MY BOOKS IN PRINT

01 - Nothing Stops the Floods

02 - I Had a Brother

03 - Shadow of the Boyd

A history of the Hikurangi Swamp Scheme and the big weather events that affected the people who live in the Hukerenui Survey District.

In 1974 when Menefy and her husband first moved to Tapuhi there were nine floods. ‘That year was really tough. With the scheme completed we don’t get many. We still get hit, but now, give it about four to five hours and the water goes off the road.

The huge floods that the scheme was not designed to handle will always happen. They are weather patterns and out of everyone’s control.

’Diana Menefy, May 2022​

Storylines Notable Book Award Winner 2019

Baby Connor’s big brother tells the story of his birth, how he wriggled, how he screwed up his face, how he became ill…and how he died. A precious story of the loss of a new-born baby, through the eyes of a young boy, looking back from his current life of happiness with another brother and baby sister.

‘When talking with a child about a loss we recommend having warm, hones, open and straightforward conversations. Using a children’s book such as I Had a Brother can also help children understand and process what’s happened.’

The Grief Centre.

Winner of the LIANZA Esther Glen medal in 2011Finalist in the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards 2011.

In a powerful story from New Zealand’s colonial past, the bitter clash of two cultures is explored through the eyes of a young English boy who survives the infamous massacre on the Boyd in Whangaroa Harbour, New Zealand in 1809.

Fourteen-year-old Thomas Davidson joins the Boyd in London to see the world, but soon finds that life at sea is not how he imagined. With a contingent of soldiers, a cargo of convicts and a captain who meters out brutal punishments on board, the ship arrives in Sydney and that is when things begin to go wrong.

04 - 1915 Wounds of War

05 - Kāpia - New Zealand Kauri Gum

06 - Hukerenui... in the beginning

This is the story of Gallipoli and the hospital ships through the eyes of two cousins who join the NZANS. Harriet works in various hospitals and Mel signs up for the Maheno, New Zealand’s first hospital ship.

Both have brothers and cousins fighting with the NZ forces. It ends with the first Anzac Commemoration Service in Cairo on 25 April 1916.

‘Di has created for us a story not often told…the remarkable story of the courageous Kiwi nurses working on the hospital ships and in fiels hospitals, who had the unenviable task of dealing with the casualties of a horrific war. The nurses’ job was as much about bringing comfort to those who would not survive, as it was to tend the wounds of those who would.

Congratulations, Di, on a well-researched, empathetic story that gives us all an insight into the lives of NZ’s unsung nursing heroes. Penny Scown, Editor, Scholastic.​

This book takes the story of kauri gum from the tree to jewellery. It includes its early uses, by both Māori and Europeans, the dealers and industry, as well as different types and examples of natural and fake inclusions.

It is a concise book ideal for anyone interested in the background of kauri gum.​

This book was first written for the centenary of Hukerenui School and included all the local schools that emerged with Hukerenui. Two new editions have been printed since and the most recent in 2019 includes a survey of the following twenty-five years. It also encompasses the early history of Hukerenui with a brief look at the adjacent settlements – Puhipuhi, Taheroa, Tapuhi, and Whakapara.

‘An absorbing story it covers the hardships of the early settlers, their determination to have their children educated and their slow but sure progress towards prosperity. The great stories about the early days included in the book will be a joy to descendants of the first settlers…but they will also be of interest to the general reader.’ Northern Advocate.

Congratulations on putting together such a complex and interesting compilation’ Ray Richards, January 1989.