Twelve Months

Twelve months ago, Emma Haywood watched the boy she loved die. Now all she wants is somewhere nobody knows her name.

So Emma, her best friend Sam and her headstrong little sister Jess go as far as the map allows: New Zealand. Within days they've fallen in with Billy Tawhiti, a big-hearted bushman chasing a family legend. A greenstone mere and a gold cross were carried into the backcountry near Nelson more than a century ago by his great-grandfather, and never came back out.

Against all odds, they find them.

Then the cars are torched. Billy's dog is shot. Two men who should have left the country are still out there watching, and they want that taonga badly enough to kill for it. Worse still, the people pulling their strings are no strangers to Emma and Sam.

Half a world from home, with new friends who have become whānau, they have to decide whether to run again or finally stand their ground.

From the author of Red Stone Peak, a story of loss, loyalty and the fight to hold on to what's yours.