C. K. Stead

3 weeks ago | nzreviewofbooks.com | Sally Blundell |C. K. Stead

A kingfisher, blue as blue, ‘lit up as if from the inside’, lands on a clothesline in a leafy suburb in Auckland. Of the three old friends chatting on the deck, only Don notices. He tries, and fails, to remember the phrase in a TS Eliot poem (presumably ‘After the kingfisher’s wing / Has answered light to light’). That night, the bird’s sudden flight presages another retreat into silence.

Nov 13, 2024 | the-tls.co.uk | Isabella Trimboli |Kirsty Gunn |C. K. Stead |Fiona Gruber

In 1962 Charmian Clift put aside her autobiographical novel to help her husband write his. For the past decade, she and George Johnston had been living in Greece, co-authoring little potboilers that barely paid the bills. But then Johnston became increasingly sick from tuberculosis, mortality impelling the need for self-preservation and therefore sole authorship. In their living room Johnston wheezed and wrote while Clift scrutinized every page.

Oct 16, 2024 | the-tls.co.uk | C. K. Stead

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