Penguin US have purchased US and Canadian rights to New Zealand title, The Widow’s Daughter.

 Downtown, wartime Auckland. Victoria Park is swamped by a vast American military camp and Ponsonby Road is a sometimes wild place of bars, drunken soldiers and brothels.

Peter Sokel is a surgeon with the US Marines who falls in love with Emily. Soon he is out of control and behaving recklessly. But there’s something strange about Emily’s family, particularly the brooding manservant and Emily’s brother Oscar. When Peter is accused of killing Oscar he goes AWOL.
For every action, however, there is a consequence, especially in the Marines – there’s now a price to pay. Years later, an older and wiser Peter tries to make sense of his bizarre war in New Zealand.

Nicholas Edlin’s startling debut novel brilliantly captures the New Zealand of the early 1940s and weaves a spellbinding story of love
and betrayal that will linger in the reader’s mind.

We know very little about the time of the US presence in NZ.
The Widow’s Daughter, although fiction, gives us great insight in to that time in NZ history and was inspired by the place those soldiers were stationed.

Nicholas had always been intrigued by the American presence in New Zealand. He lived close to Victoria Park in Auckland and, while walking past it to work each day, would often think how strange it was that US servicemen had once camped there. Nicholas had wanted to write a novel for some time, and with such an interesting topic to explore, the story soon began. He initially thought about writing from a New Zealand perspective, but the idea of experiencing 1940s Auckland through an American’s eyes fascinated him. The project quickly took on a life of its own. The result is a beautiful debut novel from a very talented young writer.

About the author:
Nicholas Edlin is currently on his OE.  He trained in New Zealand as a solicitor, working in Wellington and Auckland, before heading to the UK. Since arriving in London he has worked as a temporary Government lawyer at the Treasury Solicitor’s Department (doing immigration, asylum and human rights litigation) and at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs!  He has a BA in English and Political Science from Canterbury University, and an LLB (First Class Honours) from Victoria University in Wellington. He loves jazz music, English history, cricket and modern art and is learning to play the piano.

The Widow’s Daughter | Penguin NZ | RRP $30.00 | 978014320409