Wendy Parkins

Wendy Parkins is a New Zealand-based memoirist, nature writer, and novelist. She is the author of An Idle Woman (2024) and Every Morning, So Far, I'm Alive: A Memoir (2019). Her work often explores themes of nature, belonging, and resilience.

Wendy Parkins began her career as a professor of Victorian literature, specializing in gender and modernity in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Numerous scholarly works have been published by her, including books such as Mobility and Modernity in Women's Novels, the 1850s-1930s (2009), and Jane Morris: The Burden of History (2013). She is also co-author of Slow Living (2006) and editor of Victorian Sustainability in Literature and Culture (2018) and William Morris and the Art of Everyday Life (2010).

Parkins transitioned to creative writing, merging her academic background with her passion for storytelling. Her memoir, Every Morning, So Far, I'm Alive, published by Otago University Press in 2019, recounts her journey through breakdown, recovery, and the healing power of nature. This work reflects her deep engagement with themes of mental health and the natural world.

In 2024, Wendy Parkins published An Idle Woman, a historical novel based on the life of Frances Dickinson. The story, set in the 19th century, centers on an 18-year-old heiress who marries John, a retired army officer, only to discover his cruel and violent nature. Isolated and abused at his ancestral home in Scotland, Frances seeks to escape her oppressive marriage. The novel is crafted through meetings, letters, and diary entries, recreating the events leading to one of the most sensational divorce trials of the 19th century.

Parkins describes her inspiration for An Idle Woman: "It is based on the true story of a woman's attempt to escape the coercive control of her husband that has haunted me since I first discovered it in 19th-century newspapers while researching another topic entirely! It still has much to say to us today about whose voices can be heard and the courage required to challenge the insidious power of gaslighting".

Her novel, An Idle Woman, has been praised for portraying strength and resilience in the face of overwhelming injustice. Wolff-Jones said of the book, "An Idle Woman is an utterly compelling read about heart, humanity, and standing up for what you believe is right. This incredible, well-crafted story of one woman's strength is inspiring. I raced through the pages, rooting for Frances against the overwhelming injustice of her time.

Wendy Parkins lives and writes in Dunedin, New Zealand.