Reading Age: General Audience

What is an overstayer? Through Sofia's heartfelt diary entries, we witness the terror of being dawn-raided and gain an insight into the courageous and tireless work of the Polynesian Panthers in the 1970s as they encourage immigrant families across New Zealand to stand up for the...ir rights.
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Bestselling author Deborah Challinor returns with a spellbinding novel about a woman living in Sydney's notorious King's Cross in 1964. Polly Manaia is living in Sydney's notorious Kings Cross, working as an exotic dancer. She's desperate to bring her young daughter to live with ...her, but beneath her brash confidence lie dark secrets which threaten to drag her under. Gina is excited to live with her mum again. She's mature for an eleven-year-old, but can this young girl cope with Polly's demons? Rhoda and Star, transgender performers and Polly's flatmates, bring stability to Polly and Gina's lives. Yet this unlikely little family will find themselves threatened in more ways than one. The Jacaranda House is a fascinating portrayal of a shifting society and a beautiful portrait of motherhood and identity. 'Australia's answer to Philippa Gregory' Brisbane Times 'A meticulously researched and compellingly readable story injected with heart and humour, From the Ashes is perfect for fans of Fiona McIntosh and Kate Furnivall. A five-star read' Better Reading
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A celebration of life and death. A book to make you laugh and cry. A deep, funny and personal story about the lives of New Zealand's favourite undertakers, Francis and Kaiora Tipene. Born and raised in Northland, the married couple and parents to five boys now star in the third s...eries of their own reality television show The Casketeers, a show about day-to-day life (and death) at their Auckland funeral business, Tipene Funerals. This is Francis and Kaiora's story, a story about a modest yet richly cultural Maori upbringing in the communities of Pawarenga and Kaitaia, the trials and tribulations of their love and marriage, the joy of raising five sons, and the dedication and mahi required to grow a business. It's also a book about traditions of tangihanga, tikanga Maori and Polynesian ways of morning the dead. Inspirational, hilarious, and wise: this is a book to make you see dying, grief and remembrance in a totally new light.
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"From singer-songwriter June Pitman-Hayes comes this rousing and fortifying new waiata for Kiwi children from all backgrounds. This heart-warming story and song celebrates the strength in community"--Publisher information.

My heart is less than 1% of my body, it weighs hardly anything; it's only a tiny piece of me, yet it's the part Helen finds most interesting. . .Once it was inside her body, a tiny piece of the son she gave birth to. Now her boy is gone and his heart is keeping me alive. Born wit...h a heart defect, Vivienne Clark's life was saved by a transplant. Now a journalist, she doesn't allow herself to think about the donor, the boy who died so she could live; she can't bear to. Then she meets his mother, Helen, who wants something in return for Vivi's second-heart heart: her help to find all the other people who have tiny pieces of her son. She needs to meet them, to speak to them, in order to make sense of her own loss - to be sure that they deserve the precious gifts they were given. Reluctantly drawn into Helen's mission, Vivi agrees to trace the other recipients. One by one she brings together a small group of strangers, united by a single experience. As their lives begin to intertwine - growing close, becoming friends, enemies, even lovers - Vivi finds herself at the centre of a new kind of family, a tiny little piece of a whole. And through the fresh joys, and deep sadness, which all their stories bring, Vivi discovers that she might just be braver than she ever imagined...
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