Living up to Expectations
Spoiler Alert:
this post contains details which reveal plot elements of Little Miss Kiwi
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| before the opening of the Suez (1869) and Panama (1914) Canals, these were the routes between Britain and New Zealand |
The last century saw a steady and continuous counter-emigration from former British colonies back to the 'Motherland'. Many such travellers settled permanently in Britain, making their own contribution to its culture and society.
Little Miss Kiwi is based on a true-life story of this kind of emigration, or, more exactly, on one principal story and several other subsidiary stories. It is intended as a homage to the trials and tribulations and eventual success of one of the many who made the journey.
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| route via Panama Canal |
At that time, and until the advent of cheaper phone calls and, more recently, free, instantaneous communications, letter-writing was the only reasonable means of keeping in touch with one's faraway loved ones.
Letter-writing took time and patience, and was only ever a partially satisfactory tool. Still, there was an anticipation and excitement in the sending and receiving of letters which have been lost in our age of instant gratification.
I hope to have rendered the flavour of those past times through Lucy's letters as they contrast and conflict with the actual events of her new life in a new land.
