Kain: Friend of Maclay - Softcover

Marry R. Mennis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9980891734 ISBN 13: 9789980891730

Publisher: University of Papua New Guinea Press, 2016

Kain, Friend of Maclay is an historical novel about village life before the arrival of Europeans in the Madang area of Papua New Guinea. It is the story of Kain, a villager, and of his friendship with the Russian man, Nicholai Miklouho Maclay, who lived with the people on the Rai Coat in the 1870s.

Battles, payback and sorcery all add colour to the story. It was time when clay pots were the main item of trade and when one village builds up a monopoly of the pot trade, war is declared.

Into this arena steps Maclay from Russia - or was he from the moon? The village people stare at this white man and wonder. When he used a lantern at night, they decided he had brought a piece of the moon with him. Kain becomes his friend, guide and protector and Maclay teaches him many things.

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