Michelle Rahurahu

Erin can hear the whaanau whispering, and they won’t tell her why. She’s ditched school to help her aunty clean houses – even though she has a full-time job looking after all the moko. But no one cares, and soon she will be picked clean, like the bones in her maamaa’s bedroom. Star is home for the first time in...

Poorhara is the story of nineteen-year-old Erin, her older cousin Star/Whetu and an impromptu road trip taken over a few days. With the demands and heartbreaks of whanau, poverty and trauma nipping at their heels, Erin and Star trace the path back to their whenua, in the hope of salvation – something they ultimately find in each other.