Random House, NZ, 2010.
SETTLERS' CREEK
Named in the Listener, Top 100 Books of 2010
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Named in The Press, Books of the Year 2010
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Named in the Christchurch City Library, Top Ten Titles for 2010
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Long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards
Carl Nixon's first two books signaled a writer worth watching. His new work, Settlers' Creek, is a Pandora's box. It is the kind of novel that will be loved as much as it is loathed. It will raise fiercely contested issues as much as it tells a story. The storyline is simple, the effects complicated…. Two families come into conflict over the burial of a teenage boy. Box Saxton wants to bury his stepson (he raised him most of his life) in the local cemetery, but the biological father wants to return him to ancestral ground …..The second half of the book is a terrific portrait of the way grief can send you out of your mind and make you behave in unpredictable and irrational ways….(Nixon) shows what a master craftsman he can be. There is the poignant scene where Box and Liz bathe the un-balmed body of their dead son. Exquisite writing.
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New Zealand Herald
Weidle Verlag, Germany, 2013
Translated by Stefan Weidle
Nixon has a special gift for conveying a sense of place, and that that place is recognizably ours adds to the pleasure of reading him. He writes with immediacy and richness of detail, and his characterization is excellent….Settlers Creek is an immensely gripping novel, even in the time of earthquake it will do well.
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The Press, Christchurch
Carl Nixon is stunningly talented ….His second novel, Settlers' Creek, is a fascinating portrayal of a man alone in the midst of a complex cultural conflict … Nixon sets up a fruitful allegory between the nation Box's ancestors adopted and the son Box adopted, loved and nurtured. These claims are not biological or legal ones, but are moral, spiritual and emotional. Thus the political becomes personal again, and the story of Settlers' Creek returns to Box and his experience, perfectly balancing the exploration of a very contemporary issue with great storytelling.
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The Listener
btb verlag, Germany, 2016
Brave, bold and unflinching, Carl Nixon's Settlers' Creek is one of the best novels to come out of New Zealand. It's not only a gripping, brutal thriller but also a dissection of a country and its culture. It's the kind of book that gets you run out of town.
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Witi Ihimaera
... the most problematic book in modern Kiwi literature
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Victor Roger, New Zealand Books
With this fascinating odyssey of two different families in mourning Carl Nixon strikes at the most sensitive parts of the human soul... It is definitely worth going on this journey. It takes us not only to the roots of New Zealand but further, to the stranger in all of us.
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Anja Hirsch. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Editions de l'Aube, France, 2017
Translation by Benoite Dauvergne
Nixon brilliantly manages the balancing act between his characters’ extreme emotions and the culturally explosive issues he is exploring... An exciting New Zealand novel which deals with more than just crime and atonement.
- Awarded Five stars
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Meike Dannenburg. Bucher Magazine
October/November 2013
With this fascinating odyssey of two different families in mourning Carl Nixon strikes at the most sensitive parts of the human soul... It is definitely worth going on this journey. It takes us not only to the roots of New Zealand but further, to the stranger in all of us.
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Anja Hirsch. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Settlers Creek is a thriller without a crime – a hard and extremely disillusioning book about the ongoing conflict of identity and politics.
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Kolja Mensing. Die Zeit
Atmospheric descriptions of landscapes, lovingly portrayed characters, as well as subtly interlaced family bonds and traditions complete the sometimes very thrilling action.
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Heike Geilen. Tabularass