'And he knows the rock of desolation and the deep of despair.' An element of strain that grew and crept like a thin worm through their embrace.' Together, all together, they are the instruments of change.' But all together they have become the heart and muscles and mind of something perilous and new, something strange and growing and great. Even paired, any pairing, they would have been nothing more than people by themselves. 'They were nothing more than people by themselves. In a sense you'd be right, but before you condemn those early readers out of hand you, too, should try tackling the first few pages of The Bone People. More than a million sales later, you might be tempted to view the story of Hulme's success as yet another example of the short-sightedness of most publishers and the need for artists to stick to their guns in the face of philistine editors. When they sold out and so did the next 2,000, Spiral approached Hodder and Stoughton in New Zealand, who shifted another 20,000 and brought it to the attention of the Booker judges.

When the book was finally taken on, it was by Spiral, a tiny feminist press in New Zealand led by three women – two of whom had links to the same Maori tribe as Hulme.

Those who were prepared to look at it wouldn't contemplate bringing it to print without severe re-edits, prompting the author to declare she would rather have the book 'embalmed in Perspex' than re-shaped. First there was the monumental effort of writing it over a 12-year period, then the fact that nearly every publisher rejected it out of hand. The buzz when The Bone People won the Booker prize in 1986 was all about the struggle Keri Hulme had to bring it to publication.

Author of the bone people