ISBN 978-0-9951092-4-7
YA fiction
Paperback, B format, 220pp
Release September 2018
Life for Sione and his mates at Manawahe East High in South Auckland is pretty sweet – a slice
of heaven. But one day when they’re in after-school detention there’s an emergency. Another school’s turned up for a softball game but the Manawahe junior boys team has gone awol.
Sione, TJ, Hieu, Jordan and the rest are hurriedly pulled out of detention and onto the field to form a replacement team, with Leilani in charge of the equipment. The problem is none of them can play and they don’t really want to learn … at least not at first.
Slice of Heaven is a novel about a bunch of young people surprised by sport that is pitch perfect, funny and packed with life as it’s lived in South Auckland.
About the author
Des O’Leary started life in Greymouth and has taught at high schools in Fiji,
Whakatāne and Kerikeri, and at Aorere College in South Auckland, where he
took softball and rugby league teams and helped with the Samoan culture
group. He is now a relief teacher at Papamoa College, Tauranga.
He lives in the Bay of Plenty with his wife, Hazel. Slice of Heaven is his first novel.