NINE GIRLS by Stacy Gregg — reviewed by Stella

The Margaret Mahy Book of the Year is the most coveted award for children’s books in Aotearoa. Every year, from many excellent entries, one book is chosen that flies above the rest. This year the winner was a household name and a popular author with younger readers, often winning children’s choice awards, a bestselling author here and overseas, and a popular guest author at festivals and schools. Her love for horses propelled her to write 33 pony stories — some of which were pony club dramas (one became a hit TV series in the UK), while others were more nuanced tales of girls, horses, history and overcoming an issue. As a bookseller, I’ve read a few and they are immaculate in pitch and skill. Yet Nine Girls takes us somewhere new with Stacy Gregg. The author has skin in the game. It’s her childhood, and her journey in te ao Māori which resonates on every page giving this adventure story that extra bite. But it is the protaganist, Titch, who will stay with you. It’s the late 1970s and Dad has been made redundant. It’s time to pack up and move from Remuera to Ngāruawāhia — a culture shock for TItch and her sister, but also the stuff of holidays and relatives with tall tales. One tall tale takes hold: Gold! Buried gold buried somewhere on their ancestral  land. Gold with a tapu on it. Titch and her cousins think it might be time to find it. Their plans aren’t great and they are worried about being cursed, especially as more secrets come to light. What is it about the past and her family? As the past is unpicked, this is the Waikato, Titch comes to understand the complexities of relationships in this small town, piecing together information with the help of an unexpected creature (Gregg weaves in a talking eel) — a creature that is not exactly trustworthy, but definitely a source of fascination. The relationship between Titch and Paneiraira (Pan) reminded me of other fictional child/animal bond scenarios and it gives Nine Girls a wonderful and unexpected narrator to relay history and family secrets. While Pan may be a source of information, it is Tania who will become a firm friend and open a door into a new world for Titch, teaching her more about herself than she could ever have imagined. This is a coming-of-age story about family, culture and friendship; it takes on big issues like racism (the personal and the political — the protests of the Tour surface) and the emotional challenges of facing illness and death. In all these things, Titch discovers herself, and her own culture, coming home as has Stacy Gregg. And as ever, great story-telling.