Facing danger, despair, back breaking work and heart breaking loss and loneliness, the women who forged a new life in New Zealand in colonial times have never been celebrated, and their stories, with a few notable exceptions, have not been widely sheared. Best selling historian Megan Hutching has brought together the stories of a dozen women of all walks of life, whose personal tales of triumph and adversity make compelling reading, and whose contribution helped forge the character of contemporary Aotearoa, where their descendants owe their lives, and their lifestyles, to the sacrifices and strength of these women of the late 1800s.