Helen Brown

Helen Brown grew up in New Plymouth, New Zealand. Her mother, Noeline, hammered out newspaper stories on a typewriter on the kitchen table while her dad, Bill, managed the local gasworks.

Along with her older siblings, Jim and Mary, the family lived in a whimsical house complete with a gothic tower. It was a perfect setting for fairy tales – and the Blackmans weren’t short of dreams. Noeline ached for stardom in the local operatic society productions, while Bill longed to convert the old coal-fired gasworks to natural gas.

Helen fantasised about becoming a prima ballerina like Margot Fonteyn. When that ambition crumbled, she ret