The Secrets They Kept

Jenny Lynch is a former editor of the NZ Woman’s Weekly. She has also been an actor, photographic model and a Playboy bunny. She has lived and worked in the USA, Canada and Australia and is the author of four non-fiction books including a fashion history, ‘Ready To Wear: The changing shape of New Zealand fashion’ and a memoir ‘Under the Covers: Secrets of a Magazine Editor’. ‘The Secrets They Kept’ is her first work of fiction.

Jenny’s journalistic career spanned more than 30 years. A host of interviews – from celebrities to psychics – gave her insights into the vagaries of human behaviour that are reflected in the characters in the pages of her novel. So, too, did a six-month ‘adventure’ at Melbourne’s “The Playboy”, a nightclub run by a shady underworld figure.

Before joining the Weekly in 1976 as assistant editor to legendary Jean Wishart and later taking over the reins herself she was a feature writer on the Weekly News, Sunday Herald and Thursday magazine. Jenny is now a sought-after public speaker on subjects such as the golden years of journalism, the hits and misses of 20th century fashion, and the peculiarities of early 20th century magazine advertising.

Jenny was educated at Epsom Girls Grammar in Auckland and Moorhead Senior High and Concordia College, in Minnesota, USA. She lives in Auckland with her husband Dr Gavin Ellis, a former editor-in-chief of the New Zealand Herald.