We Can Make a Life

Author(s): Chessie Henry

Essays & memoir

Hours after the 2011 Christchuch Earthquake, Kaikoura-based doctor Chris Henry crawled through the burning CTV building to rescue those who were trapped. Six years later, his daughter Chessie interviews him in an attempt to understand the trauma that led her father to burnout, in the process unravelling stories and memories from her own remarkable family history. Chessie rebuilds her family's lives on the page, from her parents honeymoon across Africa, to living in Tokelau as one of five children under ten before returning to New Zealand, where her mother would set her heart and home in the Clarence Valley only to see it devastated in the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake, and the family displaced. Written with the same love and compassion that defines her familys courage and strength, We Can Make a Life is an extraordinary memoir about the psychological cost of heroism, home and belonging, and how a family made a life together.

GOOD BOOKS Staff Review
This family memoir is a perfect example of doing sincerity well. It’s full of love and grief and other emotions that always feel genuine. They’re never exaggerated but also never understated. It’s a difficult balance and a real skill! - Eamonn

$35.00 NZD

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Product Information

Winner of The E.H. McCormick Prize for a best first work of General Non-Fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2019  Finalist for the 2019 Royal Society Te Aparangi Award for General Non-Fiction - Ockham New Zealand Book Awards   

General Fields

  • : 9781776561940
  • : Te Herenga Waka University Press
  • : Te Herenga Waka University Press
  • : 0.349266
  • : July 2018
  • : ---length:- '8.25'width:- '5.5'units:- Inches
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Chessie Henry
  • : Paperback
  • : 256