Tamar, 2002

When Tamar Deane is orphaned at seventeen in a small Cornish village, she seizes the chance for a new life and emigrates to New Zealand. In March 1879, alone and frightened on the Plymouth quay, she is befriended by an extraordinary woman. Myrna McTaggert is travelling to Auckland with plans to establish the finest brothel in the southern hemisphere and her unconventional friendship proves invaluable when Tamar makes disastrous choices in the new colony. Tragedy and scandal befall her, but unexpected good fortune brings vast changes to Tamar’s life. As the century draws to a close, uncertainty looms when a distant war lures her loved ones to South Africa.  

This dramatic story – the first in a sweeping three-volume family saga – has a vivacious and compelling heroine who will live with the reader long after the final page has been turned. 

I think basically what was behind this novel - my first - was I wanted to see if I could write one. And it turned out I could, so I was quite pleased about that.      

'The historical settings and an adventurous storyline feel like the perfect blend of fact and fiction … This was gripping. I raced through it and wish I'd savoured it more.'   

Weekend Herald, NZ, 3/12/16