Between

by Wendy Glassby, Cathie M Glassby (Cover), Sean Dorney (Foreword)

Maria Seeto is caught between. A return to Papua New Guinea (PNG) seemed impossible yet now she's dying there. Too late she realises home is with her family in Australia. When PNG begins self-rule in 1975, Maria Seeto's husband insists it will be safer for his family to migrate to Brisbane, Australia. For the next thirty-five years, Maria suppresses her pain over losing her homeland. The loss is centred on the town of Rabaul, where her culturally-diverse ancestors have lived for almost a century as a minority sandwiched between New Guineans and the colonisers, in which they lived through volcanic eruptions and two world wars, including Japanese military occupation. For Maria, leaving Rabaul also robs her of hope of reuniting with her estranged brother Henry and of the rare but heart-lifting glimpses from afar of her one-true-love, Stephen. In 2010, against all odds, she's back in PNG with her brother but she's dying. Her death brings consequences. Maria is the only surviving family member who can narrate the family's cultural history in Rabaul but, to protect secrets about her biological relationships to her so-called sons, she has failed to do so. Her death not only means knowledge of the Chinese-Mixed Race family's cultural heritage will be lost, but also the truth about her will be revealed. Can the family survive these revelations or be strengthened by reuniting those in Papua New Guinea with those in Australia?

288 pages, Paperback

Published March 5, 2021

Reviews

[Wendy Glassby]

This novel becomes especially relevant in 2025. In September of this year Papua New Guinea is celebrating fifty years of self-rule. The cultural history of the Seeto family of this novel is tightly bound into Papua New Guinea's history from the time of western incursion in the late 1800s. The Seetos and others like them see Papua New Guinea, more specifically the town of Rabaul on the island of New Britain, as their home, the place in which their cultural identity has been shaped and that explains who they are and yet their story is only a whispered one within the larger one of Papua New Guinea's marvellous journey from tribal to one nation.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Identity, family, loss, displacement and sadness .. all come together as we are privy to an ailing Maree's reflections having returned to PNG after 66 years of living in Australia.

Having spent some formative young years living in Madang, predominately in an expat community yet still surrounded by the people whose country it was and is and this book both shook some memories and gave space for further thoughts.

[Brett Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Between by Wendy Glassby is a beautifully written and important story. The attention to detail and depth of characterisation is remarkable and her awareness of what it means to be between cultures is nuanced and respectful. Would highly recommend.