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David Whittet
ALLi Author Member
Location: New Zealand
Genres: Memoir, Contemporary Fiction, General Fiction, Literary Fiction, Thriller
David Whittet is a family doctor, an independent filmmaker and author.
Medicine is a constant source of inspiration for David’s writing. Like writing, general practice is about being interested in people’s stories. The inspiration for his debut novel Gang Girl, the story of a young woman’s struggle to escape from the Gang, came to him during a fifteen-year stint working as a rural GP in a New Zealand community.
Storytelling has been in David’s DNA since childhood. A dramatisation of Oliver Twist on television had a profound effect on him as a child. In its day, Dickens’ novel brought reform to the poor law, which convinced David of the written word’s potential to change the world. He decided then that he wanted to be a writer. Subsequently, A J Cronin’s novels inspired David to become a doctor, especially The Citadel, which pre-empted the National Health Service’s foundation in the UK and beyond.
Gang Girl began as an independent film, which David wrote and directed, achieving success on the international film festival circuit and winning numerous prestigious awards. With a local cast, the entire community got behind the project.
While Gang Girl is a work of fiction, David drew on his experiences at Te Karaka. Aroha’s struggle reflects that of many women who battle to escape poverty and build a new life for themselves.
Indeed, the colourful cast of characters David has met throughout his career––colleagues and patients alike––breathe life into his writing.
David Whittet's books
Gang Girl - Gang Girl 1
The Gang stole her childhood. She won’t let them claim the rest of her life. New Zealand, 1970. Born into the gang, Alicia longs to escape the misery of her childhood. The daughter of a notorious gang leader, her dream of freedom falls apart when she’s pledged in blood to her cousin Mickey. Happiness seems further away than ever once Mickey grows into a ruthless gangster—until a chance meeting with a hotshot business executive promises Alicia a new life away from the gang. Immediate reprisals plunge Alicia into a deadly war. Shot down at her wedding ceremony and fighting for her life, she despairs that Mickey will ever let go. Can Alicia break free from her brutal past, or is she destined for a legacy of bloodshed? The only person Alicia can turn to is a Māori diviner … who has a message she doesn’t want to hear. David Whittet’s...
The Road to Madhapur
You will never make a doctor. The professor’s harsh words threaten to end Theo Malone’s medical career before he sees his first patient. The idealistic Kiwi is determined to prove the professor wrong—until the death of a child from meningitis during a student assignment in Uganda shatters his confidence. Australian teenager Elisha is furious when her missionary father announces he’s taking the entire family on his next campaign in India. Anger turns to despair after her mother dies from AIDS following a needlestick injury at a local Indian hospital. Qualified at last, Theo’s in trouble for trying to take vital medicines into a developing country. Disillusioned, he leaves New Zealand for voluntary work overseas. By chance, the medical agency sends him to India. His feet scarcely touch the ground in Madhapur before his life-saving drugs rescue an Indian girl Elisha has befriended. Opposition to western medicine and growing political tension...
Goliath and the Gang - Gang Girl 2
Aaron was just five years old when they took his mother away … Raised by his aunt after losing his mother, he’s bullied by his uncle and tormented by his loathsome cousins. His dream of making something of his life, of becoming an entrepreneur like his late father, rapidly disappears in the wake of his miserable childhood. The sudden appearance of a mysterious Māori diviner sparks hope in Aaron’s heart. Can this wise woman help him find his mother? And when he falls hopelessly in love with the woman’s haughty foster daughter, is he destined for heartbreak? Everything changes when an anonymous patron sponsors Aaron to attend business school. He’s an exemplary student and, upon graduation, a rising star in the business community. Until a deadly rival from his past threatens to destroy his career and plunges Aaron into another brutal war with the Godzone Gorillas—the Gang that kidnapped his...
Threepence on the Carpet
A sudden inheritance from a long-lost uncle could be the lifeline Tommy needs … or a Pandora’s box about to implode. As a folksinger touring the UK in the swinging sixties, life was a kaleidoscope of love, truth, and high hopes for Tommy Trevelian—until it all went up in a puff of smoking incense and bitter betrayal. Now he’s back in his homeland of New Zealand, middle-aged, disillusioned, and destitute. The washed-up musician still wants to sing songs and save the world if he could just get his countrymen to turn off the rugby and listen for a moment. But Tommy’s tune changes when his long-lost uncle dies and leaves him a bequest. Is it a trove of riches? A vault of family secrets? Or something stranger? Over in the UK, ten-year-old Ollie could use a lucky break. His mother is sick, his aunt is awful, and life just kinda...