Jerningham

"A spectacular debut that brings us an immersive, intelligent and well researched insight into the early days of New Zealand's European settlement." – Mandy Hager

Edward Jerningham Wakefield was the wild-child of the Wakefield family that set up the New Zealand Company to bring the first settlers from England to Aotearoa New Zealand. His story is told through the eyes of bookkeeper Arthur Lugg, who is tasked by Colonel William Wakefield to keep tabs on his brilliant but unstable nephew.

As trouble brews between settlers, government, missionaries and Māori over land and souls and rights, Jerningham is at the heart of it, blurring the line between friendship and exploitation and spinning the hapless Lugg in his wake.

Alive with historical detail, Jerningham tells a vivid and important story of Wellington's colonial beginnings and of a charismatic young man's rise and inevitable fall.