Enough Horizon

One of the first writers to speak with an authentic New Zealand voice, Blanche Edith Baughan (1870–1958) was known as a poet and local travel writer. Enough Horizon tells Blanche’s story, her successes and her struggles: a troubled upbringing with a mentally ill mother in London, and her emigration to New Zealand in 1900, where she embraced the freedom it gave her to write, think, and enjoy the wilderness she grew to love.

It was here, particularly in her beloved Akaroa, that Blanche’s writing and interests in the environment and her advocacy for the vulnerable in society flourished. She was a botanist, conservationist, humanitarian, and prison reformer, who strove for the effective and humane treatment of prisoners. Blanche met and corresponded with leading writers, thinkers, and scientists of her day, including John Ruskin and poets Jessie Mackay and Ursula Bethell.

Carol Markwell’s thoughtful and meticulous biography of this unique and complex woman is a tour de force.