Travels with My Mother

Based on the author's decision to escort his octogenarian mother on a visit to England. Although she was New Zealand born and this was his mother's first visit, she had always thought of herself as an Englishwoman marooned on a far distant shore.

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Peter Calder's travels with his octogenarian mother - back to her roots in the Old Country - became a voyage of discovery for him as much as for her. Like many of her generation, she had always regarded herself fundamentally as an Englishwoman, marooned on a distant shore. And she had raised her son as an Englishman abroad, knowing more about Robin Hood than Te Kooti. His Travels with My Mother are recounted with wit and sensitivity. As the unlikely pair journey to London and the South West, the author reflects on his childhood and family life. The result is more than a travelogue: the diary of a specific trip is also a story that many New Zealanders will find familiar. It is an engrossing and entertaining story with many comic turns, which examines the author's relationship with his mother as much as it explores the land of their forebears. And it shows how, in visiting the Englishman he was brought up to be, the author learned more about the New Zealander that he has become. Peter Calder is widely regarded as one of New Zealand's leading film critics and is a higly respected writer who has twice won the award for best travel feature in the Qantas Media Awards.