​The year is 1862 and Mary Brogan has just made a daring decision. She will leave her home in Dunedin and travel alone to Dunstan Diggings to find her father. It has been seven years since Mary last saw her father. He was supposed to have followed Mary, her mother and her younger brother Billy from Australia to New Zealand, but he never turned up. Mary is determined to find out why. She refuses to believe that her father abandoned them. Mary has a major problem- a 13-year old girl cannot possibly travel alone and live safely among male miners. Mary decides to disguise herself as a boy called Harry Bannerman. Her disguise proves extremely effective and Mary is able to find work and live among the miners. However, many of the men she is around are unscrupulous and dangerous. They steal each other’s gold and vigilante justice is commonplace, given the lack of law enforcement. Mary finds herself involved with Jack Bloxham and George Harcourt and soon her life is in danger. However, Mary’s expedition is successful because she finds her father. He was right under her nose the whole time and she didn’t realise it. But does he have a reasonable explanation for why he failed to join his family, or did he just decide to keep the gold for himself?  

​​Atapo: A Guiding StarWhen her tribe falls in battle, Atapo is seized and forced into slavery by her enemies. Escape seems an impossible dream, yet somehow, she finds her way to the Pakeha mission station in Paihia.
There, she learns to read and write, and discovers the danger posed to Maori by settlers hungry for land.
Set against the backdrop of the Treaty of Waitangi, Atapo realizes her education can save her tribal lands and help her reclaim her destiny as the guiding star of her people.