Christine Green Authors' Agent

HOME         AUTHORS         ABOUT US         FAQS         SUBMISSIONS         CONTACT         PRIVACY NOTICE

     

 

 

Warwick Blanchett

 

Warwick Blanchett was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand and now lives on the small island of Waiheke off the coast of Auckland. He has also lived in France, Japan, Australia and Canada. A degree in maths and a diploma in piano preceded such eclectic professions as actor, oil exploration assistant, primary school teacher, documentary film-maker and fine artist. His time in Japan inspired his debut novel Evening Rain, Storm Mountain.

Warwick Blanchett has been represented by Christine Green Authors' Agent since 2013.

 

Ali Lewis

Books

 

Evening Rain, Storm Mountain

Kyoto, 1944. The Okajima family are trying to carry on as usual.

Matsuko is a librarian; while her fiancé is away in the army, her focus is taking care of her family. Her brother, Keisaburo, is a medical student, distracted from his studies by the hordes leaving to fight. Kiku, the youngest, is just fourteen. In her dingy school uniform she learns to kill American devils with bamboo spears. The war has them all confused and hungry, and they are steadily losing their mother to dementia, which their father dismisses as stubbornness. Next door, Hiroshi and his tyrant father have recently moved in; he and Keisaburo become lovers.

When a handsome army recruitment officer with sleek hair and a Tokyo accent, is posted to Kyoto, Matsuko falls instantly in love. Though she is engaged and he is married, they take their first tentative steps towards an affair, and are soon consumed by it. As Matsuko's every thought is of her lover, her brother is seduced by the war.

Woven around the central threads are ideas on life and death, the corruption of innocence, personal and political myth-making and so much more. This is a slim book, written with poignancy and lightness of touch. The prose is clean and lyrical, the structure delicate and concise, the story captivating, making this literary novel truly accessible and engaging.