The Lost Tohunga (28 page)

Many thanks must go again to my wonderful wife Kerry for reading the manuscript many, many times over! Also a big ‘kia ora' to Arama for his comments and feedback, which were as always very much appreciated. Thanks also to ‘The Family Stone' (Kate and Liz) for edits and keeping me on task, and Eva, Bonnie and everyone else at HarperCollins New Zealand for your continued support for, and belief in, this series.

Namaste to all the friends Kerry and I made during our Indian sojourn, especially Mike and Heather, Simon and Bettina, Harshal, Catherine, Melanie, Kelly, Tanuva, Vidhi, Stella and all the fabulous folk at the New Zealand High Commission in Delhi. We miss you all.

This book is dedicated to Hirini Johnston, whose cheerful courage is inspirational to all of us lucky enough to know him.

David Hair is a New Zealander living once more in Wellington, New Zealand, after nearly four years in India. He is the author of
The Bone Tiki
(winner of Best First Book at the 2010 NZ Post Children's Book Awards), and its sequel,
The Taniwha's Tear
. David is also the author of the
Return of Ravana
series, a four-book teen-fantasy set in India. David is married to Kerry, and has two children, Brendan and Melissa. He has a degree in History and Classical Studies, and a passion for football (real football, played eleven-a-side with a round ball).

HarperCollins
Publishers

First published 2011
This edition published in 2011
HarperCollins
Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1, Auckland 1140

Copyright © David Hair 2011

David Hair asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.

HarperCollins
Publishers
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National Library of New Zealand Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Hair, David, 1965-
The lost tohunga / David Hair.
Sequel to: The taniwha's tear.
9781-86950-827-2 (pbk)
978-0-7304-9489-8 (epub)
1. Maori (New Zealand people)—Juvenile fiction.
[1. Maori (New Zealand people)—Fiction. 2. Tohunga—Fiction.
3. Warlocks—Fiction. 4. Good and evil—Fiction. 5. Fantasy.]
[1. Pakiwaitara. reo 2. Tohunga. reo] I. Title.
NZ823.3—dc 22

Cover design by Louise McGeachie
Cover images: Tapotupotu Bay at dawn by Tony Pleavin/ The Travel Library/ Photolibrary.com; Greenstone hand club by Focusnewzealand.com/ Frank Gasteiger, Jade carving by Ross Crump/ JadeGallery.co.nz