Once Were Warriors — Alan Duff

Once Were Warriors is an explosive tale of New Zealand's Maori people, caught between a colonial mentality and attempts to retain their heritage. Alan Duff tells this story through the eyes of one family, slicing across the narrative with jagged edges of violence and the empty space left by a dead cultural identity. Made into a film that won the Grand Prix at the Montreal Film Festival, this novel conveys the richness of Maori culture while juxtaposing it against the stark reality of life on New Zealand's fringes.