This article: White Lies is a story about the nature of identity: those who deny it and those who strive to protect it. Paraiti is a medicine woman. She is the healer and midwife of her rural, tribal people - she believes in life. But new laws are in force prohibiting unlicensed healers. On a rare trip to the city, she is approached by Maraea, the servant of a wealthy woman, Rebecca, who seeks her knowledge and assistance in order to hide a secret which could destroy Rebecca's position in European settler society. If the secret is uncovered a life may be lost, but hiding it may also have fatal consequences. So Paraiti, Maraea and Rebecca become players in a head on clash of beliefs, deception and ultimate salvation.In the Extras of the DVD, Witi Ihimaera, tells how his mother took him to Paraiti, a tohunga/healer who cured him of a breathing problem. In writing the story, he wanted to honour the various tohunga in Maori life.   In 1907, the New Zealand government brought in  The Tohunga Suppression Act, thus outlawing natural healing for Maori. Some people believe the author of the book drew on the life of Anglo-Indian actress Merle Oberon, and the hiding of her true ethnic origin. contains an answer for the question: Who is the writer that was healed by a tohunga?, what is it ?
Answer:
Witi Ihimaera