Interview: Donna Goodacre talks about The Spirit Remains

Donna Goodacre, who is of Waikato Tainui descent, is a retired high school/correctional centre/vocational school English and Foreign Languages teacher. Her career spanned some forty years in New Zealand and Australia.

She started her first novel, Finding Miriama, in 2018, when family members convinced her that her ancestors’ story, if told well, could make an interesting read. Five years of historical research later, coupled with a little poetic licence and imagination, it was completed. The sequel, Of Greenstone and Violins, was published in 2025. The third book in the series, The Spirit Remains, is out now. Donna talks to NZ Booklovers.

Tell us a little about The Spirit Remains

The Spirit Remains is the third novel in my Our Unbroken Spirits series, although it can also be read as a standalone. It is told from the POV of four characters—Lucy, a mother and business owner in colonial New Zealand in the late 1800s, Wiremu, a kaumatua, great-uncle and mentor for her three children from her late partner, Hōhepa; Ngaroma, a young New Zealand-born police cadet in modern-day London, and Colin, a watercolour artist living in a gay partnership in Victorian England.

At its heart, it’s a novel about whakapapa and the way the past lives on in us, whether or not we realise it.

What inspired you to write this book?

The series began because my adult children in Australia knew very little about their Māori heritage. What then started as family-tree research slowly grew into one novel, and then three. By the time I reached The Spirit Remains, I was keen to honour the journey those characters had taken.

What research was involved?

Quite a lot! I researched late 1800s New Zealand in considerable detail. Things such as social life in Hamilton and Auckland, Māori political movements of the era including the work of Tāwhiao and the Kotahitanga parliament, Native Land Court records, and period-accurate domestic detail.

I also researched Victorian steamship travel between New Zealand and England, and 1890s life in Eastbourne, England, where part of the novel is set.

For Ngaroma’s contemporary storyline, I drew on my experience of London and supplemented that with information such as how and where visual artifacts are analysed and what a typical day in the life of a police trainee in the London Met would be like. So many rabbit holes!

Te Reo Māori woven throughout the book required careful attention to accuracy, and to help the reader, I have included a fairly extensive glossary.

What was your routine or process when writing this book?

I’m a morning writer, but not a strict plotter. After my first coffee, I start work, chapter by chapter, in between bursts of research. The story unfolds before my eyes, sometimes catching me off-guard. While I incorporate actual events and people, it’s the imaginative parts in between I really enjoy. By the afternoon I’m usually ready for a walk or a swim, or a Pilates class, after which I enjoy a Sauvignon Blanc or two.

If a soundtrack were made to accompany this book, name a song or two you would include.

That’s a hard one. Perhaps Marlon Williams’ Rere Mai Ngā Rau because of its intergenerational connection, or Annie Lennox’s Into the West for its sense of farewell, hope and legacy. Even The Beatles’ In My Life.

If your book were made into a movie, who would you like to see playing the lead characters?

I’d definitely cast Tom Hiddleston as the enigmatic Charles Patterson. Elegant, intelligent, and slightly unreadable.

Cliff Curtis would be Wiremu without a doubt.

Perhaps Erana James as Ngaroma. This is tricky because Ngaroma is a little bit me.

Kate Elliot would make a good Lucy, and Benedict Cumberbatch I can see playing Colin, the gentle but tortured artist.

What did you enjoy the most about writing this novel?

Apart from being able to bring my family history to life, the rabbit holes I go down remind me why I continue to write historical fiction. You pull on one thread and suddenly you’re deep in the world of Māori politics and Victorian barbershops. Highgate Cemetery in London is another favourite.

What did you do to celebrate finishing The Spirit Remains?

I was travelling in the back of a motorhome between Sydney and Nambucca Heads, so as soon as we pulled into the camping ground I found the V Wall Pavilion Café/Bar and shouted myself (and hubby) a very nice drink. Or two.

What is the favourite book you have read this year and why?

So many to choose from, but it would probably be Anne Tiernan’s The Last Days of Joy. It’s a drama told with an Irish sense of humour. Her next book, The Good Mistress, rates equally with me for the same reason. Anne is a local author, which is another plus.

What’s next on the agenda for you?

I’m exploring a new historical project set in Georgian London, inspired by the life of actor Joseph Shepherd Munden, who happens to be my ancestor. It will be a prequel to my first book, Finding Miriama. At this stage, it’s called Voices of Leather Lane.