The Spanish Garden by Cliff Taylor

Set on a single day in 2016, this novel tells a story of memory and loss, the fatal history shared between two families, Pākehā and Māori, and a man’s enduring obsession with love. In his Spanish garden overlooking the Kaipara Harbour, Sidney King reluctantly prepares to mark his hundredth birthday. At the same time, a discovery is made in Spain which could unlock a mystery which has haunted him since he fought in the Spanish Civil War. As the tides come and go and visitors arrive and depart, the old man walks with his ghosts and makes peace with the past.