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At first glance I almost gave up on this , but its dedication to "all those working on a GE-free world" had caught my attention. So, despite wading through so many foreign words, foreign meanings, foreign people, I kept going. Then it all started making sense, this intense story of a group of New Zealand Maoris' struggle against the use of pesticides on their lands, and the threat of Genetic Engineering and what it will do to the control of seeds, plants and the future of man and animals. There is, incidentally, a glossary of all the Maori terms but I found it confusing and a nuisance to be forever turning to the back of the book, so I just guessed at meanings, and after a while they start sounding familiar.

And how pleased I am that I persevered. Cathie Dunsford writes a thought-provoking intense story which, though it says it is a novel, must no doubt be based on the harsh realities of the fight against GE. As the story unfolds it could be a true documentary of the global green struggle against GE, only it is personalised in the relationships of the local people, their relationship to the earth, and their belief in their ancestors and the powers they wield.

When their children are continually getting sick, showing symptoms of what the doctors call flu, but which won't go away, the people begin to put their heads together, and gather evidence of the poisons being dumped on them. They are victims of both local companies that want to get rid of old poisons and chemicals cheaply and on a global basis, of countries that also want to get rid of them so dump them in smaller places, like various Pacific islands. It alludes to many real global fights and follows on an earlier book by Cathie Dunsford (Manawa Toa). The same characters were involved in the fight against French Nuclear Testing at Moruroa, and in this story the fearful mutations created by the nuclear testing are again alluded to. The fearful and possible results of what would happen if local trees are crossed with fast-growing invaders fills their days and worse, the threat of animal cloning becomes a harsh reality.

Cowrie and her friends join a protest march through New Zealand to present a petition to the government against GE testing, and to keep NZ free from contaminated seeds and plants. In the meantime their families are getting caught up in a secret laboratory's efforts on GE. They manage to film some of the evidence, and, calling on the powers of their ancestors, they wish a flood upon the perpetrators. And indeed the heavens open and drown most of the awful mutated creatures and destroy the terrible experiments.

Behind these efforts are some intriguing complex relationships, both lesbian and inter-racial, between white men and Maori girls.

This truly is a novel which could be an actual account of the ongoing global struggle against meddling with the things on this earth.

Pixie Malherbe is a South African journalist and communication consultant. She was on newspapers for years, worked on women's magazines in London and then ran her own communication consultancy for about 12 years. She was President of IABC Southern Africa (International Association of Business Communicators) and was given their Chairman's award in Toronto in 1995. She is currently a stringer for local newspapers.

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