The Telling Time: A Historical Family Saga($17.99Value)

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WINNER of the 2020 FIRST PAGES PRIZE: —Judge, Sebastian Faulks (New York Times best selling author) was "transported". WHEN SECRETS DEMAND TO BE TOLD . . . Two young women, a generation apart, travel to opposite sides of the globe on fraught journeys of self-discovery. When new and old worlds collide are the stakes set too high? 1958 and Gabrijela yearns to escape the confines of bleak post-war Croatia and her tiny fishing community but never imagines her choices will see her exiled to New Zealand — a new immigrant sent to housekeep for an enigmatic man clutching a secret she dare not reveal. Decades later, Luisa, hell-bent on unpicking her mother's past, departs on her own covert quest to visit her estranged relatives on Korčula. But not all decisions are equal and amid Yugoslavia’s brewing civil unrest Luisa's journey confronts her with culture shocks and dark encounters of her own. Can one life-changing moment right the wrongs of the past? The Telling Time is P.J. McKay's award-winning debut novel that spent 10 weeks on the top ten fiction list. If you love vividly drawn historical novels, full of heart with characters you won’t want to leave behind, then you’ll love this page-turning family saga. Perfect for book clubs and readers who love being transported. Purchase your copy today to unlock Gabrijela’s secret! TWO WOMEN REPLACE SILENCE WITH TRUTH McKay's debut explores two different eras and communities in unsentimental detail, its research spanning generations and time zones. The races in late 50s Auckland are as vivid as a Communist Party ball in Dubrovnik, or a rowdy bar in 80s Macedonia. The two storylines explore unravelling the secrets, necessary if the past is to lose grip on us, and if mothers and daughters are to replace silence with truth. Rosetta Allan, author of historical novels, Purgatory and The Unreliable People. Review commissioned by the Academy of New Zealand Literature. I READ THE TELLING TIME IN TWO DAYS, finishing in the wee hours of the morning. What was the secret that tore Gabrijela from post-war Yugoslavia and landed her in NZ? And in the second timeline, would her daughter, Luisa, returning to her mother's country in 1989, find out the truth and in turn find herself? This is the beauty of Pip's storytelling -- her ability to mete out parts of the story; to keep parts aside to tell later. It keeps the tension taut and me turning the pages into the night. Caroline Barron, author of Ripiro Beach. A STUNNING DEBUT Dealing with some serious themes, The Telling Time manages to be immensely readable, and never too heavy. A beautifully written novel intertwining the story of a mother and daughter across continental and generational divides. I loved the well-drawn characters. I loved the settings from Auckland all the way to Yugoslavia -- I was transported. Amy McDaid, author of Fake Baby. WOMEN WRITERS DEFY LOCKDOWN RESTRICTIONS The story of a mother and daughter divided by secrets from the old world, McKay's novel moves between the late 50s, in hard-scrabble old Yugoslavia and "Dally" suburbia in Auckland, and the late-80s, when a young woman roams the powder-keg Balkans in search of her roots. We still have too few Croatian New Zealand novels, especially ones with this much style and substance. New Zealand Herald, Canvas Magazine. TRANSPORTING READ PROVES COMPELLING With vivid senses of place and time this is one of those rare novels one can hardly put down. Cultures and identities and the past and present topple upon each other as the devastations wrought in the "precious homeland" to which Gabrijela has never returned, simply will not bury themselves away. A hugely satisfying and transporting read. Jessie Neilson, Otago Daily Times. BOTH INTIMATE AND EPIC IN SCALE This is an absolute belter. If there's any justice, then the author's debut novel should find a home in book clubs the world over. Sharon Stephenson, Woman Magazine. AN ACCOMPLISHED COMING OF AGE STORY, that spans two generations, with two women having to face the worst of adversity. But it is also a story of new beginnings, the importance of "telling" to overcome trauma, and the importance of love and family in healing wounds. Karen McMillan, New Zealand Booklovers. IMMIGRATION AND A RETURN TO ONE'S ROOTS Pip McKay's writing is so vivid that right from page one, when Gabrijela is describing her detested job, the clinging smell of the sardines wafts off the page and it's easy to imagine the bleakness of the canning factory and Gabrijela's determination to get away from it. Although there are times of immense sadness and brutality in The Telling Time, it also celebrates love and hope; self-discovery, forgiveness and moving forward. McKay's prose lifts the people off the page so that they become lifelike and the book is a joy to read. Carolyn McKenzie, Flaxroots Productions. 'A vivid, engrossing family story that crosses oceans and eras, exploring the price two women pay when new an