Published in 2021
350 pages
Whiti Hereaka is a novelist and playwright. She is the author of The Graphologist’s Apprentice which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Award (Asia/Pacific) in 2011.
What is this book about?
Kurangaituku is the story of Hatupatu told from the perspective of the traditional ‘monster’, Kurangaituku, the bird woman. In the traditional story, told from the view of Hatupatu, he is out hunting and is captured by a creature that is part bird and part woman. The bird woman imprisons him in her cave in the mountains. Hatupatu eventually escapes and is pursued by Kurangaituku. He evades her when he leaps over hot springs, but Kurangaituku goes into them and dies.
