Ned & Katina: A True Love Story

by Patricia Grace

A true story of love in wartime and in peace by one of New Zealand's finest writers.

In Crete during the Second World War a wounded Maori Battalion soldier and a young Cretan woman fall in love when the young infantryman is sheltered by her family.

After marrying in Crete, Ned and Katina come back to live in New Zealand, settling in the Far North. They live a long, rich and happy life together, raising a family and involving themselves in community affairs there and in the Wellington region. Ned dies in 1987, Katina in 1996.

Years later, the whanau of Ned and Katina approached writer Patricia Grace to compile their parents' story. Ned & Katina is the result. This warm, beautifully written true story is impossible to put down.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Patricia Grace is a major New Zealand novelist, short story writer and children’s writer, of Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa and Te Ati Awa descent, and is affiliated to Ngati Porou by marriage. Grace began writing early, while teaching and raising her family of seven children, and has since won many national and international awards, including the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize for fiction, the Deutz Medal for Fiction, and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, widely considered the most prestigious literary prize after the Nobel. A deeply subtle, moving and subversive writer, in 2007 Grace received a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to literature.

Reviews

[Kiwiflora · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few years ago, after the death of Katina, Patricia Grace was approached by Ned and Katina's family to write the story of their love and life together. The result is not only a story of love, but also a story of two ancient cultures coming together, of urbanisation, of war, of families, of the best and worst of humankind, personal courage and above all hope.

Ned came from rural Northland, from a hard-working, self-sufficient Maori family. Katina came from rural Crete, also from a hard-working and self-sufficient family. In 1939, Ned was 20, and he immediately signed up to go to war. He joined the Maori Battalion and before he knew it, he was on his way to Europe with the rest of the Battalion. His war did not last long as he was injured during the assault on Crete. Along with a large number of other New Zealanders and Australians who were left on Crete after the evacuation, he roamed around the island, hiding in caves, trying to stay alive, and one step ahead of the Germans. He (and all the other soldiers) was aided by a number of families on Crete who risked their lives to feed and protect as best as they were able the fugitives. One of the families looking after Ned was Katina's family and very slowly love developed between the two. Ned was captured and spent the latter part of the war as a POW, but he never gave up hope of returning to Crete and marrying Katina. Which of course he did.

The couple sailed back to New Zealand, initially settled in Northland, had three children, moved to the Wellington area where they ran a number of successful businesses, before returning back to the extended family when they were elderly. This can't have been the easiest of marriages especially for Katina who left her roots, travelled to the other side of the world to a country she knew nothing about, alien food, language, culture and so on. This, I think, is the remarkable story, and one that I would like to have learnt more about.

An enormous amount of research has gone into this book and as a result it is extremely interesting, informative, and with plenty of history. There are lots of photos, copies of letters, documents and so on. The author has done a great job of documenting a crucial time in the history of two countries and peoples. And for me, herein lies the problem with this being a 'love story'. I felt like I was reading a historical narrative, a report, an account of events. I felt detached from Ned and Katina, I didn't feel involved in their 'love'. There is plenty of courage, bravery, determination, tenacity and hope in this book, but as a reader, I didn't feel involved in it. It goes without saying that Ned and Katina were amazing people, of exceptionally high character and moral courage, and their story is very inspiring to anyone. I just wish I could have felt more involved with them rather than just simply reading about them! Hard to explain...

[David Bowles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly researched and written, as you would expect from Patricia Grace!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patricia Grace DCNZM QSO (b. 1937) is a significant Māori writer of novels, short stories, and children's books and her work has won multiple awards and is widely translated. The Oxford Companion to New Zealand tells us that she is:

... of Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa and Te Ati Awa descent, and is affiliated to Ngati Porou by marriage. She has gained wide recognition as a key figure in the emergence of Māori fiction in English since the 1970s. Her work, expressive of Māori consciousness and values, is distinguished also for the variety of Māori people and ways of life it portrays and for its resourceful versatility of style and narrative and descriptive technique.

In 1975 she published Waiariki, the first collection of short stories by a Māori woman writer, and in 1978 she followed that with one of the first Māori novels, Mutuwhenua: The Moon Sleeps. Wikipedia lists the novels that followed as

Potiki, (1986); see my review
Cousins, (1992); see my review
Baby No-eyes (1998) see my review
Dogside Story (2001). Long listed for the Man Booker Prize;
Tu (2004); see my review
Ned and Katina, (2009) and
Chappy, (2015) see my review.

But the inclusion of Ned and Katina as a novel is an error. It's not a novel, it's a double-biography, and it's not even a work of creative non-fiction using imagination to fill in the gaps. Much as I have enjoyed all of her other books, this one is a bit of a disappointment. The book was commissioned by the sons of Ned and Katina, who met when he was on active service on Crete in WW2 and she was a village school teacher in a place that made heroic efforts to protect allied servicemen from the Nazi Occupation. But the book suffers, in my opinion, from the uneven focus on the two protagonists.

What soon becomes apparent is that despite an abundance of letters, photographs, voice and video recordings, interviews, log books, articles and memorabilia, Katina's voice is mute. The book primarily focusses on Ned's Māori family history; his service in a Māori battalion and its cultural mores*; his service history including being separated from his unit; his time on Crete evading capture but finally being taken as a POW; his repatriation to England due to injury; and the anguish of his unanswered letters to Katina back on Crete. There is background about her family, and village life, and the dangers faced by villagers supporting the allies, but almost none of this is in Katina's words, and very little of it is from her personal perspective.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/07/12/n...

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a story. Hugely interesting insight into prewar rural maori life and the Maori battalion. Ned's story of survival on Crete and the grim conditions allied soldiers endured was gripping and hard to really fathom. The love story was indeed one for the ages. However as a previous reviewer noted, the events and story around their union was fascinating, but it was certainly a more factual account rather than a romantic account.

I did feel the reader got to know Ned a little more fully than Katina, and I did find the first half of the book more interesting than the details of their later years. Although there was still interesting insights to be found.

Grace did a thorough and job of compiling this history. However I do think it needed more of Katinas voice. Thank you to both her and the whanau for sharing the story.

[Lynda Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned such a lot about the war, as it unfolded on Crete, and the strong relationships that developed as a result. I had no idea about that arena of warfare. I loved (and am jealous of) the strength of their marriage. Oh to experience such happiness and respect!

[Bernice · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting read about Ned Nathan and covers the period when he was a wounded Maori Battalion soldier hiding out on Crete. He is adopted by a family who treat him as one of their own. He became confident speaking Greek and could pass as a local. With the aid of the community on Crete he managed to avoid capture for a considerable period of time but was eventually captured and sent to a prison camp where he picked up the German language.

When the war was over he returned to Crete to ask for the hand of Katina. After their marriage they returned to NZ where he and Katina ran a number of businesses gradually saving enough to not only return to Crete but to aid the immigration of those who had sheltered him and other NZ’ers thereby saving their lives.

Ned continued to fight for the rights of Maori who had had land confiscated and worked towards setting up learning centres to encourage Maori living in the cities to continue with their cultural activities.

Patricia Grace has woven the history of this interesting couple into a very readable story. It gives credit to ordinary people who achieve extraordinary results through determination and hard work.

[Donna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry to say this one just didn't do it for me and after reading over 100 pages I still wasn't any further into finding out about Katina!

DNF!

[Phil Yates · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tale of two people who went through the German occupation of Crete, then came to New Zealand where they contributed much to their communities. Touching and inspiring.

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this after a patron came in and raved about it. It was interesting.

[Pip · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true love story about a soldier from the Maori Battalion hiding on Crete during WWII - and falling for a local girl. The beginning is gripping when Ned is trying to escape being captured. The Cretans put themselves at great risk to care for the soldiers. I love Patricia Graces' simple and straight forward writing. She interprets Maori culture very clearly. The last part of the book slows down - but definitely a great read.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A true story which is different for Patricia Grace - therefore a different style. It was a very interesting history, but some of the stories were told a little oddly. May well have been a better/ different book had she been able to meet the subjects.

[Lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Another great true story!

[Mariana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Maori soldier falls in love with a Cretan school teacher and the result is long lasting and profound.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too much war, but alovely read

[Kearvy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Currently reading. Informative, pleasant read.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the great wartime love stories