Sylvia Ashton-Warner — Spinster: A Novel
Virago 1980 Paperback, 269pp. This novel, set in Hawkes Bay, is the story of Anna, spinster and genius, and teacher of Maori children in this remote area. A passionate woman, uncertain and gauche in her relations with men, she is at peace only in her schoolroom, her garden, and the little back room where she struggles to create the works which will set her beloved children free. This is a portrait of a pioneer and artist struggling against orthodoxy, of a woman coming to terms with her complicated self. Some foxing, especially to cover and end papers. (ISBN: 9780860681618). Good.