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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Huge Enthusiasm for New Zealand Edition of Tupaia

Random House (New Zealand) are the tops.  Truly.

Not only is their edition of my biography of Tupaia (Tupaia: The Remarkable Story of Captain Cook's Polynesian Navigator, due in June) going to be a beautiful one, with lavish illustrations, but they are pouring huge enthusiasm into the project.

Yesterday, I received the following letter from my editor/publisher, Jenny Hellen:

I’ve just been doing final checks and I LOVE this book – it’s such a great read, so easy, so informative, so chatty and yet so erudite and the product of such detailed research. And the illustrations just take you (the reader) so much further into the story. Just been reminded again about how great it is Joan. Thanks!

4 comments:

Shayne Parkinson said...

It really is a great book, Joan - congratulations!

By the way, we went to Napier last weekend and took Tupaia along for the ride. We walked out to Cape Kidnappers on Sunday (five hours return, an excellent [and tide-dependent] walk), and it added a whole extra dimension to the adventure, imagining Tupaia, Cook and the others seeing those same cliffs.

I should add that the book stayed safely at the motel when we went out walking. :-)

World of the Written Word said...

That's wonderful, Shayne! Thank you for posting it.

Anonymous said...

I have just finished reading 'TUPAIA, The Remarkable Story of Captain Cook's Polynesian Navigator...'
Wow! Fantastic read! It brought what, in the past as a schoolboy had been very dry facts about the history of New Zealand.
I felt like I was actually there on the Endeavour, the writing was so immediate and personal I couldn't put the book down! All of those facts about Young Nick's Head, Poverty Bay, cape turnaround etc were made real and meaningful! Tupaia's navigational knowledge and skill was so awesome and it was very tragic that Cook, Banks and the rest did not adequately appreciate what an asset Tupaia was in the success of the exploration in the pacific...Again, an Awesome read!!!

World of the Written Word said...

Thank you!