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The first novel set in Timaru is back in print after lying forgotten for almost 140 years.
,p>The Two Lawyers, an 1881 novel by William Southan, has been republished as part of the University of Otagos New Zealand Colonial Texts series, with an introduction by Central Otago historian Jim Sullivan exploring the authors life, Victorian-era Timaru, and the reading and writing habits of the time.Sullivan, formerly of Timaru, was astonished to see his hometown mentioned in the first line of Southans melodrama while browsing a second-hand book shop about 40 years ago.
"Set in the early 1860s, The Two Lawyers tells a tale of treachery, skullduggery, and high finance - with, in the end, virtue triumphing over vice and true love leading to wedding bells," Sullivan said.