Contemporary Historical Fiction | Kate Mahony Author

Published by Cloud Ink

'What seems to be a novel about generations of a family swiftly becomes much deeper and more intriguing. Kate Mahony deftly weaves past and present, reality and the supernatural into a richly textured story of the effect of colonisation and war on communities, families and individual identity. An engrossing, wonderful read.'

Catherine Robertson

Author of What You Wish For, Gabriel’s Bay, Spellbound, The Hiding Places and others.

'Secrets of the Land draws parallels between the domination of Ireland by the English in the 19th century and colonialism in Taranaki, New Zealand. The stories range from 1864 to 2018 through characters who fight over farming rights, past hurts and secrets, and those who try to make peace with the present. Kate Mahony is a skilled writer and blends well-researched historical facts with vibrant, believable fiction to create an engrossing novel.'

Sandra Arnold

Author of Soul Etchings, The Ash the Well and the Bluebell, The Bones of the Story and others.

ABOUT KATE MAHONY

Kate Mahony lives in Aotearoa New Zealand. She has been writing for most of her life, in journalism and as a short story and flash fiction writer. Her short stories and flash fiction have been published widely, both in New Zealand and internationally. A number have been shortlisted and longlisted for international competitions, including the Bridport UK, and the Fish Short Story Competition (Ireland). For the latter, she was invited to read her short-listed story from the Fish Publishing anthology during a launch at the West Cork Literary Festival in Bantry, Cork.

She has an MA in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington. During the MA course she switched from writing short stories to a novel. Completed in just four months, the novel went on like many first novels to languish in a bottom drawer. However, the learning experience was useful for writing her new debut novel which took considerably longer than four months to write! The idea for the novel had been percolating for many years before she began writing it. The novel won a New Zealand Society of Authors manuscript assessment in 2021 and was completed following this.

Kate has also worked as an editor (including Woman magazine, UK), and feature writer and has taught writing workshops at Victoria University and the Community Education Centre in
Wellington.

She has dual New Zealand-Irish citizenship through her father who was born in Co Kerry, and has had a strong interest in her Irish family history. Her maternal side all also hail from Co Kerry. Her novel is set in both Ireland, which she has visited a number of times, and New Zealand.

She lives in Wellington.