Currently, Paypal is the only way this book can be purchased online, and only the printed book is available for sale. The Paypal Price does not include postage, which should be covered by the buyer for sales outside New Zealand.

Purchase is by Invoice/Purchase Request form. Be sure to use the same name for the purchase request as for payment, so the order can be properly handled.

The book price, NZ$20.00 is only one fifth of the actual production cost, which included professional editing, production by a respected book production company, and the use of relatively good paper and cover materials.

The paper has nevertheless aged in storage, with some foxing of exposed paper edges. Please accept this as an artistic "patina"!

The original print run was only 200 copies, and though more than 50 copies remain available, it is in every sense of the word a rare book!

Tales of Two Women by Ann Bayley (2005) Awaruku Press, Torbay (New Zealand),  576 pp.

 Paperback; black and white photographic plates; book weight 880 g.

Designed and typeset by Egan Reid Ltd, Auckland.

ISBN 0-476-01118-3

Paper may have some foxing from storage. Item is one of a limited print run of 200 copies.

The book is a survey of the life of two women living in different centuries, but connected through the links of oral history, family records, and public records. It is based on more than ten years of historical-research, writing, and rewriting.

Although stories told in the course of 58 short chapters are personal, they also reflect the social and cultural contexts in which they all take place, in Europe, USA, and New Zealand. The book also aims to show the importance of maternal connections in societies that were and remain largely patriarchal.

The book is in a sense a personal view of a general history that crosses two centuries, from 1844 to 1959, a period in which the modern, industrial world that we know today was largely created. 

The author (1928-2010) spent her childhood and early university years in Wisconsin, USA, then migrated to Auckland, New Zealand, where she lived for more than 50 years, raising a family, working as a music and language teacher, returning to university for graduate studies, playing cello in various stringed-instrument groups, and singing in the One Voice choir.

She eventually joined an Auckland writers group whose members contributed greatly to her book, as a volunteer audience for test-readings of each chapter.

"Awaruku Press" is the publisher of Ann Bayley (2005) Tales of Two Women, and is based in Auckland, New Zealand. The name is based on the Maori language name of a small creek that runs into the eastern end of Long Bay beach, below the bach where Ann Bayley lived while writing her book.

"Awaruku Press" is a publishing name created in 2005 by Peter J. Matthews of Kyoto, Japan, and copyright for this name is claimed by him. No company has been registered under this name, but use rights for trading purposes (including but not limited to book sales) are claimed for this name.