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.

Author Biography

Jenny Pattrick is a best-selling author and is also known as a jeweller. She has been President of the Crafts Council of New Zealand, chaired the Boards of Creative New Zealand, the New Zealand Drama School and the NZ School of Dance, and for the last four International Festivals in Wellington has chaired the Writers and Readers Festival Committee. She has had short stories and two dramatised series broadcast on National Radio, as well as writing the bestselling The Denniston Rose, The Heart of Coal, Catching the Current and In Touch with Grace.