Miranda Harcourt
Laura Chant. 16, lives with her mother and four-year-old brother Jacko in a poor new suburb on the edge of a partially demolished Christchurch, New Zealand. Laura is drawn into a supernatural battle with an ancient spirit who attacks Jacko and slowly drains the life out of him as the spirit becomes ever younger. Laura discovers her true identity and the supernatural ability within her, and must harness it to save her brother's life.
First-year acting student Stanley mines his girlfriend's family scandal as material for the end-of-year show at drama school. The result is a moral minefield.
Immediately after the events of The Desolation of Smaug, Bilbo and the dwarves try to defend Erebor's mountain of treasure from others who claim it: the men of the ruined Laketown and the elves of Mirkwood. Meanwhile an army of Orcs led by Azog the Defiler is marching on Erebor, fueled by the rise of the dark lord Sauron. Dwarves, elves and men must unite, and the hope for Middle-Earth falls into Bilbo's hands.
The story of famous New Zealand cricketer, Bob Blair and his fiance Nerissa Love, whose young life was shattered by the 1953 Tangiwai Disaster.
In 1993 David Dougherty was found guilty and imprisoned for the abduction and rape of his 11 year old neighbor. It took two trials, two high court appeals, a petition to the Governor General and 3 years, 6 months and 1 week in prison before David finally won his freedom and was found not guilty of the crime he didn't commit. But it wouldn't have happened without the unrelenting efforts of three individuals - a journalist, a lawyer and a scientist - who put their own personal and professional lives on the line in order to prove that David Dougherty was innocent.
A young solo mother loves her son and his needs are formost, but she still has room in her heart for her very broken brother, even as her fundamentalist mother rejects her. But when the brother is responsible for a woman's broken neck, during his burglary of her house, families are changed as crisis amplifies and at times the young mother seems to be the only adult.
A 13 year old girl is raped and murdered in a small country town. Ten years later, the murderer is up for parole and the victim's father has vowed personal vengence if the killer is released. Sometime journalist, Lisa, is haunted by the crime and in confronting the killer she starts a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.
The girls and gorillas at a singing telegram company are overworked because it is Valentine's Day. A series of sub-plots - a sexist disc jockey loses his dog and the girls fine it; one of the girls fights for custody of her child; an aspiring opera singer gets her chance to audition; and evil developer demolishes the telegram company's offices, etc, which all adds up to a large dose of confusion.
A scientist in New Zealand has a secret lab where experiments are performed on humans. When he is assassinated, opposing forces rush to his hideaway to suppress or expose his secrets.
