When Colin Radford told his then 88-year-old sister that he was writing a book, she advised, “You will have to put some sex in or no one will bother to read it.” Setting the matter of sex aside, this memoir is a slice of New Zealand life from 1930 to the present day. It will appeal to anyone who has known these times or who wants to learn what life was like “back then”.

Colin grew up beside the Mokau River in the 1930s, in a farmhouse without road access or electricity. He captures a happy childhood of raiding plum trees, whitebaiting, playing tricks on his four older sisters and everyday life on a backcountry farm with dogs, horses, chooks and a big extended family. These sunlit days do not foreshadow the darker days to come.

Colin is a natural raconteur. His entertaining yarns cover his early-adult years of rugby, cars, dances at the local hall, hunting, shearing sheep and erecting miles of fences in the rugged King Country. Colin’s determination to buy his own farms and to provide for his growing family drives him on – eventually drought and misfortune overcome him.

Colin candidly shares his experiences of mental illness and its accompanying prejudice, and how he changed from “back blocks” farmer and keen rugby supporter to university arts graduate, protester at the 1981 Springbok Tour and at Bastion Point and antiques dealer in Auckland

Has Colin put in too much or too little about sex? He says, “you be the judge”.