Christine's novel life: THE WOMAN BEHIND THE BLOCK BUSTERS

Starting a new chapter in New Zealand led to Hollywood movie deals and a tiny house!

- Wendyl Nissen

Her books are loved by movie makers with one being adapted into the Taika Waititi film JoJo Rabbit and her latest, In Amber’s Wake, being adapted by the producer of Thelma & Louise. The Weekly chats to Christine Leunens about what makes a story great.

Your new book In Amber’s Wake is set amidst some turbulent times for New Zealand in the 1980s. The Rainbow Warrior attack and the Springbok tour protests to name a few. How did you research those events?

I did a lot of reading of books and I also looked into encyclopaedia and all kinds of library collections. But then I talked to real people, which makes the difference for me because I have to know how these things affected you and your family in daily life. With the Springbok protests, a lot of families were at war.

You live in Nelson but you were born in the US to a Belgian father and Italian mother. How does it feel to have so many different cultures living in you?

Well, my husband is French, so that complicates it even more. The Italian view of time is different from Americans. I remember sitting at a bus station here and there was a bus waiting to go. There was a Maori family saying goodbye and at some stage the bus driver got quite cross because they weren’t able to say goodbye and I thought back to my Italian family. It would have been the same.