The story behind the book The initial idea for Enemy at the Gate came from my husband’s father, Peter Werry. As a child, he lived with his family in Ashburton, where his father was a teacher. When polio broke out, his parents decided that the safest place for Peter and his brother John was with…
Excerpt Zac and Ruby and I stood and watched, awed, at the lit-up interior of the oven, as the muffins rose, and rose, and rose, into perfect, smooth rounded tops. “Cool!” Zac said. The muffins slid out of the trays just as the book said they would. They were light and crisp on the outside,…
Reviews “1958/ 59 was a time of enormous change in New Zealand for everyone and with real skill Philippa Werry has managed to integrate the changes, attitudes and views of the time into a story that will be enjoyed for its own sake…As an adult I was fascinated by the story for all the memories…
The story behind the book I’ve been fascinated for a long time by the idea of lighthouses, and what it must have been like to live on a lighthouse station. Then some research I was doing for another piece of writing led me to the story of the Niagara, sunk by mines off the Northland…
Excerpt The day the new girl arrived, we were the first ones to see her. We were Official New Girl Spotters. We got to hang around the door of our classroom, waiting for everyone else to arrive – Piper, Aleesha, Tina, Zoe, Renee, Latisha (not Claudine, of course) – and when they turned up, we…
Excerpt When Simon’s Mum drops me off back home, the whole house is in an uproar. I’m absolutely starving, but there’s no sign of anything to eat. Nobody even asks if we won or not. Mum’s got the vacuum cleaner out and a whole pile of dusters. She’s decided she might as well give the…
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