The Irish Annals of New Zealand

By Michael O'Leary

The Irish Annals of New Zealand was written to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the founding of New Zealand as an English colony in 1840. The novel is a Joycean 'tour de force' through the history of NZ from the Irish point of view rather than the English one. It follows the story of a New Zealander with Irish ancestry who is travelling from Auckland to Wellington on the overnight train. Drunk and disorientated he opens the wrong door of the train and falls off in the wintry snow of the Central North Island in the middle of the night. His skull is cracked and the matter slowly oozing out of his brain becomes the novel. He is visited by has Maori and Irish ancestors and a series of surreal and fanciful characters during his long cold night and his life is slowly ebbing away. Both satirical and historical this novel shows another side of the New Zealand story as the 'Official' 150 years of British Government in its many guises is celebrated.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael O'Leary
• Release date: Mar 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476066356

Michael O'Leary

Michael O'Leary was on the founding team of Bain Capital’s social impact fund. Previously, he invested in consumer, industrial, and technology companies through Bain Capital’s private equity fund. He has served as an economic policy adviser in the United States Senate and on two presidential campaigns. Michael studied philosophy at Harvard College and earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He lives in New York.