8 August, 1905
A crowd of one hundred braved the sleet and cold to see us off. We stood by with our luggage and football boots, our collars turned up against the weather, aboard the SS Rimutaka, and slowly like a big log wedged then freeing itself mid-stream, our lives came round to port then stern, then out to the Heads, whereupon the tugs dipped their flags; and clinging together the tug men gathered on the foredeck with their farewell song. The wind tore away the last line of 'Auld Lang Syne', the tugs dropped out of sight, and after that we hit out on our own.
The Book of Fame is a semi-fictional account of the 1905 All Black tour of Europe-a tour that shaped New Zealand's identity, from which the players returned to find themselves accorded almost god-like status. It is both a tribute to New Zealand's first sporting celebrities, and an investigation into the curious workings of fame. Not just a book for lovers of rugby, The Book of Fame is essentially a story about friendship and loyalty.
AccoladesWinner of Tasmania Pacific Rim Region Prizes: Fiction 2003.
Winner of Montana New Zealand Book Awards: Deutz Medal for Fiction 2001.
Author Biography
Lloyd Jones is the author of ten novels, and is the winner of the Commonwealth Prize, the Montana Medal and the Tasmania Pacific Fiction Prize among others. In 2007, his first book to be published in the UK, Mister Pip", was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He lives in Wellington, New Zealand.