Paper Cage set in New Zealand – Tom Baragwanath

Paper Cage, crime fiction

Never been to New Zealand so the only way I get to go is through crime fiction. Masterton is a real town and is a nice small place to visit in real life I imagine, In this book however, a child goes missing and everyone is a suspect. Now, this made a very interesting visit to NZ!

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Map of locations in Paper Cage

Boarding Pass Information 

Destination : Masterton, New Zealand

Author guide: Tom Baragwanath

Genre: crime fiction

Food and drink to accompany: pie and a flask of water

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A novel to transport you to a small New Zealand town

Map of locations in Paper Cage

Imagine being in a small community where everyone knows everyone else. Where a child goes missing yet no one says they say anything. Where one missing child opens up chasms and wounds that you never thought existed.  Welcome to Masterton.

The location was an instant draw as the author knows it well and I wanted to go there. After meeting him at a book event, I had the accent in my head as I read this and that made it really shine. This community has been drawn with skill. It seems idyllic but tensions hide behind the surface. There are the same problems here that everywhere has – family troubles, children causing chaos, race, class and drugs but it takes them and shines a light on a place you would never think of being troubled.

There was lots of local culture and nuances which really made the novel shine. Loraine is from the Pākehā Peoples and is married to a Māori. I love stories about Indigenous peoples or those that shine a light on them.

The novel will make you think as it asks questions about the environment in which we bring up children and the ways a small community works or doesn’t.

A debut as well. I hope I get to travel to New Zealand again soon with this author.

Map of locations in Paper Cage

Postcard details:  Access The BookTrail’s Map of Locations and travel guide here

More books set in New Zealand

BookTrail Boarding Pass: Paper Cage

Twitter:    @TBaragwanath