A story about growing up in a time of social unrest in early 1980s New Zealand, Nine Girls is a page-turning adventure woven with suspense from the author of Pony Club Secrets and The Princess and the Foal.

They dug a hole and they put the box filled with gold inside it. To keep it safe until they could return, one of them placed a tapu on it. A tapu so that anyone who tried to touch the gold would die. Titch is determined to find the gold buried somewhere on her family's land. It might be cursed but that won't put her off. Then an unexpected encounter with a creature from the river reveals secrets lying beneath its surface . . . As Titch uncovers the truth about the hidden treasure, she learns about her own heritage - and what it's like to feel like an outsider in your own world.    

This book is a winner of the Junior Fiction category at the 2024 New Zealand Book Awards.