One hundred days on the high seas, to a New Utopia
It's the mid-1800s and a group of Scottish puritans are looking for a land of new hope. They set sail and finally arrive at the bottom of the world: Dunedin, New Zealand. A gold rush is about to shatter the peace. As the righteous and riotous collide, Jude Thomas brings its pioneer days to life in THE GOLD SERIES.
Southern Gold: 1858-1878
Thousands more immigrants will follow the earlier pioneers - some for the gold, some for the riches of New Zealand land.
Amongst them is a society-conscious family whose seventeen-year-old daughter brings them unspeakable shame, with the birth of a baby girl. The young mother won't give up the newborn and sets out on an icy morning for - who knows where? She is found unconscious on a track, nearly frozen and with post-partum fever. What to do?
Follow the story of baby Billie Frost, who grows from a colonial castout from the back streets into an innovative and trail-blazing young woman of true grit: Southern Gold - survival and desire in a raw new land.
Image: Princes Street Dunedin, 1860
Amongst them is a society-conscious family whose seventeen-year-old daughter brings them unspeakable shame, with the birth of a baby girl. The young mother won't give up the newborn and sets out on an icy morning for - who knows where? She is found unconscious on a track, nearly frozen and with post-partum fever. What to do?
Follow the story of baby Billie Frost, who grows from a colonial castout from the back streets into an innovative and trail-blazing young woman of true grit: Southern Gold - survival and desire in a raw new land.
Image: Princes Street Dunedin, 1860
Threads of Gold: 1890-1903
Billie marries her childhood love and produces a bevy of opiniated children. She expands her fashion salon while trying to balance family life. She's a suffragette and is on the spot when the New Zealand government finally grants women the right to vote.
She mixes with high society, ignores convention and argues with the Prime Minister.
Like the Billie of old, she champions the underdog and rallies against social injustice. She's an inspiration to many women of her time.
But Billie is far from perfect and faces challenges even she couldn't have invented. As her husband puts it, she can be a walking catastrophe: Threads of Gold - power and passion in a young country.
Image: Princes Street Dunedin, 1903
She mixes with high society, ignores convention and argues with the Prime Minister.
Like the Billie of old, she champions the underdog and rallies against social injustice. She's an inspiration to many women of her time.
But Billie is far from perfect and faces challenges even she couldn't have invented. As her husband puts it, she can be a walking catastrophe: Threads of Gold - power and passion in a young country.
Image: Princes Street Dunedin, 1903