Paper Cage by Tom Baragwanath review - An examination of a New Zealand town is rich with narrative possibility

The Gifkin Prize is administered by the New Zealand Society of Authors because, although he now lives in Paris, Baragwanath is originally from Masterton, New Zealand, the setting for Paper Cage.

Baragwanath explains that he misses Masterton "a lot, and working on a story there is the cheapest form of mental travel". He has always felt it's a place "rich in narrative possibility" because the community is "cheek-to-jowl" and "there's a sense of constant mutual surveillance with people passing around stories and gossip that often transcend and play upon reality".

At the heart of Baragwanath's novel is a remarkable woman, Lorraine Henry: strong, principled and loyal. Lorraine has been a widow for 26 years. She grows her own vegetables, admits she's shaped "like a marrow", has a bad hip and enjoys a regular gin and tonic with Patty, her neighbour.

Lorraine works at the police station in the basement file room, surrounded by stacks of paper and files, her "paper cage". Although Lorraine has no children, she has a cherished niece, Sheena, whose young son, Bradley, is the love of Lorraine's life.

Sheena lives in Featherston, a deprived area of Masterton where families struggle with poverty, drug addiction and the dominant local street gang, the Mongrels. Life is complex and challenging for Sheena, living with the Mongrels' leader Keith Makara and addicted to ice and alcohol.

Two Maori children from Featherston have gone missing and although the police "can ignore one missing kid if you try hard enough. But two . . . even with names like Precious and Hemi, two gets attention". As a result Detective Hayes is sent "over the hill" from Wellington.

Hayes quickly realises that Lorraine's connections with the local families are invaluable and, despite the station sergeant's protests, insists that she be involved in the investigation.

And then Bradley goes missing and a novel, that has focused on social issues and tensions within families, shifts gear into a compelling crime thriller with Lorraine discovering a courage and resilience born of love and desperation.

Baragwanath writes that he particularly wanted to highlight, in his novel, "the specific kind of paternalism expressed by (often well-meaning) Pakeha individuals (white New Zealanders) when it comes to Maori families living in challenging circumstances and to explore the tensions between respecting the autonomy and dignity of Maori whanau (families) and acting in the rights of vulnerable children when there are real risks to welfare". And he succeeds.