What a treat to find some new NZ fiction at my local library! This novel is based on the story of the second-to-last person to be executed in NZ, before capital punishment was definitively outlawed (it was banned at least once but then reinstated). Kidman has done a lovely job of recreating life in Wellington, then later Auckland, at that time. I also enjoyed how she delved into the imagined experience of those on the jury and those who worked at the jail and performed executions, as well as the moral quandary of a blanket death sentence law for murder, regardless of the nuances of the situation. I definitely recommend this.