Eliza, her husband Ross and teenage children Jesse and Eva are at home in their family bubble. It is the first week of the March 2020 Covid-19 national lockdown of New Zealand. Eva
marvels at how the entire country has come to a standstill, like many countries around the world, in order to protect the spread of the Covid-19 virus. She asks her mum…
“Did you ever have anything that affected the whole country like this when you were a teenager?”
Eliza begins to tell her about the Springbok Rugby Tour of 1981 and how it divided the country, with opposing views tearing apart friends, neighbours, and even families.
Eva suggests that Eliza write about it, now that she is stuck at home and without her journalism job to go back to. Jesse suggests she gives them an update every evening from her writing that day. It’s not long before she begins to write.
The reader is taken back to 1981 – to when Eliza is 15, attending an all girls Catholic High School, with many nuns as teachers. Her best friend is Rewi who she has known since kindergarten, and she lives with her mum, dad and siblings, Pete and Jo. Her father is a reporter and he is always glued to the news.
It’s not long before the whole family is caught up in it too, as most of NZ are with the upcoming Springbok Tour and the surfacing arguments. Black South Africans have no rights and terrible living conditions in their own country and the visiting South African Springbok Rugby Team will be all white. The opposition to hosting the Springboks in NZ is huge and protests begin to spring up all over the country.
Eliza plays hockey, hangs out with Rewi and her friends and mostly enjoys school. In English they are studying The Taming of the Shrew, and she also meets her very first proper boyfriend, Harry. Slowly but surely, the Springbok Tour is also a part of her daily life.
As a family they join protests when they can, or watch TV when they can’t. When the South African team arrive against so much opposition, the tide rises in disappointment then anger, and the rugby supporters and police counter it with their own force. As the tour travels the country and Eliza’s reporter father follows it, the simmering racism in New Zealand communities begins to show it’s ugly face.
On the streets, at parties, and even in the classroom at Eliza’s school, racism bubbles up. When Rewi is the target and she sees the police car that has been parked outside his house purely for harrasment of his photographer mum, she is unnerved by it. She also feels guilt at not calling out racist guys at a party she, Harry and Rewi attended.
To make things even more complicated, Harry is acting strangely, putting her on edge whenever Rewi is around. Harry doesn’t like how close they are.
After many clashes between protesters and police before every single game of the tour around New Zealand, the final game is the boiling over point. It’s now a fully armed and protected Riot Squad who face the protestors and it isn’t the first time they have attacked with batons or their boots, knocking people unconscious.
But this time is a full on vicious assault and Eliza, Harry and Rewi get caught up in it. The results are terrifying and especially heart breaking for Eliza.
Wow. I remember the Springbok Tour as a 13 year old and saw the protests on TV. Thinking back I don’t remember much talk about it in our home. We weren’t big rugby fans and apartheid certainly wasn’t discussed. This novel has brought that terrible year of NZ’s history back to life in vibrant colour and action, and as awful as it truly was. It is a fascinating and sobering read.
The enormous amount of research the author has put into this novel is evident, as historical events, names, arguments and protests are the backdrop to a teenage girl’s life in 1981. New love is a universal topic no matter what the year, and problems that rise within this are deftly woven together with a school study of a Shakespeare play.
There is so much to this brilliant kiwi novel. What’s especially revealing is although we know the world has changed an incredible amount technology-wise, in other important ways it hasn’t changed much at all.
Told in 1st person, and between 2020 and 1981. The time shifts are clearly marked in the chapter headings. eg Events in 2020 are all named simply – Lockdown.
Astonishing.
Author – Anne Kayes
Age – 15+
(2021, Bateman, Historical, NZ, New Zealand, John Minto, Rob Muldoon, 2020 NZ Covid-19 National Lockdown, Journalism, Reporting, Racism, Riots, Violence, Police brutality, Racism, Racial profiling, Control, Black Lives Matter, Rights, Family, Relationships, First love, Action, Protest marches, Jealousy, Growing up, Bullying, Prejudice, )