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.

Vivid and evocative, this is a moving novel of a unique time and place from one of New Zealand's favourite authors.The Whanganui River at the turn of the twentieth century is a busy thoroughfare, taking sightseers through the spectacular landscape by paddle steamer and acting as highway for the sparse scatterings of settlements along its twisting length. The people who have made it their home are a diverse collection, from Samuel Blencoe, trying to forget his past life as a convict, to the hoteliers at Pipiriki, the nuns at Jerusalem, the Maori families, the Chinese market gardener and the farmers, like Danny and Stella, trying to tame the wild bush. There's also Bridie, the strange, silent girl, who haunts the banks of the river where the accident occurred that robbed her of her mind. Like the tributaries that trickle down the mountains and join the mighty river, so the lives of these people come together in this vivid and moving tale of a stunningly unique place.

This tender and amusing novel is set in New Zealand in the nineties, with the Springbok Tour still a recent memory, and as the country debates whether to adopt MMP. Letter-writing is about to give way to email, but elderly Grace will resist the trend. Through letters and stories, we learn of her friendships, the interactions of the argumentative bowling club, her growing attraction to and relationship with Max, and the jealousy this engenders in her closest friend, Mildred. As the story unfolds, Grace faces new challenges, and the problems of younger people invade her solitary life. Grace touches the lives of many with her warmth, her feistiness, her intelligence and her frailty. Starting life as a popular radio series, this is another compelling novel from bestselling author, Jenny Pattrick.

The bleak coal-mining settlement of Denniston, isolated high on a plateau above New Zealand's West Coast, is a place that makes or breaks those who live there. At the time of this novel - the1880s - the only way to reach the makeshift collection of huts, tents and saloons is to climb aboard an empty coal-wagon to be hauled 2000 feet up the terrifyingly steep Incline - the cable-haulage system that brings the coal down to the railway line. All sorts arrive here to work the mines and bring down the coal: ex-goldminers down on their luck; others running from the law or from a woman or worse. They work alongside recruited English miners, solid and skilled, who scorn these disorganised misfits and want them off the Hill. Into this chaotic community come five-year-old Rose and her mother, riding up the Incline, at night, during a storm. No one knows what has driven them there, but most agree the mother must be desperate to choose Denniston; worse, to choose that drunkard, Jimmy...

Heart-warming and compulsive reading, this is an entertaining, lively and moving novel from one of New Zealand's favourite authors.'Donny Mac was released at Eastertime, about a month before Pansy Holloway, also known as Nightshade, disappeared for good.'After a short stint in prison on trumped-up charges, the loveable simpleton Donny Mac returns to the house left to him by his grandfather in the small settlement of Manawa, in the shadow of Mt Ruapehu. Now inhabited by a handful of colourful locals, the once prosperous milling town is only bustling in the ski season when the out-of-towners arrive.Awaiting Donny's return is the drunken and pregnant Nightshade, who claims he is the father. Donny's friends keep watch anxiously: the lace-making Bull Howie; Vera who can be seen every evening wheeling Bull's dinner in a pram down to his house in her own version of meals on wheels; farmer George Kingi and his fey four-year-old daughter Lovey; and the strange elderly sisters...

Elena catches a glimpse of her friend Jeanie Roper in a New Zealand art gallery. It is twenty-three years since Jeanie suddenly disappeared. They had been close when Jeanie lived in Samoa with her bullying husband and gentle father. But why is Jeanie hiding her identity? Elena is intrigued to discover Jeanie has a daughter who is unaware of her Samoan ancestry. There are family secrets here - possibly dangerous ones - that Elena is determined to uncover. Inheritance is a novel of contrasts: the tropical beauty and exuberance of Samoa in the 1960s; and the dark violence that arises from the conflict between truthfulness and love.

A lively, unconventional love story set amid real figures from nineteenth-century theatre, from the author of the best-selling The Denniston Rose.The little French girl, Lily Alouette, was singing and dancing almost as soon as she could walk, and performing became as much a part of her as breathing. When she is left an orphan in an unfamiliar country after her parents have emigrated to the goldfields, it is performing in a circus that offers survival. Later she takes to the stage in both Australia and New Zealand, which is where she attracts the attention of two men. One is the faithful Jack Lacey; the other is the renowned pirate Bully Hayes. While Jack has to compete with both Bully and the theatre to win Lily's attention, Lily finds she must share Jack, too. This lively, unconventional love story is set amid real figures from nineteenth-century theatre, giving a vivid and entertaining picture of the life of actors and circus performers, of gold miners, of horse...

Eighteen years have passed since the child Rose arrived on Denniston, riding up the terrifying Incline on a stormy night. She has now grown into a young woman, intelligent and talented, with an outrageous zest for life. The trauma of her early years seems forgotten, though some recognise its shadow in her often unconventional behaviour. Rose is expected to marry her childhood friend the golden Michael Hanratty, but when dark and stubborn Brennan Scobie arrives back on the Hill after a seven-year absence, a challenge is inevitable. The opposition of Brennan's ambitious mother adds to the tension. This sequel to the best-selling The Denniston Rose continues to follow the fortunes of the remote West Coast coal-mining settlement. At the turn of the century Denniston is still isolated, but all that is about to change. New challenges will confront both Rose and this close-knit society. Staying or leaving will become an option. HEART OF COAL is about loss and love, hope and...