Riding with Whales

About the book

Stories of remarkable women in the remote Sounds region about a way of life now mainly gone forever. How they cope with the impact of whaling on nearly every family, the awesome responsibility for their children's futures when the women were their only teachers and the unbelievable differences electricity eventually made to their lives. The lives of thirteen women - two Maori, eleven Pakeha - cover a large part of the 20th century. Nobody complains. Nobody dwells on her health problems. As one of them says, looking back on a life of physical danger, loneliness, huge responsibilities and sheer, unremitting hard work, "It's just the way it was."