They dug a hole right there on our farm on the bank of the Mangawara and they put the box filled with gold inside it and covered it with dirt. And to keep the gold safe until they could return one of them placed a tapu on it. A tapu so that anyone who tried to touch the gold before they could come back for it would die.

Titch is determined to find the gold hidden somewhere on her family’s farm. It might be tapu but that won’t put her off. Her dad has gone bankrupt, and she has had to leave her home in the city and move back with her family to smalltown Ngaruawahia, start a new school and find new friends.

Could the hidden gold be the way to fix her family’s money problems? Titch, her cousins and new friend Tania set out to find the gold. But an unexpected encounter with a creature from the nearby river sees Titch learn about her own Maori heritage and the dangers of messing with tapu. A fascinating insight into Maori legend and culture, Nine Girls is a page-turning adventure that shows what it’s like to feel like an outsider in our own world.