Reflecting on a year of phenomenal guests, we are bringing you a selection of the Best Conversations of 2024.

Ruth Shaw runs a collection of three tiny bookshops at the southern tip of New Zealand's South Island. Even more than the books on her shelves, Ruth's life has been a high adventure full of danger, tears, heartbreak and love. 

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Ruth Shaw runs a collection of three tiny bookstores at the southern tip of New Zealand's South Island.

In them, she sells books of adventure, drama, tragedy and romance.

But many of these stories pale in comparison to the colourful life Ruth has lived.

In the decades before she became a bookseller at the end of the world, Ruth sailed the seas, she was attacked by pirates, she deserted the navy, she played cards to survive, she had her heart broken and had it mended by a special man in gumboots.

Content Warning: this episode of Conversation contains discussion of sexual assault, forced adoption and infant death.

It also explores military service, the Navy, teen pregnancy, family relationships, fishing, fishing boats, romantic relationships, publishing industry, New Zealand, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea, travelling, ocean travel, pirates, card sharks, card games, gambling, guns, international travel, Catholicism, Catholic Church, Cardinals.