Available Soon

High hopes: the history of the Nelson mineral belt by Mike Johnston. To be published by Nikau Press.

Better Prospects: The Parkes Family History by Elizabeth K. Parkes.

148 pp. Indexed. References and Sources. $16.50 post-paid.

Commencing with the Notts/Hants/Sussex ancestries of the Parkes and Sutton families, page 48this book is an in-depth look at the Parkes family who settled in Eighty-eight Valley near Wakefield. Some of the aspects covered are: leaving England, land acquisition, and the family's involvement with the Wesleyan Church and Eighty-eight Valley School. Mention is made of many people the Parkes's had contact with. Also mentioned is Maitai Valley in the 1840s, Nelson Mental Hospital and teetotal pledges. Letters between the Parkes sisters provide insight into day-to-day happenings.

In places amusing (sticky bread, poorly attended wedding) and in places tragic (leg severed, manic depression, school burning down), there is much of interest. Available from the author, 211 Vanguard St, Nelson.