Author(s): Peter Wells

New Zealand Literature | Literary biography

We all live with and seek to make sense of the inadequate ideas that conceptualise out time and place. Peter Wells was born in 1950, in Auckland, New Zealand, to sporting parents, with the complication of a brother who shared his sexuality. In his own words, he took a wrong turning: at eleven he decided the family could not 'afford' two homosexual sons. The problems this led to complicated his youth but possibly gave him the creative fuel that illuminated his later books and films. Through the difficulties and strains explored in this 'mosaic of a memoir' come other voices: Peter's resourceful, energetic mother; his returned serviceman father, coping with an ambiguous situation about which he understood little; and his ever-inventive, dynamic brother. The book shows the way morality imploded on this family, and their transcendence over the 'inadequate ideas' of time and place. There are insightful pieces written about New Zealand, about relationships and the effects of the violent death of a family friend.