Originally published on the Booksellers New Zealand blog.
I've mentioned previously I much prefer to read non-fiction
over fiction – there’s something that sparks interest for me when I know what
I'm reading is a true story. Delight came to me when I realised the slightly-smaller
than an A5 book I’d been given to review intertwined fact and fiction
perfectly. Excellent way to kill two birds with one stone.
Published by Bridget Williams Books as part of the BWB Texts
series, Kirsty Gunn’s memoir Thorndon
Wellington and Home: My Katherine Mansfield Project stands proudly
alongside other great New Zealand authors including Claudia Orange and Maurice
Gee.
Thorndon
beautifully recounts Gunn’s time in Wellington having been awarded a Randell
Fellowship. Gunn comes home to the city she grew up in and swore to never
return to, having set up camp in Scotland and London. "A couple of years ago I
came 'home' to Wellington. I came at first alone, and then I brought my
daughters with me."
Whether you know Wellington well or could care less about
the city, Gunn’s account of her time spent as a Fellow here resonates with all
who despise the place they grew up in. Her two daughters are able to attend the
same school she did, create the same memory of the Zig-Zag stairs, and remember
the way horizontal rain is created by wonderful winds.
Alongside her wonderfully written and easy to read account
of Wellington, Gunn has intertwined quotes and extracts from Mansfield, as well
as from biographies. A selected bibliography is included for any person looking
for the place to start their Mansfield readings. Alongside these, Gunn's own
stories she wrote while here sit perfectly. As a non-reader of modern fiction,
I found these simply delightful to read.
Gunn has produced a simple yet effective book in Thorndon. She tells her own story, which
could have been a rather dull subject, in a real and relatable way. I, for one,
don't find myself particularly attached to the small town I grew up in, but
something resonates with me every time I go back there. Gunn's account draws my
thinking back to the words I wrote in that town, and makes me long to visit
soon.
"Coming or Going. Leaving or returning. Whether dark or
light, north or south, present or past… The words themselves are real. As I
have written before, as I continue to write… The words themselves bring us
home."
