The Good Harvest

The Good Harvest may answer an old parlor question, “What would you do if you were thrown ashore on an uninhabited island?” You might do quite well if you came ashore with a few troops to help you get rolling, as well as the remains of an ocean-going sailing ship, plus that ship’s cargo of settler goods.

So there you are shipwrecked on an island off the west coast of New Zealand. It’s 1815. The place has possibilities, it might grow on you. Would you stay?

It certainly grew on Harold, and in only a few weeks he formed the idea of homesteading this island. He buys it from the Maori. He works hard to improve the title to the land, realizing he may see challenges. And in an unplanned blink of an eye he gains a family – a wife and a son!

It takes Harold some little time to recognize what a partner he has in Hannah. She’s a transported convict, but after the shipwreck Harold cleverly finesses her out of that trap. She can stay or she can go; she chooses to stay. Hannah is canny, she’s just as bold as Harold, just as apt to clap onto a good opportunity. It’s a bit of a rough start. These two really fit one and other – but they must discover it.

So there you have it, the tremendous opportunity of a new and unspoiled land, a couple of doughty pioneers, and a rip-roaring adventure that leaps from a shipwreck to hunting the whale to courtroom drama. You’ll turn the pages eagerly because the action never stops – and because to a large extent this really is how it was back in those days!