Ephemera

Book Author Tina Shaw
Rights Available World Excl NZ

Several years after a global meltdown, New Zealand, along with the rest of the world, is still in chaos. No electricity, no broadband, and people are in survival mode – at least until somebody turns the lights on again. Ruth has always led a sheltered life. Pre-Crash, she worked as an Ephemera Librarian, now she is managing a simple, self-sufficient lifestyle. But now her sister is dying from tuberculosis and her love for Juliana propels her to undertake a perilous journey. She sets off from Auckland to find a rumoured stockpile of pharmaceutical drugs based at the old Huka Lodge.

Along with the handsome Lance Hinckley and enigmatic Adebowale Ackers, Ruth travels by steamboat up the Waikato River – the only practical way. The intrepid journey takes them through settlements that have sprung up on the way as people try to re-establish their lives in a precarious time. With society itself broken, will Ruth manage to keep her commitment to her sister without compromising her own values?

Inspired by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, this post-apocalyptic, party comedic novel reveals that things are not always what they seem.

About the Author
Tina Shaw is the author of publications for children, young adults and general readership, including The Black Madonna, written while she held the CNZ Berlin Writers’ Residency, and The Children’s Pond, shortlisted for the 2015 Ngaio Marsh Awards. She has also held the University of Waikato Writer-In-Residence and the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship. Her YA title About Griffen’s Heart was a Storylines Notable Book in 2010. She won the 2018 Storylines Tessa Duder Award and Ursa was published in April 2019 by Walker Books Australia. A member of NZAMA, she works as a manuscript assessor, tutor of creative writing and editor of the NZSA quarterly publication NZ Author.