Young Donald
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1) NOT JUST SATIRE. Though both humorous and fictional, this is a deep, character-driven piece of literary fiction about the emergence of young Donald’s vision for his future and the future of his family.
2) EXCEPTIONAL SUPPORTING CHARACTERS. Rather than content himself with a sketch-comedy depiction of a young Donald, Bennett writes exceptional surrounding characters, knitting a complex and interconnected web of personalities, from the school’s faculty to its only minority cadet to New York real-estate magnates to Hong Kong triad bosses.
3) WITTY ROMAN A CLEF. While this work is entirely fictional, it’s witty and satirical bent should attract the attention of liberal readers fed up with the narcissistic kleptocrat-in-chief.
4) PERIOD CHARM. Separate from it's humor and plot, the novel is a well-researched and crafted trip back to an age before America had set foot on the moon, an age of idealism prior to King and Kennedy’s assassination or Watergate.
5) THE ELECTION! We think there is immense marketability tied into the election and will be putting together an all-star cast of blurbers, from fiction, nonfiction, and celebrity.
Michael Bennett
Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) is an award-winning screenwriter, director and author. His first book, a non-fiction work telling the true story of New Zealand’s worst miscarriage of justice, In Dark Places, won Best Non-Fiction Book at the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Awards. Michael's second book, Helen and the Go-Go Ninjas, is a time-travel graphic novel co-authored with Ant Sang.
Better the Blood, the first Hana Westerman thriller, was shortlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction/Ockham New Zealand Book Award, as well as for the Audio Book of the Year at the Capital Crime Fingerprint Awards and Best First Mystery Novel at the Barry Awards. It was also longlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Debut Dagger and was a finalist for Best Novel at the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards, where it won the award for Best First Novel. Return to Blood, the second novel in the acclaimed series, won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel in 2025.
Michael's short and feature films have won awards internationally and have screened at numerous festivals, including Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, Locarno, New York, London and Melbourne. Michael is the 2020 recipient of the Te Aupounamu Māori Screen Excellence Award, in recognition of members of the Māori filmmaking community who have made high-level contributions to screen storytelling.
He lives in Auckland, Aotearoa (New Zealand), with his partner Jane, and children Tīhema, Māhina and Matariki.
More by Michael Bennett
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