Rachael King vividly remembers the advice her late father, celebrated historian and writer Michael King, gave her when she was 31 and embarking on a Masters of creative writing.
“He said, ‘It’s really great you want to be a writer, but you should get a real job as well,’” laughs Rachael, 54.
Michael’s most prominent title, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, sold 300,000 copies, but many of those were after his death.
“He was writing very popular, important books, but each year, he didn’t know where his next income was coming from, so he was looking out for me,” she explains.
Rachael was 36 when her first book, The Sound of Butterflies, was released. Translated into eight languages, it became a bestseller.
“The only regret I have is I didn’t finish it while he was still alive,” she tells. “He died in 2004 and it came out in 2006. I had a draft, but I was waiting until it was better before I showed it to him.”
Michael passed away in a car accident at just 58 years old. The year before, he was named the New Zealand Herald’s 2003 New Zealander of the Year.
Remembering her beloved dad, Rachael shares some precious memories.
“My brother and I would sometimes travel the country with him while he was doing research,” she recalls. “It was a real privilege for a young Pākehā kid to be visiting marae and meeting these incredible kuia [women elders] Dad knew through his work. One was Ngoi Pēwhairangi, who wrote Poi E. She just adored Dad. He was relatively young, but forged these amazing relationships.”
Michael was known for gaining unprecedented trust to record Māori stories.
“Understanding my place in the country and knowing that from an early age was one of the greatest gifts I got from him,” she reveals.
“He was wise beyond his years. He was only four years older than I am now when he died. All through my forties, I kept waiting for wisdom. Now I’m 54, I think I’m kind of getting there just a little bit.”
It’s a humble statement from Rachael, whose 2012 children’s book Red Rocks has been adapted into the Sky TV series Secrets at Red Rocks.
“They allowed me into the story room where they break down the novel and work out how to turn it into TV,” she tells. “It’s been amazing and I was really grateful for that experience.”
Watching her characters come to life on screen as they explore the Celtic myth of the selkie (half human, half fish), in Wellington was an “intense experience”. But Rachael says the final result is “just brilliant”.
And what exactly would her dad think?
“He’d feel stoked,” she says. “I spent a lot of time with Dad by the sea in Wellington, rowing and fishing. All of that made it into the book and the TV series. [Actor] Dominic Ona-Ariki’s character Robert is a writer and his relationship with his son Jake [played by Korban Knock] is loosely based on Dad and the holidays I spent with him.”
Rachael has also been busy releasing the first of a new children’s book series that’s particularly close to her heart.
Violet and the Velvets follows a tenacious 12-year-old girl with ADHD on her mission to start a band and solve mysteries.
“We’re a pretty neurodivergent household,” says Rachael, who’s the mother of an 18-year-old with autism and a 15-year-old with ADHD.
Professionals also diagnosed Rachael with ADHD herself in late 2022. She wanted to create something her younger self would have really appreciated.
“Violet is me really and also Violet’s mum is me,” she shares. “Violet’s voice told the whole thing. I didn’t have anything to do with it. She took over.
“She’s got this really great sense of humour, and she’s kind of chaotic and energetic. I know I talk about her like a real person, but I kind of feel like she is.”
Rachael has also recently signed a two-book deal with a major international publisher for her 2024 children’s novel The Grimmelings and a young adult fantasy that’ll be released in the US, UK, Australia and Aotearoa in May 2026.
She says having a better understanding of her own condition and neurodiversity has been one of the keys to her recent success.
“Now that I know how my brain works, I can use it better,” she explains.
“I didn’t write a book for 12 years. Every time I sat down, I felt so overwhelmed thinking, ‘Should I write this, or that? Or should I just go for a walk?’
“I’d end up doing nothing and now I know why. Since my diagnosis, I’ve written three and a half books in three years!”
Secrets at Red Rocks is streaming now on Neon.
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