Under the Covers - Episode Three

Under the Covers was a spin-off series from TVNZ 7 book series The Good Word, compiling Finlay Macdonald’s 10 minute pieces on great Kiwi books into their own show. Each episode features three books and tells the story behind them via interviews, readings and archive footage. This episode featured Barry Crump’s A Good Keen Man, David Lange’s My Life, and — in this excerpt — Jane Mander’s The Story of a New Zealand River, the 1917 novel that some say was an uncredited inspiration for Jane Campion's The Piano. Sam Hunt provides a spirited defence of Mander's book.

The official history of New Zealand literature involves the long struggle for a local voice to emerge and then to be appreciated. The trouble is when just such a voice emerged in the form of Jane Mander at the dawn of the 20th century, it was largely dismissed as insufficiently British or Victorian.

– Finlay Macdonald, in his opening

Key Cast & Crew

Finlay Macdonald

Reporter

Mitchell Hawkes

Director

Colin Hogg

Producer

Dave Cameron

Cinematographer, Camera Operator

Gayle Hogan

Co-Producer

Marissa Peacock

Production Coordinator