by Christel Jeffs (Author)

The year is 1905. Dalmatia, Emmalina's birthplace, is shrinking in the shadow of Amerika: the name of any place that offers 'a better life'. Men are leaving the country in droves. Women are betrothed to strangers and shipped away from their struggling village homes. After saying her vows in Dalmatia, Emmalina will sail to New Zealand and join Johan Turk on the northern gumfields, where men and women slave over miry ground to dig up remnants of the valuable kauri gum resin. Emmalina's unwelcome marriage to Johan becomes a battle between her desire for distance and his determination to make the marriage work. When they push one another to the limits of forgiveness, the couple must decide if a marriage of obligation, secrecy and distrust can be pieced together.

Author Biography

The power of the written word is what first inspired Christel Jeffs to put pen to paper, and it still continues to do so. Through writing she shares the three greatest joys of her life - family, faith and the gift of creativity. She lives in the north of New Zealand, the land which serves as the backdrop of her debut novel, The Gumdigger's Wife.

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