'Christmas Eve, 1953. The crater tlake on Mt Ruapehu bursts, unleashing a giant lahar that sweeps down the volcano like a tidal wave, destroying a Tangiwai rail bridge and plunging a passenger train into the river. One hundred and fifty-one people drown and many others are seriously injured.
'Years later, when the vibrant international seismologist Frances Nelson arrives in New Zealand to start monitoring the dangerously active volcano Mt Ruapehu, she is shocked to find herself embroiled in a battle over the mountain that stretches back centuries. Not realising that Frances has ties of her own to the Tangiwai train crash, local scientists seek to gain her support for their schemes, which range from installing an early warning system to bulldozing the entire mountain top.
'Added to that are the Maori locals - and one in particular - who believe that the volcano is sacred and the railway should never have been built across its path. The mountain is heating up and Frances must decide what to do before it is too late.' (Publisher's blurb)
Pliny's Warning
Auckland
:
HarperCollins Australia
,
2009
Z1613442
2009
single work
novel
'Vulcanologist Frances Nelson is in Italy to work with an international team assessing the world′s most dangerous volcano, Mt Vesuvius, responsible for the destruction of ancient Pompeii.
'Instead of the straightforward scientific task she expects, she finds herself in the midst of political scandal and a web of nepotism on the literally murderous streets of Naples as greed, organized crime, and Il Sistema (the system) fill those same streets with violence and pollute the countryside with toxic waste. To her horror, she realises her work is being compromised and her team's findings suppressed by her superiors.
A vivid and compelling story unfolds, drenched with flavours of Italy and the spice of dangerous passions. In flashback, the tragic events of a fatal explosion on White Island, in the Bay of Plenty provide a dramatic emotional counterpoint to the events Frances is dealing with in Italy, adding a poignance to her budding relationship with a colleague, and providing a romatic twist to this fast-paced contemporary novel.' (From the publisher's website.)
