Author Interview: Kate Mahony

Secrets of the Land opens mysteriously in Melbourne in 2018, when a stranger approaches Imogen, one of the main protagonists, on the street and says that her grandfather in New Zealand needs her help. But Imogen has been led to believe that her grandfather is dead. When she travels to Aotearoa, she finds her granddad very much alive, but someone is trying to frighten him off his farm. But who is doing this, and why?

The novel then moves seamlessly to the story of Imogen’s mother, and incidents surrounding her life as a young girl in the 1970s, and then the past rears its head again and the story of Michael, an Irishman in 1864, intersects into both timelines.

It turns out there is a long shadow over her grandfather’s farm, which stretches back to two young Irishmen joining the British army to fight against Taranaki Māori.

The book is a haunting novel that grips from the start.

Kate Mahony is a long-time writer of short stories with an MA in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington. Her work has been published in anthologies and literary journals internationally and in New Zealand. Secrets of the Land is her debut published novel.

We were thrilled when Kate took time out from her very busy schedule to discuss Secrets of the Land and we wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to her.

This interview was done in conjunction with Caffeine and Aspirin, the arts and entertainment review show on Radioactive FM.

You can hear the interview and borrow Secrets of the Land, by following the links below.

Keep an eye out for our upcoming event with the wonderful Kate Mahony and Claire Gleeson, author of The Fairer Side of Buxton - a fascinating history book about Aotearoa's first landscape designer, Alfred Buxton.
Talking Fact and Fiction: Writing History
6pm Thursday 14 November at Te Māhanga Karori Library