Lost Possessions

by Keri Hulme

They have left me.The door is locked.The room is entirely bare.. . .Lost Possessions, a novella, was published in 1985, shortly before The Bone People won the Booker Prize.

Genres: Poetry, Novels

Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Hulme, Keri (1947–2021), novelist, short story writer and poet, gained international recognition with her award-winning The Bone People. Within New Zealand she has held writing fellowships at several universities, served on the Literary Fund Advisory Committee (1985–89) and the Indecent Publications Tribunal (1985–90), and in 1986–88 was appointed ‘cultural ambassador’ while travelling in connection with The Bone People.

Born and raised in Otautahi, Christchurch, Hulme is the eldest of six children. Her father, a carpenter and first-generation New Zealander whose parents came from Lancashire, died when Hulme was 11. Her mother came from Oamaru, of Orkney Scots and Maori descent (Käi Tahu, Käti Mämoe). Hulme was schooled at North New Brighton Primary School and Aranui HS (Christchurch). Her holidays were spent with her mother’s extended family at Moeraki, on the Otago East Coast, a landscape filled with the residue of its Maori past, which remains important for linking Hulme with her Maori ancestors: ‘I love it better than any place on Earth. It is my turangawaewae-ngakau, the standing-place of my heart.’

The Bone People (Spiral Collective, 1984) won the 1984 New Zealand Book Award for Fiction, and the prestigious international Booker Prize in 1985. 'Set on the harsh South Island beaches of New Zealand, bound in Maori myth and entwined with Christian symbols, Miss Hulme's provocative novel summons power with words, as a conjuror's spell. She casts her magic on three fiercely unique characters, but reminds us that we, like them, are 'nothing more than people', and that, in a sense, we are all cannibals, compelled to consume the gift of love with demands for perfection' (New York Times Book Review).

Source: Read NZ https://www.read-nz.org/writer/hulme-....

Reviews

[Josephine Ensign · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something between poetry and prose and was worthwhile tracking down an original copy of. I'm not exactly sure why, but this poetry-prose book has lodged itself in my head in the vicinity of the bookshelf section devoted to the work of Jose Saramago.

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling, enigmatic novella from the author of the magisterial "The Bone People."

[Livvy Nonoa · Rating 4 out of 5]

What in the earth

[Martine Cantin-Buckley · Rating 4 out of 5]

what did i just read

[canela · Rating 3 out of 5]

??????

[David Highton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intense novella but difficult to fully understand.

[thewitchwhoturnedpink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keri Hulme has a quite unorthodox style and way of writing, but I really enjoy it.