I live in New Zealand, which has a population of approximately 4 million people.  At the end of 2002, my husband and I moved from the South Island, where we'd spent all of our married life, to Palmerston North in the North Island, where my husband had spent many of his growing-up years. I also was born and raised mostly in the North Island, so the territory we returned to was fairly familiar to me already. I started working part-time at GPH Society's Oasis Christian Store soon after arriving in the city, which is very much a dream job for me. Despite being a part-time job, it was busy enough to have me there for full time all through 2003. As a result, it developed into a full-time position.  After 20 months working in the store, I was offered a position working in Customer Services for the wholesale division of the company, GPH Wholesale, which I began in October 2004.  In this position, I'm helping to import into NZ and distribute some of the Christian fiction I love so much (such as titles published by Barbour, RiverOak, Crossway, and Focus on the Family).    

For most of my adult years I'd lived in the South Island, and it was while living there in Blenheim that I first met my husband in 1994.  We married the following year, and then spent the first two years of marriage in Oamaru, further south.  While there I worked voluntarily for North Otago Christian Bookstore, which was a labour of love right from the outset.  At the end of 1997 we moved an hour north to Timaru, picking up another voluntary position at the bookstore there, Timaru Christian Bookshop.  Before long, I was employed as an office manager for a small electrical contracting business, which I unfortunately had to give up my bookstore position for.  However, I was working for a wonderful family, which made it all the easier.  In the next job, I had fun working in another Christian bookstore, but this time got paid for it!!  And now I'm helping bring some quality Christian product into the country as a part of my current wholesale position  --  who would've thought??  

With leaving the South Island I also had to leave behind my wonderful church family, where I was a singer and worship leader. It took some time establishing myself in another church family, and after a while found myslef at home at the local Elim church, once again singing and leading worship. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyod anyone's control, the church had to close at the end of 2005, which was a very emotional time. Much of the congregation merged with City Vision Church, and it didn't take too long before we all became a part of that church family. I'm back to singing, and from May 14, 2006 will be leading worship again, 6 years to the day after starting leading the worship for my Timaru Elim church family.

And just in case you're curious, yes, the scenery you see on the documentaries on the Lord of the Rings extended version DVD's really does exist! If ever you're visiting New Zealand, drop me a line, I'd be happy to meet you!

ABOUT ELLIE'S WORLD OF CHRISTIAN FICTION:

I was first introduced to Christian fiction back in 1990 when I was given a copy of Janette Oke's Love Comes Softly on loan, and quickly fell in love with the story. I even imagined such a tale could be represented on screen with great clarity and quality, much like Anne of Green Gables was. Amazingly, this has finally happened, not just with the first book in the series, but he second as well!

Not long after reading Love Comes Softly I started my own collection of Christian fiction titles, albeit slowly, since books are so expensive here in New Zealand, and my love for them has grown over the years.

When I started this site in early 1998, the format was very different compared to what it is now, and it was called "ELLIE'S WORLD OF CHRISTIAN FICTION". But the intention was the same: to inform interested readers about the wealth of great Christian fiction that is available to be read.

Back then, even I only knew of the more well-known authors, such as Janette Oke, Gilbert Morris, Francine Rivers, Frank Peretti, Lori Wick, and Brock & Bodie Thoene. Since then, the lesser-known authors like Tracie Peterson, Dee Henderson, Beverly Lewis and Jerry Jenkins have become increasingly popular, and more and more great authors of Christian fiction are springing up onto the market with quality titles, bestsellers in their own right.

As a result, this website has seen some severe alterations, so that I can include a broader base than what I started out with. Not to mention a new name, "THE CHRISTIAN FICTION SITE", and a domain name of its own.

Please feel free to sign the Guestbook and let me know what you think of this endeavour of mine. I love getting feedback. :)