The Last Living Cannibal - Airana Ngarewa
Aotearoa in the 1940s, and the Māori men of Taranaki have refused to join the Māori battalion because of the severity of their land confiscations. Koko is the oldest man in the village, a legend within his community - he's lived through the land wars, Parihaka, imprisonment in Dunedin, and they whisper of him as the Last Living Cannibal. Koko dotes on his grandson Blackie, who has lived with him ever since Blackie's mum left in troubling circumstances years earlier.
But the ghosts of the past are bound to come calling, and when they do, they come with muru in mind.
Richly set in Taranaki during the 1940s, The Last Living Cannibal is the epitome of a classic Aotearoa novel, from one of this generation's most promising writers.
Airana Ngarewa
Born and raised in Pātea, Airana Ngarewa (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngārauru, Ngāruahine) writes about Māori affairs for The Spinoff. His writing has also been published by RNZ, NZ Herald, Newsroom and Landfall. He won the short story and poetry competitions at the Ronald Hugh Morrieson Literary Awards in 2022. His debut novel The Bone Tree held the #1 NZ Fiction spot for eleven weeks overall.
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