Best Selling Books by Paula Morris

Spanning three generations of a large Pakeha/Maori family in a narrative that skilfully handles interwoven stories and multiple voices, Queen of Beauty explores the fragility of truth, the elusiveness of the past, and the transcendent power of love. Virginia Seton lives in rainy, seedy New Orleans, working as a researcher for a historical novelist with a ''strip-mined'' imagination. On a brief trip back to New Zealand for her sister''s wedding, Virginia is drawn into the family secrets, lies and tensions of both the past and the present.

Riffing on truth, lies and secrets, this collection uses fiction to explore fact, and fact to explore fiction. Fictional characters muse upon the truth behind real people, non-fiction pieces contain short interludes of fiction, fiction is written to read like an essay, made-up elements slip into true accounts. These pieces range the world – from America, to Antwerp to Aotearoa – and talk about writers and writing, famous figures, family members, witch-burning in Denmark, cyclones and numerous pertinent and stimulating topics. All brilliantly written, each will leave you thinking and desperate to jump back in for more.

The declamatory return; a homeland as a ‘wearying enigma’. This all makes sense to me. The New Zealand that’s home to me may be a place of sheep and rugby and number-eight wire, whatever that is, but it’s also none of those things. Am I still a New Zealander? Award-winning writer Paula Morris confronts long-standing fears of what it means to return home. Is ambition and adventure being traded for a ‘forever home’ of commitments and compromises? Will she still belong? And will the belonging impose its own restrictions? Seeking answers in the words of writer exiles, Morris’s returning takes us back to her childhood streets and ancestral voyages and on, beyond, to the lost New Zealand worlds of her writing.

Welcome back to New Orleans.Where the streets swirl with jazz and beauty.Where the houses breathe with ghosts. A year ago, Rebecca Brown escaped death in a New Orleans cemetery. Now she has returned to this haunting city. She is looking forward to seeing Anton Grey, the boy who may or may not have her heart.But she also meets a ghost: a troubled boy who insists only she can help him. Soon Rebecca finds herself embroiled in another murder mystery from more than a century ago. But as she tries to right wrongs, she finds more questions thananswers: Is she putting her friends, and herself, in danger? Can she trust this new ghost? And has she stumbled into something much bigger and more serious than she understands?

A smart comedy of manners, a satire on celebrity and a warning on the dangers of getting naked in Williamsburg. Jane Shore, flippant and world-weary heroine, lives in New York City, works in PR and is officially Ugly On The Inside. An unpromising encounter with a bitter stranger, who shouts at her, ''Did anyone ever tell you that you''re ugly? Ugly on the inside,'' sets the scene for the next few months of her life. As if Ugly On The Inside wasn''t bad enough, Jane''s being sidelined at work by the ambitious fashion-victim Lee Munroe; her West Village apartment''s being sold; her cousin Frances is going out with her megalomaniac boss; and she''s still single – the gorgeous Guy Weaver being taken already. Is it time for Jane to acknowledge that the Holy Trinity of job, house and man might not pan out quite how she expected? Is it time for her to accept Mr Not-quite-right, a Brooklyn postcode, and that she''s reached the less-than-lofty ceiling of her PR career? Jane''s search for love and success takes the reader on a madcap ride through the PR scene of hip-hopera and porn entrepreneurs, and the bars and clubs of Manhattan.

Welcome to York, England.Mist lingers in the streets. Narrow buildings cast long shadows. This is the most haunted city in the world. . . .Miranda Tennant arrives in York with a terrible, tragic secret. She is eager to lose herself amid the quaint cobblestones, hoping she won’t run into the countless ghosts who supposedly roam the city. . . .Then she meets Nick, an intense, dark-eyed boy who knows all of York’s hidden places and histories. Miranda wonders if Nick is falling for her, but she is distracted by another boy -- one even more handsome and mysterious than Nick. He lives in the house across from Miranda and seems desperate to send her some sort of message. Could this boy be one of York’s haunted souls? Soon, Miranda realizes that something dangerous -- and deadly -- is being planned. And she may have to face the darkest part of herself in order to unravel the mystery -- and find redemption.

From master of suspense Paula Morris comes a tale of gods and goddesses, thrilling romance, and mystery set in present-day Rome. Laura Martin is visiting Rome on a class trip, and she''s entranced by the majestic Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon . . . Everything in this city seems magical. That is, until the magic seems to turn very dark. Suddenly, statues of Cupid and ancient works of art come to life before her eyes. Earthquakes rumble and a cloud of ash forms in the sky. A dark-eyed boy with wings on his heels appears and gives her a message. Laura soon realizes she is at the center of a brewing battle -- a battle between the gods and goddesses, one that will shake modern-day Rome to its core. Only she and her group of friends can truly unravel the mystery behind what is happening. As tensions mount and secret identities are revealed, Laura must rely on her own inner strength to face up to what may be a fight for her life. Acclaimed author Paula Morris brings the ancient world to vivid life in this unstoppable tale of friendship, love, and the power of the past.

Based on a true story Auckland, June 1886. Ngati Wai chief Paratene Te Manu spends long sessions, over three long days, having his portrait painted by the Bohemian painter Gottfried Lindauer. Hearing of Lindauer''s planned trip to England reminds him of his own journey there, twenty years earlier, with a party of northern rangatira. As he sits for Lindauer, Paratene retreats deeper and deeper into the past, from the triumphs in London and their meetings with royalty to the disintegration of the visit into poverty, mistrust, and humiliation. ''Morris'' research is both thorough and thoughtful . . . With its light, often wry tone, much of the story-telling is amusing, albeit desperately poignant.'' —Margie Thomson, Canvas ''An extraordinary literary achievement and probably the best of recent New Zealand historical novels.'' —Nicholas Reid, New Zealand Books ''[An] adroitly told historical novel . . . Paratene – old, forgetful but wise and generous in his appraisals – is our lens, and he''s a triumph of characterisation, his voice genial and flawlessly authentic.'' —John McCrystal, New Zealand Listener Also available as an eBook

A gripping supernatural mystery and romance set in post-Katrina New Orleans.Rebecca couldn''t feel more out of place in New Orleans. She''s staying in a creepy house with her aunt, who reads tarot cards. And at the snooty prep school, a pack of filthy-rich girls treat Rebecca like she''s invisible. Only gorgeous, unavailable Anton Grey gives Rebecca the time of day, but she wonders if he''s got a hidden agenda. Then one night, among the oak trees in Lafayette Cemetery, Rebecca makes a friend. Sweet, mysterious Lisette is eager to show Rebecca the nooks and crannies of New Orleans. There''s just one catch.Lisette is a ghost.

A complex, insightful and gripping novel. Emma Taupere returns to Auckland from Shanghai, where her training as a painter has made her a copyist of incredible skill. Now, Siaki, her ambitious and manipulative ex-boyfriend, has recruited her as a forger, shutting Emma away in a borrowed apartment on Princes Wharf. Emma works day and night copying one of the most valuable Goldie paintings in the Auckland Museum until a rash act by her damaged young cousin, Ani, exposes her to danger, and Emma has no choice but to flee up the Hibiscus Coast.

Hene is a Maori girl living in 1840s New Zealand. When her twin brother falls dangerously ill, her parents fear she will also catch the sickness, so they send her away from her home at the pa to the Paihia mission station. Life with the missionaries is difficult. Hene must wear an uncomfortable European dress and learn to sew, which she hates. Meanwhile, across the water in Russell, the world is in turmoil. Hone Heke has cut down the flagpole again and has attacked Korororeka. Hene sees smoke and fire from across the bay; the town is on fire and her best friend from the mission house, Rangi, is trapped there. Hene is the only one who can save her.

This collection brings together twenty short stories from eighteen of New Zealand’s accomplished writers. They explore the dark and dangerous milieu of our comfortable existence. There is humour, tenderness, surprise, anger, sorrow and abject desperation in these stories from the four winds.

"Paula Morris grew up in Te Atatu South with a creek swamping the bottom of the garden. Her parents spent the last decade of their lives in Waitakere Gardens overlooking Opanuku Creek. In this personal reflection, Paula considers the role of creeks in Maurice Gee''s work and the influence Henderson and its waterways have had on her own life and writing."--Outside the Square website.