History and myth intersect in Peter Walker’s Hard by the Cloud House

Book cover for Hardd by the cloud houseIn his latest book, Peter Walker, Randell Cottage writer in residence in 2011, explores the history of Haast’s Eagle, Te Hokioi. This starting point launches him on a voyage of discovery, asking how the giant New Zealand eagle might connect with the fabled great birds of legend such as Sindbad’s Rukh. Could it be that medieval Islamic mariners were once blown far into the Pacific, saw the great raptor and made it back home to tell the tale?
Reviews describe Hard by the Cloud House (Massey University Press) as a heady mix of history, memoir, science and mythology.
Peter Walker’s previous works are Some Here Among Us (Bloomsbury 2014), largely developed during his stay at Randell Cottage, the historical memoir The Fox Boy (Bloomsbury 2001) set in Taranaki, and a novel, The Courier’s Tale (Bloomsbury 2010), set in the court of King Henry VIII.