The Calling

Fleur Beale is an accomplished author with over 40 award-winning books for children and young adults published in New Zealand, as well as in the United States and England.

She is the only writer to have twice won the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book, receiving it in 2007 for Slide the Corner and in 2009 for I Am Not Esther. In 2009, she won the Esther Glen Award for distinguished contribution to children’s literature for Juno of Taris. Fierce September earned her the YA category in the 2011 NZ Post Children’s Book Awards and the LIANZA Young Adult Award in the same year. In recognition of her outstanding contribution to children’s writing, she was awarded the Margaret Mahy Medal in 2012, and in 2015, she was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. In 1999, she served as Dunedin College of Education’s Writer in Residence. A former high-school teacher, Beale resides in Wellington.

One of Beale’s most renowned works, I Am Not Esther, tells the story of a girl sent to live with relatives who are members of a strict religious cult. This gripping psychological thriller received an Honour Award in the 1999 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards and is featured in the UK publication 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. Reissued in 2012, it has remained in print since its initial publication. Magpies noted its relevance in addressing the control of children’s minds and emotions.

The sequel, I Am Rebecca, published in 2014, garnered significant acclaim. It was recognized as a 2015 Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction book, was shortlisted for the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults (Young Adult category), and won the LIANZA Librarian’s Choice Award. Rene Nol of the Otago Daily Times praised its ability to “reveal our prejudices as being the shallow things they are” while being an entertaining read, describing it as a “tension-filled, thrilling read that affirms genuine belief while exposing hypocrisy.”

Being Magdalene, published in 2015, concluded the series. Tierney Reardon of Tearaway awarded it five out of five stars, calling it “my favourite book in the series” for its perfect conclusion. Ann Packer, in the New Zealand Listener, highlighted Beale’s “insightful ability to see shades between black and white,” commending the balanced portrayal of adults within the cult and the exposure of hypocrisy. Being Magdalene received a Storylines Notable Book Award in 2016.

Beale’s writing predominantly explores contemporary settings, with themes ranging from boys fixing up an old car to a girl taking over her father’s business and a story about a talented young kart racer. The New Zealand Listener has recognized Beale as “one of the most consistently accomplished and versatile writers for teenagers in the country.”

Described as a “strong storyteller” by Trevor Agnew of The Press and “consistently engaging” by Frances Grant of the Weekend Herald, Beale is a popular participant in the Writers in School programme, demonstrating her connection with the “modern young market.” Her entry in The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature notes her characters’ “intense awareness of their difficulties, social troubles and shortcomings,” attesting to her understanding of teenagers and her ability to engage reluctant readers.

Her novel Juno of Taris was hailed as a “riveting futuristic story” by the National Library’s Services to Schools, drawing comparisons to Bernard Beckett’s Genesis and Lois Lowry’s The Giver. The reviewer found it to be a “brilliant story that completely enthralled me.”

The sequel, Fierce September, was named one of The New Zealand Listener’s “50 Best Children’s Books of 2010.” North and South praised its “compelling authenticity,” while the Otago Daily Times commended its “tight writing; the characterisation credible, and the narrative exciting.” The book’s innovative use of blog commentary at the start of each chapter was widely lauded, with Magpies noting how the “cross-media technique of combining online blogs with traditional text… brings the book vividly into our world.”

In a review of Heart of Danger, the final book in the Juno trilogy, Angelina Sbroma of New Zealand Books identified Juno as a “protagonist of wish-fulfilment fantasy in the grand tradition,” yet also a “rounded character.” The book prompted Bob Docherty to request a fourth installment.

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