Keep Your Head Up, My Girl

the long version

In 1910 Peggy's mother earns a living in Nelson by sewing and prostitution. Peggy's father, a gold prospector, drowns in the Buller River and her mother dies soon after giving birth to Billy. To prevent her brother's placement in an orphanage, thirteen-year-old Peggy seizes the newborn baby and flees on horseback into the night. In her pocket is Mother's valuable ruby necklace. Peggy survives days and nights in the open and an attempted rape, during a wet and cold NZ spring. She finds sanctuary in the Marlborough Sounds with her mother's childhood friend, Maisy and husband, Bob Kovac. They stay until Billy is six years old. During this time Peggy and Billy have a close relationship with people from a Maori village nearby and experience friendship, loyalty, danger, and a way of life free from many restrictive social conventions of the time. A frightening spiritual encounter leaves Peggy confused and shaken.