Charles Upham is probably New Zealand's most famous soldier. His actions in Crete in 1941 and Egypt in 1942 led to his becoming one of only three people – and the only combat soldier – ever to win the Victoria Cross twice.
By 1985 Keri Hulme had won several New Zealand awards for her writing. But the decision to award her first novel, The bone people, the Booker Prize was a surprise to literary critics, bookies and Hulme alike.
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