Edited by Renee Hollis. Published by Emotional Inheritance, 2019. Reviewed by Maureen Smith

Human Kindness is a collection of 25 true stories by people in their “wisdom years”. It is the result of an international competition.

The stories are well written, neither preachy nor heavy-handed. Short quotes on kindness from well-known writers precede each chapter. The print is clear and easy to read, each story is short and the contributions come from around the world. The stories are mainly about an incident that happened in the author’s life — ranging from childhood to recent times.

A story from England was by a woman who plucked up courage to talk to a man on the brink of suicide. By the kindness of listening to each other, they averted a crisis for both of them. A couple of stories have unexpected endings, like the story of a terrorist in “A Good Judge of Character” and the leader of a Mau Mau raid in “When the Terrorists Attacked Our Home”.

We experienced the effect of our country’s guiding motto to “be kind” during Lockdown— so this book is timely for keeping us focused. It’s a book to be dipped into. The diverse stories are interesting and inspiring and I would recommend it to young and older.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 251 August 2020: 28