Secrets at Red Rocks

When a boy finds a sealskin in a cave, he unlocks an ancient spell that tips him into a terrifying adventure…an award-winning novel for tweens that inspired the Sky NZ Originals TV series!

Selkie mythology meets Wellington’s rugged, windswept south coast in this spine-tingling adventure novel, which won the 2013 Esther Glen Medal for Junior Fiction. Now a Sky New Zealand Originals TV series.

Jessie stared at him, hard. ‘It is not a story. It is real. Jake, if you have stolen a sealskin, then whoever it belongs to will be stuck in human form.’ Jake was surprised to see tears form in her eyes. ‘You must put it back.’
‘But that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!’ said Jake.
‘Jake!’ Jessie shouted. ‘You must put it back.’

Jake has taken a sealskin from Red Rocks and hidden it under his bed, unlocking an ancient
spell that threatens to destroy his family. Can he put things right, before it’s too late?

In Secrets at Red Rocks, the mysterious Celtic myth of the selkies – seal people – meets Aotearoa New Zealand’s wild southern landscape and an ordinary boy is thrown into a terrifying adventure tinged with ancient magic. With its beautiful writing and eerie atmosphere, middle-grade readers will be thrilled and moved by this captivating story by the author of The Grimmelings.

Previously published as Red Rocks.

Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Imprint: Penguin Books NZ
Publication date: 01/04/2025