Soldier to Settler

Author Donald Offwood Publisher Southern Lights Books. This dramatized and historically correct novel follows Patrick Murtagh who as a poor Irish boy joins the British Army in 1820 After serving in India he is discharged into the famines of the 1940s in Ireland As a man of character he is able re-join the Army in 1847 and come New Zealand with his family and with the offer of his own cottage and schooling for his children as a Fencible Corp soldier In exchange for guarding Auckland for seven years and for the first time in his life he will own something he cannot carry his own land After seven years service he is discharged and in 1860 moves south Green Island Dunedin with his family buy his own small farm and become an Otago Pioneer An appendix includes the Family Tree of the 1800s This is Donald's 12th book; Patrick Murtagh was his great-great-grandfather This gripping novel follows on from Donald Offwood's earlier historical novels Oatcakes Otago covering the Scottish migration Otag...