John Collier: Portrait of a Fighting Pioneer

- Blurb -

John Collier: Portrait of a Fighting Pioneer is a romantic novel based on a family diary. It chronicles a life of adventure and intrigue, as the Collier family abandon the poverty of rural England in 1841 to join the fledgling Wakefield colony in Wellington, New Zealand. John Collier the narrator is an adventurous and idealistic lad who comes into conflict with the class divisions on the voyage out. He leads the revolt against a captain indifferent to rancid water, poor food and disease below decks, making enemies of a magistrate and arms dealer. This is an epic story of the cruel forces that drove families from England, only to be confronted by defiant warriors and unscrupulous pakeha supplying arms whilst cheating Maori out of their lands. It is a vibrant tale with a hero who faces heartbreak and the death of loved ones, risking his own life in a series of bloody land and sea skirmishes, always with an unswerving desire to help all classes and races in this new land of opportunity.