Using what is essentially an imaginary line, the 45th parallel, the writer and the photographer have revealed southern New Zealand in a new and insightful way.
We are used to thinking of the South Island as being made up of largely unconnected vertical bands - east, central and west. But 45 South pulls that construct apart and refashions it along the horizontal line of latitude midway between the equator and the South Pole.
Fearnley combines well-researched information and personal anecdotes drawn from years kayaking, camping and driving in the South to craft essays of interest and depth.
Do read the introduction as it helps ease the reader into the 45th parallel journey, which gets going quickly in chapter one.
Gasteiger's photographs range from the face-value documentary to the superbly artistic, including some beautifully captured landscapes.
More than a coffee-table book - handsome enough to be living-room eye-candy but detailed enough to savour in bed - 45 South is a fresh and welcome celebration of this land and its people, past and present.
Win a copy
The ODT has five copies of 45 South, by Laurence Fearnley and Arno Gasteiger (RRP $65), to give away courtesy of publisher Penguin.
For your chance to win a copy, email helen.speirs@odt.co.nz with your name and postal address in the body of the email, and ''45 South Book Competition'' in the subject line, by 5pm on Tuesday, November 19.
- Bruce Munro is an ODT features writer in Dunedin.
