In addition to a number of non-fiction history works, she has also written a semi-autobiographical novel about the experiences of a Hungarian Jewish refugee in New Zealand.
During World War II her mother pretended to be non-Jewish and her father had to work as a slave labourer.
[12] Her semi-autobiographical novel, Replacement Girl (2002), tells the story of a young Jewish woman emigrating from Hungary to New Zealand as a refugee in the 1950s.
[2][1] A review in The Nelson Mail said Beaglehole "writes with sensitivity towards her characters and her readers, and with honest humour".
[5] In 2017 she criticised New Zealand's stance on refugees in an article for Stuff, observing that since 2001 the country had "focused on improving border security and making provisions to detain asylum seekers".