Patu

Life is a challenging for 16-year-old Jahnine Byrne. Her mother is in hospital battling cancer, her elder brother has gone without a trace, and Jahnine has dropped out of school.

A family legend blames their bad luck on a patu (greenstone club) that their great-great-grandfather took during the New Zealand Wars. The patu’s curse needs to be lifted, something that can happen only if the weapon is returned.

Jahnine meets a strange Maori boy, Andy, who out of kindness offers to help her, and leads her away from the city to try and put things right

This is a powerful novel for teenage readers that confronts issues of identity and historical truth in modern New Zealand.