The Jewel in the Sea - Ian Sharplin

A land with no Laws. No rules. Sounds good huh? No police force needed. It seemed like the perfect place to go... especially if you were 'on the run!' Oh the local people of the land had their own 'Utu' or 'pay back' systems in their various forms but now sailing ship transport was available to the remotest parts of the earth and it wasn't long until New Zealand began filling up with those who would happily live outside any law. A recipe for disaster once the musket arrived. History records enough evidence of what that looked like here in the early 1800's and it wasn't pretty. Debauchery, disease, deception, death and killing were the inevitable results of a lawless society seen everywhere. Only a matter of time until this land was destined to be devoid of crowds of any sort unless some sort of miracle occurred. Fortunately for all of us 'some sort of miracle' did take place and THE JEWEL IN THE SEA tells the story. A miraculous series of events pivotal on the life of a 12 year old girl in the Waikato but balancing precariously on the before and after events that culminated in the freedom, the zeal, the life, and the liberty we all enjoy every day in this beautiful land called New Zealand.