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S&S bags Bennett's debut thriller on New Zealand’s colonial past

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Simon & Schuster UK has landed Better the Blood, the "engrossing and exciting" debut thriller by award-winning Māori screenwriter and director Michael Bennett.

Deputy publishing director for fiction Katherine Armstrong signed world all language rights, excluding TV and film, to the novel and a second book. The book was acquired from agent Craig Sisterson on behalf of the author and S&S will publish in August 2022. It is currently in development for a six-part television series. Rights were pre-empted in Germany (Heyne), Holland (AW Bruna) and Finland (Like) and have also been sold in France (Les Arènes), Italy (Rizzoli), Hungary (Alexandra Kaido), Lithuania (Baltos Lankos) and the Czech Republic (Grada).

Better the Blood tells the story of tenacious Māori police detective Hana Westerman who is pulled into the search for Auckland’s first serial killer. "The killings have links to New Zealand’s colonial past and it’s not long before Hana realises that the killer’s agenda of revenge might include her," the synopsis reads. "Set in Auckland, one of the 10 most liveable cities in the world, Better the Blood explores its bloody colonial history and the oppression of its indigenous population; and introduces readers to a compelling and distinctive new voice in crime fiction."

"I was completely drawn into Hana’s story when I first read Better the Blood," said  Armstrong. "While I’ve visited New Zealand, the darker aspects of its colonial history are not something I – and probably many people in the UK – know a lot about. Michael has not only shone a light on the Māori community and what many have suffered over the years, but he has also found a way to integrate that past with an engrossing and exciting thriller. Hana is a brilliantly drawn and conflicted detective and Better the Blood deftly explores the clash between culture and duty that many Māori officers like her might come up against. I’m absolutely thrilled to be publishing Michael in the UK this summer."

Bennett added: "Aotearoa (New Zealand) is paradise. But it’s a paradise with an awful and bloody colonial history which still impacts everyday life. The social consequences and mamae (cultural pain) of colonisation remain unhealed. Better the Blood explores these raw and unhealed scars through the genre I love most, the crime thriller. My goal was to craft a nail-biting novel that becomes a Trojan horse carrying big, complex, difficult themes. The laser instincts and unflinching challenges of my editor Katherine Armstrong have given the book wings, and I am humbled that my agent Craig Sisterson has found a home for my debut novel with one of the great publishing houses, Simon & Schuster."

Bennett is an award-winning screenwriter, director and author. His first book, a non-fiction novel telling the true story of New Zealand’s worst miscarriage of justice, In Dark Places (BookBaby), won Best Non-Fiction Book at the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Awards. His second book, Helen and the Go-Go Ninjas (Penguin), is a time-travel graphic novel co-authored with Ant Sang.

His short films and feature films have been screened at numerous international festivals including Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, Locarno, New York, London and Melbourne. He is the 2020 recipient of the Te Aupounamu Māori Screen Excellence Award, in recognition of members of the Māori filmmaking community who have made high-level contributions to screen storytelling.

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13th December 202413th December 2024

13th December 2024

Latest Issue

13th December 202413th December 2024

13th December 2024