Excellent historical novel of the pursuit of Te Kooti (1868-1872) during his campaign against the mostly colonial and allied Maori forces that constituted the country's military structure after 1867.
Shadbolt uses George Fairweather, a sometime imperial officer, sometime itinerant artist and, in this case, colonial soldier as the eyes and mind through which the tragic events are viewed.
Te Kooti, wrongly accused in his view, of communicating with the enemy, (he was enlisted with British forces initially) was deported to the Chatham Islands. He underwent a conversion experience there and in a daring escape set sail with followers for Poverty Bay, where his intention was to gain the support of the King movement and other iwi (tribes) for action against the colonial government, and to preach his new faith for all Maori. Te Kooti took the Old Testament as guide, identifying his cause with the Jews of Ancient Israel after their being stripped of their lands and exiled. Hence, the book's title.
A bloody guerilla war erupted. Te Kooti's band massacred colonists at Matawhero in November 1868. The resultant anger in the colony, and the underlying determination to grab whatever suitable agricultural land possible, heralded a ferocious conflict.
Fairweather grows from professional soldier to merciless killer as this war desperately develops.
The book is hard to put down. The lives of those who take part devlope an authenticity as the novel progresses. The chronology is precise, the natural world is portrayed by a writer who knows it well, and the historical narrative is without favour.
A great New Zealand contribution to historical fiction.

After 2 years in exile on the Chatham Islands, Maori trader Coates contrives to return to the mainland, restyled as Kooti and empowered after reading the Old Testament to do Jehovah’s work on Earth.

Kooti’s return to the East Coast would have far reaching consequences for both the local Maori and the colonists, as he skirmishes and fights his way across the region and back with Captain George Fairweather and the British militia in pursuit.

Set in 1868/69 during the New Zealand Wars, Season Of The Jew is the story of the fight to contain and end Kooti’s reign of terror, but also the story of the price war exacts from each individual involved.

I found the first half of the book quite slow and a bit hard to get into, but persevered because of the wonderful witty humour and Fairweather’s character and his conversations, particularly with Trader Read and Colonel Whitmore who both regularly (and amusingly) got tied in knots with Fairweather’s lawyer-like ability to twist words.

I enjoyed the second half much more as the action kicked in, and found the book hard to put down, although there are a couple of gruesome descriptions. Throughout the whole book there are moments of farce, and these moments underline Shadbolt’s themes of the rights of settlers versus those of the Maori people, the lack of compassion and humanity during war and the meaning of honour.

This book is historically accurate and great attention to detail has also been given to the military details. Shadbolt has a great turn of phrase, there are lots of beautiful, atmospheric little snippets used throughout to depict the landscape in quieter moments outside of war.

The characters are wonderfully written and convincingly convey the attitudes of the time – to the point where I found myself getting indignant when mention was made of the seemingly absolute ‘right’ of the English to simply confiscate land for their use. Fairweather, in particular, is extremely interesting as an intellectual painter/soldier who often flirts with dissent and whose sympathies lie with the Maori people as often as with the settlers. I would however, have like Kooti’s motives to have been made a bit clearer, but I suspect his motives may not be particularly easy to understand from the historic sources in any case.

Season Of The Jew is a powerful, moving exploration of war and the politics involved, with accurate and interesting historical detail - most of the main characters are historical figures and short biographies on them were included at the back of my edition. This book is funny, thought provoking and wonderfully written. ( )

Novels about the Maori Wars are perhaps uncommon, but the ones I’ve read are uncommon good. Season of the Jew is part farce, part Western shoot-‘em-up, and part Journey to Hell. The Maori Wars were an odd kind of conflict. They were essentially an Indian war, but fought in the temperate rain forests of New Zealand. They involved as much trench warfare as they did guerrilla warfare, for the Maori were advanced practitioners of both.

http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2009/02/season-of-jew.html

Absorbing, often grim historical tale of the battle for land ownership in New Zealand between Maoris and British settlers. ( )