“‘I can’t believe we’ve heard the last of Con the Brake,’ said my publisher. He is a character in Denniston Rose. I had made him vaguely Scandinavian. I have no Scandinavian blood but a good friend lent me information about her ancestor, Bishop Monrad, a Danish ex-Prime Minister who came and farmed here in the 1860s. I also fell in love with the idea of Faroese sung and danced sagas. Joining them into a story that fitted with Con the Brake’s presence on Denniston was a fascinating challenge.”
A terrific historical novel full of compelling events, vivid communities and the irresistible character of Conrad Rasmussen.
In this companion novel to the bestselling Denniston novels, the free spirit is pitted against the forces of tradition.
On the run from an unfortunate ‘indiscretion’, young Conrad Rasmussen finds refuge in the North Island of New Zealand under the employ of the famous (or notorious) Dane, Bishop Monrad. However Conrad – a talented and impetuous Faroeman, known in bestselling author Jenny Pattrick’s Denniston novels as Con the Brake – finds he cannot escape his past.
This is Conrad’s story, and that of the unusual woman Anahuia. It is a tale of new lands and old songs, of seafaring and war and the search for love. It is also the story of the Faroe Islands and of Denmark’s early connection with New Zealand.
Jenny Pattrick 