The Seven Lives of Lady Barker: Author of Station Life in New Zealand

Description

This compelling biography of Lady Mary Anne Barker is a fascinating account of a Victoria woman who, through the course of her life, lived in England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Mauritius, Australia and Trinidad. Momentous historical events of the period, such as the Indian Mutiny (Revolt) and the Zulu Wars, all directly impacted upon her personal life and resulted in huge domestic upheavals. Lady Barker wrote 18 books, and is perhaps best known for "Station Life in New Zealand", which was republished by Vintage in 2000. The Seven Lives Of Lady Barker, published here for the first time in paperback, is a full account of the rich and turbulent life of this extraordinary woman.

Betty Gilderdale has an Honours degree in English from London University. Since coming to New Zealand in 1967 she has taught at Colleges of Education and at the Continuing Education Department of the University of Auckland. She had her own review column in the New Zealand Herald for 25 years. Her 1982 book A Seachange: 145 years of New Zealand junior fiction won the PEN Best First Book Award, and she has since been a contributor to The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature (ed. Terry Sturm) and The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, as well as to numerous overseas publications. L ike Lady Barker, Betty Gilderdale has written books for adults and for children. Her best-known children's book is The Little Yellow Digger and its sequels. Her husband, Alan, did the pictures.

Such a vigorous and varied life demanded an equally spirited biographer and, in this respect, Lady Barker has been fortunate. Betty Gilderdale writes in a suitably lively style, reconstructing the extraordinary life of her subject with verve, imagination, and authority." -Graeme Lay, author, The Miss Tutti Frutti Contest