Endeavour's Children

by R.J. Tinsley (1992)
ISBN 1-86948-090-2

Found on my bookshelf when out of library books, I started this from desperation for something to read.
To start with I found it irritating, as the descriptions of nautical terminology used so many of what I assume to be the correct words, that I felt like I was being lectured without having taken the prerequisite beginners course. There continues to be a didactic tone to the writing style, but I found it less annoying as I became more attached to the main character. Set in the early days of the European exploitation and settlement of New Zealand and Australia, and based on a true story, this is a jolly good yarn. If the original heroine had a fraction of the spirit of Lisla (with a silent s) in the book, she would have been an amazing woman.
I would really have appreciated a map to go with the story - set mostly in the South Island of New Zealand, and using place names that were known around 1800, i should have done some research to get the geography straight in my head.
I can't find a picture of the cover and don't have a flat bed scanner at home, hence no picture this time.