Vincent Ward’s Taranaki War: battle, captivity and romance in River Queen.

Abstract

The end of Tītokowaru’s war in south Taranaki was indeterminate and its political consequences debatable. In River Queen, Vincent Ward gives sharper definition to events and reaches a more distinct conclusion by focusing on a relatively short period in the campaign and by incorporating into his account a second narrative, an invented, personal history. The latter threads through the public history, lending it colour and offering easy access to its action and participants. An introductory screennote briefly details the larger historical situation – the mid-nineteenth-century period of the New Zealand Wars, when imperial and colonial government forces battled Māori tribes over land and sovereignty. ....