After Winter Comes the Summer

New Zealand’s German-Bohemian settlers have played, sung and danced to the music, songs and rhymes documented in this treasury of folk music for over 150 years.

Sung in their unique dialect and played with traditional instruments, this music is a link between New Zealand and Bohemia, now part of Czechoslovakia. To create this important book, the authors rebuilt the songs through interviews with descendants of the first settlers, research into European folk songs and transcriptions of recordings. They can be played on most instruments and are a thoroughly readable and singable resource for young and old.

After Winter Comes the Summer also offers insights into the lives of the people of Puhoi, and later Ohaupo, both in their native country and in a new and unfamiliar land. It is a case study of a small colonial New Zealand village, its development and growth, its music and culture, and its relationships and links back to Bohemia.

Essex born and bred, JUDITH WILLIAM's interest in the history of her home county was sparked during her work as a community columnist for local newspapers. She has now written ten local history books, six of them for The History Press. She is a member of a local heritage trust, gives talks to clubs and societies on local history and, for over ten years, has taught a local history leisure course at an adult community college.