Stories by David Wall

Kapiak Tree by Anna Chu MaskiMedia PO Box 757, Ravenshoe, QLD 4888 Phone:    07 40…   Email: publisher@maskimedia.com.au  Cost: AU$24.50 plus p&p AU$3.50 within Australia

Anna Chu’s little book: Kapiak tree: memories of Papua New Guinea is just that, a capably conjured up story of how life was actually lived in the towns and outstations in pre-independence and early post-independence Papua New Guinea, from the perspective of a mixed race woman. Her account impelled me to read the book from cover to cover without putting it down.

    At first I could not explain why I liked it so much. Objectively some might say it is not particularly well written with thoughts meandering in and out throughout and facts and events seasoning the storytelling unexceptionally. But this is the very essence that makes the book so charming: the respect Anna has for her father, Chu Leong, and her love for her mother are interspersed with honest accounts of relationships with men, and interesting descriptions about food and life in general in PNG.

    I know that Anna’s book is a true and honest account of PNG life as I also lived in some of the places she describes, and for anyone wanting to know how things really were in, say, the Sepik, this captivating little tale is highly recommended.

    Included in the book are a number of interesting and historical photographs.