Mortal peril

In that country known as the past, as recently as the 1970s, young people with little money, restless feet and rebellious souls used to hitchhike. This seems impossible to comprehend now: the idea of young people, especially young women, willingly getting into cars with strangers.

Sally J Morgan, the Wellington academic, artist and now debut novelist, was an art student in England in the 70s. She had little money, restless feet and, quite possibly, a rebellious soul. She lived in Leeds, among other places, and used to hitchhike about the north of the country at a time when young women were being attacked