National Network for Equitable Library Service

Now a feature film, this is the unforgettable story of three women's intersecting lives. Makareta is the chosen one -- carrying her family's hopes. Missy is the observer -- the one who accepts but has her dreams. Mata is always waiting -- for life to happen as it stealthily passes by. Moving from the forties to the present, from the country to the protests of the cities, Cousins is the story of these three cousins. Thrown together as children, they have subsequently grown apart, yet they share a connection that can never be broken. A stunning novel about tradition and change, about whanau and its struggle to survive, about the place of women in a shifting world. '. . . it is robust and powerful. I simply could not put it down. Lyrical and vibrant, smoothly paced and quietly rhythmic, Grace's language moves easily from one person to the next, as the stories unfold.' -- Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, NZ Listener 'Cousins is an engrossing story that runs on in the head long after it has finished.' -- Dominion Sunday Times 'Patricia Grace writes with an enviable clarity and power.' -- Evening Post Cousins has been adapted for the screen, the film produced by Miss Conception Films and Whenua Films, directed by Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith, screenplay by Briar Grace-Smith and Patricia Grace.