Collision — Joanna Orwin

Collision - the violent impact of opposing forces; the clash of two different world views and cultures.
A fast-paced, exciting YA/Adult historical novel about the disastrous collision of cultures that occurred in the Bay of Islands, when the two ships in French explorer Marion duFresne's expedition came ashore to find a replacement for a mast destroyed in a collision at sea. A source of fascination and fear for local Maori, who at first attempted to placate these godlike creatures, but became increasingly angered by their lack of respect for tribal values and traditions, the expedition blindly become authors of their own demise. Orwin skilfully reveals the ill-fated expedition's bitter end, after months of cohabitation, racheting up the tension with a clever use of a fictitious written Maori account of the events that has survived as a tribal artifact. European history has told one side of the story, and now through the device of a young sailor, who is adopted by one of the Rangatira vying for political and military dominance, Joanna Orwin weaves a fascination Maori counterpoint so that the inexplicable treachery becomes not only explicable but increasingly inevitable. Researched in depth with local sources, for the first time a key event in history is examined in a fresh and revealing way, bringing the tragic events to a breathtaking conclusion and casting a new light on the past through the narrative device of a skilled novelist. thoroughly good read.