About:  J L Williams

J L Williams is a Historical Middle Grade or Junior Fiction Author from New zealand

Janine’s story.

J L Williams (Janine) writes stories that take you to another place and time, and another world, even though they’re set right here on planet earth. She believes that kindness and forgiveness are the greatest powers a person can exercise. When our personal loyalties are tested, and when we have the opportunity to be kind, or to forgive, it becomes more than an opportunity. It becomes a way to change lives, societies and nations.  J L Williams hopes that her stories will make you laugh as well as keep you on the edge of your seat, and make you think about some of the deeper issues of life when you close the book.

Janine was born in Fiji, the daughter of a New Zealand Airforce electrician and a dedicated Correspondence School teacher. Her dad fixed aeroplanes and flying boats, her mother spoke on radio and travelled on horseback into the hills of Fiji to visit her students. After Fiji, Janine spent the first few years of her life in England, and if she returns to England, she loves everything she sees. But her heart is in the rugged and beautiful country called Aotearoa or New Zealand where she has lived for most of her life.

J L Williams has loved books and reading all her life. She writes historical fiction for junior/middle grade readers. Her first book HOLDING THE HORSE is set near Waitarere Beach in the North Island of New Zealand, in the 1940s, just after WWII. Although her books are written for kids, older adults also enjoy Janine’s stories.

Janine says, “My dad and his brothers talked about their wonderful, happy childhood in the 1940s. My grandmother told me about the tough times. She had eight children, and she was an amazing mother and a loyal, hardworking wife. Cheers to her, and to all of our fabulous grandmothers and great-grandmothers!”

And cheers to Sid Everett, her young hero, courageously following his dream. A very determined lad. Hard-headed but soft hearted. Just like his dad, as it turns out…