Back to Anatori (ePub)

Bridget Coleman has just turned fifty. Her mother has recently died and she has inherited enough money to enable her to leave her long-time career as an English teacher, put a failed relationship behind her and make some sweeping changes in her life. She moves to a small rural township in an isolated, remote part of New Zealand, sets herself up as a 'life coach' and gets part-time work in a local café. She gradually becomes an accepted part of this small, rural community... a community that expresses the common human desires for connection, love, survival, peace, creativity and spiritual evolution ... a community that struggles with anger, fear, poverty, stifling social convention, senseless laws, old age, and unconventional sexual needs. Bridget is a self-aware, thoughtful, kind, courageous woman, living alone, but she is never alone. The surprising and remarkable events and relationships that she becomes involved in during her twelve months in the township change, enrich and develop her own soul and spirit in ways she could never have imagined. Although content with her single, celibate state, Bridget's personal life presents some surprising opportunities for love, connection, and reconnection. This story is a frank and sensitive depiction of the hidden, inner life of rural New Zealand society and how this affects and changes one woman. It is artistically and symbolically interwoven with the stunning natural scenery, rich bird life, rivers, sea, mountains, forest and gardens of this magical part of New Zealand.