A respectable girl by Fleur Beale
Simon and Schuster, 2007
At the settlement of New Plymouth in New Zealand, the whole community
waits for war. The British settlers have bought a piece of land and the
Maori chief has made it clear that the seller had no right to do so.
The settlers out in the valley have come in for protection, the
soldiers have formed a militia from the local men, and the women and
children wait. It is a position many must have known in the empires of
the nineteenth century. Fleur Beale has recreated this tension between
the original peoples and the new arrivals well.
In the middle of this, life goes on. Hannah has discovered that her
father may not really be her father, she has questions about her
friend's marriage to one of the officers, she has heard of the ideas of
Mary Wollstonecraft and wants answers about women's role in society.
Her life is as tense as that of the little colony around her. She is a
head strong character, who questions and thinks about what is going on.
Her worlds are changing fast, life is a river, ever moving on, and she
must change with it. . When Hannah and her brother move to England to
pursue their parentage, the novel unfortunately loses its freshness and
strong setting based upon the author's experience, the previously
involving plot becomes cliched and predictable. But this absorbing
novel tells of a period rarely explored in Australasia's history. It
will certainly appeal to those in lower to middle secondary who love a
good solid read.
Fran Knight
© Pledger
Consulting, 2007