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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Kelly Burke

Pirates, pigs and sex work: the extraordinary life of a bookseller at the end of the world

Lance Allen Kim Hill New Zealand Peter Roger Rogerson Fiordland Allen Unwin Snug
‘My life was totally insane and out of control’: Ruth Shaw’s memoir, the Bookseller at the End of the World, is out now. Photograph: Allen and Unwin

Ruth Shaw has embodied many roles throughout her life: pig farmer, navy deserter, solo sailor, illegal gambler, environmentalist, chef to archbishops, psychiatric patient, failed escort. She’s been arrested twice and married four times.

But the descriptor she appears most proud of is matchmaker.

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