The Farm

The Farm is a lyrical and entertaining journey to the heart of rural life in New Zealand from one of our greatest living writers.

When Bruce Ansley visited a friend on a sheep farm on Banks Peninsula, they pointed out a property for sale, down by the water.

Down a drive curving through sycamores, oaks, and rhododendrons, there was a deer farm, with an old white Victorian homestead, overlooking soft green pastures beneath rocky crags—the Western Valley of Koukourarata, or Port Levy.

What followed were all the things one would expect to encounter when a couple from the city fulfils a lifelong dream to own a farm: joy, heartbreak, disaster; the vagaries of weather, animals, and people. All of it made up a way of life that will be recognisable to many who grew up in the country, and to anyone who has it still lodged in their psyche.

'Bruce writes the way I wish everyone could tell a story—with wit, grace, wisdom and good timing. Reading him is like listening to a friend whose eye for detail, ear for a yarn, and sense of fun remind you why you became friends in the first place. The Farm puts the heart into heartland and gives us townies a perfect glimpse of life on the other side of the fence.'

- Finlay Macdonald