Title: Patu
Author: Tim Tipene
ISBN: 978-0-947506-84-1
RRP: $29.99
Specs: 210 x 148 mm (A5) portrait, PB, 224 pp
Published: November 2012

The Book:
In this powerful novel for teenagers, 16-year-old Jahnine is having to fend for herself amidst a series of family misfortunes, with her mother is in hospital battling cancer and her brother gone without a trace. Family legend has it that a patu taken during the Land Wars by her great-great-grandfather has left a curse on them.

Determined to return the patu and lift the curse, Jahnine turns to a strange Maori boy, Andy, and follows him away from Auckland to try and put things right. Nothing turns out the way she imagines in this powerful, realistic novel.