Cover of “Festival of Miracles” by Alice Tawhai, featuring a carved wooden figure and a perched bird against a warm orange gradient background. A debut short story collection of contemporary Māori and Aotearoa life, published by Huia. Secondhand copy available at TheGravy.nz

Back cover of “Festival of Miracles” by Alice Tawhai, with a poetic blurb describing miracles, circus workers, wild children, and the bittersweet magic of everyday New Zealand life. Published by Huia Publishers with cover art by Shane Cotton. Secondhand copy available at TheGravy.nz

Festival of Miracles – Alice Tawhai

$14.00

Ordinary people dream of miracles — a tattoo artist who longs to heal, a boy who breathes bubbles, a migrant bride hoping for love. In this luminous debut, Alice Tawhai gathers them together in a collection that is both grounded and spellbound.

2005 First Edition (Softcover)
◉ Publisher: Huia Publishers
◉ Edition: First edition, 2005
◉ Condition: Good. Light wear on cover edges, pages tight and unmarked.

◉ Only 1 copy in stock

Category: Fiction Tags: 2000s, Alice Tawhai, Huia

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Description

Author: Alice Tawhai

Publisher: Huia Publishers

First Published: 2005

ISBN: 1-86969-127-X / 9781869691272

“In the first instance, wine is poured over the rice. Before long, the rice is swollen, and the wine is gone. This is an ordinary miracle, one that a child can perform. But then the practitioners of more complicated miracles come forth. The woman who can heal scars by touching them with her fingers. The old man who sings with the voice of an angel and sews poignancy in the heart. The boy who puts greeny-gold grasshoppers onto his tongue and blows bubbles from his mouth. The grasshoppers rise into the air, dancing inside a cloud of shining spheres.”

In Festival of Miracles, Alice Tawhai has created a bittersweet New Zealand wonderland that is at once luminous and sensual, tragic and fated. The stories in this debut collection are set from the Hokianga to the Bluff and they are populated by a stunning range of characters — circus workers, tattoo artists, bikies, mail-order brides, beautiful victims, wild children, immigrants, tangata whenua — who never cease to believe that they will find perfect things amidst the human imperfection of their lives; miracles, not misfortune. Festival of Miracles signals the arrival of an exciting and significant new talent.

Reviews:

“Tawhai’s stories are short, sharp and often painfully vivid. They radiate a kind of grace — a gentle, empathetic regard for life’s fragility and resilience.” — New Zealand Listener

“Alice Tawhai writes with luminous clarity about the brokenness and bravery of her characters. Her stories shimmer with truth and longing.” — Landfall Review Online