“I’m a third generation Wellingtonian and live looking down at beautiful Wellington harbour – Whanganui a Tara. Perhaps this is my final novel, so maybe it’s fitting that it features my home-town. Much has been written about the early settlement of this harbour, but usually from the point of view of the wealthy New Zealand Company shareholders and their dealings with tribal chiefs. I have chosen to build my story around those less fortunate, both Māori and Pākehā. It has been a challenge. But a worthwhile one from my point of view. I hope from yours too.”
Look out for Jenny Pattrick’s new novel now available through all good bookstores and online.
It is 1839 and Huw Pengellin is desperate to find a better life for his family than the one he ekes out in Wales. His wife, Martha, is fully aware just how foolhardy Huw’s schemes can be, but she is keen to escape the foundry slums, as well as Huw’s brother Gareth, with his hot eyes and roving hands. Might Colonel Wakefield’s plans to take settlers to the distant shores of New Zealand offer a solution?
On the other side of the world, watching the new arrivals, is Hineroa, who is also desperate to find a better life. Will she be a slave for ever, will she ever be reunited with her people, and will the ships that keep sailing into the bay bring further trouble?
Change is underway, not just for these characters but also for the crescent of beach, thick bush and steep hills of the settlement about to become Wellington.
Jenny Pattrick 