Harper Collins Publishers, 2008. Faded spine, otherwise good secondhand condition.

They were remarkable women whose lives were largely unremarked. New Zealand's European pioneer women made the long voyage, in the vivid words of Eliza White, over a wide and trackless sea, to lead lives they could have barely imagined.

Some may be familiar- Lady Barker wrote two well-loved books about her time in New Zealand, and Betty Guard, captured by Taranaki Maori, has been the subject of a novel. Amey Daldy was a reknowned suffragist and Kirstine Nielsen a founding member of the Country Women's Institute, while others in this salute to the petticoat pioneers are, at best, remembered only by their families. Their stories paint a fascinating picture of a new country, from mission stations and Dalmation gum-diggers in the north to South Island whaling stations and the landed gentry of Canterbury.

Pioneer women suffered the loss of children, armed conflict and economic hardship, enduring natural and man-made disasters and endless labour - but their lives were more than a struggle for survival. There was time for friendship, laughter, picnics, visits, exquisite handcrafts and hearty celebrations, as the gentle practitioners of the domestic arts made homes in the wilderness and gave birth to a nation.

Acclaimed historian Megan Hutching has captured the essence of our forbears, presenting the stories of some of the remarkable women and girls whose lives are strands woven into the fabric of our colourful history.