Kāwai: Tree of Nourishment

Book Author Monty Soutar
Rights Available World excl. NZ

It’s 1818 on the East Coast of Te Ika-a-Māui, Aotearoa. Hine-aute, granddaughter of the legendary warrior Kaitanga, is fleeing through the bush; a precious yet gruesome memento contained in her fishing net. What follows is the gripping tale of a people on the cusp of profound change that is destined to reverberate through many generations to come.

The Europeans have arrived, and they’ve brought muskets and foreign diseases, ushering in a whole new world of terror and trouble. They’ve also brought a new faith, which will cause Māori to question everything they had believed to be true. Hine and her sons, Ipumare and Uha, are caught in the crossfire of change that is creating fractures in their close familial bonds and undermining everything they hold dear.

From raids by musket-weilding war parties to heightened internecine warfare; from the influx of whalers, traders and Christian missionaries to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Kāwai: Tree of Nourishment strikes hard and deep into the heart of the impact of colonisation on Māori, and is guaranteed to leave readers stunned.

About the Author
Dr. Monty Soutar (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngāti Kahungunu) has worked as a Senior Historian for the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, Director of the Tairāwhiti Museum in Gisborne and as the World War One Historian in Residence at Auckland War Memorial Museum. In 2015 he was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori and historical research. He continues to serve on the Waitangi Tribunal.

Dr Soutar is the author of Whītiki Whiti Whiti E! Māori in the First World War and Nga Tama Toa: The Price of Citizenship: C Company 28 (Māori Battalion 1939–1945) and Kāwai: For Such a Time as This. In 2021 he was awarded the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer’s Fellowship to write the Kawai series.