Tasting the strange
ISBN
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Description
This perceptive account of a young girl’s journey from helpless invalid – her life controlled by elderly relatives – to adventurous young woman, embracing freedom and autonomy will capture the reader from the first page. – Terry Kennaway, Waikanae
Vita (Victoria) has ‘goldfish’ red hair and is bedridden. The child of a career scientist and an English pianist, she has a damaged heart. Unable to go outside, let alone go to school, she develops her own fantasy world of pirates and brigands.
After a life-saving operation, Vita slowly and painfully tries to be ‘normal’. She struggles with school and finds acceptance with school friend, Louise.
This coming of age story takes Vita on a drug-fuelled trip to Afghanistan to find her ‘father’ and enlightenment. Through her childhood ‘boy-next-door’ friend Bob and her relationship with Louise she comes to understand love.
About the author
Robin Fleming was born in 1942. She went to Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, and later studied at Victoria University, completing her MA in 1964. During the 1970s, Robin worked as a photographer, and later returned to university to complete a PhD in anthropology.
During the 1980s Robin worked as a social researcher and policy analyst in the Departments of Health, Internal Affairs, and Women’s Affairs while carrying out funded social research projects on a part-time basis. After 1993, she retired from social policy and research to focus on writing, gaining an MA in creative writing at the IIML, Victoria University, Wellington.
Robin has three children and five grand-children. She lives with her partner on the Kapiti Coast.