A Wind From the North

Sam a teenage shipyard apprentice in 1840s Liverpool has a promising future shattered when his stepmother, Alice, cries rape. Her wealthy father, a shipping tycoon has him thrown into jail. He escapes the death penalty, to be transported on the barque St George with 92 other convicted boys to Auckland in 1842.

Alice, who flees the catastrophic mess she has created, takes a job as a nursemaid to a family with whom she also sails to Auckland, where inevitably she meets Sam again.

He swears dire vengeance on her for the false accusations she made and the consequences he had to endure.

This book tells the story of a boy reaching for maturity and starting a shipbuilding business in spite of the hostility and prejudice of new settlers, while experiencing the joys and disillusionment of young love.