The Denniston Rose
Jenny Pattrick
'With its vivid evocation of place and imaginatively drawn characters, Pattrick's novel is an atmospheric account of a bleak chapter in New Zealand history.' Pick of the Week
Cameron Woodhead (The Age)Pattrick 'explore[s] the effect the arrival of a stranger has on a place that is drawn with such intimate knowledge and detail that we feel we have stepped into it ... [but] the storytelling is her real skill. She writes with a Victorian sensibility and a taste for melodrama, and can exploit the conventions of the historial romance for dramatic effect. She knows how a good story works ... It provides romance, tragedy and magic in equal measure.'
Liam Davison (The Australian)'Set in the 1880s and wonderfully evocative, this story truly blooms. In a word: Inspirational.'
(Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin)The bleak coal-mining settlement of Denniston, isolated high on a plateau above New Zealand’s West Coast, is a place that makes or breaks those who live there. At the time of this novel — the 1880s — the only way to reach the makeshift collection of huts, tents and saloons is to climb aboard an empty coal-wagon to be hauled 2000 feet up the terrifyingly steep Incline the cable-haulage system that brings the coal down to the railway line. All sorts arrive here to work the mines and bring down the coal: ex-goldminers down on their luck; others running from the law, or from a woman, or worse. They work alongside recruited English miners, solid and skilled, who scorn these disorganised misfits and want them off the Hill.
Into this chaotic community come five-year-old Rose and her mother, riding up the Incline, at night, during a storm. No one knows what has driven them there, but most agree the mother must be desperate to choose Denniston; worse, to choose a drunkard, Jimmy Cork, as bedfellow. The mother has her reasons and her plans, which she tells no one. The indomitable Rose is left to fend for herself, struggling to secure a place in this tough and often aggressive community.
The Denniston Rose is about isolation and survival. It is the captivating story of a spirited child who, in appalling conditions, remains a survivor.
'a diverting and fascinating novel.'
Claire Sutherland (Herald Sun)'Violent, brash and colourful, The Denniston Rose glows and flickers with energy.'
David Eggleton (NZ Listener)'It's hard to believe this is a first novel.'
(Evening Standard)'What a triumph this book is.'
(Wairarapa Times-Age)'A rollicking good yarn.'
Gordon McLauchlan (NZ Herald)'This novel begs a sequel and I hope I don't have to wait too long for it.'
(NZ Woman's Weekly)'You can really feel the wind coming up through the floorboards of the makeshift houses and hear the drunken shouts spilling out of the taverns.'
(Dominion Post)'Patrick writes with the assuredness of a veteran...and has raised a simple story to a work of literary merit.'
(The Press)'A sequel is on its way - I can't wait.'
(Timaru Herald)Jenny Pattrick
Author photo
Annelies van de Poel
Jenny Pattrick is a writer and jeweller who lives in Wellington, New Zealand. She has written fiction and commentary for radio, and, with her musician husband, Laughton, songs and musical shows for children.
The Denniston Rose, which was her first novel, has never left the New Zealand bestseller lists since it was published in 2003, and has been voted one of the top 100 books in the world by Whitcoulls readers.
Jenny Pattrick has since published the sequel, Heart of Coal; a spin-off, Catching the Current; and a contemporary novel, Grace Notes (all published by Scribe).
Extent: 368
Size: 210mm x 135mm
ISBN (10): 1921215 054
ISBN (13): 9781921215056
RRP: $29.95
Pub date: November 2006
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