Arthur’s Past is a historical novel set in the 1860’s in Canterbury, the West Coast and Nelson against the backdrop of gold discovery and the search for alpine passes.

It narrates the struggles of new migrants John Marshall and Maggie Wallace, and the part they play in opening up the new colony.

The book makes connections between the discovery of Arthur’s Pass and Nelson’s Maungatapu Murders in 1866, and highlights the achievements of one of the unsung heroes of New Zealand exploration, Arthur Dudley Dobson.

Steve Richards lives near Nelson. He has previously published “A Handful of Time” (2002) and was the winner of the 2010 Mapua Literary Festival short story competition.