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Come Back to Mona Vale

Life and death in a Christchurch mansion

Alexander McKinnon

$39.95

Paperback

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English
Otago University Press
01 October 2021
Come Back to Mona Vale is a beautifully written, compelling narrative/memoir that sets about unravelling the mysteries and anomalies behind the public history of a wealthy Christchurch business family in the first half of the 20th century. The author-as narrator gradually becomes aware that his family heritage isn't necessarily the norm, nor what he expected. He realises that family members don't speak to each other about the most private events. The story unfolds like a crime or detective tale, and also delves into the history of the Canterbury colony, contrasting Christchurch's public values, aspirations and beauty with its murkier private behaviour. And yet the story is told with a graceful touch and an eye for the vivid, comic and telling detail. Alexander McKinnon's explorations of his family's past is the record of a beautiful and grand (yet gradually crumbling) manor interwoven with social history - with a sense of the Gothic, of obsession, and of a tight-knit circle where secrets wreak a terrible climax leading to a form of inter-generational haunting.

By:  
Imprint:   Otago University Press
Country of Publication:   New Zealand
Dimensions:   Height: 210mm,  Width: 48mm, 
ISBN:   9781990048067
ISBN 10:   1990048064
Pages:   288
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Alexander McKinnon was educated in Christchurch and overseas, and lives in Wellington. His essay ‘Canterbury Gothic’, a summary version of this story, won the 2020 Landfall Essay Competition. This is his first book.

  • Winner of Landfall Essay Competition 2020

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