Topp Country - For the Love of the Topps

We're not biscuit makers Jools, lets face it — because we can come here and get them.

– Lynda Topp

Six boys, two girls; they eat a lot of gingernuts . . . We used to steal them even. We were only allowed to take two each in our lunch. When nobody was looking I put another four in my bag.

– Peter Topp recalls his own childhood, and the gingernuts his mother used to bake

She just took mum's place. She was a great lady, oh I loved her. She was just like my mum would have treated me . . . such a sweet sweet lady.

– Jean Topp on her mother-in-law

We'll have to be careful because when we eat these, we're gonna to go into a diabetic coma: sugar and sugar.

– Jools Topp, as their mum bakes gingernuts

...right from the day that Jools and I were born, you know, it was a beautiful life. We grew up on a farm and had a beautiful freedom —  a charmed life in some ways, when I look back at it. Mum and dad were always there for us; dad has given us this beautiful understanding of horses and animals, and our mum is just the best cook in the world.

– Lynda Topp, at the start of this excerpt

Its winning ways lie mostly in the particular charms of Lynda and Jools Topp, who turn out to be as good at the art of intimate interviews as they are at those other things that come to them so naturally

– Writer Colin Hogg reviews Topp Country, The NZ Herald, 13 May 2014