The prize-winning, passionate and uncompromising sequel to the blistering classic novel, Once Were Warriors 'She always came the following day for a second visit on this yearly remembering; in fact, Polly Heke came several times a year and had done for the last two, from when she herself hit the same age as Grace’d been when she, uh, when she killed herself.' The searing power of Alan Duff’s masterpiece Once Were Warriors rocked a nation and was...

I'm 13 and I'm in a cell. A cell. It's got real bars, up there protecting that high window. I can jump up and touch them. I'm in a cell. That door is for real; it's made of solid steel, and it's got a peephole. So they can spy on me. But I ain't gonna bust. I damn well ain't. Charlie Wilson, the 'state house boy' from Two Lakes, is sent to Riverton Boys' Home as a state ward until such time as he is seen fit to return to society. The door in the cellblock isn't the only thing that Charlie ...

The second gripping, powerful novel by the author of Once Were Warriors. Boys’ homes, borstal, jail, stealing, then jail again – and again. That’s been life for Jube and Sonny. One Pakeha, the other Maori, only vaguely aware of life beyond pubs and their hopeless cronies . . . Reviewers found it compulsive and unforgettable, one saying: 'Brutal, foul-mouthed, violent, despairing and real . . . it can't be ignored'. In this novel Alan Duff confirms his skills as a ...

A gritty novel of envy and relationships gone awry, by best best-selling writer Alan Duff. This moving, fast-paced story is set in two contrasting worlds: the rich, horse-breeding milieu of Riley Chadwick and his family, and the hand-to-mouth life on the street of Lu and her mates. What happens when those worlds collide? Riley's daughter, Anna, seems to have everything: looks, money, confidence. Lu has nothing except her friends and the sense of inferiority and rage she fe...

A fresh, personal account of New Zealand, now, from one of our hardest-hitting writers. Following Once Were Warriors, Alan Duff wrote Maori: The Crisis and the Challenge. His controversial comments shook the country. A quarter of a century later, New Zealand and Maoridom are in a very different place. And so is Alan – he has published many more books, had two films made of his works, founded the Duffy Books in Homes literacy programme and endured ‘some less inspiring moments, including ban...

A New Zealand classic, this novel is a raw and powerful portrayal of Maori in New Zealand society. Alan Duff's groundbreaking first novel is one of the most talked-about books ever published in New Zealand and is the basis of a major New Zealand film. This hard hitting story is a frank and uncompromising portrait in which everyone is a victim, until the strength and vision of one woman transcends brutality and leads the way to a new life. 'Alan Duff's first novel bursts upon our literary l...

Once Were Warriors is Alan Duff's harrowing vision of his country's indigenous people two hundred years after the English conquest. In prose that is both raw and compelling, it tells the story of Beth Heke, a Maori woman struggling to keep her family from falling apart, despite the squalor and violence of the housing projects in which they live. Conveying both the rich textures of Maori tradition and the wounds left by its absence, Once Were Warriors is a masterpiece of unblinking realism,...

The third volume in the hard-hitting, best-selling Once Were Warriors trilogy. The millennium has changed but have the Hekes? Where are they now, Beth, Jake, and what of their other children? Son Abe who has rejected violence but violence finds him. Polly, as beautiful as her sister Grace, who committed suicide; is that a Heke running around with the wealthy polo-playing set and growing rich herself? And the gang leader, Apeman, who killed Tania, what's prison lik...

The millennium has changed, but can the Heke family and the people of Pine Block? Abe, son of Beth and Jake, has rejected violence, but violence always seems to find him. Polly, as beautiful as her sister Grace, who committed suicide, is running around with the wealthy polo-playing set and growing rich herself. Gang leader, Apeman, who killed Tania, is in prison – will it help him to grow, or not? In Pine Block, Sharneeta casts a tragic figure across the neighbourhood. Alistair Trambert, a...

The raw and powerful sequel to Once Were Warriors. It is six years since Jake's daughter Grace hanged herself. Jake's wife, Beth, has left him, his son Nig was killed in a gangland fight – his only consolations are drink and his memories. His daughter Polly is determined to escape the violence that is destroying the Maoris. But can Jake, too, redeem himself? Content warning: Contains some violence and/or strong language.

Boys' homes, borstal, jail, stealing, then jail again – and again. That's been life for Jube and Sonny. One Pakeha, the other Maori, only vaguely aware of life beyond pubs and their hopeless cronies. Then, one night out stealing, the two small-time hoods chance upon the home of a wealthy Wellington lawyer … The ensuing events unfold with stark brutality amidst a seldom-seen New Zealand cityscape of littered streets, crowded highways and noisy smoke-filled bars – a world of inarticulate tur...

When Johno comes out of prison, he resolves never to go back again. But his new life is not easy, especially as he soon finds himself in sole charge of his strange young son, Danny. Danny isn't the kind of son he would have chosen, but, in caring for the boy, Johno finds new meaning and new direction. But what do you do when the world you've so carefully built comes crashing down? Can you ever escape your past? This is a return to the world of criminals and violence that Alan Duff has writ...