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Cousins

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Cousins

By: Patricia Grace
Narrated by: Tanea Heke
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About this listen

Now a feature film, this is the unforgettable story of three women's intersecting lives.

Makareta is the chosen one—carrying her family's hopes.

Missy is the observer—the one who accepts but has her dreams.

Mata is always waiting—for life to happen as it stealthily passes by.

Moving from the forties to the present, from the country to the protests of the cities, Cousins is the story of these three cousins. Thrown together as children, they have subsequently grown apart, yet they share a connection that can never be broken.

A stunning novel about tradition and change, about whanau and its struggle to survive, about the place of women in a shifting world.

Cousins has been adapted for the screen, the film produced by Miss Conception Films and Whenua Films, directed by Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith, screenplay by Briar Grace-Smith and Patricia Grace.

©2022 Patricia Grace (P)2022 Penguin Random House New Zealand Audio Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Women's Fiction World Literature

Critic Reviews

"...it is robust and powerful. I simply could not put it down. Lyrical and vibrant, smoothly paced and quietly rhythmic, Grace's language moves easily from one person to the next, as the stories unfold." (Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, NZ Listener)

"Patricia Grace writes with an enviable clarity and power." (Evening Post)

"Cousins is an engrossing story that runs on in the head long after it has finished." (Dominion Sunday Times)
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Took me a little while to get into as I found the disjointed literary techniques difficult to get into the story but rewarding after perservering.

Moving story of generational trauma

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A powerful story full of sadness and hope that gives shape and context to both past and present Aotearoa, New Zealand. Tanea Heke's performance of Patricia Grace's storytelling language was sublime, hearing correctly pronounced reo Māori was tino ātaahua! Please give us more!

Potent and poignant storytelling

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How amazing to hear Te Reo and culture told so sincerely. It’s true to the sadness and wrongs that have been done to Māori, and the internal battles that modern Māori have faced. Incredible.

This is why audible exists

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.