When she discovered a bundle of old letters written by a distant relative who’d been forced to follow her husband to New Zealand in the 1850’s, Helena Drysdale knew she had the beginnings of an amazing story. Her novel Strangerland follows the life of Isabella Gascoyne and her family and is a tale of exile, estrangement and adultery set against the backdrop of early settler life in India and New Zealand.
Jenni talks to Helena Drysdale about the painfully intimate story she found hidden in Isabella’s letters.
Strangerland: A Family at War by Helena Drysdale, published by Picador - ISBN: 0330411691 |
