Newlands

REYNOLDS UPDIKE soldier, farmer, car salesman, electrical goods manufacturer, lover, father and living treasure, reflected in the declining years of his century as a splendid cook in a womens refuge, a poet and even a dog.Through two wars and two depressions, from the mind of Gallipoli by way of the Jazz Age to a brave new world of market forces, an unmistakable voice describes the fears and passions of this extraordinary human being. Reynolds leaves his imprint on everyone from ordinary people to royalty until he raises his glass to us all as an unburdened and unforgettable man.Newlands is one of the outstanding novels of New Zealand literature, reflected in being broadcast by Radio New Zealand repeatedly in the nineties when it first appeared, along with chapter one being published by the Australian newspaper. This is a novel that draws on historical and personal events as intimate studies of us all.Randy, opinionated, unscrupulous but above all loving Reynolds Updike leads us to the eve of his second one hundred years on this planet. Will he get there? Newlands is a comic tour-de-force of a beautifully written novel. Gary Langford makes it impossible for the reader not to care in this ageless work.