Auē

New Zealand, today. After the disappearance of his parents, young Maori Taukiri leaves his eight-year-old brother Ari behind, fleeing with his surfboard and guitar to the North Island to escape the whirlpool of despair and guilt into which he was born. Yet in the sound of the sea, which he loves and simultaneously hates, in the music he draws from the guitar that belonged to his father, and in the violence that haunts his family, the shame of having left his brother alone weighs heavily on him. But his brother Ari is stronger than he appears, and he has a girlfriend, and his girlfriend has a dog, and together these three may be strong enough to turn the tide of despair and guilt. Manawatu's prose is as changeable as the ocean: fluid, poetic, filled with beautiful imagery, hopeful and tender, humorous, raw and urgent in intense moments, deeply moving: a true masterpiece from one of the strongest voices in contemporary New Zealand literature, multiple award-winning and one of the most successful New Zealand books of all time.