When Christine Hunt set out to recapture the memories of survivors of the generation born late last century, she unearthed an intricate tapestry of facts and feeling and home-grown philosophy, shrewd perception and tomfoolery and fantasy and faith: the essence of folk history. In this book men and women of an almost bygone era speak frankly and with humour of their lives and times ... they describe what it's like to be near the end of their lives and physically failing, how it felt to live in New Zealand at the turn of the century and what they think of the world today. Above all they spoke before it was too late, offering us a rare opportunity to share their responses to living and their memories of a past that is all to easily forgotten." -- Back cover.