''The Captive Wife'' is a 2005 novel by New Zealand writer

Fiona Kidman Dame Fiona Judith Kidman ( Eakin; born 26 March 1940) is a New Zealand novelist, poet, scriptwriter and short story writer. She grew up in Northland, and worked as a librarian and a freelance journalist early in her career. She began writing ...

. It is about the 1835 kidnapping of settler

Betty Guard Elizabeth Guard (; 3 December 1814 – 16 July 1870) was an Australian settler of New Zealand. She is thought to have been the first woman of European descent to settle in the South Island. In 1834 she and her two children were kidnapped by ...

Māori people Māori () are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of Māori migration canoes, c ...

in the South Island of New Zealand. The novel covers Guard's captivity both literally (through the kidnapping) and figuratively (in her marriage to

John Guard John Guard ( 1791/92 – 1857) was an English convict sent to Australia who was one of the first European settlers in the South Island of New Zealand, working as a whaler and trader. Early life Guard was born in London in 1791 or 1792. On 17 M ...

, who was also known as "Jacky"). Mike Crean, reviewing the book for ''

The Press ''The Press'' () is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand, owned by media business Stuff (company), Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday t ...

'', said it was an "example of the best in New Zealand

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...

", with Kidman bringing "together into a continuous narrative the series of dramatic happenings that comprised the early life of Betty Guard". Kidman met some of Guard's descendants in the 1950s when her husband taught at

Arapaoa Island Arapaoa Island (formerly spelled Arapawa Island) is the second-largest island in the Marlborough Sounds, at the north-east tip of the South Island of New Zealand. The island has a land area of . Queen Charlotte Sound defines its western side, ...

. She was later assisted by them in writing the book, and has said that she had to write about Guard's story because "this was a story that epitomised so many aspects of women’s lives – being anchored in one place, discovering one’s sexuality in surprising ways, and so on".

Awards and honours

The novel was a runner-up in the fiction category and received the Readers' Choice award (shared with Maurice Gee) at the 2006

New Zealand Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder Wa ...

References

2005 novels Novels set in New Zealand Historical fiction Novels set in the 19th century {{2010s-hist-novel-stub