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Great Hearts

First Ladies of Aoraki Mount Cook
Brief Description
From the 1870s, a generation of bold women made mountaineering history around Aoraki Mount Cook. They claimed space in the mountains, defying conventions and forging a legacy that shaped every woman who followed. Then their stories were quietly erased. Drawing on scattered records, oral histories and... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3999
Elsewhere:
$4500
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Writing New Zealand's early women writers back into history

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From the 1870s, a generation of bold women made mountaineering history around Aoraki Mount Cook. They claimed space in the mountains, defying conventions and forging a legacy that shaped every woman who followed. Then their stories were quietly erased.

Drawing on scattered records, oral histories and forgotten stories, Great Hearts resurrects their extraordinary achievements, blending nonfiction with reimagined fiction in a tribute to their resistance, courage and grit.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781991309341

Publisher: Massey University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 10 September 2026

Country: New Zealand

Imprint: Massey University Press

Illustration: 50 Illustrations, color; 150 Illustrations, black and white

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 35.0mm

Width: 148.0mm

Height: 200.0mm

Weight: 500g

Pages: 384

About the Author

Hazel Phillips is the author of five non-fiction books, including Fire & Ice: Secrets, Histories, Treasures and Mysteries of Tongariro National Park and Solo: Backcountry Adventuring in Aotearoa New Zealand. She has a background in newspaper and magazine journalism, and her work has appeared in media outlets and literary journals across New Zealand and Australia.Β Hazel was awarded the Friends of the Hocken Collections Award 2026 and a Ministry for Culture & Heritage Whiria Te Mahara New Zealand History Grant for her research on early women climbers. She has held writer residencies at the Michael King Writers Centre and the Robert Lord Writers Cottage, and in 2025 became the inaugural recipient of the Luna Foundation Writers Residency.Β Hazel holds a Master of Creative Writing with first-class honours, as well as an MA in media studies. Her work also appears in the essay anthology Otherhood (Massey University Press, 2024) and the Atlas of Mountaineering (Phaidon Press, forthcoming).

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