Leaving school at 15, Marnie Anstis spent eight years working on a family farm in the isolated Pakihi Valley, behind Ōpōtiki, in the Bay of Plenty. Kept busy with mustering, fleeco-ing and fencing, her poignant and entertaining reminiscences are interspersed with tales of pig-hunting, pig-hunters, horses, boyfriends, fires, working dogs, life in the valley and the wide-open hilltops where the sky was the limit. Marnie talks to NZ Booklovers.
Tell us a little about your book:
The story follows my life from when I left school at 15 to spend the next 8 years in an isolated valley with my family on a newly purchased sheep and cattle farm in the eastern Bay of Plenty. Even then (in the 1960s and 1970s), my employment choice was not typical for a teenager/young adult to make. Work was manual and oh-so-physical. There was no electricity.
But hours spent in solitude in the lonely wild environment of the Pakihi Valley allowed me to process my acute discomfort of being surrounded by teenagers, and, in time, I eventually discovered who I was, accepted myself warts and all, and eventually socially re-connected with my peers.
Because this memoir follows many rural escapades through rough and tough country, some paragraphs and chapters could be an almanack for - or a tribute to - crusty old pioneering farmers. Examples of physics or chemistry occasionally pop up, while other pages could be classified as a gentle Travelogue.
The reader is taken into the fury of fire and the ferocity of floods. There’s a tutorial on how to press a bale of wool and a paper on ‘Fencing101’! The text is sprinkled with teenage angst and female emotion, and the last chapter slips into a Mills and Boon genre to conclude with the greatest possible leap of faith.
What inspired you to write this book?
When I was in my late 40s, I realised it was the years I spent in the valley that had influenced and shaped the adult I became. That was when the tangible idea of a book started to call, and then nag . . . and I recollected the words of my mother who always said a book should be written of our Pakihi experiences.
Underlying insecurities are a common factor of many people’s lives, and they are quite normal. My story is of how I handled them when I was an adolescent. But it is vastly different from the interests of most young-adults of the present.
So, given that it is a million miles away in both pace and context, will it appeal to today’s urban, urbane teenager? Feelings and emotions remain the same throughout the decades, but modern behaviours and standards often set the tone of individual lives.
Perhaps - for some - this story may offer an alternate take on youthful decisions from the promotions suggested by fashionable influencers, or ‘content creator’ options that are now prevalent in our society. Perhaps that is another reason I wanted to write it.
What research was involved?
I had kept a diary, written each night by candlelight. Researching it almost 50 years later, I was surprised at what I remembered, what I had forgotten, and occasionally, discovering a subdued reality to my exaggerated tales told over the years!
Emotionally, I re-lived the fun and happiness, heartbreak and distress, and once again, learned much, much more about myself.
What was your routine or process when writing this book?
There was no routine. I wrote when I had time. My process was to keep reading and editing until my rhythm-factor was appeased. To do this meant putting the manuscript aside for months at a time. Fresh eyes see errors. Fresh ears hear faults.
If a soundtrack were made to accompany this book, name a song or two you would include.
One line from “Midnight Train to Georgia” is the most important, and various songs are named throughout for their influence on my feelings at the time. I have made a personal album of them on Spotify.
If your book was made into a movie, who would you like to see playing the lead characters?
Ha ha, this is funny! But if I was to play myself, definitely George Clooney as the leading man who gets the heroine. There’s also room for Brad Pitt, Hugh Jackman and Johnny Depp in lesser roles! Unfortunately, we are all a bit old and wrinkly now for this teenage story . . . and I’m still laughing at your question!
What did you enjoy the most about writing this novel?
a) To explore my life up the valley while wrapped within the family farming lifestyle - then analyse and express how I had been moulded and influenced by my experiences, observations, amusing anecdotes, and unexpected consequences.
b) I enjoyed the challenge to formulate and craft what had been enormous events, into a precis of only several paragraphs or pages, while remaining accurate and honest – all the while protecting the integrity and privacy of those involved.
c) Back then, the gap wasn’t as wide between urban and rural communities, but today I notice many don’t appear to give a second thought to the effort that goes into producing that which physically sustains them. . .
d) I have always been creative. And as I now hold this book in my hand, I am reminded that to craft something from nothing is very, very satisfying.
What did you do to celebrate finishing writing the book?
My husband opened a bottle of champagne.
But then I carried on editing. . . and finished again.
And then again. . .
All up, several bottles of champagne were consumed over quite a few months!