Secrets of the Land

A mysterious stranger, a grandfather she did not know existed, and shadows from the past bring a former journalist to Taranaki in New Zealand. There are strange events in the small farming community and there are secrets from 1864 when the British army fought the Taranaki Maori, to 1975 when Imogen's grandparents arrive, fleeing trouble in Ireland. Yet some secrets won't stay hidden forever. This is an engrossing thriller. Imogen is bewildered when a mysterious stranger insists her grandfather in New Zealand needs help: she thought her grandfather long dead. Travelling from Melbourne to Taranaki,she finds little to welcome her to the are or to her grandfather's farm but mysterious events make her investigate further. The secrets begin to emerge, The story goes back to Irish gold diggers arriving to fight in the British Army, and to when her mother Aoife arrives in New Zealand. Aoife hates the new country her parents have brought her to, yet she knows it is impossible to return. Ghosts haunt the present, while the land holds its secrets close. "What seems to be a novel about generations of a family swiftly becomes much deeper and more intriguing. Kate Mahony deftly weaves past and present, reality and the supernatural into a richly textured story of the effect of colonisation and war on communities, families and individual identity. An engrossing, wonderful read" Catherine Robertson, Author of What You Wish For, Gabriel's Bay, Spellbound, The Hiding Places and others