Bill and Shirley: A memoir [Hardcover]

Bill Sutch and Shirley Smith were two of New Zealands most significant twentieth-century figures: Sutch as an economist, influential civil servant, and inspirational proponent of innovation in the fields of social and economic development; and Smith as glass ceiling breaker and sole practitioner in the formerly male dominated world of the law. This wise, urbane memoir begins with the early years of Keith Ovendens marriage to their only child, Helen Sutch, and carries through Sutchs trial on charges brought against him under the Official Secrets Act, all the way to Shirleys death over thirty years later. It offers unprecedented insights into the accusations against Sutch, as well as Smiths remarkable legal practice, and behind both, some of the dramas of their domestic life. Deeply intelligent and beautifully crafted, it offers a unique and intimate study of two complex and fascinating New Zealanders.

An exemplary memoir examining the complex, remarkable lives of two very famous New Zealanders

Keith Ovenden ONZM was born in London in 1943 and was educated at various universities in England and the United States. He taught Political Sociology at the universities of Essex and Canterbury until 1982, when he stepped aside to write full time. He first came to New Zealand with a visiting British universities debating team in 1966, returned as a post-doctoral fellow at Victoria University of Wellington in 1972, and has called New Zealand home since 1974. He was well known in the 1970s and 1980s for his radio and TV commentaries on politics and the media, and for reporting on theRainbow Warrioraffair. More recently he has served as a trustee and then chairman of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery. His other books includeApartheid and International Finance: A Program for Change(with Tony Cole);The Politics of Steel;A Fighting Withdrawal: The Life of Dan Davin: Writer, Soldier, Publisher; and the novelsRatatui,O.E.,The GrlÃN