I remember finding this book fascinating when Mom read it aloud to us years ago. It’s hard to imagine going through something like the complete destruction told about in this story, and harder still to imagine the grief as people realized how many died in it. This is a fascinating portrait of early New Zealand, too—you get a sense of the difficulty of living on the frontier, as well as the struggles as different cultures tried to coexist and mingle.

I struggled with the story in some ways—the way it’s written (as a diary) is a little far-fetched for me. There’s no WAY the main character would have been able to write as much as is included here! Still, the play-by-play account this book provides gives the historical event a sense of reality, and that’s worth something.

Our family enjoyed this story when I read it aloud to them, and I’m sure this won’t be the last time we read it. Recommended, if you want to learn a piece of New Zealand history in an interesting way! ( )