Father was a dairyfarmer, one of the smaller backbones of New Zealand, coaxing milk from reluctant udders on the partially converted Gumlands of North Auckland during the all-too-short period of unprecedented prosperity between the two world wars.

It was the small original touches which got Father into trouble. He had a painstaking capacity for seeing the most difficult and unlikely solutions to life's small problems. Father never did a simple and leisurely job. No, by the time he had finished it it was a large and urgent job.

T. Peter Hammond chronicles all this with a sense of comedy unequalled by any New Zealand writer. He never tries to be funny; but his impish delight into the absurdities of human endeavour, his natural wit and effervescent good humour, bubble up on every page.

His attitude to Father is, on the surface, outrageously irreverent and unfilial; but the book presents, in its entirety, an endearing portrait of a remarkable though reluctant pioneer.

Hardback - 150 pages

Published 1966

Excellent condition - a very nice copy