Becky Manawatu described her debut, 2022’s Auē, as “a breath in”. Its follow-up, Kataraina, she has called “a breath out”. It continues that first novel’s themes of intergenerational trauma and violence within a largely Māori community based around the town of Kaikourā, on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Auē won multiple awards in New Zealand and became an international bestseller; while Kataraina fleshes out its backstory, it can also be read as a thrillingly immersive standalone.
The main focus of this new novel is a minor character from Auē, Aunty Kat, the maternal aunt of brothers Ari and Taukiri whose story was covered in the previous book. Almost erased by domestic abuse in Auē, here she is accorded her full name, Kataraina Te Au, and a narrative that swings back and forth from her birth in 1981 to the present: early January 2020. Kataraina, the only surviving sibling of three, with a brother dead through gang warfare and a sister believed drowned, has been in a coma in hospital following a beating from her partner, Stuart Johnson. Stuart was then shot dead by Beth, the young daughter of Kat’s childhood friend, neighbour, and – most recently – lover, Tom Aiken. This episode formed the dramatic climax of Auē.
