Unity Book Club November 2024: Poorhara

About the book:
ERIN can hear the whaanau whispering, and they won’t tell her why. She’s ditched school to help her aunty clean houses—even though she has a full-time job looking after all the moko. But no one cares, and soon she will be picked clean, like the bones in her maamaa’s bedroom.

STAR is home for the first time in years, and he’s worn the same clothes for days. Everything feels unfamiliar: the karakia, his nephews, the house that he grew up in. He’s too scared to tell his family that he’s bombing back at uni. And the past is an affliction, a gently rising tide.

It is 178 years after colonisation. Together, the cousins escape. Free-wheeling across the countryside in a car without a warrant, they cast their net widely. Their family mythologies, heartaches and rifts will surface, and among it the glint of possibility: a return to the whenua where it all began.

A tragicomedy set in the confines of a 1994 Daihatsu Mira, Poorhara is a journey of epic proportions—a poignant, expansive and darkly funny first novel written by a true poorhara.

Melissa and Eden will be hosting our monthly book club to discuss some of the excellent recently released books.

In November we will be discussing Poorhara by Michelle Rahurahu

We have limited tickets available so grab a ticket sooner rather then later and tell your friends and whānau.

Drinks and snacks provided. If you have any specific allergies, let us know and send an email.

If you have any further queries send us an email to wellington@unitybooks.co.nz and address it to Melissa.