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New Guinea Moon
Julie has grown up not knowing her father, with just the occasional Christmas card and the knowledge that he flies planes for a charter company in New Guinea. When she comes to stay with him one long summer, she learns to appreciate not only her long-lost father and his love of flying, but also New Guinea itself and the people she meets. An awkward romance with a young expat contrasts with her growing attraction to the son of a local coffee plantation owner. And, left to her own devices much of the time, Julie learns to rely on herself and gain her own independence. A tragedy and then a mystery leave her reeling, but force her to evaluate what she really wants out of life.
'Engaging and hard to put down' - Hannah, 15
'Captivating.the unexpected twists kept me on my toes' - Georgia, 15
'Engaging and hard to put down' - Hannah, 15
'Captivating.the unexpected twists kept me on my toes' - Georgia, 15
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2013
7 people are currently reading
575 people want to read
About the author
Kate Constable
24 books282 followersKate Constable was born in Sangringham, Melbourne (Victoria, Australia). When she was six-years-old, her family moved to Papua New Guinea where her father worked as a pilot.
Constable got her Arts/Law degree at Melborne University, then got a job at Warner Music. She started writing during these years.
She wrote several short-stories before becoming an author and after her first attempt at writing a novel she fell in love with the man that is now her husband. They have a daughter.
Constable's first official novel was The Singer of All Songs, in a trilogy called The Chanters of Tremaris. It was published in 2002, a few weeks after Constable's daughter was born.
Constable got her Arts/Law degree at Melborne University, then got a job at Warner Music. She started writing during these years.
She wrote several short-stories before becoming an author and after her first attempt at writing a novel she fell in love with the man that is now her husband. They have a daughter.
Constable's first official novel was The Singer of All Songs, in a trilogy called The Chanters of Tremaris. It was published in 2002, a few weeks after Constable's daughter was born.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
February 26, 2013
It’s December 1974, and after tensions reach boiling-point between Julie and her mother, Caroline suggests she spend the Christmas break with her father in Papua New Guinea.
Julie has not seen Tony McGinty, her father, since she was a child. She has sent him sparse cards, but she knows nothing about him except that he lives in Mt Hagen, flying planes for Highland Air Charters.
When Julie touches down in Papua New Guinea, the heat is stifling and her bags are promptly stolen – only to be saved by a charismatic local who is home from his Australian school, Simon Murphy. Simon’s father, Patrick, was one of the first ‘Europeans’ (white people) to pave their way on the island – he went on to marry a local woman, and now runs a successful plantation, though he’s getting on in years and it looks as though Simon will soon be taking over.
Julie and Simon travel together in a small plane to Mt Hagen, where Julie once again meets the father she has never known. Tony quickly introduces Julie to his island ‘family’ – his boss is Allan ‘Curry’ Crabtree, whose wife is Barbara and they have two children, the young Nadine and Ryan, who is Julie’s age – all home from their Australian boarding schools for the holidays.
The Crabtree’s seem to be the centre of European socializing on the island. All the chartered pilots who work for Allan come to their house for festivities and parties, and Barbara is self-appointed matriarch overseeing all.
But while Julie is taken-aback by the beauty of the island, the sweetness of the locals and her tentative new relationship with Tony . . . she is also seeing an ugly underbelly to the European ‘settlers’. They have servants they call ‘meri’ and ‘haus boi’ – white expats don’t mix with locals, and want very little to do with them at all. And talk of independence stirs the air – people like Barbara Crabtree are convinced there will be riots in the streets, and Europeans murdered in their sleep.
Just when Julie feels herself settling into the beauty of Papua New Guinea, and envisioning her life with Tony post-independence, tragedy strikes – and Julie questions everything she knows about right and wrong, family and confidence in herself.
‘New Guinea Moon’ is the new young adult novel from Australian author, Kate Constable.
Kate Constable lived in Papua New Guinea from the age of six, when her father was a pilot on the island. She lived there for a number of years before she and her family relocated back to Australia. Knowing this now, it explains a lot of how ‘New Guinea Moon’ is such a thoughtfully detailed book, effortlessly capturing a time and place that at once reads so foreign and out-of-time, but tangible in many other respects.
Going into this book, I knew absolutely nothing about Papua New Guinea or its colonisation by Germany, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Australia until independence from Australia in 1975. I was actually quite shocked to learn that Australia had such roots in colonisation, so learnt from Britain, no doubt. It was an unsettling realization that Australia had such a history, and so very recently too! That’s why I was happy that in the book, Constable uses Julie’s outsider eyes to comment on the inequality she sees and feels disturbed by. Julie’s mother, Caroline, is portrayed as a leftist feminist and she is most certainly looking on Papua New Guinea and the Aussie expats with a thought to what her mother would think . . . but it speaks a lot to youthful intolerance that Julie so wonderfully articulates what she sees is wrong in this colonized society. Particularly because Julie has arrived in December 1974, and murmurings of independence are rife in the air and electrifying the people, locals and expats alike;
‘They’ll kick us all out. This time next year, there won’t be any Europeans left, apart from the God-botherers.’
‘It’s the end of an era . . . it’ll never be the same.’
It’s odd, Julie thinks. There is anger in the way they speak, bitter resentment at their dismissal from the scene. But there is a wistfulness too, nostalgia for the lives they are still leading, as if they see themselves as ghosts already; they miss living here and they haven’t even left yet. Did the Romans sit around talking like this, before their empire fell?
Julie’s thoughts are also informed by the two families she comes to know on the island. The Crabtrees are well-to-do Aussies who have made their wealth with Highland Air Charters. Julie becomes uneasily close to Ryan Crabtree, a boy her age who seems to be in two minds – he once spoke fluent Pidgin, taught to him by the meri who helped raise him – but now he looks upon the locals with haughty disdain and seems to be allying with his mother on wanting to leave and live in Australia when independence comes.
Then there’s Simon Murphy, the twenty-something handsome man who helps Julie get to Mt. Hagen. Simon is, quite literally, in two worlds – with an Australian father who was one of the first Europeans to settle on the island, but also with a New Guinean mother. Simon welcomes independence, and feels a duty to his home to return from his Australian studies and start running his father’s plantation business, contributing to the local economy and possibly looking into local politics. Simon is not one of the Europeans, rather he is seen as a ‘local’ in the eyes of the expats – as such, Simon sees the injustice of colonization and is excited by the prospect of his country standing on its own two feet.
There is a tinge of romance to ‘New Guinea Moon’ – though it pales in comparison to the far more interesting questions Constable raises about white ‘superiority’, and her provoking thoughts on Australia’s colonialist past.
At times I wished there was more of a focus on Tony and Julie’s relationship – but I actually thought Julie grew closer to her mother, Caroline, while she was away from her. It was when Julie started asking herself what she thought of independence and Australia’s role in Papua New Guinea that I think Julie started to appreciate the different world-view her mother had equipped her with. By contrast, Tony is a sweet and shy man, never quite at-ease around his daughter . . . which is a shame; because I think there was a little more room for father/daughter bonding in this book.
I really, thoroughly enjoyed ‘New Guinea Moon’. It is an unsettling book that beautifully and meticulously captures a dubious moment in Australia’s colonialist past. Papua New Guinea of the 1970s is magnificently evoked and seen through the eyes of a thoughtful and maturing young woman in Julie. There’s romance, tragedy and a deep respect for a wondrous country and its enduring people . . .
Julie has not seen Tony McGinty, her father, since she was a child. She has sent him sparse cards, but she knows nothing about him except that he lives in Mt Hagen, flying planes for Highland Air Charters.
When Julie touches down in Papua New Guinea, the heat is stifling and her bags are promptly stolen – only to be saved by a charismatic local who is home from his Australian school, Simon Murphy. Simon’s father, Patrick, was one of the first ‘Europeans’ (white people) to pave their way on the island – he went on to marry a local woman, and now runs a successful plantation, though he’s getting on in years and it looks as though Simon will soon be taking over.
Julie and Simon travel together in a small plane to Mt Hagen, where Julie once again meets the father she has never known. Tony quickly introduces Julie to his island ‘family’ – his boss is Allan ‘Curry’ Crabtree, whose wife is Barbara and they have two children, the young Nadine and Ryan, who is Julie’s age – all home from their Australian boarding schools for the holidays.
The Crabtree’s seem to be the centre of European socializing on the island. All the chartered pilots who work for Allan come to their house for festivities and parties, and Barbara is self-appointed matriarch overseeing all.
But while Julie is taken-aback by the beauty of the island, the sweetness of the locals and her tentative new relationship with Tony . . . she is also seeing an ugly underbelly to the European ‘settlers’. They have servants they call ‘meri’ and ‘haus boi’ – white expats don’t mix with locals, and want very little to do with them at all. And talk of independence stirs the air – people like Barbara Crabtree are convinced there will be riots in the streets, and Europeans murdered in their sleep.
Just when Julie feels herself settling into the beauty of Papua New Guinea, and envisioning her life with Tony post-independence, tragedy strikes – and Julie questions everything she knows about right and wrong, family and confidence in herself.
‘New Guinea Moon’ is the new young adult novel from Australian author, Kate Constable.
Kate Constable lived in Papua New Guinea from the age of six, when her father was a pilot on the island. She lived there for a number of years before she and her family relocated back to Australia. Knowing this now, it explains a lot of how ‘New Guinea Moon’ is such a thoughtfully detailed book, effortlessly capturing a time and place that at once reads so foreign and out-of-time, but tangible in many other respects.
Going into this book, I knew absolutely nothing about Papua New Guinea or its colonisation by Germany, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Australia until independence from Australia in 1975. I was actually quite shocked to learn that Australia had such roots in colonisation, so learnt from Britain, no doubt. It was an unsettling realization that Australia had such a history, and so very recently too! That’s why I was happy that in the book, Constable uses Julie’s outsider eyes to comment on the inequality she sees and feels disturbed by. Julie’s mother, Caroline, is portrayed as a leftist feminist and she is most certainly looking on Papua New Guinea and the Aussie expats with a thought to what her mother would think . . . but it speaks a lot to youthful intolerance that Julie so wonderfully articulates what she sees is wrong in this colonized society. Particularly because Julie has arrived in December 1974, and murmurings of independence are rife in the air and electrifying the people, locals and expats alike;
‘They’ll kick us all out. This time next year, there won’t be any Europeans left, apart from the God-botherers.’
‘It’s the end of an era . . . it’ll never be the same.’
It’s odd, Julie thinks. There is anger in the way they speak, bitter resentment at their dismissal from the scene. But there is a wistfulness too, nostalgia for the lives they are still leading, as if they see themselves as ghosts already; they miss living here and they haven’t even left yet. Did the Romans sit around talking like this, before their empire fell?
Julie’s thoughts are also informed by the two families she comes to know on the island. The Crabtrees are well-to-do Aussies who have made their wealth with Highland Air Charters. Julie becomes uneasily close to Ryan Crabtree, a boy her age who seems to be in two minds – he once spoke fluent Pidgin, taught to him by the meri who helped raise him – but now he looks upon the locals with haughty disdain and seems to be allying with his mother on wanting to leave and live in Australia when independence comes.
Then there’s Simon Murphy, the twenty-something handsome man who helps Julie get to Mt. Hagen. Simon is, quite literally, in two worlds – with an Australian father who was one of the first Europeans to settle on the island, but also with a New Guinean mother. Simon welcomes independence, and feels a duty to his home to return from his Australian studies and start running his father’s plantation business, contributing to the local economy and possibly looking into local politics. Simon is not one of the Europeans, rather he is seen as a ‘local’ in the eyes of the expats – as such, Simon sees the injustice of colonization and is excited by the prospect of his country standing on its own two feet.
There is a tinge of romance to ‘New Guinea Moon’ – though it pales in comparison to the far more interesting questions Constable raises about white ‘superiority’, and her provoking thoughts on Australia’s colonialist past.
At times I wished there was more of a focus on Tony and Julie’s relationship – but I actually thought Julie grew closer to her mother, Caroline, while she was away from her. It was when Julie started asking herself what she thought of independence and Australia’s role in Papua New Guinea that I think Julie started to appreciate the different world-view her mother had equipped her with. By contrast, Tony is a sweet and shy man, never quite at-ease around his daughter . . . which is a shame; because I think there was a little more room for father/daughter bonding in this book.
I really, thoroughly enjoyed ‘New Guinea Moon’. It is an unsettling book that beautifully and meticulously captures a dubious moment in Australia’s colonialist past. Papua New Guinea of the 1970s is magnificently evoked and seen through the eyes of a thoughtful and maturing young woman in Julie. There’s romance, tragedy and a deep respect for a wondrous country and its enduring people . . .
November 21, 2016
My first read for the Oceania installment of the #AroundTheWorldAThon.
Set in the 1970s, this is the story of a teenage girl basically meeting her father for the first time when she goes to spend the summer with him in Papua New Guinea shortly before independence.
I've never read anything set in PNG before, and this was...surprisingly great. I expected it to be pretty fluffy based on the cover, and on the surface it was. It's a teenage girl meeting her father and discovering her place in the world and ending up in a not-particularly-romantic romantic relationship.
BUT.
There's so much commentary on the nature of expat society, on race relations between white expats and the local community, on the way biracial children are treated by the expat population, on the way that local women basically raise white children while working as housekeepers and are referred to as "my second mother" but are then fired without a second thought when the children no longer need care. And Julie - having grown up under the influence of her left wing feminist mother - is the one who can see what the others can't.
Honestly, there were some elements that felt a little bit rushed and that could have been fleshed out far more than they were. But on the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and Constable's love for Papua New Guinea shines through.
Set in the 1970s, this is the story of a teenage girl basically meeting her father for the first time when she goes to spend the summer with him in Papua New Guinea shortly before independence.
I've never read anything set in PNG before, and this was...surprisingly great. I expected it to be pretty fluffy based on the cover, and on the surface it was. It's a teenage girl meeting her father and discovering her place in the world and ending up in a not-particularly-romantic romantic relationship.
BUT.
There's so much commentary on the nature of expat society, on race relations between white expats and the local community, on the way biracial children are treated by the expat population, on the way that local women basically raise white children while working as housekeepers and are referred to as "my second mother" but are then fired without a second thought when the children no longer need care. And Julie - having grown up under the influence of her left wing feminist mother - is the one who can see what the others can't.
Honestly, there were some elements that felt a little bit rushed and that could have been fleshed out far more than they were. But on the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and Constable's love for Papua New Guinea shines through.
July 2, 2013
I really loved this book. My parents lived in the New Guinea highlands in the 70s. I grew up surrounded by New Guinean stories and artifacts. While reading New Guinea Moon I felt utterly connected - to the characters, to the world, and to my own history.
For all readers New Guinea Moon delivers a traditional coming-of-age story in a very non-traditional setting. A touch of romance, a sense of discovery and adventure, and (best of all) a big dose of surprise for the reader.
For all readers New Guinea Moon delivers a traditional coming-of-age story in a very non-traditional setting. A touch of romance, a sense of discovery and adventure, and (best of all) a big dose of surprise for the reader.
March 7, 2013
I don’t often read contemporary YA fiction, but I was drawn to this story because of the New Guinea setting and as the author is Australian. I’m so glad I read this, Constable has a great way of portraying the adolescent voice without it getting too angsty and boy-focussed- though there is a little romance, but I’m not complaining.
Set in the 1970's, the opening scene introduces the reader to sixteen year old Julie who is off on her first overseas adventure; she’s left Sydney and her mother for a summer break in New Guinea to meet her father, the man who has been estranged for 13 years. Her father is a pilot for a Guinean airway and has lived there for over a decade. Julie is immersed into this new country and becomes acutely aware of the split between the Westerners (ex-pats) and the natives (nationals) on the cusp of much political and societal change. She is introduced to her father’s friends, the Crabtrees where she befriends 13 year old Nadine and 17 year old Ryan. She’s exposed to their complacent views about the divide in the country and Julie really struggles with her place in this new world.
Julie is someone who sees herself as average-looking and has never kissed a boy captures the attention of bored and sullen Ryan who seems to move their relationship along quite quickly before Julie even realises they are an item. Julie is quite passive when it comes to Ryan, she has her first kiss and she’s flattered by the attention but at the same time she’s overwhelmed by it and her intuition that tells her it just doesn’t feel right. Besides, she’s still thinking about Simon Murphy….the University student who she met back at the airport. Simon adds another dynamic to Julie’s experience of life in New Guinea, because he straddles the divide on a daily basis. His father is a Westerner and his mother a local, he goes to Uni in Australia and is bilingual and yet the Crabtrees and the ex-pat community aren’t very welcoming of him. Nevertheless, Julie is drawn to him anyway and an emotional connection develops between them as the story progresses.
Actually, with its cultural influences, overseas setting and issues around family and identity, New Guinea Moon reminded me a lot of a YA novel I picked up in India last year, Jasmine Skies about a young English-Indian girl who goes to India to meet her extended family. I thought it was a refreshing take on the YA genre with its focus on the adolescent discovering something new about themselves and where they fit it not just in their family but in the broader community and what they can give back. New Guinea Moon has a similar feel and I think it’s a story that readers of any age-group can appreciate and enjoy.
I’m so grateful to have discovered this author and wonder why I haven’t picked up any of her earlier titles previously- must rectify that! Highly recommended YA contemp read by a well established (I’m a little slow on the uptake!) Australian author, Kate Constable. Check by tomorrow for my Q&A with this talented author.
Set in the 1970's, the opening scene introduces the reader to sixteen year old Julie who is off on her first overseas adventure; she’s left Sydney and her mother for a summer break in New Guinea to meet her father, the man who has been estranged for 13 years. Her father is a pilot for a Guinean airway and has lived there for over a decade. Julie is immersed into this new country and becomes acutely aware of the split between the Westerners (ex-pats) and the natives (nationals) on the cusp of much political and societal change. She is introduced to her father’s friends, the Crabtrees where she befriends 13 year old Nadine and 17 year old Ryan. She’s exposed to their complacent views about the divide in the country and Julie really struggles with her place in this new world.
Julie is someone who sees herself as average-looking and has never kissed a boy captures the attention of bored and sullen Ryan who seems to move their relationship along quite quickly before Julie even realises they are an item. Julie is quite passive when it comes to Ryan, she has her first kiss and she’s flattered by the attention but at the same time she’s overwhelmed by it and her intuition that tells her it just doesn’t feel right. Besides, she’s still thinking about Simon Murphy….the University student who she met back at the airport. Simon adds another dynamic to Julie’s experience of life in New Guinea, because he straddles the divide on a daily basis. His father is a Westerner and his mother a local, he goes to Uni in Australia and is bilingual and yet the Crabtrees and the ex-pat community aren’t very welcoming of him. Nevertheless, Julie is drawn to him anyway and an emotional connection develops between them as the story progresses.
Actually, with its cultural influences, overseas setting and issues around family and identity, New Guinea Moon reminded me a lot of a YA novel I picked up in India last year, Jasmine Skies about a young English-Indian girl who goes to India to meet her extended family. I thought it was a refreshing take on the YA genre with its focus on the adolescent discovering something new about themselves and where they fit it not just in their family but in the broader community and what they can give back. New Guinea Moon has a similar feel and I think it’s a story that readers of any age-group can appreciate and enjoy.
I’m so grateful to have discovered this author and wonder why I haven’t picked up any of her earlier titles previously- must rectify that! Highly recommended YA contemp read by a well established (I’m a little slow on the uptake!) Australian author, Kate Constable. Check by tomorrow for my Q&A with this talented author.
January 3, 2025
Great. Read in one sitting. Made me feel painfully single but a good read nonetheless. Great setting in 1970s cusp of independence PNG
March 3, 2017
New Guinea Moon is the story of a sixteen-year-old Australian girl who moved to New Guinea to live with her bush pilot father in the 1970’s. I am a sucker for books with interesting settings and I have never read a book set in New Guinea before. I was also interested because it was a book about an expat which isn’t all that common. Usually, if the main character is foreign then he or she is on a vacation. Finding books with this representation is pretty rare and since 95% of my students are expats I am always on the hunt for them.
The plot and characterization were okay. The point of the book was a bit muddled. There is an awful lot that happens but I never really figured out the driving point or theme of the book. Julie isn’t as likable as she should be. She sort of allows herself to fall into a relationship because she wants to have a boyfriend rather than because she really likes the guy, puts herself in ridiculously stupid and dangerous situations, and turns a blind eye to all kinds of racist remarks.
Just as a warning: there is a whole hell of a lot of racism in this book. The racism is pretty realistically depicted which means that it is both subtle and overt. Colonialism, while interesting from a distance, was pretty damn terrible. The way that the white people talk to and about the people of New Guinea is horrifying. I know that in the 1970’s it would have been insanely entrenched but I would have liked some more indication that Julie saw it as more of a problem. She did occasionally notice inequality but mostly when she was personally being inconvenienced by it.
The writing felt very Australian to me. Does that make sense? It is almost as if I had to mentally read it with the accent for it to scan right. If I was reading it in my own accent it started to sound off. Does this at all make sense or an I coming across insane?
It is easy to tell that the author had actually been an expat. She definitely gets the weird overly privileged but also super whiny personalities that abound. As an expat, I can tell you that I see entitlement become a way of life all the time. You can also tell that she lived in New Guinea. The descriptions of Julie’s new home are really accurate. My favorite parts of the book were both the description of Julie going about the country and the descriptions of her flights in a small plane over New Guinea. There is also an undercurrent of violence that seems realistic especially for that time. Expats in New Guinea at this time certainly felt threatened all the time. I am glad that the author chose to set it at this time and not make it a contemporary novel. I think that this is the New Guinea that she is familiar with and would have written about no matter how much had changed. There is a slight hint of wistful nostalgia to the novel and especially to the descriptions that I enjoyed. It gave it that “the summer that everything (but especially I) changed” vibe.
New Guinea Moon was a very quick read. I read the bulk of it on a three-hour plane journey. The pacing is quite fast and the writing is descriptive enough to keep your interest. Julie might not be likable but for the most part, she was interesting. You might want to read this book if you have an interest in the fall of colonialism, expats, or traveling through fiction.
Also published at www.onemorestamp.com
The plot and characterization were okay. The point of the book was a bit muddled. There is an awful lot that happens but I never really figured out the driving point or theme of the book. Julie isn’t as likable as she should be. She sort of allows herself to fall into a relationship because she wants to have a boyfriend rather than because she really likes the guy, puts herself in ridiculously stupid and dangerous situations, and turns a blind eye to all kinds of racist remarks.
Just as a warning: there is a whole hell of a lot of racism in this book. The racism is pretty realistically depicted which means that it is both subtle and overt. Colonialism, while interesting from a distance, was pretty damn terrible. The way that the white people talk to and about the people of New Guinea is horrifying. I know that in the 1970’s it would have been insanely entrenched but I would have liked some more indication that Julie saw it as more of a problem. She did occasionally notice inequality but mostly when she was personally being inconvenienced by it.
The writing felt very Australian to me. Does that make sense? It is almost as if I had to mentally read it with the accent for it to scan right. If I was reading it in my own accent it started to sound off. Does this at all make sense or an I coming across insane?
It is easy to tell that the author had actually been an expat. She definitely gets the weird overly privileged but also super whiny personalities that abound. As an expat, I can tell you that I see entitlement become a way of life all the time. You can also tell that she lived in New Guinea. The descriptions of Julie’s new home are really accurate. My favorite parts of the book were both the description of Julie going about the country and the descriptions of her flights in a small plane over New Guinea. There is also an undercurrent of violence that seems realistic especially for that time. Expats in New Guinea at this time certainly felt threatened all the time. I am glad that the author chose to set it at this time and not make it a contemporary novel. I think that this is the New Guinea that she is familiar with and would have written about no matter how much had changed. There is a slight hint of wistful nostalgia to the novel and especially to the descriptions that I enjoyed. It gave it that “the summer that everything (but especially I) changed” vibe.
New Guinea Moon was a very quick read. I read the bulk of it on a three-hour plane journey. The pacing is quite fast and the writing is descriptive enough to keep your interest. Julie might not be likable but for the most part, she was interesting. You might want to read this book if you have an interest in the fall of colonialism, expats, or traveling through fiction.
Also published at www.onemorestamp.com
August 21, 2013
It's interesting that there were two words written under the '1' on the first chapter of this book, that I didn't read. It wasn't until page 31, where after dinner Barbara '...pushes back her chair and lights up a cigarette', at the table that I think...that doesn't sound right? Lo and behold when I go back to chapter one, I see the words December 1974, and it all makes so much more sense!
The story of of 16 year old Julie, who is spending the summer holidays in Papua New Guinea with a father that she doesn't know. Julie's Dad is one of many expats who have made Papua New Guinea their homes, but things are changing, as Papua New Guinea is about to become an independent nation in 1975. In this summer Julie gets to know her Dad, she falls in love, and then out of it and then in love again, and she also starts to seriously think about what she wants to do with her life, in a time when so many more opportunities are opening up for women.
I had quite a personal connection with this book, as I lived in a small town in Sarawak called Miri for 4 years when I was 8 years old. My time in Sarawak was a bit later than 1974, more like 1980, but I could really identify with the expat (expatriate) life. In this book they have housekeepers (maids) called meri, while we had an ahma (excuse the spelling?!), and in both communities the locals and the expats live quite separate lives.
It was an amazing place to grow up, and I feel so lucky to have had such a blessed childhood filled with such unique experiences. I remember visiting and staying in a longhouse, trekking through the jungle to swim in pools beneath waterfalls, finding cobras in the garden, satays at the open air 'restaurant' by the sea, things that most Aussie kids in the 80s would never have experienced.
So this book is a coming of age story for Julie, but it's also a coming of age story for PNG. I also like the fact that it's a glimpse into our recent history, a time that I can remember, where social attitudes were changing and women were beginning to realise they could be anything they wanted to be.
The story of of 16 year old Julie, who is spending the summer holidays in Papua New Guinea with a father that she doesn't know. Julie's Dad is one of many expats who have made Papua New Guinea their homes, but things are changing, as Papua New Guinea is about to become an independent nation in 1975. In this summer Julie gets to know her Dad, she falls in love, and then out of it and then in love again, and she also starts to seriously think about what she wants to do with her life, in a time when so many more opportunities are opening up for women.
I had quite a personal connection with this book, as I lived in a small town in Sarawak called Miri for 4 years when I was 8 years old. My time in Sarawak was a bit later than 1974, more like 1980, but I could really identify with the expat (expatriate) life. In this book they have housekeepers (maids) called meri, while we had an ahma (excuse the spelling?!), and in both communities the locals and the expats live quite separate lives.
It was an amazing place to grow up, and I feel so lucky to have had such a blessed childhood filled with such unique experiences. I remember visiting and staying in a longhouse, trekking through the jungle to swim in pools beneath waterfalls, finding cobras in the garden, satays at the open air 'restaurant' by the sea, things that most Aussie kids in the 80s would never have experienced.
So this book is a coming of age story for Julie, but it's also a coming of age story for PNG. I also like the fact that it's a glimpse into our recent history, a time that I can remember, where social attitudes were changing and women were beginning to realise they could be anything they wanted to be.
August 14, 2013
After living and working in PNG for 3.5 months, I finally got around to reading Kate Constable's latest YA offering. In fact, I was at Port Moresby airport when I was finishing it - a fitting location indeed - and have to confess I was becoming a carefully-hidden emotional wreck.
The book is set in Mt Hagen in 1974 - the year before PNG became an independent state - but it could very easily be set in many places in modern day PNG. In terms of the culture, language, social attitudes, class and racial tensions, etc. it is spot on. Whilst it is a YA novel, and in many ways a girl's romance novel, it also doesn't shy away from the dangers of living in PNG, with security, raskols, and the ongoing threat of violence. This uniquely strange and beautiful setting is really the main character of the novel, and in many ways it is a love story between Juliet and this new world that she discovers - a place that she knows that she will eventually have to leave.
The book is set in Mt Hagen in 1974 - the year before PNG became an independent state - but it could very easily be set in many places in modern day PNG. In terms of the culture, language, social attitudes, class and racial tensions, etc. it is spot on. Whilst it is a YA novel, and in many ways a girl's romance novel, it also doesn't shy away from the dangers of living in PNG, with security, raskols, and the ongoing threat of violence. This uniquely strange and beautiful setting is really the main character of the novel, and in many ways it is a love story between Juliet and this new world that she discovers - a place that she knows that she will eventually have to leave.
August 14, 2016
Set in 1974, the year before Papua New Guinea gained autonomy from its Australian colonisers, this sweetly written YA novel contrasts these events with a 16 year old girl's own growing independence and identity from the life she has known, to what she experiences when she is reunited with her long lost father. The novel also gives insight into the volatile relationship structure between native New Guineans and the "whites" who assume a superior role in all matters and the disruption of traditional cultures in the name of progress. Recommended.
December 6, 2020
I very nearly stopped reading at the start. Kate grew up in the New Guinea part of Papua New Guinea and has her girl traveller passing through Port Moresby airport the year before independence and mentions a need to have pidgin because all speak pidgin. I travelled through four times a little after independence and knew and know that Port Moresby is in Papua the English speaking part of PNG.
There were a few other such problems I had. Using the term Banana Tree. Never ever used where I was, they would talk of getting a banana leaf to protect from rain, and also talk of i being a plant.
After getting over that, I did get to the place that I liked the putting together of the story of the girls meeting her father, and joining a small expatriate community. Aspects of the film nights and the community get togethers have a link to my memories of the time just after Independence.
Apart from the hiccups I enjoyed the book.
There were a few other such problems I had. Using the term Banana Tree. Never ever used where I was, they would talk of getting a banana leaf to protect from rain, and also talk of i being a plant.
After getting over that, I did get to the place that I liked the putting together of the story of the girls meeting her father, and joining a small expatriate community. Aspects of the film nights and the community get togethers have a link to my memories of the time just after Independence.
Apart from the hiccups I enjoyed the book.
January 14, 2021
The 'about the author' section of New Guinea Moon tells us that Constable grew up in New Guinea, where her father was a charter pilot, and it's safe to say that that personal experience is a boon for the book. Julie, the protagonist at hand, has not grown up in New Guinea, but when she visits her estranged father, she gets more of an education than she'd expected: about her father and his life, yes, but also about politics and race and colonialism. It's for that reason that I'm giving this four stars: I love seeing the complexity of the characters as local and 'European' practices collide. There aren't a lot of one-dimensional characters here; a character can be supportive and thoughtful in some ways and deeply racist in others. More interesting and more realistic than a more black-and-white view, and also just more interesting and complex for addressing New Guinea's history of colonisation (and the longer-lasting impact) in depth at all.
September 26, 2017
I really enjoyed this book and thought it was a good read, with all the twists which I always like and I give it 4.5 overall.
Julie is a 16-year-old girl with divorced parents Caroline and Tony. Tony lives in New Guinea and Julie stays with him over the Christmas break, away from home in Australia. Julie falls in love with half Australian/half native Simon, but she starts dating Ryan, a boy she doesn't really like, who's a bit overpowering.
I would recommend this for teenagers.
Julie is a 16-year-old girl with divorced parents Caroline and Tony. Tony lives in New Guinea and Julie stays with him over the Christmas break, away from home in Australia. Julie falls in love with half Australian/half native Simon, but she starts dating Ryan, a boy she doesn't really like, who's a bit overpowering.
I would recommend this for teenagers.
March 10, 2018
This is a charming YA coming of age novel about an Australian expat in Papua New Guinea in the 1970s, right before that country's independence. The teenage protagonist flies out on school holidays to visit with a father she hasn't seen since she was 3 years old. There's not a lot of substance there, in my opinion, but the place descriptions and interest in the PNG locals were really fun to read.
October 20, 2022
Good book. great lesson and message.
Recommend: 6/10
Recommend: 6/10
September 5, 2021
I'm mixed like Simon and I have yet to be called almond chocolate or some cheesy shit like that
April 26, 2013
Julie McGinty, a sixteen-year-old Australian girl, arrives in lush, tropical New Guinea by herself. She’s flown over to spend the school holidays with her pilot father, who she’s never met. In the grand tradition of YA, the heroine is placed outside her comfort zone, alone.
Immediately she arrives in Port Moresby, she has to catch as small plane up to Mt Hagen where her father lives and works. In the crush around the airport a man takes her bags and she runs after him almost tackling him to the ground before Simon, a half New Guinean, half-European, intervenes to tell her the man she’s just assaulted in actually a porter. From this moment the pair develop an uneasy friendship — Simon is from Mt Hagen, as well, and they catch the plane together.
New Guinea is beautifully described in this book and the thrill of flying over the huge mountain ranges in wonderfully evoked: "[the] New Guinea mountains are violent, jagged, crumpled, chaotic. Unbroken jungle drapes across the ridges like fur. The clouds drift silently past, ink-stained with blue and grey and silver … the tiny fleck of the plane’s shadow flickers below, leaping the side of a mountain slope or diving into the darkness of a steep valley, like the shadow of a tiny fish swimming between the sun and the sand."
But then the plane ‘bucks and judders in the heart of a cloud’ and ‘rain drives against the window in a roaring curtain’ — there is both fear and beauty associated with flying, and this is echoed later in the story.
Once in Hagen, Julie comes to appreciate her shy, ordinary, but essentially decent father and is taken under the wing of his employer’s family, the Crabtrees. Julie becomes romantically involved with the rather sullen son of the family, Ryan, but she’s very ambivalent about it. All the while she keeps an eye out for Simon and finally meets up with him again.
It’s through Simon that she gets a picture of the New Guinea national’s point of view. The year is 1974 and it’s just before independence from Australia. The story isn’t sugar-coated—it’s not romance in paradise, but the pros and cons of the situation of New Guineans and the white ex-pats are presented.
This story of a girl’s growing independence, and her awareness she can make her own decisions and develop her own opinions, has a real ring of authenticity about it, and it’s not surprising to find out Kate Constable spent her childhood in PNG, and her own father was a charter pilot there.
Immediately she arrives in Port Moresby, she has to catch as small plane up to Mt Hagen where her father lives and works. In the crush around the airport a man takes her bags and she runs after him almost tackling him to the ground before Simon, a half New Guinean, half-European, intervenes to tell her the man she’s just assaulted in actually a porter. From this moment the pair develop an uneasy friendship — Simon is from Mt Hagen, as well, and they catch the plane together.
New Guinea is beautifully described in this book and the thrill of flying over the huge mountain ranges in wonderfully evoked: "[the] New Guinea mountains are violent, jagged, crumpled, chaotic. Unbroken jungle drapes across the ridges like fur. The clouds drift silently past, ink-stained with blue and grey and silver … the tiny fleck of the plane’s shadow flickers below, leaping the side of a mountain slope or diving into the darkness of a steep valley, like the shadow of a tiny fish swimming between the sun and the sand."
But then the plane ‘bucks and judders in the heart of a cloud’ and ‘rain drives against the window in a roaring curtain’ — there is both fear and beauty associated with flying, and this is echoed later in the story.
Once in Hagen, Julie comes to appreciate her shy, ordinary, but essentially decent father and is taken under the wing of his employer’s family, the Crabtrees. Julie becomes romantically involved with the rather sullen son of the family, Ryan, but she’s very ambivalent about it. All the while she keeps an eye out for Simon and finally meets up with him again.
It’s through Simon that she gets a picture of the New Guinea national’s point of view. The year is 1974 and it’s just before independence from Australia. The story isn’t sugar-coated—it’s not romance in paradise, but the pros and cons of the situation of New Guineans and the white ex-pats are presented.
This story of a girl’s growing independence, and her awareness she can make her own decisions and develop her own opinions, has a real ring of authenticity about it, and it’s not surprising to find out Kate Constable spent her childhood in PNG, and her own father was a charter pilot there.
January 15, 2015
t’s late1974 and Julie is sent on a holiday to New Guinea to spend time with her father who she hasn’t seen since she was three. She discovers that she’s falling in love with the beauty of the highlands, but also finds herself uncomfortable with the colonial attitudes of he ex-pat community, while being called on her own beliefs and actions. When tragedy strikes, she finds herself reassessing her place in the world and her future.
This was an absolutely beautiful read which did a wonderful job of bringing the beauty and contradictions of 1970s New Guinea to the reader. I realised, as I read it, that I’d never read a book set in New Guinea before, which seemed like a pretty big oversight.
One of the things Julie discovers in the book is the casual racism of the ex-pat community, especially the diminutive terms used for the local men and women who work for them, regardless of their age (Julie seems particularly conscious of it, which is explained away by having a mother who talks about it at home, but I’m still not sure how realistic it is for a teenager in the 1970s). However, the author doesn’t shy away from showing the reader moments when Julie is also casually racist – the book does a good job of showing the complexities involved and pointing out that there’s always ways to do better.
I think it’s terribly important that we have books which tell stories of Australia’s past – the honest truth beyond what is often taught in history classes. This is a book which points out that we had a colonial past beyond our own borders and that it wasn’t really that long ago – less than 10 years before I was born. It’s not always a nice story to think about, but it is an important one. Books like this help us think more about it and should be celebrated more than they are.
My only complaint about the book is that it felt a little rushed towards the end, almost like another storyline had been pushed in where it didn’t really need to belong. It just felt slightly unbalanced, like it appeared too late in the book.
New Guinea Moon is a really lovely book which does a wonderful job of setting up Julie’s world and the things she sees. I thoroughly recommend it.
Originally reviewed at Subversive Reader
This was an absolutely beautiful read which did a wonderful job of bringing the beauty and contradictions of 1970s New Guinea to the reader. I realised, as I read it, that I’d never read a book set in New Guinea before, which seemed like a pretty big oversight.
One of the things Julie discovers in the book is the casual racism of the ex-pat community, especially the diminutive terms used for the local men and women who work for them, regardless of their age (Julie seems particularly conscious of it, which is explained away by having a mother who talks about it at home, but I’m still not sure how realistic it is for a teenager in the 1970s). However, the author doesn’t shy away from showing the reader moments when Julie is also casually racist – the book does a good job of showing the complexities involved and pointing out that there’s always ways to do better.
I think it’s terribly important that we have books which tell stories of Australia’s past – the honest truth beyond what is often taught in history classes. This is a book which points out that we had a colonial past beyond our own borders and that it wasn’t really that long ago – less than 10 years before I was born. It’s not always a nice story to think about, but it is an important one. Books like this help us think more about it and should be celebrated more than they are.
My only complaint about the book is that it felt a little rushed towards the end, almost like another storyline had been pushed in where it didn’t really need to belong. It just felt slightly unbalanced, like it appeared too late in the book.
New Guinea Moon is a really lovely book which does a wonderful job of setting up Julie’s world and the things she sees. I thoroughly recommend it.
Originally reviewed at Subversive Reader
March 17, 2013
The author has obviously fallen for New Guinea and the characters in New Guinea moon generally do to.
The main character, 16 year old Julie, travels to New Guinea in the time just before independence. She is meeting her father whom she has not seen since she was three. It is a confronting experience and not just the culture shock. Her father is not the remote, disinterested father she has imagined, rather a popular, skilled pilot who is just very shy. The ex-pat community embraces Julie but she finds the values her mother has taught her clash with this very community. Julie remains open and honest to these values allowing friendships to develop beyond the ex-pats community.
For those of us who live so close in Australia this is a must read about a country and people so close yet so unknown. Beautiful descriptions of the mountains and see, a remote country with it's own pride and history. It also deals with prejudice and the benefits of seeing people for whom they are not, what one assumes about them because of colour or race.
I wish it wasn't too late to talk to my father of his experiences in New Guinea during the war.
The main character, 16 year old Julie, travels to New Guinea in the time just before independence. She is meeting her father whom she has not seen since she was three. It is a confronting experience and not just the culture shock. Her father is not the remote, disinterested father she has imagined, rather a popular, skilled pilot who is just very shy. The ex-pat community embraces Julie but she finds the values her mother has taught her clash with this very community. Julie remains open and honest to these values allowing friendships to develop beyond the ex-pats community.
For those of us who live so close in Australia this is a must read about a country and people so close yet so unknown. Beautiful descriptions of the mountains and see, a remote country with it's own pride and history. It also deals with prejudice and the benefits of seeing people for whom they are not, what one assumes about them because of colour or race.
I wish it wasn't too late to talk to my father of his experiences in New Guinea during the war.
April 2, 2013
New Guinea Moon is a story that gathers pace as the reader immerses into the story. Julie visits her estranged dad in New Guinea in the early 70s. She grows to enjoy his company and gradually becomes part of the life around her. She is introduced to the inequality on the island and the tensions between the Nationals and the Whites. Julie meets Simon as she arrives and the reader watches as relationships take shape with Simon and also Ryan, the young teenage son of her dad's friends. Julie is a strong personality. She embraces the landscape and the emotional pull that the lifestyle brings.
This novel has a similar fervor to that of The Mountain by Drusilla Modjeska, a confusion with relationships and the hook of the mountain.
This novel has a similar fervor to that of The Mountain by Drusilla Modjeska, a confusion with relationships and the hook of the mountain.
June 16, 2013
This book is a light read, but still pulls you in. Its happy and up beat, for most of the time. The details given about the scenes make me what to get on a plane and go for a holiday!
The story follows Julie, a teenage Aussie girl, who hasnt seen or talked to her father since she was three. Suddenly after a disagreement with her mother (which she cant even remember what it was about) and throwing the 'maybe i should just live with *insert op parent*' line, shes off to visit her father. Between the normal teenage drama unfolding, Julie looses alot and gains even more...
The story follows Julie, a teenage Aussie girl, who hasnt seen or talked to her father since she was three. Suddenly after a disagreement with her mother (which she cant even remember what it was about) and throwing the 'maybe i should just live with *insert op parent*' line, shes off to visit her father. Between the normal teenage drama unfolding, Julie looses alot and gains even more...
August 13, 2013
New Guinea Moon is a beautifully written novel of adventure and self-discovery. Julie wishes she could talk to her mother without being criticized or told she did something the wrong way. When she travels to New Guinea to meet her father that she hasn't seen since she was three, she is amazed by the beauty of the country. As she builds up a relationship with her father and falls in love with New Guinea, she wonders if this is where she could finally make a good future for herself. But a tragedy throws that all out of plan. Can Julie move past the tragedy in time to find where she belongs?
February 22, 2014
It is Christmas 1974 and Julie is traveling to New Guinea to holiday with the father she had never met.
I can see how this story would appeal to people, but I found the pacing incredibly uneven - nothing of import would happen for chapters and then suddenly there was action, action, action! At its heart it's a pretty story about a girl learning about her family, a side of herself she had never known, and coming to love the country where her father lives.
The story does contain some interesting commentary on thought patterns in the 1970s regarding societal expectations, race and women.
I can see how this story would appeal to people, but I found the pacing incredibly uneven - nothing of import would happen for chapters and then suddenly there was action, action, action! At its heart it's a pretty story about a girl learning about her family, a side of herself she had never known, and coming to love the country where her father lives.
The story does contain some interesting commentary on thought patterns in the 1970s regarding societal expectations, race and women.
October 22, 2014
It was my first read by Kate Constable, I enjoyed the story but found the character Julie seemed disconnected from the rest of the world... I don't know if that was the intention... it was a turn off though, although I completed the story... I was sadden that although Julie didn't know much about her father Tony, that she didn't seem to show emotion when he died....
overall though Kate Constable has a descriptive way of describing the scenes of where Julie was, I felt I was in the New Guinea and on the plane beside her, I just couldn't become connected to Julie in anyway.
overall though Kate Constable has a descriptive way of describing the scenes of where Julie was, I felt I was in the New Guinea and on the plane beside her, I just couldn't become connected to Julie in anyway.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 23, 2013
Great to read something set in PNG - don't really get much of that - or maybe I just don't come across it very often. The feel and political climate of PNG in the 70's was very engaging. The country really acted as another character in the story. The tropical setting was beautifully described. Interesting to see the attitudes to the indigenous population and how these played out in the ex-pat community. Julie was a good, strong main character. Overall, very enjoyable.
October 25, 2015
This YA romance has some differences from the usual books in the genre. Julie, a young Australian teen goes to meet her father for the first time. He works as a bush pilot in 1970s New Guinea. It is a strange environment at first, but she begins to grow love the beautiful setting and the people she meets. The book also brings up the issue of the colonial mentality of the expats living there and some of the prejudices they hold against the local people.
June 1, 2016
I enjoyed the steady pace throughout the book. The ending was very intense. The languages was nice and the incorporation of their local culture is interesting. I liked how they addressed the impacts colonisation on the native people of the land. Julie was a well developed character and the third person was used consistently throughout the book.
March 19, 2018
Julie McGinty, a sixteen year old girl, had an argument with her mom and got sent to New Guinea to live with her dad, Tony. Her parents split when she was 3. Julie is completely fascinated with New Guinea and she wishes to stay there. This book is also a love triangle between Ryan, Siman, and Julie.
October 23, 2013
I really enjoyed this story, and would love a follow up to see if Julie's dream becomes reality. I love seeing characters grow and this type of story appeals to me.
Read
April 23, 2013Quite an intelligent approach to the genre
August 23, 2013
It was amazing.
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