Brent Leslie
Brent is a writer and journalist who spent 20 years as a television writer/director and dramatist. He is the author of four books for young children and has indie-published three novels for young adults – Jock Logan and the Sea Devil, based in New Zealand in WWI, was selected by NZSA in 2012 as one of the Frankfurt 40. Hills of Gold, set in the troubles in the Martha Mine in Waihi in 1912, was published in 2014. Milk Bar Warriors, based on the presence here of thousands of American servicemen and women in 1942-43, was released in March 2016. All three books are in libraries and schools all over New Zealand. Brent is a former editor of New Zealand Author.
Genre:
- Young Adult
Skills:
Branch:
Auckland
Location:
Auckland
Publications:
Publication #1
Jock Logan and the Sea Devil
Publication #2
Hills of Gold
Milk Bar Warriors
It is 1942 and World War Two is raging. After Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, New Zealand is in serious danger of enemy invasion, but its forces are fighting the Nazis on the other side of the world. Then a friendly invasion happens – tens of thousands of young American soldiers and sailors, training for or recovering from fierce battles in the Pacific. They bring with them the entrenched racial attitudes of their homeland which had led to a bloody civil war over slavery less than eighty years before. Many are in their teens. A Kiwi teenager, Bruce Bickerton, becomes friends with four of them and embroiled in their world of good times, espionage, racism and danger. When one of those friends goes missing in Auckland, Bruce has to take the lead in bringing the American perpetrator to justice. But to do that he must penetrate the mighty United States military machine.
