Roland Crawford, the disillusioned vicar, takes
the role of the Fool in
'The Paua Tower'

The Paua Tower and the Tarot

An alternative vision lies at the heart of this novel.

The Paua Tower is set in a central North Island railway town during a pivotal moment in Pakeha history – the economic depression of the 1930s. It is a novel about survival and making sense of experience, but beneath the externals of the plot is an underpinning of a spiritual triangle strung between three contrasting belief systems – conventional Christianity, atheistic socialism, and the occult insights of the Tarot. Hovering between these are the apocalyptic visions of a disabled bank manager, gassed in World War 1. The central characters are all drawn from the figures in the Tarot’s Major Arcana, Amelie is linked to the Empress, Roland to the Fool, Vic the Magician, Stella the Star and so on.

 'I wanted to write a book that functions on more than one level,' says Coral Atkinson. 'The Tarot provides such a rich source of imagery and insight. I hope those who are familiar with the cards will enjoy this extra dimension.'

 It is not only the characters that are drawn from the Major Arcana; similarly several of the central images of the novel come from the same source. The image of the tower, one of the most potent symbols of the book, relates directly to the Tarot.

'For those who are interested and alert, there are many little signals and connections within the book,' says Atkinson. 'Interestingly many of them seemed to arise naturally. For instance, when I was writing about Lal, the vicar’s wife, who I see as the High Priestess, I instinctively placed her in a room with a barred cot; bars or columns she will metaphorically push aside.'

 The Paua Tower is informed by real events and captures a specific time and place in New Zealand history, but it also exists as a parable about the spiritual dimensions implicit in life and relationships.