Owen Marshall
Author of The Lanarchs
About the Author
Owen Marshall is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, poet and anthologist, who has written or edited 30 books, including the bestselling novel The Larnachs. His fiction has won numerous awards including the New Zealand Literary Fund Scholarship in Letters, fellowships at Otago and show more Canterbury universities, and the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship in Menton, France. In 2013 received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction. In 2000 his novel Harlequin Rex won the Montana New Zealand Book Awards Deutz Medal for Fiction. Many of his other books have been shortlisted for major awards. He was the inaugural recipient of the Creative New Zealand Writers' Fellowship in 2003, and was the 2009/10 Antarctica New Zealand Arts Fellow. In 2006 he was invited by the French Centre National du Livre to participate in their Les Belles Etranges Festival and subsequent tour, anthology and documentary. (Publisher Provided) show less
Works by Owen Marshall
Monster Trucks 5 copies
Authors' choice : leading New Zealand writers select their best stories - and explain why (2001) 3 copies
Three Poems 1 copy
Associated Works
Monsters in the Garden: An Anthology of Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy (2021) — Contributor — 14 copies
Writing at the Edge of the Universe: Essays From the Creative Writing in New Zealand Conference (2004) — Contributor — 5 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Jones, Owen Marshall
- Birthdate
- 1941-08-17
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Canterbury (MA in English, 1964)
- Occupations
- short story writer
editor
writer-in-residence (Canterbury University ∙ 1981)
teacher - Organizations
- Canterbury University
Waitaki Boys' High school - Awards and honors
- Member of Order of New Zealand ( [2000])
Robert Burns Fellowship (1992)
Michael King Writer’s Fellowship (2003) - Short biography
- Owen Marshall is the pen name of Owen Marshall Jones.
- Nationality
- New Zealand
- Birthplace
- Te Kuiti, New Zealand
- Places of residence
- Timaru, New Zealand
Blenheim, New Zealand - Associated Place (for map)
- New Zealand
Members
Reviews
(7.5) This book drew me in very quickly and I was keen to return to it's pages. I find this author's observations of human interaction and indeed mature marriages/relationships authentic and recognisable. I very much enjoyed the beginning phase of the evolving friendship, however it palled for me. Maybe because I felt that Sarah was making the wrong decision and it could only lead to angst and maybe because Hartley was too good to be true. However I guess it is a sign of the writer's skill show more when he evokes an emotional response. I found the conclusion a bit melodramatic. Although the opening quote was an accurate portend of what was to come - "When love is not madness, it is not love." show less
I found the lack of direct speech difficult at first, but by the end I had nothing but admiration for the way Marshall had turned my allegiance from Connie to Dougie and then William. I think the psychology of an affair was what I found most fascinating - motivations, self-delusion and justifications all artfully controlled and manipulated by the author.
Owen Marshall (b. 1941) is a well-known author in New Zealand, with a very substantial body of work and some impressive accolades from the KiwiLit community, not to mention mentions in three shortlists noted on this blog — but it was not until I came across John McCrystal's review of his new novel Pearly Gates in the New Zealand Review of Books (about which I have enthused before, see here) that I got round to chasing up one of his titles. (Which just shows you the value of an enticing show more review, eh?)
It's a surprisingly interesting book, given the quotidian nature of its characterisation and plot. It's very everyday, just the tale of an ordinary man in small town New Zealand and his late life crisis of conscience, but I couldn't put it down. It's a remarkable achievement to make a reader care about the ethical fate of a man whose success in life has made him complacent and a little too proud of his somewhat mundane achievements.
Aged 64, Pat 'Pearly' Gates is a real estate agent, and in his second term as mayor of the small provincial town he lives in. He is comfortably married to Helen, and they have two adult children regrettably living far away but not estranged either. Pearly is a recognisable face around town, and admired for his long ago feats playing rugby for Otago although injury forced him out before he could achieve his ambition to play for the All Blacks. He's a good 'people person', comfortable with listening to the inevitable complaints from constituents, and with a good team around him at the council, reasonably responsive to reasonable requests. He's mildly obsessive about appearances, becoming unduly irritated by a scratch on his car and passing over a best-qualified job applicant because his shoes were dirty, but not realising that he's not exactly a smart dresser himself until late in the day when out-of-towners more successful than he, return for a school reunion.
But he is a bit smug:
So it comes as a surprise when this basically decent if complacent man stumbles across political advantage and slyly uses it for his own benefit. Actually, it's more than a surprise, it's quite shocking. No one know about Pearly's role in it, not even his victim, but it preys on his mind. Along with some other stupid out-of-character things he's done...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/09/05/pearly-gates-by-owen-marshall/ show less
It's a surprisingly interesting book, given the quotidian nature of its characterisation and plot. It's very everyday, just the tale of an ordinary man in small town New Zealand and his late life crisis of conscience, but I couldn't put it down. It's a remarkable achievement to make a reader care about the ethical fate of a man whose success in life has made him complacent and a little too proud of his somewhat mundane achievements.
Aged 64, Pat 'Pearly' Gates is a real estate agent, and in his second term as mayor of the small provincial town he lives in. He is comfortably married to Helen, and they have two adult children regrettably living far away but not estranged either. Pearly is a recognisable face around town, and admired for his long ago feats playing rugby for Otago although injury forced him out before he could achieve his ambition to play for the All Blacks. He's a good 'people person', comfortable with listening to the inevitable complaints from constituents, and with a good team around him at the council, reasonably responsive to reasonable requests. He's mildly obsessive about appearances, becoming unduly irritated by a scratch on his car and passing over a best-qualified job applicant because his shoes were dirty, but not realising that he's not exactly a smart dresser himself until late in the day when out-of-towners more successful than he, return for a school reunion.
But he is a bit smug:
Pearly reviewed his decision to stand for a third term. He enjoyed being mayor, although he was now fully aware of the tedious nature of many of the responsibilities and functions. And his satisfaction in the role wasn't just an expression of his sense of achievement, of entitlement. Pearly had real affection and concern for his home region. Indeed for the country as a whole. He liked to see decent intentions and decent people succeed, as he had himself, and he rarely doubted his own judgement. Pearly was his own role model. (p.10)
So it comes as a surprise when this basically decent if complacent man stumbles across political advantage and slyly uses it for his own benefit. Actually, it's more than a surprise, it's quite shocking. No one know about Pearly's role in it, not even his victim, but it preys on his mind. Along with some other stupid out-of-character things he's done...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/09/05/pearly-gates-by-owen-marshall/ show less
I was delighted when I first read of this book. I had the pleasure of visiting Larnach Castle in Dunedin a few years ago and was intrigued by the family history and thought surely there is a novel to be written. I was doubly pleased that an author of such repute had taken on the task and I was not disappointed.
William Larnach was a politician and self-made man who built what is known as Larnach's Castle on the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand. Unfortunately during this project his wife Eliza show more died. He married her sister Mary, who lived with them, largely to provide a mother figure for his youngest daughter, Gladys - a marriage of convenience.
Mary also died 5 years later and William is drawn to the much younger, attractive and well educated forthright Constance de Bathe Brandon, daughter of a parlimentary colleague, who became his third wife.
The marriage began with promise, William finding Constance an asset to his social standing in Wellington and she too was content. However when William's beloved daughter Kate dies of typhoid, William becomes depressed and morose. William's other adult daughters in Dunedin have never accepted their father's choice of bride and make life unpleasant for her in Larnach. Her only allies being young Gladys and his younger son Dougie, only seven years younger than Conny.
William's suffers financial set back and a couple of accidents, which make him more depressed. Meanwhile Conny and Dougie develop a close frienship which gradually becomes a love affair.
The story is narrated by Conny and Dougie in alternate chapters and the author handles the differnt voices well. A backdrop of the social and political climate of the late nineteenth century weaves smoothly through the story.
I found this a very satisfying novel to read. It is also beautifully bound. show less
William Larnach was a politician and self-made man who built what is known as Larnach's Castle on the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand. Unfortunately during this project his wife Eliza show more died. He married her sister Mary, who lived with them, largely to provide a mother figure for his youngest daughter, Gladys - a marriage of convenience.
Mary also died 5 years later and William is drawn to the much younger, attractive and well educated forthright Constance de Bathe Brandon, daughter of a parlimentary colleague, who became his third wife.
The marriage began with promise, William finding Constance an asset to his social standing in Wellington and she too was content. However when William's beloved daughter Kate dies of typhoid, William becomes depressed and morose. William's other adult daughters in Dunedin have never accepted their father's choice of bride and make life unpleasant for her in Larnach. Her only allies being young Gladys and his younger son Dougie, only seven years younger than Conny.
William's suffers financial set back and a couple of accidents, which make him more depressed. Meanwhile Conny and Dougie develop a close frienship which gradually becomes a love affair.
The story is narrated by Conny and Dougie in alternate chapters and the author handles the differnt voices well. A backdrop of the social and political climate of the late nineteenth century weaves smoothly through the story.
I found this a very satisfying novel to read. It is also beautifully bound. show less
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 41
- Also by
- 10
- Members
- 317
- Popularity
- #74,564
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 12
- ISBNs
- 64