This book is a love letter to Central Otago. Like so many areas around the Pacific Rim, the South Island of New Zealand was inundated with treasure seekers in the nineteenth century. In the Wakatipu Basin, you can still find remnants of their quest in Arrowtown, the ghostly buildings in Macetown, and many lonely places along the rivers.
The geography, the culture, the immigrants, the idioms—my aim was to capture the flavor of the Otago goldfields. But, contrariwise, I also wanted Magee to be a universal tale—a cock-and-bull adventure in the spirit of Banjo Paterson and his bush poetry. Which is all by way of saying I have taken considerable liberties with dates and details. Eden and its inhabitants are my own invention. Some of the mountain ranges are fictitious. And many of the descriptions are open to your imagination. In my head, the islands of Jenny’s mother are the Marshall Islands of my cousins, Lau and Tony, but this area of the world and this time period are filled with fascinating people and places. I encourage you to explore them, as I have, and to make Jenny and her home your own.
It has been an honor to write this book, to talk it over with a new generation, and to draw information and inspiration from the generous experts of diverse backgrounds who helped me in the process. And if you are a Jenny or a Pandora or a Kam or a Lok, I hope I’ve come within a country mile of having this story ring true to you.