First a dream, then the book

JUST A THOUGHT: Book designer Geraldine Oliver (inset) had an idea for the cover of her first novel. She found a young man who agreed to meet her and photographer Brennan Thomas at Makaraka Cemetery, where he shot this atmospheric image. Picture supplied

A vivid dream gave first-time Gisborne author Geraldine Oliver the title for a novel but no suggestions about plot or characters.

With the book title, The Undertaker's Apprentice, on her mind she phoned the head of Penguin Books, Geoff Walker. In her work as a book designer, Ms Oliver had had contact with Mr Walker about a design proposal.

“I said I had an idea for a book. He said that's a great idea, and put down the phone.”

Ms Oliver did some research, created characters, and their story, and wrote the novel. The Undertaker's Apprentice is now to be published by Pegasus.

Set in Pukekohe, the story centres on Dartel, a Maori boy who works at a funeral home, and Mala, an Indian girl who is uprooted from her life in Fiji and brought to New Zealand.

“Life has taken a sudden left turn for both of them,” says Ms Oliver.

“They are kindred spirits.”

The boy's aspiration to become an All Black was crushed when he suffered a serious injury in a car accident. The girl pines for Fiji and every attempt to fit into New Zealand society ends in disaster.

“It's a typical New Zealand novel,” jokes Ms Oliver.

“It starts with the funeral of the boy's best mate. Dartel finds work with the undertaker who buries his friend. This wasn't the way he expected his life to go.”

The often characteristic darkness of Kiwi literature aside, The Undertaker's Apprentice is a comedic tale based on The Sorcerer's Apprentice, says Ms Oliver.

In Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1797 poem, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, an old sorcerer leaves his workshop while his apprentice has chores to do. The apprentice enchants a broom to do the work for him, the floor becomes awash with water, and the apprentice realises he does not have the skills to stop the broom.

Chaos ensues.

“In my novel the undertaker goes on a fishing trip, leaves Dartel in charge and all hell breaks loose.”

Before she embarked on writing her novel Ms Oliver interviewed three funeral directors. They were delighted someone wanted to talk to them, she says.

“No one wants to talk to them unless it's about a dead relative but they have wonderful stories. The parts about undertakers were easy to write.”

She also met with the Indian owners of a dairy to learn about customs and wording.

One of the characters Ms Oliver created from that research was Aunt Vina.

“Aunt Vina took off on her own. Where she went I followed. I love Aunt Vina. She is a businesswoman but subordinate to her husband.

“I made up the story as I went along. I never worried about getting stuck. If you get to a place where you're not sure what to do, get up and have a walk and don't even think about it. I find that's a very fruitful time. When you do anything physical the solution will float to the surface.”

Personal circumstances meant once Ms Oliver had completed the novel she did not approach a publisher for some time.

“I had the manuscript lying in a drawer for a long time. When I could think about publishing again I was coming to the end of my second manuscript. I looked online and found Pegasus, which was calling for New Zealand and Australian manuscripts.”

She submitted her novel and got an immediate response by email in which the publishing house offered her a three-book contract under a shared-cost arrangement.