Top fiction from New Zealand author. Bought in New Zealand for immediate dispatch to British Columbia, Canada!

Really loved this book. Had heard rumours that it was a poor read, but it wasn't! Story of a girl (and her mother) who go to live in Denniston. It follows the trials and successes faced by Rose, a six-year-old girl, who steals the hearts (amoung other things) of the miners and their wives.

First chapters read AT Denniston... Picutre shows the two of the coal wagons used to deliver coal from the mines to the Denniston Incline.

PICTURE: It was an evening with mist such as this REAL Denniston mist that Rose arrived at the top of the Incline with her mother.

RELEASE NOTES:

Posted from Timaru, New Zealand to bookcrosser in British Columbia, Canada. Really look forward to following its journey! Please be careful where you release this book - it would be nice to know that it is going to another good bookcrosser!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is now a Book-Ring traveling the world before returning home to The-Organist in New Zealand.

So far this is the order of the ring:

sqdancer - Canada (February 1, 2006)
draginta - Kansas, US
The-Organist - New Zealand

I'm really looking forward to reading this book! If you don't get any more takers for this ring, KarenBC, I am willing to return it to The-Organist as you mentioned.

Thank you for sharing. :)

Enjoyed the book very much. Thanks very much to The-Organist and KarenBC for sharing this book.

It was mailed to the lovely state of Kansas to the next participate in this ring, on Thursday via surface mail.

When I was in High School I had to read a book called "Cold Sassy Tree". This book reminded me of it in the way it was written and how it affected me. Very well written with all the characters you love and hate the way the author intended. I think I will carry many of them around with me for awhile. Now I want to visit New Zealand.

Bookring extension:

charlenemartel
alkaline-kiwi
The-Organist

This book has arrived safely with me and I will be reading asap.

Thank you so much for sharing this!
hugs

Wow! I started reading the book just a couple of days ago and I simply couldn't put it down. It was a wonderful read. This is one of the few books I have read, where I actually was saddened that I reached the end of the book. I could happily have read about Denniston and its people for a long time to come.

It is now one of my all time favourite books. I will be mailing it to the next reader ASAP and at some point in the future I will be looking for a copy of my own.

Thank you for sharing such a great book!

Sorry for the delay in this. This book is winging its way to the next reader. I hope you enjoy it as much as I. I haven't read Heart of Coal (the sequel yet) but will be doing very shortly to continue the adventures of young Rose. Excellent book, thank you so much for sharing.

This book arrived in my mailbox this morning.

Last year I went to Denniston with my boyfriend and some other people as they wanted to see the coal wagons etc.

I'll get started on this book tonight.

Continuation of the bookring:

1. priceliss
2. Sherlockfan

I started reading this book when I first received it but absent-mindedly put it aside. I picked it back up this week and finished it this afternoon at the library.

A very good book and one I've heard a lot of people talk about and that I had said I should read.

Some very interesting characters and the part in the back about the history made interesting reading. I read something in the local paper about a proposed redevelopment of Denniston due to the interest generated from the book.

Look forward to reading the other 2 books (I think it was two) that follow on from this one. I noticed there is an illustrated edition of Denniston Rose and Heart of Coal which I might pick up sometime.

Thanks to The-Organist for sending this book around the world. I'll be sending priceliss a PM so I can post it on soon.

Sent this off to priceliss today. Sorry that I was a bit slack in getting it sent on time.

Arrived today, can't wait to start it.

Absolutely wonderful story full of tragedy and set in an historical background which gives the reader an idea of the conditions that the people lived in on Denniston in the early days. Highly recommended reading.

Sent out to Sherlockfan today.

The book arrived today and will be the very next book I read. Thanks priceliss, and also for the NZ postcards included and especially for the super handmade bookmarks - they'll be a treat for people at the convention.

For those folk who have read this book earlier in its travels I must tell you that the illustrated combined edition of Denniston Rose and Heart of Coal that alkaline-kiwi mentioned is an absolutely super book filled with ancient photos of the area and its people - a real gem for book collectors and historian alike.

As expected I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Jenny Pattrick is a dab hand at drawing believable characters so the reader can picture them clearly and can love, approve, hate or despise them exactly as the writer intended.

The bleak coal-mining settlement of Denniston, isolated high on a plateau above the New Zealand South Island's West Coast in a dank misty place often bathed in heavy rainfall is a place that would have daunted many an early immigrant. The stoic carry-on attitude of the miners supported by their determined women is depicted so well one can imagine being there while being glad not to be.

It was obvious that much research has gone into this book; activities such as the development of the tiny school to ensure the little ones had some education was mirrored in other small settlements in the late 1800s as determined pioneers struggled to build communities. Denniston's isolation was made so much worse by its difficult access; the pictures of women not leaving the plateau for years, the bearing and losing of children in such a comfortless place makes for grim reading. The leavening effect of six-year-old Rose, a mischievous sprite, will live long in my memory.

This is a well-told story of early New Zealand.

I propose to ask on Yahoo if anyone else would like to read this book - if not I'll send it to one of my BC friends overseas.

RELEASE NOTE
Passed on to DiscoveryLover this evening. There was not a lot of reaction when I posted a note on BCNZ Yahoo asking if anyone would like it. The-Organist would like it back again for some of his family. I'm sure someone else asked for it after DiscoveryLover but just now I can't find the email. I'll have a good search in the morning and let DL know whether to finish in time for the Convention or if there is someone else to whom it should go next.

Got this one off Sherlockfan. Is either second or third on list (after current book).

I didn't enjoy this one as much as I thought I would. I thought the story dragged on a bit. I didn't find it particularly easy to get into either. However, there were aspects that I did enjoy; the characters for a start.

I will pass on to The-Organist in a week or so!

Yes this is a book I've been meaning to read for a while. I lived and breathed Denniston for 2 weeks while reading it,and loved it .A real NZ book which now must be sent on it's way.

This book was passed to me by my mother in-law and as a 'South Islander' I really enjoyed learning about what life was life on this settlement in a part of the South Island not too far from where I live and that I have been to before. It made me realise I need to read more about the history of my own country! Will be interested to read the sequel.

What a wonderful book, sent by my daughter from her mother-in-law. I have a list of people waiting to hear the wonderful story. So beautifully written, I could have been there. My paternal grandmother travelled (when she was a young woman) from Pareora, Sth Canterbury to Lyall during the gold mining period - a journey that took 2 months I believe. If my geography is correct Lyall connects to Denniston Plateau and as Lyall no longer exists, it has been a journey of discovery learning what life would have been like for her. This is a must read book and I hope the readers following me enjoy it as much as I have. (looking forward to the sequel)
Have included a cutting from the Nelson Mail to accompany the book - talks about the Denniston Palateau's natural heritage.
Book safely passed onto a friend who was a West Coast girl...