![]() ![]() Soon it was receiving a warm and lengthy review in The New York Times.(2) Unfortunately, however, such rapidly garnered American praise for the book meant that Cross was seen as something of a parvenu by the anglophile literary establishment in New Zealand, which was mostly grouped around the magazine Landfall. Harcourt, Brace & Co of New York was the first publishing house Cross approached with his manuscript and the novel was accepted immediately. ![]() Its author, the then unknown Ian Cross, had written his earliest version of the book while a Nieman Fellowship student at Harvard University. The God Boy suffered, above all, from its remarkable success. ![]() On publication, furthermore, both of these books had somewhat troubled receptions, although their troubles came in different forms. Typically of the period, both novels examined life in small New Zealand towns. Two of the finest New Zealand novels of the twentieth century were first published overseas and within just a few years of each other: The God Boy in America in 1957 and The Scarecrow in Australia in 1963.(1) Both novels were debut publications for their authors and both were told from the point of view of young male protagonists. Return to No Frills NZ Literature home page. Two New Zealand Books: The God Boy and The Scarecrow Two New Zealand Books: The God Boy and The Scarecrow ![]()
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