What happens when a group of school children, led by the resourceful ten-year-old Dance Violet, dare to ask those in power some hard questions? Find out in this magical novel by the bestselling Fleur Beale, stunningly illustrated by Lily Uivel. Ten-year-old orphan Dance Violet might have had a short and troubled history, but it hasn't dampened her warrior spirit – not in the slightest. And that's a good thing, because something is rotten in her village, and no one else has the courage to try put things right. People who ask questions disappear overnight and the village children are left to fend for themselves under the tyrannical schoolteachers Murk and Misselthwaite. There are whispers that a beautiful but wicked woman, 'the golden-haired hellion', appeared at a wedding ten years ago and was the start of all the trouble. Dance has some gifts that she's only just beginning to discover, and while she knows it's dangerous to ask questions, she is determined to find this...

'Dreams were dangerous things.' It was the dream of Molly's dying mother that she would become a nun. It isn't, however, the dream of her Methodist father, who wants her to marry. But what is her true calling and how can she follow it? As the 19th century draws to an end, Molly searches out the extraordinary nun Mother Mary Joseph Aubert to find out. 'One of the most consistently accomplished and versatile writers for teenagers in the country' – The New Zealand Listener

Etta is worried about her brother, Jamie. The doctors can find nothing wrong with him, but he is getting weaker by the day. At breakfast one morning, he seems to have lost it completely: In a voice as pale as his face, he said, 'I think I can see a ghost.' However, when they all turn to look, sure enough, materialising on the window seat is a girl about Etta's age, wearing a beautiful Victorian wedding dress. Etta has to get off to school, she has no time for this, but she is about to discover that time has a whole new significance. She and her ghost companion have no choice but to work out what is going on before Jamie is lost for ever . . .

The disturbing story of the ruthless exercise of power in a New Zealand religious cult.Charismatic, driven and self-righteous, Neville Cooper set up his own brand of Christian utopia on earth: a reclusive community on the West Coast of New Zealand. For the 400 inhabitants of Gloriavale, his word is law - despite his 1995 conviction for sexual abuse. His son Phil Cooper, as headstrong as his father, had to escape. But Phil's wife Sandy was bound to the will of Neville and his brand of eternal salvation. And so began the monumental tug-of-war between father and son: a son who wanted to give his children a chance in the world. This is a true story of power and control, of abductions and night raids, of hearts broken and those trying to mend. It's also the story of the long shadow cast by the unyielding vision of one man, and the hope and resolve of one family to restore its shattered past.

The past lives of Bess Gray catch up with her in this passionate young adult novel by a NZ Post Children's Book Award-winner. On the night of her seventeenth birthday Bess Grey sees images of a witch-burning unfold in front of her as if in a movie. She also sees images from a different time - lovers, and the girl, she's sure is - was - herself. When she meets Nick she recognises him as the boy. There's an immediate connection. However when her father nearly dies from a heart attack there's no time to brood as Bess tries to save her father's business. She falls in love with Nick but her difficult mother interferes, forcing Bess to make the hardest decision of her life. She must decide whether to lose her mother or the boy she loves.Fleur Beale, winner of the 20123 Margaret Mahy medal, weaves Bess's mysterious past lives into her very realistic current-day life. The result is a beautifully told love story.

The gripping sequel to the award-winning and bestselling YA novels I am not Esther and I am Rebecca. In this breathtaking follow-up to I am not Esther and I am Rebecca, Fleur Beale revisits the Pilgrim family and its closed religious community, The Children of the Faith.Four years have passed since Rebecca ran away. The community simmers with tension and rumours of an approaching split, and life has become terrifying for Rebecca's remaining siblings as Elder Stephen seizes any chance to take revenge on them. Twelve-year-old Magdalene lives in fear that her strong-willed little sister, Zillah, will be his next target.The girls have run out of people who can protect them. To Zillah their path is clear but Magdalene is torn. How can she cause more hurt and shame for her parents? But, equally, how can she face a life with no freedom to be herself?And another question scares her most of all. Without the elders' suffocating rules that tell her how to...

A classic bestseller that's been in print for over 20 years, this gripping YA thriller follows a teenage girl caught in a religious cult. Imagine that your mother tells you she's going away. She is going to leave you with relatives you've never heard of - and they are members of a strict religious cult. Your name is changed, and you are forced to follow the severe set of social standards set by the cult. There is no television, no radio, no newspaper. No mirrors. You must wear long, modest clothes. You don't know where your mother is, and you are beginning to question your own identity. I am not Esther is a gripping psychological thriller written by New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards-winning children's writer Fleur Beale. In Esther she creates an enthralling and utterly compelling portrait of a teenager going through her worst nightmare.

Having a dream and aiming for it . . . a gentle coming-of-age novel for girls by much-loved YA novelist Fleur Beale.Ruby Yarrow is a 14 year old who lives in a busy, loving, chaotic family with her mum, stepdad, brother and two little stepbrothers. Ruby feels a bit like a doormat - she has to help out while her brother doesn't. He wins lots of prizes at school but she has a learning difficulty and needs a reader/writer to help her in exams. What's more, her surname, Yarrow, is at the end of the alphabet and when the roll gets called out she's always at the end . She hates it. She feels she's always at the end of the line. Not that Ruby is a misery bag at all. She's bright, vibrant and a really neat character. She has great friends and loves clothes, fashion magazines and sewing, which she has a real knack for. She's very keen to go on the school trip to Brazil and so she gets a job to earn the money for her airfare, working in a supermarket for an old grump. She also...

Life inside a religious cult becomes too much for 16-year-old Rebecca when she finds out who she is to marry.When she turns 14, Rebecca will find out who she is to marry. All the girls in her strict religious sect must be married just after their 16th birthdays.Her twin sister Rachel desperately wants to marry the boy she's given her heart to. All Rebecca wants is to have a husband who is kind, but both girls know the choice is not theirs to make.But what will the future hold for Rebecca? Is there a dark side to the rules which have kept her safe? Can the way ahead be so simple when the community is driven by secrets and hidden desires?Award-winning YA writer Fleur Beale's gripping sequel to the bestselling classic I am not Esther is a psychological thriller.

Racing. Winning. That's all that matters in this exciting teen story about driving competitively.Fifteen-year-old Archie Barrington is a top kart driver, aiming to win the Challenge series and its ultimate prize of racing in Europe.He loves the speed, the roar of the engine, the tactics and the thrill of racing to the limits.Craig is his main rival, and there's also Silver, who drives likes she's got a demon inside. Archie knows he'll need all his skill and focus to win. But sometimes, too, you need plain old luck. Can Archie overcome the odds and win?

Fleur Beale is the author of many award-winning books for children and young adults - she has now had more than 40 books published in New Zealand, as well as being published in the United States and England. Beale is the only writer to have twice won the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book: with Slide the Corner in 2007, and I Am Not Esther in 2009. She won the Esther Glen Award for distinguished contribution to children's literature for Juno Of Taris in the 2009 LIANZA Children's Book Awards. Fierce September won the YA category in the 2011 NZ Post Children's Book Awards and the LIANZA Young Adult Award in 2011. In 2012 she won the Margaret Mahy Medal for her outstanding contribution to children's writing, and in 2015 she was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature. In 1999, Beale was Dunedin College of Education's Writer in Residence. A former high-school teacher, Beale lives in Wellington.Series editor...