The protective arms of two headlands bring us from the Hauraki Gulf into the Wairoa River and up its meanders through wide valley flats, yet where steep hills on either side foreshadow the narrowing gorge to the river's source in the Hunua Ranges. At the end of the tidal reach is the village of Clevedon, where the old McNicol farmhouse stands out on a slope above the landing. It is now a museum for the district's history, and where this book was born. This story is brimful of people's lives: Maori and Pakeha, men, women and children, conveyed through a multitude of voices speaking from diaries, letters, farm records, minute books and memories; hence the title Voices of Belonging. Jessie Munro has set the immediacy of these experiences within the historical context of each period: narrative and analysis intertwine. Voices of Belonging speaks for its unique area, and for us all.