Oh dear. I initially thought this novel was a fabulous historical fiction set in the Antipodes, à la Oscar and Lucinda or The Luminaries. But then the story began to lose momentum two-thirds of the way through before falling apart completely in the final act. Ooh, but the beginning is so, so good! It is New Year’s Eve, 1902, in the quiet town of Marumaru, New Zealand. Colton Kemp designs window displays for one of the two department stores in town. Although he dedicates himself […]