seriously ten

ETHAN

Ethan is a 13 year old upper class English boy with a will to lead. He is a brave, resourceful boy who has learnt the values of kindness and decency from his parents. His strong sense of family inspires him to overcome the many challenges he will face.

However, he also has inherited some of the prejudices of the day, namely racial and class stereotyping. Ethan and the other children will discover he has the strength of character to overcome these too, although not always easily.

MEG

Meg is essentially a good kid from the wrong background. Her mother died giving birth to her and her father is a small-time criminal, currently doing time. As the story starts she is in the guardianship of her Uncle Frank, a more sinister criminal, who is teaching her to steal.

Meeting Ethan, Amy and Tama, is a turning point in her life. She's a funny, smart and kind, but she has a lot to learn about what is important in life.

TAMA

Tama is a slave, captured and taken from his tribe several years before in an inter-tribal conflict. The subsequent loss of 'mana', the Maori concept of pride, respect, and self-respect, has affected his sense of self worth greatly.

Initially he is wary of the European children but once he makes friends with them he becomes a loyal and fierce friend.

AMY

Before the shipwreck, Amy was a delicate, cosseted English girl and she will find the physical privations of their journey very difficult.

But she is no fool, and as they meet their various adventures, she finds she has reserves of strength and courage she didn't know she had.

CHARLOTTE

An intelligent and devoted mother, Charlotte faces a mother's nightmare - knowing that her children are lost and possibly dead in a strange and hostile land. She is duped by Frank's apparent kindness but never gives up her search for her son and daughter.

FRANK

An aging, career criminal who sees a prime opportunity in the children and the valuable diamond necklace they carry and cruelly deceives their mother to obtain it. A cold, remote man, his later realisation that the children's father has discovered gold increases his drive and ruthlessness.

HAROLD

The perennial sidekick, Harold is Frank's not-very-bright associate. As Harold comes to know both the children and their mother he has a surprising change of heart.