Truth be told
New Zealand Listener|April 15-21 2023
Sue McCauley has never shied away from bucking convention and in her new novel, the now 81-year-old has plenty to say on society and ageing.
SARAH CATHERALL
Truth be told

Sue McCauley sits in her home office, in the spot where she used to sleep as a child growing up on her family farm, east of Dannevirke.

The award-winning author is doing her first Zoom interview to talk about her new novel, Landed, which has taken two decades, on and off, to get from page to print. At 81, she finds technology a big annoyance - her book's protagonist, Briar, moans about it a lot - and McCauley wishes she had listened enough to her 50-something daughter to work out how to change the camera angle so I can see more of the room.

For more than six decades, McCauley worked as a journalist, scriptwriter and award-winning novelist. One of her first paid jobs was as a Listener journalist in the early 1960s, when women were a rarity in newsrooms. She segued into fiction writing to get her opinions on the page without censorship and also because society made it difficult to be a working mother at the time.

Describing herself today as "a slack writer on a pension", she blinks into the Zoom screen and nods that Landed will be her last book. She is not long back from senior aerobics. She's healthy for her age, although she has poor hearing and eyesight.

It is just as well she is active, as she is increasingly caring for her husband, Pat Hammond, 66, who has motor neurone disease. It was diagnosed about three years ago, and he moves around the house with a stick or leaning on McCauley, who says: "It's a horrible condition... I need to be healthy because I'm his caregiver now."

Esta historia es de la edición April 15-21 2023 de New Zealand Listener.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición April 15-21 2023 de New Zealand Listener.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE NEW ZEALAND LISTENERVer todo
First-world problem
New Zealand Listener

First-world problem

Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.

time-read
3 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Applying intelligence to AI
New Zealand Listener

Applying intelligence to AI

I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.

time-read
2 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Nazism rears its head
New Zealand Listener

Nazism rears its head

Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.

time-read
2 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Staying ahead of the game
New Zealand Listener

Staying ahead of the game

Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?

time-read
4 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Grasping the nettle
New Zealand Listener

Grasping the nettle

Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.

time-read
3 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Hangry? Eat breakfast
New Zealand Listener

Hangry? Eat breakfast

People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.

time-read
3 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Chemical reaction
New Zealand Listener

Chemical reaction

Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.

time-read
4 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Me and my guitar
New Zealand Listener

Me and my guitar

Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.

time-read
2 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Time is on my side
New Zealand Listener

Time is on my side

Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?

time-read
7 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
The kids are not alright
New Zealand Listener

The kids are not alright

Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.

time-read
4 minutos  |
September 9, 2024