|
|
Synopsis coming soon...
|
|
|
Auckland,1956. Allie Manaia works at Smith and Caughey's department store. It's been two years since the Dunbar and Jones fire, where some of her friends perished, but she still has nightmares. Allie and her husband, Sonny, are desperate for a baby, after losing a child, and Alli...e's distress at not conceiving again is compounded when those around her seem to have no trouble falling pregnant - even when they shouldn't. Allie's neighbours have recently moved to suburban Auckland. Ana, now a housewife, misses her work on the farm, but she has her hands full, looking after her increasingly forgetful father-in-law. Kathleen Lawson - rich, lonely and bored - is one of Allies' customers at the make-up counter. Kathleen takes a shine to Allie, but when she discovers Allie's husband is Maori, Kathleen's attitude changes. Is she trying to make friends or poison the relationship between Sonny and Allie? Sonny's beautiful younger sister, Polly, is living a vibrant but wayward life as a waitress-model-goodtime girl while leaving her young daughter to be raised by her mother. Then one day Polly disappears...
Read more
|
|
|
After being orphaned at seventeen, Tamar Deane decides to leave her Cornish village and emigrate to the new colony of New Zealand. Tragedy and scandal befall her, but unexpected good fortune brings vast changes to Tamar's life. This is the first book in a three-volume family saga....
Read more
|
|
|
Book three in the best-selling SMUGGLER'S WIFE series by one of our leading historical novelists. Kitty Farrell, headstrong and passionate as ever, is heartbroken over the apparent death by drowning of her husband Rian. Alone and grieving on the goldfields of Ballarat she turns t...o Rian's long-time shipmate Daniel, who has loved her from afar for many years. The consequences will be disastrous and challenge every character in this brilliant third instalment in Deborah Challinor's extraordinary Smuggler's Wife series. Vividly drawn, meticulously researched and driven by a powerful page-turning narrative, Band of Gold will resonate in the hearts of readers for a long time. 'Challinor is extraordinarily talented.' - New Zealand Books
Read more
|
|
|
We were known to the enemy as 'grey ghosts'. We could be here, and we could be there... The Grey Ghosts were New Zealand's Vietnam veterans. Their powerful story includes chilling accounts of death, injuries and emotional breakdown, along with the intense comradeship of soldierin...g, and a pervasive sense of humour that is uniquely our own. Acclaimed writer and historian Deborah Challinor interviewed 50 men who served in Vietnam, who speak out about 'fragging' (killing superior officers), the New Zealand Government's role in Agent Orange and chemical exposure, and their hostile reception when they returned. The result is compelling, reliving the Vietnam experience in vivid detail. First published in 1998, this updated edition includes new material on the subsequent handling of veteran's claims, and the reconciliation parade on Queen's Birthday weekend in 2008, when the men were finally welcomed home.
Read more
|
|
|
Bestselling author Deborah Challinor returns with a spellbinding novel about a woman living in Sydney's notorious King's Cross in 1964. Polly Manaia is living in Sydney's notorious Kings Cross, working as an exotic dancer. She's desperate to bring her young daughter to live with ...her, but beneath her brash confidence lie dark secrets which threaten to drag her under. Gina is excited to live with her mum again. She's mature for an eleven-year-old, but can this young girl cope with Polly's demons? Rhoda and Star, transgender performers and Polly's flatmates, bring stability to Polly and Gina's lives. Yet this unlikely little family will find themselves threatened in more ways than one. The Jacaranda House is a fascinating portrayal of a shifting society and a beautiful portrait of motherhood and identity. 'Australia's answer to Philippa Gregory' Brisbane Times 'A meticulously researched and compellingly readable story injected with heart and humour, From the Ashes is perfect for fans of Fiona McIntosh and Kate Furnivall. A five-star read' Better Reading
Read more
|
|
|
1830s Sydney Town - with its bar brawls, blackmail, friendship, romance, tattoos, gin and much more - is brought vividly to life as fiesty prostitute Friday, naive seamstress Harrie and cunning thief Sarah try to make their way as transported convict women. Driven by madness ...s...aved by love. 'A door slammed shut somewhere inside Harrie, trapping all that she was and everything she'd ever been. The voices had won. She was damned. She was ...no one.' 1831: Assigned to a good family in Sydney Town and now learning the art of tattoo, convict girl Harrie Clarke is still haunted by the horror of the brutal murder she and friends Friday Woolfe and Sarah Morgan committed the previous year. Powerful and vindictive criminal Bella Jackson continues to demand money in exchange for her silence regarding their crime. And just when it seems that Harrie and her fervent and long-time admirer James Downey might finally be united, an act of pure nastiness severely threatens their chances - and Harrie's life. When things go from bad to much, much worse for Harrie, she is left teetering on the brink. But Friday, in love at last, is battling demons of her own, and Sarah is forced to lie low for fear of attracting the attention of the police. Who will be the one to rescue Harrie?
Read more
|
|
|
A story of love, family, adventure and intrigue, set against backdrops of the gold rushes in Australia and New Zealand and the Opium Wars in China. When Kitty and Rian Farrell sail their schooner Katipo III in Dunedin Harbour in 1863, they are on a mission. The goldfields have at...tracted all-comers, including their friend Wong Fu from Ballarat. Wong Fu reveals he is more than a mere fortune seeker: he is in fact the Cloud Leopard tong master of the Wong family, and his daughter has been kidnapped and taken to opium-ridden Hong Kong. Rian and Kitty agree to try to find the Cloud Leopard's daughter, but as they sail closer to their quarry, the stakes jump dramatically. Kitty's adopted daughter Amber is kidnapped when they are forced to stop at Manilla, and it looks like the same party is behind this crime. Kitty, Rian and their crew must not only search for two young women, they must navigate dangerous shoals of pirates, corrupt officials, greedy rulers, wronged lovers and petty grievances. Cloud Leopard's daughter continues the story of Kitty, Rian and Amber - now wiser and stronger - as they straddle both sides of the law against the backdrop of gold rushes in Australia and New Zealand and the Opium Wars in China. PRAISE FOR A TATTOOED HEART 'Brilliant finale to this series based on Australia's convict past' - Jan GoodReads '...one of those books that you want to read slowly so it doesn't end but can't help rushing through to find out what happens!' - Sarah Courtney, GoodReads 'Fantastic end to the convict girls series! Couldn't put it down!!!' - Catherine Maisey, GoodReads
Read more
|
|
|
On 3 February 1931 Napier is hit by an earthquake, and Tamar Murdoch is seriously injured. As she recovers, she is preoccupied with the ongoing effects of the Great Depression, and her family is once again threatened by war and heartbreak when her grandson threatens to join the I...nternational Brigade.
Read more
|
|
|
Tamar's love for her children is sorely tested as one by one they are called, or driven, into the living hell of World War One. During the Boer War, Joseph, her illegitimate eldest son, fought as a European, but this time he is determined to enlist in the Maori Battalion, despite... his growing attraction for his childhood friend, Erin.
Read more
|
