White Feathers (44 page)
Authors: Deborah Challinor
She sat for a while longer, then moved over to her small writing desk, took a fresh sheet of paper from the drawer, and began to write a letter to Kepa.
She thought it was about time she answered his question.
Further along the hall, in the darkness of the bedroom they shared, James and Lucy lay in each other’s arms. James’s hand rested protectively over the small bulge of his wife’s stomach that would be their second child, and in his sleep he smiled.
In the nursery Bonnie and Leila slept side by side in their cot, unconsciously touching hands and completely oblivious to the fact that although their mother had been away, now she had come back to them.
Duncan and Liam snored peacefully on the other side of the room. They neither knew nor cared about the tribulations of the
wider Murdoch family. And why should they? For them there were trees to climb, creeks to dam and endless hills to conquer.
Thomas was dreaming. He dreamt that James had killed an entire company of his own men, and he, Thomas, had been assigned to defend him even though it was horribly clear to everyone that James was guilty. But then the vision changed and he was with Catherine, and he settled almost immediately into a deeper, more peaceful sleep.
Jeannie and Lachie were also asleep, although neither dreamed. They knew they were moving into the twilight years of their lives, but found to their surprise that they did not mind. Although times had often been difficult, and occasionally very painful, their lives together had been good and they had no regrets. When the time came, they would be ready.
In the next small valley, in the home he’d built with his own hands, Joseph lay propped up on one elbow, watching the sleeping faces of his beautiful wife and son. There would be no more wars for him, not even if the New Zealand Army did one day have to resort to recruiting men with only one leg.
He had finally come home. All those years of fighting and roaming the world and he’d found what he’d been looking for right here. He had the land, he had both his Maori and Pakeha families, and he had his beloved Erin and now William. But most of all he had peace of mind because he had done his best, and would continue to do so for as long as he lived. And that, he understood now, was true
mana
.
Deborah Challinor is a freelance writer and historian living in New South Wales. She is the author of many bestsellers including
Isle of Tears
and the trilogy
Kitty
,
Amber
and
Band of Gold
, and several non-fiction titles including
Who’ll Stop the Rain?
and
Grey Ghosts
.
Children of War trilogy
Tamar
White Feathers
Blue Smoke
Trilogy
Kitty
Amber
Band of Gold
Isle of Tears
Grey Ghosts
Fire
Union Belle
Who’ll Stop the Rain?
T
AMAR
When Tamar Deane is orphaned at seventeen in a small Cornish village, she seizes the chance for a new life and emigrates to New Zealand. In March 1879, alone and frightened on the Plymouth quay, she is befriended by an extraordinary woman. Myrna McTaggart is travelling to Auckland with plans to establish the finest brothel in the southern hemisphere and her unconventional friendship proves invaluable when Tamar makes disastrous choices in the new colony. Tragedy and scandal befall her, but unexpected good fortune brings vast changes to Tamar’s life. As the century draws to a close, uncertainty looms when a distant war lures her loved ones to South Africa. This dramatic story — the first in a sweeping three-volume family saga — has a vivacious and compelling heroine who will live with the reader long after the final page has been turned.
W
HITE
F
EATHERS
In 1914, Tamar Murdoch’s brothelkeeping days are behind her. Her life is one of ease and contentment at Kenmore, a prosperous estate in the Hawke’s Bay, as storm clouds over Europe begin casting long shadows.
In this gripping second instalment of Deborah Challinor’s sweeping family saga, Tamar’s love for her children is sorely tested as one by one they are called, or driven, into the living hell of World War One.
During the Boer War, Joseph, her illegitimate eldest son, fought as a European, but this time he is determined to enlist in the Maori Battalion, despite his growing attraction for his childhood friend, Erin. As loyalties within the Murdoch clan are divided, and the war takes Tamar and Andrew’s only daughter far from her sheltered upbringing, the people and experiences their children encounter will shape the destiny of the Murdoch clan for generations to come.
B
LUE
S
MOKE
On 3 February 1931, Napier is devastated by a powerful earthquake — and Tamar Murdoch, beloved matriarch of Kenmore, is seriously injured. As she recovers, Tamar is preoccupied with the ongoing effects of the Great Depression. When her grandson threatens to leave for Spain to join the International Brigade, she feels a familiar dread — once again her family is threatened by war and heartbreak, as Hitler’s armies march.
In this final volume of the Children of War trilogy, the story of the feisty Cornish seamstress who became a brothelkeeper and landowner is brought to a stirring and memorable conclusion.
Thanks to my husband, Aaron, who once again forked out for everything while I was writing this. Thanks also to the team at HarperCollins, to Anna Rogers for her great editing job, and to Ian Watt, who took a chance on the first book in the
Children of War
series.
This novel is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events; to real people, living or dead; or to real locales are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. Other names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental.
HarperCollins
Publishers
First published in 2003
This edition published in 2012
by HarperCollins
Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
PO Box 1, Shortland Street, Auckland 1140
Copyright © Deborah Challinor 2012
Deborah Challinor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
HarperCollins
Publishers
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National Library of New Zealand Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Challinor, Deborah.
White feathers / Deborah Challinor.
Originally published: 2003.
ISBN 978-1-86950-776-3
I. Title.
NZ823.3 — dc 22
ISBN: 978 1 86950 776 3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978 1 74309 729 8 (epub)
Cover design by Priscilla Nielsen
Cover images by shutterstock.com
