When you're invited to spend summer in the Hamptons with a group of new friends, you agree – who wouldn't? But then you realise you're taking the place of another woman, a woman who died in mysterious circumstances, just the summer before. Your housemates tell you her death was an accident. But which of them has something to hide?
Frivilous, glamourous, fast paced and slightly off setting. This is the grown up version of "I know What You Did Last Summer" - Set in the Hamptons.
This is a dark, often twisting novel from the bestselling writer Tasmina Perry and it will keep you on the edge of your seat. It's perfect fodder for anyone who's just finished SKY's boxsets: The Affair (Showtime TV). It's gripping pace and brilliantly written. Snap one up for your BFF's upcoming Xmas stocking. It'll go well with some Champs and a beach chair.
Tasmina Perry left a career in law for the more glamorous world of women's magazine journalism.
She has written on celebrity and style for many national magazines including Marie−Claire' Glamour and Heat and was most recently Deputy Editor of InStyle magazine. She has also found time to launch her own travel and fashion magazine Jaunt. All of her four novels have been Sunday Times best-sellers and her books have been published in seventeen countries.
She lives in Surrey with her husband and son.
Opinion - So keen were they to exercise their right to vote for the first time in 1893, the women of Greymouth literally raced each other to the polling booths.
A Mrs McPherson won the sprint, becoming the first woman to cast a vote in the town's voting booth on 28 November, 1893. It had been just 71 days since women's right to vote in general elections in New Zealand became law, on 19 September, 1893.
Today, that remarkable historical event marks its 124th anniversary.
Celebrations will take place this year as New Zealanders go to the polls in what is unfolding as one of the most dramatic and closely fought contests in New Zealand's history, and one in which gender has provided critical drama.
Who stands for political office and what political womanhood means remain matters of novelty and controversy.
Was this what political activists in the 1890s imagined of the future?
Kate Sheppard, leader of the campaign for women's right to vote in New Zealand, argued that women going to the polls was simply "just". The "foundation of all political liberty", she explained, was "that those who obey the law should be able to have a voice in choosing those who make the law".
Parliament "should be the reflection of the wishes of the people". A "government of the people, by the people, and for the people", she argued, "should mean all the people, and not one half".
Such arguments were radical in the 1880s and 1890s. Dangerous even. That they succeeded points to 1893 as a very significant moment in New Zealand's history, and in our ongoing national life.
New Zealand's 1890s experiments with democracy can be seen in various arenas.
At Pāpāwai (Wairarapa), Waipatu (Hastings) and other marae, women and men of the Kotahitanga movement met in gatherings of the Paremata Māori (Māori Parliament). A movement of unity and independent political debate, the Kotahitanga movement was also a place where Māori women sought specific representation.
In 1893 Meri Mangakahia presented a petition to that parliament on behalf of all women seeking the right to vote and be represented in the assembly.
Women, like men, she argued, had interests and knowledge of land and its fate; but women might also be more effective in making a case to Queen Victoria for redress of wrongs as she was a woman, like them.
The success of the suffrage campaign in New Zealand is something we can feel rightly proud of. It speaks of a sharp difference in political culture to that of Britain or the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was not until 1919 that women in those places won the right to vote.
Even then, it was initially only British women over 30 years of age, those who were married or those with a university degree who could vote. Only in 1928 did British women enjoy the right to vote on the same terms as men.
We know that New Zealand women took to the polls with zest in 1893. In that first election 90,920 women cast a vote: a turnout of 82 percent - far exceeding the 70 percent of registered male voters. Fears that polling day would be unruly, and that women would be deterred from voting by rowdy behaviour at polling booths, were not borne out.
History offers us a mixed balance sheet in women's quest for full citizenship, in the aspiration to be persons rather than 'roles'. The right to vote was a beginning rather than an end point. Equal pay and economic self determination, freedom from violence in home and family, and peace in the world were all issues on the National Council of Women's agenda from the date of its formation in 1896.
All portents indicate women are going to the polls as eagerly in 2017 as in 1893. They do so with a historical knowledge that this was a right hard won, and in which they are exercising a national right of longest standing anywhere in the world.
Charlotte Macdonald is a professor of history, philosophy, political science and international relations at Victoria University.
Dragon who since forming in 1972, have produced a stack of rock anthems including April Sun in Cuba, Are You Old Enough, Young Years, and Rain. Their WOMAD 2018 performance will be a homecoming of sorts as Dragon founding member Todd Hunter, and his late brother Marc, were born and raised in Waitara, Taranaki. The Hunter brothers spent many long summer days on holiday in New Plymouth at their Aunt's place across the road from the stunning 55-acre Brooklands Park and the TSB Bowl of Brooklands; the home of WOMAD NZ for the past fourteen years.
Todd has advised WOMAD festival goers to be "prepared to sing your hearts out with a bunch of happy human beings".
Emere Wano – Programme Manager, Event Director says "A legacy born out of hard work, these timeless Kiwi rockers will get you up air-guitaring and singing, and as one reviewer put it, 'if they don't then you need your pulse checked'."
WOMAD NZ 2018 will see the festival celebrate its 14th anniversary in the stunning 55-acre Brooklands Park and the TSB Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth 16-18 March 2018.
Over the years, WOMAD NZ, has rightfully gained a reputation as one of the most beautiful outdoor festivals in the world and after going on sale with early-bird tickets on July 10th, 2017 WOMAD made a new record, with early-bird tickets selling out in record time!
The maximum capacity for WOMAD is 15,000 ticket holders per day so you'll never feel like you are in a mosh pit – in fact bring a blanket and enjoy refreshments in stylish chill out areas, watch a cooking demonstration or explore the stalls and workshops. The kids will be entertained at Kidzone with workshops especially for them spread over the weekend. WOMAD is not just music! There's plenty of other things on site to discover, come along and soak up the warmth of the WOMAD vibe.
It should be remembered as New Zealand's answer to Britain's Great Train Robbery: in the dead of the night, robbers broke into the Waterfront Industry Commission's offices and made off with an audacious loot equivalent to almost $1 million today. This 1956 heist, which eventually came to be known as the Waterfront Payroll Robbery, was executed with military precision and the robbers left nothing but a smoking office and an empty safe behind them.
The crime was eventually pinned on small-time crook Trevor Nash. When four years later, Nash made a brazen prison-escape attempt, he rose to notoriety as a kind of anti-establishment hero. But to this day uncertainty remains about whether Nash alone was responsible for the waterfront heist. Could he really-cunning as he was-have pulled it off all by himself? And what happened to the money?
Bainbridge's writing on this is almost forensic at times. He dives deeply into the case notes, mixes it with newspaper articles and even a few interviews. But better yet his delivery is far from dry. He uses a lot of the language of the day in his descriptions. He resurects long forgotten terminologies (used by insiders of the day). Terms like 'Soup Job' - the practice of cutting a hole in a safe with a acetylene torch to get at the contents.
The robbery of the Waterfront Industry Commission's offices was undertaken like no other crime of the time. It was meticulously planned. At a time of no internet or even a reliable phone service, Auckland Police did well to learn quickly that the job had been planned using inside information to search and locate electrical cables for specific alarms, to hone in on the location of the payroll safe, to understand the potential contents and even how to launder the money after wards. Along the way we learn of the intricate details of a string of big and small characters that made up the 'gang' who helped Trevor Nash, if indeed it was him, and what their roles were.
This setting was 1950's Auckland, conservative, yet divided along wealth and class lines, not quite colour, as Auckland didn't seem to have the demographic and ethnic mix that it has today. It also talks of a time, when the criminal fraternity in Auckland, if not New Zealand was "run", by colourful characters, mobsters, enforcers, powerful families, yet so far removed from the aggressive "drug", and gang culture crime of today.
We heard about Wick's new book through the grapevine and were keen to try out new ways of brightening up that 'ol boring lunchbox. She has a 'whole-listic' approach to food. And by that we mean using as many vegetables, nuts, grains and beans as possible. This box is a sort of snapshot of what she offers in her workshops for individuals and corporates. Better still she's a real person. A parent of three, so she's doe the hard yards and can talk authoritatively about what works with kids - and adults. This is her second book - her first was 21 Marvelous Lunchbox Makeover, which won the coveted Gourmand Award for Best Food and Family Cookbook in New Zealand (2015).
Wick is not a nutritionist or a vegetarian or a paleo. She claims her style of cooking comes from piratical learnings and general life. So that's refreshing. What she offers here is not original. I've pretty much come across every recipe in someone else's cookbook at one time or other. But what is cool is that it's all in one place. That's especially true for the gluten, nut and dairy free options. Also, most of the morsels here within can be made into small 'lunchbox' portions, for little hands. And, for you older peeps, who can't bare to face another egg salad sandwich, there's hope for you, too.
Opening up at a random page my two girls (6 and 8yrs) fell upon the Brown Rice Sushi Balls (pg 12 if you are reading along). Sushi is popular in our household - especially anything with chicken or prawns in the filling. I'd have to say our efforts were not entirely successful on first go. Mainly, because this particular recipe calls for a few different ingredients - items that we don't usually stock. And this, I guess, was the first hurdle. This recipe calls for brown rice. we were out of that, so we substituted white basmati. A trick for young players - you need to slightly overcook it, otherwise it wont stick together.
Number two problem was that we needed runny honey. We had the firm clover variety which works if you melt it in the microwave a little. But the main issue was that this version of sushi needs tahini. Not exactly something I have kicking around in the fridge. Also a decent pot will set you back about $7.00 so you need to be committed or have other uses in mind. Hummus is probably the main one. Kids love that, so you're likely good there.
Anyway, the tahini was strangely vacant. We decided to go with peanut butter as a substitute. Crunchy! So now the whole thing is turning into the something resembling the 'blue soup' incident in Bridget Jones's Diary. Nonetheless we soldiered on. They came out pretty good considering. Considering the stain on my trousers when my 'sushi ball' disintegrated whilst giving it the taste test.
But joking aside, this incident does show if you buy this book, you need to be prepared to try and purchase a few new larder items. That's not a bad thing. Today, you can get anything at your local supermarket and health store. And there's one in every mall.
Music and tour dates coming soon…but LA's most iconic venue, The Hollywood Bowl, has announced one of the first shows to feature some of the soon to be released material in concert, along with many of his classic songs.