Writer takes on Kiwi history

To Distant Shores, the latest book in Puhoi author William (Bill) Hammond’s Cutler Family Chronicles series of historical novels, is significantly different from its predecessors – it is largely set in 1840s New Zealand.
Bill is an American, who moved here in 2016 with his New Zealand-born wife, Sheree.
Having only lived here for seven years, colonial NZ was a meaty topic to take on, but Bill says his love of history, and “as much research as humanly possible” was up to the task.
“Writers of historical fiction have an obligation to get the history right, which means significant research,” Bill...