Head south to Australia and take a sharp turn east to arrive in New Zealand. It's a landscape both magical and majestic, surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Tasman Sea and southwestern Pacific.

New Zealand is a fairly new country: the first people to arrive were ancestors of the Māori, between 1200 and 1300. It took another 300 years for European explorers to show up. Modern NZ balances its colonial and Māori history with three official languages (English, Māori, and NZ sign language), and a national anthem that's sung in both Māori and English. 

In this episode, we get curious about life in New Zealand, then recommend books that transported us there, including an essay collection, a memoir from an American woman who married a Māori, a novel about the 1860 gold rush, a tale of Māori mythology, and a fantasy novel set in Wellington.

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes at http://strongsenseofplace.com/podcasts/2020-10-05-new-zealand

Books we cover include:

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