Important passages from the novel

1. The trouble was that Koro Apirana could not reconcile his traditional beliefs about Maori leadership and rights with Kahu’s birth. 
2. ‘Go away,’ Koro Apirana would thunder. ‘Go. Get away from here,’ he repeated. ‘Go away. You are of no use to me.’

 3. For the rest of that evening the seat beside Nani Flowers remained empty, like a gap in a row of teeth.

 4. ‘When it dies, we die. I die.’ ‘No, Paka. And if it lives?’ ‘Then we live also.’

 5. ‘I should have known that she was the one,’ Koro Apirana said.

 6. Oh, yes, grandchild. Rise up from the depths of your long sleep. Return to the people and take your rightful place among them.

 7. ‘You’re the best grandchild in the whole wide world,’ he said. ‘Boy or girl, it doesn’t matter.’