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57 ratings | 1 review | avg rating:4.37

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Barbara Else

Goodreads Author

Born

Invercargill, New Zealand

Website

http://www.elseware.co.nz

Genre

Contemporary, Children's

Member Since

July 2014

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Barbara Else is a playwright and fiction writer, and has also worked as a literary agent, editor and fiction consultant. Else won the Victoria University Writer’s Fellowship in 1999, and was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature in 2005.

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Barbara Else’s books

Average rating: 3.7 · 845 ratings · 146 reviews · 33 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Traveling Restaurant: Jasper's Voyage in Three Parts (Tales of Fontania, #1) 3.71 avg rating — 267 ratings — published 2011 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Laughing at the Dark 4.18 avg rating — 136 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Queen and the Nobody Boy (Tales of Fontania, #2) 3.74 avg rating — 98 ratings — published 2012 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Warrior Queen 3.37 avg rating — 90 ratings — published 1998 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Volume of Possible Endings (Tales of Fontania, #3) 3.79 avg rating — 52 ratings — published 2015 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Go Girl: A Storybook of Epic NZ Women 3.92 avg rating — 36 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gingerbread Husbands 3.03 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 1998 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Knot Impossible: A Tale of Fontania (Tales of Fontania, #4) 3.78 avg rating — 23 ratings — published 2016 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Eating Peacocks 3.35 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 1998 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Harsu and the Werestoat 3.29 avg rating — 17 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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21 posts
Barbara Else's Blog

Busy in the back room

It’s ages since I posted anything. I’ve been busy moving house and cities, and working on two new books.

I live in Dunedin now. My study has a view of the Pacific Ocean. Most days there’s a long flat horizon where sea meets sky. Sometimes there’s a huge roll of bumpy cloud far out there at the edge of a mirror-sea. Some days it’s all cloud or mist, and the white chimney of the house over the road s

Series by Barbara Else

A Tale of Fontania (4 books)
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Barbara Else (Goodreads Author)

3.73 avg rating — 440 ratings

Quotes by Barbara Else (?)

“I'm too old to figure out the rights and wrongs of everything.”
― Barbara Else, The Travelling Restaurant: Jasper's Voyage in Three Parts

tags: age, right, right-and-wrong, wrong

6 likes

“Are you saying I'm plain, Mum?"
"I'm your mother, dear. I have to think you're stunning.”
― Barbara Else, Eating Peacocks

tags: aotearoa-author, mother-daughter-relationships

0 likes

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Book Loving Kiwis: LIANZA Children's Book Awards 2015 Finalists	1	10	Mar 24, 2015 02:03PM
Aussie Readers: Summer Challenge 1/12/21 - 28/2/22	269	270	Mar 20, 2022 08:08PM
Crazy Challenge C...: Quirky Q	112	84	Aug 26, 2024 05:47PM
Crazy Challenge C...: Stock Your Aquarium!	222	121	Oct 10, 2025 10:15AM
Crazy Challenge C...: National Hot Breakfast Month	92	69	Apr 17, 2026 07:29AM
Crazy Challenge C...: A Trip Around the World	364	111	May 31, 2026 04:58PM

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Barbara’s Quotes

“How could meditation help you to quieten your mind when you needed to quieten your mind in order to meditate?”
― Elif Shafak, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

tags: meditation

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Barbara Else

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