Maurice Gee

Edited by Elizabeth Hale

Maurice Gee’s fiction for younger readers blends exciting stories with serious issues. Told through a range of genres, from fantasy to realism, adventure to science fiction, mysteries, psychological thrillers and gangster stories, they offer a distinctive body of work that shows New Zealand to children and young adults.

This book pays tribute to Maurice Gee’s distinctive contribution to New Zealand literature. It argues that the depth and excitement of Gee’s fiction for young readers makes for an impressive introduction to New Zealand culture, history and storytelling. Overview chapters explore the motivations, themes, contexts and reception of Gee’s work, from the fantasy novels Under the Mountain, The World Around the Corner and the O and Salt trilogies, to the five realist and historical novels, including The Fat Man, The Champion and The Fire-Raiser.

This volume will appeal to students, teachers, readers and writers of New Zealand literature, children’s literature and fantasy literature.

The editor

Elizabeth Hale is Senior Lecturer in English and Writing at the University of New England, in Armidale, Australia, where she teaches children’s literature, media and creative writing. She has published widely on topics in children’s literature, nineteenth-century literature, and classical reception studies. With Sarah Winters, she is co-editor of Marvellous Codes: The fiction of Margaret Mahy (Victoria University Press, 2005). Elizabeth grew up in New Zealand, and studied English literature and Latin at the University of Otago before doing her MA and PhD at Brandeis University in the US.