A Place to Stand

by Helen McNeil

“I'll never go back,” she said. “Never.”
Sandra McLeod arrived as a child in Kawerau, New Zealand, with her British family. It was 1954. But the family's hopes for a new and better life faltered in this raw timber town. At sixteen Sandra fled. All she took with her were numbness and denial.
Fifteen years later, a letter arrives and Sandra, now a successful real estate agent, knows she must go back. Back to her mother's vacant eyes and the secrets of the McLeod family. Back to unpick her past and to learn about loss, grief, mothering – and perhaps a chance of finding home.
Set in a small town on the volcanic plateau of New Zealand, this poignant novel explores the cost of migration and what it means to find deep connection with place.


A compelling and really quite haunting read from a new and distinctive voice in New Zealand fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Deborah Challinor, top selling author of the Children of War Trilogy, Isle of Tears (2009), Band of Gold (2010).

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 18, 2013

About the author

New Zealand author, originally born in England.

For the author of modern romances, see Helen McNeil.

Reviews

[Compulsion Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s 1975, and in Auckland, New Zealand Sandra McLeod is a struggling real estate agent, trying desperately to empower herself through a self-help course book. When a letter arrives from an old friend informing Sandra that her mother is ailing, Sandra sees this as a test of her inner strength. The trip back to the small, sulfurous town of Kawerau – a place Sandra swore she would never return to – dredges up old memories.

In A Place to Stand, author Helen McNeil stitches together the past and present with a sure hand. Almost as soon as Sandra arrives in Kawerau, the ghosts of the past begin whispering of a family torn by tragedy. Little by little, the story of Sandra’s past unfolds as she struggles in the present to finally face and overcome what happened to her.

A Place to Stand is a masterful drama. McNeil paints a clear picture of the struggling frontier town of Kawerau in the 1950s and the immigrant and native families that mingle and struggle together. Every character has depth, and the reader recognizes the timeless needs and longings that every child experiences as they grow into adulthood.

Sandra is a deeply-flawed adult, desperately fleeing from her past, but as the curtain pulls back to reveal her early struggles, I couldn’t help but sympathize with her decisions and understand the unbalanced adult she grew up to be.

A Place to Stand is a beautiful and tragic story that readers itching for a good drama will enjoy. My only complaint is the author’s choice to switch to the second person in one of the last chapters of the book, which had the unfortunate result of inserting me into the story and pushing Sandra out during a very critical moment for her.

Other than this one drawback, A Place to Stand is superb, and McNeil has shown herself to be a highly talented and observant writer.

(This book was provided to Compulsion Reads for review by the author.)

[Judith Yeabsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a depressing story and that in itself is not a deal breaker. However, the main character continues to have these monologues that go off on a tangent (echoing the retreat of her mother into mental illness) and they are boring and frustrating. I couldn't get into it in a way that made them "powerful and moving". I read to the end but not with great enthusiasm.

[Marieghalgh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read especially if you have tangatawhenua knowledge of Kawerau. Great storyline and poetic style. Loved it

[Dione Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent portrayal of young protaganist and the difficulties she encounters. Really enjoyed it