A Reader's Opinion: THE SETTLING EARTH by Rebecca Burns

The Book

Marriage transplants Sarah thousands of miles from home; a failed love affair forces Phoebe to make drastic choices in a new environment; a sudden, shocking discovery brings Mrs. Ellis to reconsider her life as an emigrant—The Settling Earth is a collection of ten, interlinked stories, focusing on the British settler experience in colonial New Zealand, and the settlers' attempts to make sense of life in a strange new land. 

Sacrifices, conflict, a growing love for the landscape, a recognition of the succour offered by New Zealand to Maori and settler communities—these are themes explored in the book. The final story in the collection, written by Shelly Davies of the Ngātiwai tribe, adds a Maori perspective to the experience of British settlement in their land.

Available at Amazon. 

A Reader's Opinion

Rebecca Burns is a gifted writer of short stories. Within only a few pages, I was drawn into a remarkable setting and the lives of her characters. Painting vivid pictures of New Zealand, I found myself transported to a land I've never visited, but still felt as though I was there. This collection is a quick read, but each story provides the reader with enough depth to connect with the characters and their lives. Interwoven with history, mankind's struggle with itself, sadness, and amusements, these wonderfully written stories are a treasure to be enjoyed.

The Author

Rebecca Burns is an award-winning writer of short stories, over thirty of which have been published online or in print. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2011, winner of the Fowey Festival of Words and Music Short Story Competition in 2013 (and runner-up in 2014), and has been profiled as part of the University of Leicester's "Grassroutes Project" - a project that showcases the 50 best transcultural writers in the county.

The Settling Earth is her second collection of short stories. Her debut collection, Catching the Barramundi, was published in 2012—also by Odyssey Books—and was longlisted for the Edge Hill Award in 2013.

You can read more about Rebecca at http://rebecca-burns.co.uk.