Wellington writer Jenny Pattrick, is an acclaimed historical novelist. Her books The Denniston Rose (2003) and its sequel, Heart of Coal (2004), are among New Zealand’s biggest-selling novels and have been republished in illustrated editions. Jenny has also written fiction and commentary for radio, and with her musician husband, musical shows for children which are performed throughout New Zealand and abroad. She has been awarded the OBE for services to the arts and is featured in the Wellington Girls’ College Hall of Fame. In 2009, she was awarded the prestigious New Zealand Post Katherine Mansfield Fellowship. Carole Beu from the Women’s Bookshop, Auckland wrote in the NZ Listener: ‘Jenny Pattrick is in a category of her own: she is a fine writer but also popular’.

A celebrated story-teller, all of Jenny’s adult titles have been number one bestsellers in New Zealand. Her works include Landings (Penguin, 2012), and Inheritance (Penguin, 2010), (both number one bestsellers), as well as Heartland (2014), Skylark (2012), In Touch with Grace (2006), and Catching the Current (2005).

A former jeweller and teacher, Jenny is an active member of New Zealand’s arts community. She has been President of the Crafts Council of New Zealand, chaired the Arts Council of New Zealand, the Boards of Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School, the New Zealand School of Dance, and the New Zealand Festival of the Arts Writers and Readers Committee. Until recently, she served on the board of the New Zealand Book Council.

In her latest work, Sea Change (Bateman Books, 2025), Jenny departs from historical fiction to write about a Kapiti Coast community devastated by a tsunami. This riveting and charming story of survival celebrates tenacity, self-sufficiency, and a fierce love of home, even against dire odds.

 

 Links

Jenny Pattrick’s website

Read NZ Te Pou Muramura writer page

Penguin Random House Books author page

100% Pure NZ Denniston Literary trail

Denniston Experience website