The Temptations of Frederick Weld

In 1854 the New Zealand Parliament gathers in Auckland for the first time.

Frederick Weld, a naïve English aristocrat, is its youngest member. He arrives in the raw young Capital from the lonely hinterland; propounding the virtues of “responsible government”, yet secretly he is far more interested in finding diversion, entertainment and female company than he is in advancing democracy. In the event, he encounters more of all four than he has bargained, or even wished, for.

The Temptations of Frederick Weld tracks the young lawmaker into dazzling ball rooms where he encounters an array of vainglorious politicians, on-the-make businessmen, on-the-run soldiers-of-fortune, rogues, vagabonds and beautiful women of varying degrees of virtue. It also follows him down the dangerous lanes and sewer-rivers as he pursues a serial killer and behind the tightly-pulled colonial curtains where an all-is-not-what-it-seems love affair unfolds.

Beyond his hedonistic adventures, Frederick also finds time to participate in the birth of the world’s newest democracy, becoming a member of New Zealand’s first Cabinet, although exactly how he does so remains as much of a mystery to himself as it does to those who encounter him. Michael Wall has written a superb novel about politics, crime, forbidden love, and an embryonic society struggling to find legitimacy in the furthest-place-on-earth.