Finding Miriama - Donna Goodacre

It is 2003 in New Zealand, and Louisa Greenwood and her daughter Ngaroma are on a quest to discover their ancestry. Louisa has a greenstone necklace left to her in her father's will, and from the first time Ngaroma wears it, she has unusual experiences, both good and bad. It leads her to various locations in New Zealand and England until, through a series of meetings and coincidences, she discovers the last resting place of her five times great grandmother.

One hundred and fifty years earlier, Major Joseph Greenwood, with his wife Catherine, is sent via India and England to New Zealand as a Fencible. The couple becomes established in Auckland society, and all goes well until Joseph fathers a son with Miriama Potiki, their live-in housekeeper. What follows is a series of challenges involving the Greenwoods, their friends and family, on both sides of the world, and the ramifications are felt by Louisa and Ngaroma five generations later.

Finding Miriama is about identity, chasing dreams and self-determination, set against a background of war in Afghanistan, England in the 1850s and Māori-Pākehā relations in colonial New Zealand.

Book 1 in the Our Unbroken Spirits series

A family saga set in New Zealand and England, the Our Unbroken Spirits series spans two centuries, tracing one whānau across generations and cultures, blending rich historical detail with emotional storytelling and mysteries that connect past and present.