When his father dies, Paul Prior, a battle weary war photographer, returns to his remote New Zealand home to face the past he left behind seventeen years ago. Reluctantly re-visiting the dilapidated family property, he discovers the old den, tucked away in the equipment shed. It belonged to his father, Jeff, who away from his puritanical wife Iris, had secretly harboured a love of wine, literature and free-thinking philosophy. When Paul as a child had accidentally stumbled upon this wondrous book-lined universe, he had been included in his father's secret, promising never to tell anyone about it.
Against his better judgement, Paul befriends the daughter of his first girlfriend, the enigmatic and feisty sixteen-year-old Celia, who hungers for the world beyond her small town. However, the friendship is condemned by members of both their families and when Celia goes missing, Paul is immediately blamed for her sudden disappearance. As the violent and urgent truth gradually emerges, Paul is forced to confront the family tragedy and betrayal he ran from as a youth, and to face the grievous consequences of silence and secrecy that has surrounded his entire adult life.
A haunting, atmospheric and intricately layered mystery, set against the stunning landscapes of New Zealand.
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Hope
by Celia Steimer
Hope, her mind is a graveyard, her heart is an island. She and I are not good friends but I have known her all my life. She sits in my belly, hollow and distant, though her whispered words of encouragement will never comfort me. I'm onto her tricks, her false promises. Go away I tell her, I'm busy today, I've got things to do. But this aquaintance never knows when to leave. It's not a question of why she befriended me in the first place, it's more a question of why I chose to let her stay.
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The Day The Tide Went Away
by Celia Steimer
One day, in a town at the edge of the world, the tide went out and never returned. The sea just left without warning. At first, people were little more than puzzled. They continued to gossip and fight over the same old things. But soon a silence began to permeate the township. A desert of unbelievable magnitude was forming before their very eyes. Weeks passed and there was still no sign of the ocean. The people grew worried. It was decided to send a small group to search for it, in the hope of bringing it back.
As the days went on, more and more people went looking. The people searched far and wide, but the ocean had vanished without a trace. The quiet land, once bountiful, had become hard and unyielding. Then a shape appeared on the horizon. Through a blaze of heat, the people saw what looked like tumbling water rolling towards them. A wave of excitement passed through the town, as they anxiously watched the ocean return. But as it grew closer, the shape began to alter and mutate. What looked like tumbling water, was in fact wild horses. Everywhere they turned, they saw horses drawing closer and closer. Their excitement turned to fear, and their fear became panic, for it seemed that nothing could stop their advance – which, as the ocean's disappearance, had come without warning. But then no one, not even for a moment, had stopped to question why the ocean had left in the first place.
The people had no choice but to trust that the horses would lead them to their ocean. Without reins or saddles, they rode the horses across the barren land. But the ocean had disappeared for good. And the people, together, alone, had no choice but to face each other in their loss. They made a home for themselves in a new environment, although one that had changed forever. They learnt to live in the space the ocean had left, although it lingered in their dreams.
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