Not For Ourselves Alone: Belonging in an age of loneliness

Traces belonging in its broadest context, using author's own experience to track how we develop a sense of belonging via our individual self. Frank conversations with friends and family reveal how others are finding their own ways to belonging in spite of difficult circumstances. In essence they are replacing the twentieth-century story of ourselves as either self-interested individuals or just herd animals by a narrative with kindness, compassion and inclusion at its heart.

Published by Saddleback, Wellington, 2018

Writers in Residence: A Journey with Pioneer New Zealand Writers

This book about twenty nineteenth-century New Zealand writers presents in human terms what it meant to be a writer in a strange new land. Unexpected people took to the pen; travellers recorded their adventures; soldiers, judges, civil servants burst into print; poets blossomed. The writers include Joel Polack, William Colenso, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, Frederick Maning, John Logan Campbell, Samuel Butler, Lady Barker, and end with Blanche Baughan and Jessie Mackay. While the book required considerable research, it aims to take these talented, entertaining and courageous characters out of the exclusive possession of the scholars by recreating them as ordinary people excited by their experiences and surprised to find themselves making history.

Published by Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2004

No Simple Passage: The journey of the 'London' to New Zealand, 1842 - a ship of hope

Jenny has created a startling record of life on board the London, an emigrant ship bound for New Zealand in 1842, by imaginatively stowing away alongside her ancestor Rebecca Remington. The narrative vividly pieces together the days at sea on this floating microcosm using the journal of the ship's surgeon and that of a cabin passenger. Combined with the portrayal of this arduous journey are accounts of the Wellington settlement as the pioneers will find it and the historical events they will be involved in.

Published by Random House, Auckland, 2011

Love America: On the Trail of Writers and Artists in New Mexico

Love America contains three interwoven strands. The first relates the author's physical journey to Santa Fe and Taos in New Mexico. The second tells the story of her relationship with her companion. The third is about the writers and artists who were inspired by New Mexico and were able to illuminate it and aspects of wider America in their work.

Love America offers a way of connecting with America that transcends daily headlines.

Published by Calico Publishing, Auckland, 2020

From Great Snoring to Peaches and Pork

Children's audiobook telling the fictionalised true story of the immigrant voyage of the London to Wellington in 1842. Published December 2023, available on many audio platforms excluding Audible. 43 minutes, free sample available on platforms such as Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Spotify. Children aged 6-12 find it entertaining and informative.