It is 1909, and May is eleven. Putting out a fire at school, rat hunting, and being caned by her teacher for helping her fiends in class are part of Ma's standard five year. In 1910, May sees Halley's comet, and also helps nurse her sick mother. May tries to get good marks in her standard six year at school, but because of a present she receives, all the standards get into trouble with their strict teacher. May's life is affected by the progress made on the bush farms of Piopio. Change comes quickly and suddenly. May realises she is nearly grown up and must think about going out to work.

No Lily-livered Girl is the story of four years in the life of May Tarrant. At fourteen, in 1912, she is apprenticed to a dressmaker in Hamilton in the North Island of New Zealand. Her ten-hour working day is wearisome, town life is strange, and she is homesick for the farming country she has left. A courageous old lady recognises May's strength and tells her, "You don't look a lily-livered girl!" That her opinion was right is demonstrated as May makes friends, including a young bank clerk named Ken, enters the world of competitive swimming, and copes with a traumatic experience. The start of World War One brings another crisis to May, and when she is seventeen this determined young woman returns to the King Country and makes the biggest decision of her life.

The Fortunate Ones is the fifth and final book in the ‘May’ series and gives a vivid picture of the life and adventures of a New Zealand farming family during the 1920s, 30s and 40s. May and her husband start married life on their bush farm in the King Country and then purchase a dairy farm in the Waikato. Times are hard and the family have to move on to a sharemilking position. The stories of this growing family going out to make their own way in the world makes captivating reading. As World War II ends and the family anticipate their mens’ return, the future is brightening. May and her family all agree they are indeed, The Fortunate Ones.