A Fine Prospect
by Jenny Carlyon and Diana Morrow, Random House, $55
This is a history of Remuera, Meadowbank and St Johns - the former Auckland suburb being the best-known (and most exclusive) of the three.
Remuera's history begins with wealthy people (mainly merchants) building grand homes on large estates with
wonderful views of the ocean. Like such suburbs, the houses remain but the sections they were built on now have several other homes on them.
It was a time of money and manners and social hierarchies - debutante balls, garden parties, society marriages and private schools. Quite a lot of that persists today.
This is an exhaustively researched and well-written book, detailing also the dramas and scandals, the businesses and the tragedies which dotted the upper-class veneer.
Many names in here will be familiar to people around the country, although most of them will be known only to those who live in, or who have lived in, the big city.
