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With her debut novel, A Long Journey: from Steam to Cyber, Gayel, a sixth-generation New Zealander, has started using the pen name Gracie Stathers.
“This was my mother’s name and it was Gracie who taught me to appreciate history and understand how things in the past impact on future generations.”
Gayel trained in osteopathy and naturopathy and opened a clinic in Tauranga where she was in practice for thirty years. During that time she wrote two books on health and wellbeing: Magnets Restore Health and Health in a Minute.
She adds, “The most important thing I have ever done is to learn to read. If you can read you can learn anything, and, in your mind, go anywhere and meet amazing people. I’m easily entertained and happy to read most books that fall into my hands.
Reviewed by Jane Finch for Readers' Favorite
A Long Journey: From Steam to Cyber by Gracie Stathers follows the life journey and family history of several families and their descendants. The story begins in the mid-nineteenth century when many families are struggling to make a living. Unfairly convicted and sent to Norfolk Island to a penal colony in the southern ocean, the men are forced to take the hazardous sea journey to a time of hard labour and humiliation. Eventually they serve their time and end up in New Zealand, where they believe they will have a better future. Two world wars, a gold rush and chronic southern winters devastate them, but their determination and work ethic take them on a new path and to a land they can finally call home.
The author, Gracie Stathers, has created an epic family saga in A Long Journey. The reader is immediately drawn to each family and their individual circumstances. In addition, a credible picture is painted of the harshness of the era and the wildness, and at other times, the beauty of a newly-discovered land on the other side of the world. This is contrasted by their emotional devastation at leaving behind their wives and children, and not knowing what their future holds. A very emotional read that will please lovers of historical fiction as well as intrepid travellers, and those who enjoy adventure and satisfy their pioneering dreams within the pages of a book. Well written, a sound arc, believable characters and good historical content make this book an excellent read.
