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  • Published: 1 October 2012
  • ISBN: 9781775530466
  • Imprint: RHNZ Children’s ebooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 286

The Transformation of Minna Hargreaves



Can you put your broken-apart family back together again? Powerful YA novel by an award-winning author.

Can you put your broken-apart family back together again? Powerful YA novel by an award-winning author.

Minna Hargreaves is a typical fourteen-year-old. She's got lots of friends, and her boyfriend is the school hunk. She's being encouraged to 'take the relationship to the next stage' by her friend Lizzie.

Home is pretty much a non-event. Her mother seems distracted, her father breezes in and out but isn't really present, her brother is a stoner. Her life is turned upside down when Dad announces that he wants them to live on an off-shore island for a year and work to make it into a conservation island. Minna is horrified at the idea, as is her mother. All the more so when they discover that the whole venture is to be made into a reality TV series.

To her utter dismay, Minna finds herself on an island, with only her family for company. There's no phone or email contact with the outside world. The helicopter ride to the island has made Mum sick and she doesn't seem to be recovering. Minna has to cope with new family dynamics, come to terms with the fact that her parents' marriage is doomed, and has to learn domestic arts that don't rate very highly on her excitement meter.

By the end, although Minna no longer has two parents who are married, she has found her father, is able to appreciate her mother's strength, and is strong enough now to chart her own course.

  • Published: 1 October 2012
  • ISBN: 9781775530466
  • Imprint: RHNZ Children’s ebooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 286

About the author

Fleur Beale



Fleur Beale is the author of many award-winning books for children and young adults — she has published more than 40 books in New Zealand, as well as in the United States and England. A former high school teacher, Fleur was inspired to write her acclaimed novel I Am Not Esther when one of her students was beaten and expelled from his family for going against their religious beliefs. Fleur is a leading advocate for New Zealand authors, and home-grown literature for children and young adults.

Also by Fleur Beale

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Awards & recognition

Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Award

Awarded  •  2008  •  Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction