My Account
A fictional country in Africa is the setting for the debut novel of Warkworth resident Mari Bennett.
Head of the Calf tells the story of a British wife and mother who follows her husband on a three-year posting to a country and a life that couldn’t be more different than the one she has been living in London in the 1980s.
“The story is drawn from personal experiences,” Bennett says. “I spent 15 years as a British ex-pat in Africa and like the main protagonist Kezia, experienced the events that led up to her failed marriage.
“I felt a need to tell my story, which I think will resonate with women who were also wives and mothers during the 1980s.
“It was a strange time, because we had just gone through the whole sexual revolution with outrageous clothing and lifestyles, and then somehow marriage knocked us right back into the box, and all our freedom and self-determination ended.”
Bennett says when women became wives and mothers back then, they gave up their own aspirations and focused instead on supporting their husbands and caring for their children.
“There was no further advancement for us and I felt cheated by that. Some women accepted it, like I did, or they became quite angry and involved in the feminist movement.”
Bennett says the story has feminist aspects to it.
“Modern women know that they don’t need a man to live a full life, but we didn’t back then.”
Bennett says the other theme in the book is that “it’s okay to be ordinary”.
Bennett moved to NZ in 2018 where her two sons now live. She says the covid pandemic and lockdowns gave her plenty of willing readers and she benefited from the critical eye of good friends, including her writing group back in the UK.
She is now working on a new book chronicling her journey through a cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Copies of the Head of the Calf are available from The Photo Store and 8.55 to Cairo in Warkworth, and The Nook Bookshop in Wellsford.
Book Giveaway
Mahurangi Matters has a copy of Head of the calf to giveaway. To be in the draw, just email editor@localmatters.co.nz with Calf in the subject line, by April 21, 2023.
