvation Army preacher. Finally, the hero of the novel, Robert Agnew, is saved from his destructive hedonism by Duncan’s chastisement and resolves to paint pictures of Palestine as a means of sharing his faith. The novel thus sets up a pattern of sinners saved by the example and intervention of good Christians. The only character not to fit into this pattern is the Maori half-caste Haromi. It is in relation to the title character that Kaye’s feminism emerges. Technically Haromi should be among the chief of sinners. She has an affair with Robert and bears an illegitimate child. However, Kaye has only sympathy for Haromi, who acts out of love. It is Robert who is attacked for his hypocritical contempt of Haromi’s ‘looseness,’ which he connects with her racial heritage, and arrogant disregard of his own sin. Kaye’s insistence that all are equal before God is the distinctive feature of her writing, her Presbyterian theology leading her to look with contempt at contemporary sexual and racial double standards.

Lancaster, G. B. (Edith Lyttleton)

G. B. Lancaster is one of several pseudonyms used by Edith Lyttleton. Born in Tasmania in 1873, Lancaster came to New Zealand with her parents in 1879. Her family settled on ‘Rockeby’ sheep station near Ashburton. In the early 1900s Lancaster began publishing stories in the New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, the Sydney Bulletin, and the Melbourne Australasian. The need for economic independence and the declining fortunes of ‘Rockeby’ were motivating factors behind Lancaster’s literary endeavours. Due to paternal disapproval of her writing, Lancaster used pseudonyms such as ‘Keron Hale’. Influenced by Kipling, Stevenson, and Conrad, Lancaster’s early novels focus on ‘the distinctive qualities of self-reliance, courage, and physical valour, bred by the colonial environment’ (Oxford Companion, 314-5). These novels were well-received overseas, particularly in America where The Altar Stairs (1908), Jim of the Ranges (1910), and The Law-Bringers (1913) were made into silent Hollywood films. In 1909 Lancaster moved to London. During World War I she worked in soldier support organisations. After the deaths of her mother and sister in 1924 Lancaster led a nomadic existence and ceased to write for nearly a decade. Her later fiction has an ironic, feminist perspective. These bestselling novels draw on her travel experiences and have a historical focus. For example, Grand Parade (1944) is set in eighteenth and nineteenth century Novia Scotia, The World is Yours (1934) centres on late nineteenth century Yukon, and Pageant (1933) focuses on nineteenth century Tasmania. Lancaster died in London in 1945. This bibliography focuses on Lancaster’s three New Zealand novels, two from her first ‘masculine’ phase, which endorse the Puritan work ethic, and a later novel with a more feminist focus which critiques the Puritan inheritance.

Promenade (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1938)

Promenade belongs to the second, more feminist phase of Lancaster’s career. It looks critically at the chauvinist Puritan ethic of pioneer New Zealand. Peregrine Lovel is an autocratic Pauline figure who arrives in New Zealand in the 1930s determined to wrest wealth and power from the land. Settling in Northland and then Auckland, Peregrine’s pioneering dream is realised. However, he is less successful in shaping the attitudes of his family. While his wife Sally is sweetly submissive, although secretly yearning for Peregrine’s cousin Jermyn, his children seek independence. Their first attempts at autonomy through fiction are quelled, but Roddy later escapes entirely to a nomadic life in China and Tiffany shapes her own destiny through an affair with Dick Sackville and then marriage to Brant Hutton. Tiffany declares: ‘ ‘I am Myself, and I have a right to my own life. It’s not for papa to make my life. It’s for me…’ ’ (295). The anti-Puritan feminist centre of the book is Sally’s sister Darien. She is a hedonist ‘never occupied with other than fleshly things’ (473) whose watchword is ‘liberty’ (134). Marrying Lord Calthorpel for his money, Darien becomes financially independent after his death and successfully runs a Canterbury sheep station.

Sons O’ Men (London: Andrew Melrose, 1914)

Sons O’ Men is an episodic novel about the station hands on Mindoorie station in Southland. The text is perhaps best described as variations on the theme of ‘work makes a man’. Lancaster eulogises the hardy manhood of the station hands and their love for the land they work: ‘The back-country is a stern mother to the sons that she has borne…But those that are true men love her for the want of ease she gives them’ (200). Strong, untamed, unyielding, free – the back-country symbolises the necessary attributes of the pioneer. It is a living presence in the novel, testing and refining those who work the land. The novel also celebrates the egalitarianism of a society built on physical toil. Here there is no respect for superior birth or aristocratic manners. Respect is earned by men who display physical courage and endurance: ‘Your colonial reverences that man [who works hard] whatever his birth – but that doesn’t make him take off his hat to him…’ (135).

The Tracks We Tread (New York: Doubleday, Page, 1907)

Lancaster’s veneration for the sweaty, hard working, heroic male is central to The Tracks We Tread. The novel is set on the Argyle cattle station in South Otago. Her hero Randal fulfils the back-country definition of manhood, working and not counting the cost: ‘Randal was stripped to singlet and dungarees, and the muscles ran on his hairy arms and bared chest…the sweat dripped down his lean face…(135). Lancaster possesses the ability to evoke the sapping nature of hard work in all its grime and pain and sweat, and yet also to elevate this outpouring of energy into something heroic. Lou’s response to Randal’s physical prowess in ‘ ‘You’re a man’ ’ (16). The novel also comments dismissively on those do not pull their weight. Men such as the weak and cowardly Jimmie, who loses 20 cattle when he fails to face a charging herd, are stigmatised as ‘shirkers’ and ‘loafers’ (17, 47). Jimmie’s history is also significant for what it reveals about mateship. Filled with remorse when he has to dismiss Jimmie, Ted Douglas searches for him, declaring: ‘ ‘I loves him as I’ll never love a girl…’ ’ (232). The homoerotic element is heightened when Jimmie dies in Ted’s arms. As in Sons O’ Men, Lancaster also pays tribute to the valuable levelling role work plays in colonial society. Her vision of the ‘New World’ is of a society in which pretensions of ‘blue blood,’ ‘three languages,’ and wealth are stripped away by the ‘old dogma that a man works for himself and a woman – one woman’ (39).

Mactier, Susie

Susie Mactier was born in 1854. Her family came to New Zealand when she was eleven and her father, Thomas Seaman, was a prominent figure on the North Shore, establishing two schools and working for the local council. Mactier was also involved in community affairs as a teacher and a founder of the Takapuna public library. She was a woman of deep faith, but no strict denominational allegiance. In Takapuna she ran a non-denominational Sunday School with her sister Annie. She married Anthony Mactier in 1886 and became an active member of the Auckland YWCA. With her sister she organised the Flower Mission, visiting workrooms, singing hymns and handing out religious tracts. The motivation for this, said Mactier, was ‘a passionate desire to win girls for Christ’ (New Zealand Women, 397). As well as her three novels, Mactier published a book of primarily religious poems, Thoughts By the Way (1884), under her maiden name Susie Seaman.

The Far Countrie: A True Story of Domestic Life at Home and In the Bush (Paisley: J. and R. Parlane, 1901)

The Far Countrie is a simplistic tale of pioneering life in New Zealand with a strong salvation focus. Nigel immigrates to New Zealand to improve his fortunes and resolutely shuns bad company, drink, and gambling. The keynote of Nigel’s character is devotion to work. He steadily acquires the knowledge necessary to farm and saves enough to purchase a property. Thrift and hard work ensure that Nigel ‘wonderfully prospered in worldly things’ (29). Mactier’s message, however, is that goodness without God is not enough. Nigel lacks one essential thing, ‘as yet [he] knew not the Lord’ (35). When he is rejected by the girl he loves, God’s time has come. In his heartbreak Nigel opens his Bible and ‘fell on his knees and gave himself, body and soul, and spirit, to the Saviour who had given His life for him’ (37). God rewards Nigel’s faith and generous giving to the local church with increased prosperity and a happy marriage.

The Hills of Hauraki or The Unequal Yoke: A Story of New Zealand Life (London: Sunday School Union, 1908)

The Hills of Hauraki is a prohibition novel which makes its point through the tragic history of Christina Bailey. Mactier asserts that the inability to resist drink is a direct result of disobedience to and separation from God and the novel thus also has salvation echoes. Christina’s initial sin is in marrying a non-Christian is the root of all her other sins. Her husband, Edward, although at first keen to be worthy of his bride, soon reverts to his old drinking habits. When he takes over his father’s pub he begins drinking heavily and is frequently abusive and at times violent. Far from being a restraining influence, Christina soon breaks her vow never to touch alcohol. A small dose ‘just as medicine’ soon becomes a regular indulgence (141). Visiting evangelists make Christina aware of her downward spiral, but she fails to confess her sins out of ‘fancied loyalty to her husband and a feeling of shame for both him and herself’ (142). The opportunity for salvation passes and Christina continues to drink, eventually dying in agony when she mistakenly quaffs a bottle of ammonia. Her death is interpreted by Mactier as a martyrdom which may eventually bring Edward to God. Mactier makes no overt call for prohibition, but her association of the devil with alcohol and God with abstinence leaves the reader in no doubt of her anti-alcohol stance.

Miranda Stanhope (Auckland: Brett Printing, 1911)

As in The Hills of Hauraki, the main focus in Mactier’s last novel is a warning against the evils of drink. Miranda Stanhope, like Christina, makes the mistake of marrying a dissolute man and who is ‘an alien and a stranger’ to the ‘heavenly love’ (67). Charles Stanhope is coarsened by drink. He is violent and abusive towards Miranda, resists her attempts to make him sign the pledge, and eventually deserts her and their children. However, Miranda is a strong, noble woman whose faith never wavers. Eventually Charles is saved by Miranda’s goodness and her refusal to touch alcohol even in illness. The prohibition message is more overt in Miranda Stanhope than in The Hills of Hauraki. A minister tells Charles: ‘ ‘It is written, ‘No drunkard shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.’ That there is another place too awful to contemplate I solemnly believe. Do you wish to awaken there?’ ’ (182). For Mactier the issue is clear-cut. Drink is of the devil and will always bring misery. Salvation and union with God inevitably overthrow the dominion of drink and restore the drunkard to spiritual health and domestic happiness. Pure women and the clergy are God’s instruments in this process of regeneration.

Peacocke, Isabel

Isabel Peacocke is best known as the popular author of children’s books, such as My Friend Phil (1913) and The Runaway Princess (1929), but also wrote romantic fiction for adults and published a volume of poetry called Songs of the Happy Isles (1909). She was born in 1881 on the North Shore. Teaching played a significant part in her life. She opened her own school for girls when she was 16 and from 1910 to 1920 she taught at Dilworth where she established traditions of storytelling and nature rambles. However, writing was her first love. Her productivity, at least a novel a year, was in part due to insomnia: ‘I…sit up in bed and work at any old hour’ (Oxford Companion, 433-4). Like Rosemary Rees, Peacocke was a career novelist, many of her books sold out in England before reaching New Zealand. At the age of 39 Peacocke married inventor George Cluett, who encouraged and supported her. In turn, she fostered other writers, founding the Penwoman’s Club in Auckland in 1925 and later the Writer’s Club. She served in the Women’s War Service Auxilary in World War II and was active in the YMCA and Childhaven association. Peacocke was respected as an author in America and Britain as well as New Zealand. Zane Grey is reputed to have drunk his first ever cup of tea during a visit to New Zealand because Peacocke offered it to him. Peacocke continued to write into the 1960s. This bibliography concentrates on the romantic fiction which was published before 1940, novels focusing on the dangers of pre-marital promiscuity and the importance of the marriage institution as a means of protecting women.

Cinderella’s Suitors (London: Ward, Lock, 1918)

Cinderella’s Suitors is the first of Isabel Peacocke’s romances. As with all her adult fiction, the novel has a didactic as well as an escapist purpose. It is a warning against placing material wealth and possessions over love. The heroine Alixa loves David, but they are too poor to marry. When she inherits a fortune from her aunt with the proviso that she must not marry, Alixa renounces David and indulges in a life of luxury. However, this fails to satisfy her and she returns to David and marries him, happy to be poor as long as she has his companionship and love. Alixa is rewarded for ultimately placing married love over indulgence. After a year of marriage David is given control of the money by the aunt’s lawyer. Her will had a second secret proviso bequeathing the fortune to Alixa’s husband as long as he was poor and worthy. As well as articulating a simple moral message the novel is a celebration of the institution of marriage.

The Guardian (London: Ward, Lock, 1920)

Peacocke’s Puritan morality comes through most strongly in The Guardian, a novel which makes its point about the value of convention by tracing the history of the very human, frequently misguided Gay Saville. Gay has to choose between two very different men. The magnetic Dion Westaway stands for passion and the faithful Nicholas Gaunt symbolises convention. Gay is drawn to Westaway’s doctrine of free love. However, she eventually realises that Westaways’s ideas are false and tawdry, the product of ‘lust’ not love (292). She renounces her old ideas in favour of Nick’s conventionality and his steady, honourable, worthy love. Having promised to marry Nick, Gay prays that God will ‘make us grow in love and understanding as the years go by, and fail not one another ever, in sorrow or joy…’ (319). Gay’s movement from Westaway’s doctrine of free love to Nick’s commitment to marriage is seen by Peacocke as a movement from falseness to truth. She asserts that sexual love outside marriage is morally wrong and that only in marriage can untarnished happiness be attained.

The House at Journey’s End (London: Ward, Lock, 1925)

Set in Paradise on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, The House at Journey’s End is the least moralistic of Peacocke’s novels. Typically the novel has a pro-love and pro-marriage stance, but the moral is always secondary to the melodramatic love plot. Lorne Bentleigh is wrongfully accused of stealing and leaves her office job to work as housekeeper for Daryl Jennifer who lives in Paradise. Feeling that he has compromised her, Daryl marries Lorne. She is deeply in love with him and is shocked when she learns that Daryl is supposedly still married to his first wife and that she is committing bigamy. After a string of contrived events, including a fight, a manhunt, and amnesia, Lorne discovers that Daryl is divorced. He declares his love for her and they look forward to the birth of their child.

Pennell, John (Amy Swainson)

John Pennell is the pseudonym of Amy (Annette Elizabeth) Swainson. Little is known about Swainson’s personal history except that she lived from 1851 to 1925 and married Wesley Turton. Her sole novel indicates that she was a committed suffrage campaigner. Swainson also wrote Studies of New Zealand Life: Made in New Zealand (1915) which was published by then Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and gives short sketches of Maori life.

The Rare Justice of Woman: An Election Episode in ’96 (Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1896)

Written to accompany the 1896 election campaign, The Rare Justice of Woman urges women to use their vote wisely to further the moral interests of society. As the election race opens in Christchurch, Lionel Carteret is the darling of the women in the city. However, it is revealed that Lionel is a seducer and a cad, responsible for the plight of the destitute Lottie and the father of her child. Lottie’s hospital nurse, Sister Anthony, also speaks out against Lionel’s past immoral conduction towards her. The result of the revelations is a withdrawal of support from the Women’s Election Committee. They now ‘consider [Lionel] totally unfit to receive the support of any right-minded woman’ and as a result he looses his campaign (39). The message is clear: women have a social duty to vote for moral politicians.

Reed, G. M.

Born in Ireland in 1831 or 1832, George McCullagh Reed immigrated to Australia in 1857, soon after he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. For the next ten years he worked in various parishes in Victoria and Queensland and also dabbled in politics. When he came to New Zealand in 1870 Reed embarked on a career in newspaper journalism. With William Tyrone Ferrar he set up the Evening Star in Auckland and he later became part owner and editor of the Otago Daily Times. Reed was perhaps most well known for his column ‘Calamo Currente’ in the Herald. His love of practical jokes is seen in his 1883 April Fool’s Day report that Noah’s Ark had been discovered intact in a glacier on Mt Arrat. The story was reprinted in papers throughout the world. However, his more serious articles reveal a deep-rooted morality. Reed was particularly concerned about the evils of alcohol and the need for women to exert their moral influence to purify society. These preoccupations are highlighted in articles such as ‘Died Drunk,’ ‘Intoxicants,’ and ‘Woman Suffrage’ (Cullamo Currente, Auckland: Upton, 1897). Reed died in Auckland in 1898.

The Angel Isafrel: A Story of Prohibition in New Zealand (Auckland: Upton, 1896)

In The Angel Isafrel Reed draws on his journalistic experience to put the case for prohibition in four ways. Firstly Reed demonstrates through his heroine the personal tragedy of alcohol abuse. The life of godly prohibition worker Isafrel is cut tragically short when her father strikes her in a drunken rage, causing a fatal lesion. The main thrust of the novel, however, is a comprehensive presentation of all the arguments against alcohol. Through set piece speeches at prohibition rallies Reed demonstrates that drink destroys the drunkard, hurts the innocent, results in economic hardship, debases Maori, shatters the health of the body, and ‘unsettl[es] the equilibrium of society’ (77). Throughout there is also an emphasis on the satanic associations of drink, alcohol likened to a devil possessing individuals and society which needs to be driven out through faith in God. The third plank on which Reed’s prohibition case rests is his ironic, satirical depiction of the pro-liquor viewpoint. The pro-liquor campaigners make absurdly hyperbolic statements about ‘the glorious evangel of beer’ which has ‘spread civilisation and education and religion to the uttermost ends of the earth’ and ensured the strength of the British Empire (63). Finally, Reed provides a prophetic vision of a utopian New Zealand under prohibition. In this alcohol-free paradise violence and poverty are banished and domestic bliss is established. Throughout The Angel Isafrel there is an emphasis on the ‘heroic efforts’ of women ‘in expelling the demon drink’ and Reed’s utopia is presented as their fitting ‘reward’ (99).

Hunted (Auckland: Wilson and Horton, 1889)

Set in Ireland, Hunted belongs to the tradition of novels about fugitives on the run. William Dillon is charged with the murder of an agent organising the eviction of tenants. Although he is innocent, William is convicted and flees to Australia in order to escape the noose. Ultimately the real murderer confesses and William is restored to his family. As in The Angel Isafrel, the novel is infused with Presbyterian theology. Throughout his ordeal William clings to his faith. He concurs with his wife’s conviction that ‘ ‘God has helped you and God will help you still…’ ’ (27).

Rees, Rosemary

Rosemary Rees is a popular romance novelist whose fiction reflects pre-1940 secular Puritan moral attitudes. She had a realistic attitude towards her writing. Up until 1924 her focus was the theatrical world. She belonged to various theatre companies, first in New Zealand and then in England. During World War One she helped to entertain the troops. After the war she returned to New Zealand and started her own theatre company. Rees began to write novels when the company went bankrupt. Believing that her only talent was for ‘telling a simple story,’ Rees told herself: ‘You may not be able to produce anything of much literary merit; but why not endeavour to produce a book just as well as your limitations allow…’ (‘How I Wrote My First Novel,’ ATL MS). April Sowing (1924) was written in five weeks and accepted by the first publisher Rees approached. After that she wrote at least a novel a year, 31 in all. Rees was aware that what she did she did well, telling the organisers of the 1936 New Zealand Author’s Week that she was the best selling New Zealand author. At this event she met Robin Hyde who wrote of her: ‘…likeable, clever Rosemary Rees…made no bones about writing to sell: ‘The highbrows take themselves much too seriously. Come along and have a cup of tea.’ ’ (New Zealand Women, 556). This bibliography concentrates on the novels written prior to 1940 and set in New Zealand.

April’s Sowing (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1924)

Rees’ acceptance of divorce as a means of ending an unhappy marriage is seen in her first novel April’s Sowing. Mary Brandon is forced into a marriage with sadistic Paul Durant at an early age. The wedding night is a sickening experience: ‘A wife is at the mercy of the man she marries. Civilisation decrees that they are alone together – shut into one room…Paul Durant was bestial…He loved to torture and see his victims writhe…’ (295). Mary flees from Durant and begs her mother to help her. Her mother’s refusal to countenance a divorce results in further degradation for Mary and nearly makes her a murderer. Rees emphasises that divorce is essential to provide protection and release for women trapped in violent and unhappy marriages. Mary eventually finds lasting happiness with remittance man Jim Clayton, but only after he overcomes his drink problem and begins to work hard. The need for women to choose worthy mates is another of Rees’ central themes.

Home’s Where the Heart Is (London: Chapman and Hall, 1935)

The main narrative action of Home’s Where the Heart Is is predictable and straightforward. Beth Horland and Alick Crosby want to marry but have no money. She inherits and the marriage is possible. However, the sub-plot deals with Rees’ attitude to pre-marital sex. Ollie Wharton sees herself as ‘damaged goods’ after an affair, declaring: ‘ ‘My life’s over. No one would want to marry me now…’ ’ (219). However, while Rees condemns Ollie’s actions she insists that mistakes can be character building: ‘…for far from being debased by the experience she had passed through, she was gaining strength of character and moral fibre. Ollie would be a far finer woman in the future because of it’ (136). Alick Guthrie shares this view, marrying Ollie. He articulates Rees’ dislike of male double standards: ‘ ‘What does all this talk about chastity in women amount to?….man’s jealous desire to be first with the woman he chooses. He doesn’t worry about himself being ‘damaged goods’ ’ (220). Rees sees pre-marital chastity as the ideal for both men and women, but emphasises that the most important thing in life is to learn from mistakes and move on to a more moral future.

I Can Take Care of Myself (London: Chapman and Hall, 1940)

At the core of I Can Take Care of Myself is a condemnation of illicit sex. Pamela Haddon feels cheapened after a brief affair: ‘Why had she debased her own ideals? She wasn’t worthy of real love. She was soiled, cheap, tawdry’ (163). She at first refuses to marry Bill Forsythe because she believes that she is little better than a prostitute. Rees emphasises that sexual purity is a prerequisite of making a good match; chastity equals marketability. However, Rees also makes the point that mistakes can strengthen if they lead to a heightened self-awareness and a resurgent morality. Bill eventually convinces Pamela that she is worthy of his love and they have a happy and satisfying marriage.

Lake of Enchantment (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1924)

Lake of Enchantment focuses on one of Rees’ recurring situations – what do a man and a woman who love each other do when marriage is not possible? Elizabeth Arlen and Peter Hewlett meet and fall in love, but he is already married to Vera, a drug addict who stole to support her habit and then ran away. In typical Rees fashion the lovers resist temptation, refusing to enter ‘a sordid, wretched intrigue which in the end would destroy [them] both’ (188). This moral choice is ultimately rewarded when Vera dies of an overdose and Elizabeth and Peter are free to marry.

‘Life’s What You Make It!’ (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1927)

In ‘Life’s What You Make It!’ Rees emphasises that love is the only true foundation of marriage. Candy Lovel compares a past transient affair to her new-found love: ‘…her affection for Lane had been small and meaningless in comparison with the feeling which swept her now…which had power to lift her into a region beyond material things…’ (225). Her relationship with David Keppell is a true relationship because they are ‘united body and soul’ in marriage (228). Indeed, such is Candy’s revulsion with her past actions that she equates her ‘sin’ of living with Lane with David’s sin of murder.

Sackcloth for Susan (London: Chapman and Hall, 1941)

Sackcloth for Susan is the only pre-1940 Rees novel to look at a married romantic relationship. The novel asserts the importance of sexual relations within marriage. Susan marries Bob because she has been disowned by her father and has failed as an actress. She regards the marriage as one of convenience, refusing to let Bob make love to her. For Jane sexual love is coarse and she dismisses Bob’s desires by claiming that he is ‘just an animal sort of person’ (179). Her attitude places an enormous strain on Bob, who tells Susan that he ‘didn’t credit [her] with being such a little fool as to imagine any man would go through the marriage ceremony – live in the same house with a woman- and remain on purely platonic terms’ (179). Susan’s stance is the barrier which keeps the two apart. She ultimately realises that she loves Bob and that sex is the natural expression of that love. Rees demonstrates the necessity of a functioning sexual relationship in marriage.

Sane Jane (London: Chapman and Hall, 1931)

Sane Jane is particularly useful for its articulation of Rees’ attitude towards extra-marital sex. For Rees sex outside marriage is wrong not so much because it is immoral as because it is selfish. Jane Chanel refuses to become Christopher Royd’s lover: ‘ ‘There are so many people who can be hurt…if you just decide to take your line of country regardless of others. With me there are all my own family – they’d feel disgraced if I ever - …there would be something furtive to poison one’s love. Always to be ashamed of discovery – it would be horrible…’ ’ (195-6). Only when Christopher obtains a divorce will Jane enter a relationship with him – a married relationship.

Turn the Hour (London: Chapman and Hall, 1937)

Turn the Hour focuses on one of Rees’ recurring themes, the dangers of extra-marital sex. In this novel Rees stresses that sex outside marriage is sordid and soul-destroying. Jenifer Amphlett resolutely refuses to become involved in a ‘hidden, illicit union’ with John Wentworth, even although his unhappy marriage to the materialistic Millie is driving him to drink (64). Eventually he realises that this reluctance is right because ‘Jenifer, betrayed by her own heart into a course of action at variance with her better judgement and her idea of what was right for both of them, would never have been happy’ (105). A married relationship is only possible once Millie divorces John to marry someone with more money.

Wild, Wild Heart (London: Chapman and Hall, 1928)

Wild, Wild Heart provides a critique of male double standards. Rodney Marsh articulates the prevailing male view that unchastity is to be expected of a man and condemned in a woman. Ann Merill attacks this hypocrisy, declaring: ‘ ‘A woman has her temptations as well as a man…And I’d want the man I married not to have one standard of morality for himself, and another for me…’ ’ (177). Ironically, Ann is chaste and innocent, although Rodney believes the worst when she is cited as correspondent in a divorce suit. It is he rather than her that has to change before a marriage is possible between them. Ann will only marry him when he gives up his drinking and gambling and reassesses his chauvinistic behaviour.

Scanlan, Nelle

Nelle Scanlan’s historical Pencarrow novels were the first New Zealand bestsellers. She was born in Picton in 1882 and came from an Irish Catholic background. Scanlan was educated in Blenheim and in 1900 moved to Palmerston North where she established a secretarial business. During World War I she worked as a reporter and then sub-editor for the Manawatu Times. In later years she worked as a freelance journalist in both New Zealand and England and wrote 18 novels. Awarded an MBE in 1965, Scanlan died three years later aged 83. She published her biography, Road to Pencarrow, in 1963. This bibliography focuses exclusively on the Pencarrow quartet. These novels span the period from settlement to the late thirties, their popularity due to their endorsement of middle-class family values and conservative politics.

Kelly Pencarrow, 1939 (London: Robert Hale, 1958)

Kelly Pencarrow is the fourth and final novel in the Pencarrow series and was written to satisfy audience demand. It is set in the late 1930s. At the heart of the novel is an attack of Labour policies which are seen as a threat to the Pencarrows’ ethic of individual initiative. The central figure, Genevieve, articulates this concern: ‘ ‘The thing I am dead against is this attitude which the Labour people pump into the young, that work is an evil to be compensated for in cash. I want to see the working people get a better deal, but I’m convinced that they won’t be any happier if you undermine their independence, and teach them to lean on the State for everything. It will kill enterprise, ambition, initiative…’ ’ (202-3). The political message is reinforced by the perennial family issue of how to deal with Peter. He is the only Pencarrow to prefer a life of idleness to work and resists attempts to integrate him into the family law firm. Nor surprisingly, he ends up broke and sponges off his mother.

Pencarrow, 1932 (London: Jarrolds, 1934)

The first in the series, Pencarrow focuses on the way in which the Pencarrow family establish a successful farming and legal empire through hard work. The original Pencarrows, Matthew and Bessie, immigrate to New Zealand because they are ‘not easily content. [They] want better things, wider opportunities…’ (7). Their ambition is fulfilled and they establish two prosperous farms, the Home Farm in the Hutt Valley and a sheep station ‘Duffield’ in the Wairarapa. Their children continue this tradition of work breeding success. Michael stays on the land, while Miles becomes a successful lawyer in Wellington. This settler family believe in ‘hard work. That was the secret of success. Industry!’ (138).

Tides of Youth, 1933 (Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1958)

Tides of Youth is the second of the Pencarrow quartet. Set in the early decades of the twentieth century it focuses on the third generation of Pencarrows, Bessie and Matthew’s grandchildren. The novel adds another dimension to the ethic of hard work that Scanlan establishes in Pencarrow. Central to Tides of Youth is the importance of vocation. It is not enough to work hard. Enjoyment and job satisfaction are also vital. Miles Pencarrow finds this philosophy hard to accept. He believes that he knows best for his children, but learns that it is fruitless to try and force others down a path for which they have no inclination. Miles would like Kelly to be a lawyer, but Kelly ‘loved the land…He would have been a farmer, and drawn his living from the soil, whatever fortune had befallen him’ (82). Likewise, Pat hates the land and obeys the call of the sea, while Mary rejects plans for a brilliant marriage to become a nun.

Winds of Heaven, 1934 (London: Robert Hale, 1958)

Winds of Heaven, the third in the Pencarrow series, is set in the 1930s, the present for Scanlan’s original audience. This novel focuses mainly on a period of struggle for the Pencarrow family, particularly Genevieve and Kelly. Genevieve is buffeted by the ‘winds of heaven’ and struggles to support her ailing husband Robin and ensure the survival of the family law firm. Her individual problems are compounded by the Depression. Wool prices slump and Kelly is forced to sell his Waikato and Taranaki farms and almost loses ‘Duffield’. His struggles are mirrored by son-in-law Martin Parelle’s efforts to save his family farm. Martin is described as ‘a pioneer of a new era’ (292). However, the Pencarrow principle of hard work helps the family endure the difficult times. As the country slowly emerges from the Depression the family experience a renewed stability and prosperity. The novel also reinforces Scanlan’s argument about the need for a sense of vocation in work. Kelly’s children depart from his farming plans, Mike following his dream of flying and Measle devoting himself to art and literature. Genevieve makes the point explicit, declaring that her son must be ‘free to choose [his occupation] for himself’ (172).

Story, Elsie

Nothing is known about Elsie Story’s personal history. Frequent references to God and the power of prayer in her novel The Tired Angel suggest that her views have a Christian base. The bedside reading material of her heroine, Newman’s University Sermons and The Imitation of Christ, hint that Story’s beliefs have a high Anglican or Catholic slant. Story appears to be well-versed in contemporary feminist writing, drawing her title and epigram from the work of Olive Schreiner. While the events of the novel are too contrived to be an accurate depiction of Story’s own history, the fact that her heroine Rosalind also writes a feminist tract suggests that Story was hoping The Tired Angel would play a role in the suffrage campaign. Rosalind declares of her novel: ‘ ‘It is written for women and girls; and in it I have stated some plain truths for the enlightenment and guidance of those in need of them…I have set up a shining beacon. It is in truth my offering to my sister women…’ ’ (160).

The Tired Angel (London: Arthur H. Stockwell, 1924)

The Tired Angel focuses on the need for improvements to the marriage laws and changes in attitudes about sex. The novel communicates its feminist message through the experiences of the heroine Rosalind Brannington, who is forced to flee from a depraved husband. Story uses this to question the wisdom of a society which expects women to marry, but which takes little heed of the moral character of potential husbands and offers little protection to women trapped in unhappy marriages. Rosalind in a ‘martyr to the marriage laws which tie her to a syphilitic, philandering husband’ (Oxford History, 126). Like her contemporary Rosemary Rees, Story speaks of the need for fair divorce laws. Rosalind declares that ‘no creature should have power over another, whether legal or usurped, which was galling and intolerable’ (113). She revokes the suggestion that she is her husband’s property, telling him: ‘ ‘ I cannot – I will not – regard you as my…husband…’ ’ (76-7). At the core of the novel is a plea for sexual love to be elevated. Rosalind’s relationship with Brannington is a graphic illustration of the need for the ‘tired angel’ of sex to be purified. Brannington’s touch makes Rosalind ‘shudder with repulsion’ (24). Story insists that sexual relations in such a context have no place and that women are perfectly justified in refusing to have sex with their husbands. Brannington’s advances to Rosalind are depicted as rape and she is applauded for resisting him. Story’s moral feminism is also seen in her insistence on the sanctity of marriage. Until Rosalind is released from her marriage vows, either by divorce or by death, she is prohibited from entering a sexual relationship with another man. Thus Rosalind and Louis Ferguson resist their attraction, conscious that their passion is prohibited by moral law.

Thornton, Guy

Guy Thornton’s writing is suffused with the religious beliefs which dominated his life. He was born in 1872 to parents who were lay missionaries with the Church Missionary Society in India. The family came to New Zealand when Thornton was three and he was educated at Te Aute College where his father served as headmaster from 1878-1912. For a period Thornton rejected his Anglican upbringing and declared himself an agnostic, but in 1893 he experienced a religious conversion, which he describes in his spiritual biography From Agnosticim to Christ (1918). He became an ardent evangelical Baptist, conducting missions in the Solomon Islands and in Ohakune with his wife Elinor. During World War I Thornton served as an army chaplain in Egypt. In With the ANZACs in Cairo (1917) he records his attempts to dissuade soldiers from frequenting brothels and bars. After the war Thornton became the pastor of South Dunedin Baptist. He died in 1934. A full record of Thornton’s life and work is provided in Elinor Thornton’s Guy D. Thornton: Athlete, Author, Pastor, Padre (1937).

The Wowser: A Tale of the New Zealand Bush (London: Kingsgate, 1918)

Guy Thornton’s sole literary foray, The Wowser, is ignored by most critics. The novel does not even rate a mention in the Oxford Companion. However, in church circles it was highly regarded when it was first published, hailed by Dr Clifford as a ‘witness…to the faithful and abiding influence of a New Testament Christianity…’ (Elinor Thornton, 137). From beginning to end this semi-autobiographical novel is a Puritan salvation tale with a muscular Christian slant. The wowser of the title is the Baptist preacher Sinclair. At first his Ohakune parishoners, mostly farmers and bush workers, are dismissive of Sinclair, calling him ‘The Wowser’. However, he wins their respect through his manly, militant faith (on one occasion he punches Bill the Bullocky when he blasphemes God) and is rechristened ‘The Pastor’. If one of Thornton’s themes is the manliness of God and God’s Baptist workers, the other is the need for personal salvation. Sinclair’s ministry is successful because he and his wife are able to win souls for Christ. Conversion experiences dominate the text, from the narrator, Mr Neville’s, conversion near the beginning to the mass revival that comes to Ohakune at the end.

Tregear, Edward

Edward Tregear was born in England in 1846 and immigrated to New Zealand in 1863. After serving in the Auckland Engineer Volunteers and fighting in the New Zealand Wars Tregear trained as a surveyor. The latter occupation took him to remote Maori communities where he learnt to speak fluent Maori and became fascinated by Maori culture. Tregear is best known for his studies of Maori life and custom, The Aryan Maori (1885) and The Maori Race (1904) and his monumental Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (1891). He was also a socialist and freethinker who published articles about the need for collectivist action and initiated much of the labour legislation passed by the Liberal Government in his role as secretary to the Bureau of Industries. Later Tregear joined the fledgling Labour Party and in 1913 was the secretary of the Social Democratic Party. Another of Tregear’s key crusades was female rights, motivated by the experiences of Bessie Joynt, an ill-treated and deserted wife. After Bessie gained a divorce in 1880, a rare feat for a woman at that time, she and Tregear were married. There’s was a long and happy marriage, Tregear dedicating his novel to ‘My Dear Wife and Comrade Bessie. One of those true women who radiate goodness as the stars shed light.’

Hedged With Divinities (Wellington, R. Coupland Harding, 1895)

Edward Tregear’s only novel, Hedged With Divinities, is a rarity for its time in that it was published in New Zealand. The text is a tongue-in-cheek moral myth about the sanctity of marriage. This aspect of the novel fits with early feminist thinking of the time, but Tregear also makes some pointed remarks about unfair feminist criticisms of men. The hero Jack is separated from his love Nelly when he is injured. He is given a strong narcotic from a Maori priest and wakes from a long sleep to find that he is the only man left alive. Without men to protect them and work for them, the women feel helpless and start to reassess their former disdain of men. Mary Lockhart declares: ‘ ‘Men protected us, worked for us, died for us, and we lied about them…’ ’ (94). Even more devastating, without men procreation is not possible. Many of the women bewail the fact that they did not marry when they could. As the only male in this world, Jack is decreed to be the Father of the Nation. This essentially means that he is a royal stud. Rather than rejoice in this position, Jack longs for Nelly and when he is reunited with her they flee to an island near Fiji where they can live in the ‘dear companionship’ of marriage (123). The most striking quality of Tregear’s novel is its wry humour. A serious, elevated tone is the hallmark of most early New Zealand fiction and the suffrage novels in particular.

Vogel, Julius

Julius Vogel was born in 1835 in England, of Jewish and Dutch inheritance. In 1852 he immigrated to Australia. After a business failure he worked as a journalist and continued this occupation when he arrived in New Zealand in 1861. Based in Dunedin, Vogel wrote for the Otago Colonist, Otago Witness, and Otago Daily Times. As a member of the Provincial Council Vogel advocated South Island rights and as a Member of Parliament and Premier he promoted female suffrage and British Imperialism. These two latter concerns dominate his fiction. Vogel spent the last 11 years of his life in England, dying in 1899.

Anno Domini 2000 or Women’s Destiny (London: Hutchinson, 1889)

Vogel’s only fictional foray, Anno Domini 2000, highlights his views on women’s rights and the British Empire. The novel is a futuristic vision of a somewhat utopian state in which women are fully equal to men and the British Empire has virtual world domination. While women have the power to vote, govern, work for an income, and be independent, one sexist law remains. The law of primogeniture still controls who succeeds the Emperor. Hilda Richmond Fitzherbert, a New Zealand representative in the Federal Parliament, is given the task of convincing Emperor Albert Edward to revoke the primogeniture legislation. He refuses, but Hilda’s high moral nature and beauty captivate him. His love deepens when Hilda saves the Empire from the machinations of Lord Reginald (who plots to form a break-away Australasian Empire which he will rule). After Albert Edward defeats the other threat to his power, the female President of the United States, he marries Hilda. Twenty years later the primogeniture issue resurfaces. In an ironic twist of fate Albert Edward’s eldest child is a daughter passionately interested in politics, while his younger child and heir is a scholarly boy with no taste for rule. Finally the Emperor sees reason and changes the law. Vogel’s conviction that women are equal to men, but also endowed with a higher moral sense, is typical of nineteenth century feminist attitudes. His innovation comes with the futuristic genre, most feminist novelists preferring to concentrate on the suffering of women in the here and now.

Wilson, Anne

Anne Wilson was born in Australia in 1848. She came to New Zealand in 1874 when she married James Glenney Wilson, a politician and the owner of a large station in the Rangitikei. From a young age Wilson saw herself as a writer, publishing essays and short stories in papers such as the Sydney Bulletin. Many of these contributions are published under the pseudonym ‘Austral’. Wilson continued to write after her marriage. She published two volumes of poetry, Themes and Variations (1895) and A Book of Verses (1901), which focus on religious and nature themes. Her fiction turns to a different issue, the place and importance of marriage. Wilson’s novels are best described as domestic romances with a feminist tinge. A brief autobiographical sketch can be found in Australasian Autobiographies (ATL , QMS 0095).

Alice Lauder, A Sketch, 1893 (London: Macmillan, 1895)

Alice Lauder articulates strong Puritan ideas about marriage. At first the novel appears to be an early feminist manifesto. Alice is rebellious and unconventional, intent on her career as a singer. She rejects Arthur Campbell’s proposal, declaring: ‘ ‘What should I do without [music]? It’s my living, in every sense – I can’t give it up…’ ’ (45). Ten years later her viewpoint shifts. Even although Arthur insists that she give up singing in public, Alice agrees to marry him. She revokes her ‘fantastic ideal’ for the ‘natural sunshine of earth’ (254). While Wilson asserts that Alice has chosen the better part in marrying Arthur, there is an undertone of regret for the necessity of Alice’s sacrifice. Like Alice, Wilson chose marriage over a career. However, her continued dedication to writing suggests that while she saw marriage as a higher vocation she also believed in the value of female independence.

Two Summers (London: Harper, 1900)

Alice Wilson’s second novel, Two Summers, is much more slight. It is essentially a light romance charting the relationship of Edward Lindsay and Julia French. As the title indicates, the narrative action focuses on two summers. The first is an Australasian summer. Edward travels to the colonies for his health and falls in love with Julia. However, she is engaged to Theodore Ashby, aspiring author and English aristocrat. When Arthur and Julia meet again the English summer is more propitious to their romance. Julia breaks her engagement, she and Arthur marry, and Theodore consoles himself with the success of his play. As in Alice Lauder, married happiness is seen as the supreme goal. However, an artistic career is a very close second, able to compensate for the loss of love.