The contemporary story of Chinese New Zealand-born over-achiever Emily Chu, raised to believe she can get anything she puts her mind to. Even if ‘anything’ is at odds with her traditional Hong Kong born parents’ wish for her to become a doctor like her two older sisters. Everything is coming up roses – until she meets James, a European New Zealander, and accidentally falls in love with him. But if her father finds out, she will face disownment. By the time Emily realises that she’s sacrificing the respect of her family to follow her heart, James, too, has fallen irrevocably in love and there’s nothing for it but to try and keep their relationship a secret. Happy endings don’t come easy, if at all, but that doesn’t mean they don’t happen. But for Emily to get one, she needs to show James and her family that she has learned a lesson about the selflessness of love.

The story of legendary safe cracker and career criminal Ted West and his firecracker of a wife, Rita. Combining real events and the rich folklore of the West family and associates, this is rollicking history, and a tempestuous romance, set at a time of great social upheaval.