Marion Flint lives alone on the wild west coast of New Zealand's North Island. One day she meets a small boy, Ika, on the empty, rugged beach, and an unlikely friendship begins between the Swedish doctor and the solemn child with webbed feet and a fear of being touched. As Marion's involvement with Ika deepens she is forced to revisit her own lonely childhood in Sweden, where neglect and a destructive home environment had deadly consequences. But Marion's most deeply buried hurt is that she had to lose the love of her life twice ov... read more

Auckland, June 1886. Ngati Wai chief Paratene Te Manu spends long sessions, over three long days, having his portrait painted by the Bohemian painter Gottfried Lindauer. Hearing of Lindauer's planned trip to England reminds him of his own journey there, twenty years earlier, with a party of northern rangatira. As he sits for Lindauer, Paratene retreats deeper and deeper into the past, from the triumphs in London and their meetings with royalty to the disintegration of the visit into poverty, mistrust, and humiliation. Based on a true story

Against the historical background of the compelling and extraordinary events which surrounded the village of Parihaka in the 1870s and 1880s, Witi Ihimaera tells the fictional story of Erenora. Parihaka was a place synonymous with passive resistance, a place that Erenora called home, a place where Horitana came to find and marry her. It was also a place that the colonial settlers wanted to occupy, by fair means or foul. While most in Parihaka who passively resisted the encroachments were sent to gaol, Horitana was to meet a far wor... read more

A collection of contemporary New Zealand comic verse from a selection of published and unpublished poets.

These are poems about water, its healing powers and nourishment of life. Some are about Lake Rotorua itself, lying in the dormant crater of a volcano; signs of its past can still be seen in hot springs at its foreshore.

The whale rider was Kahutia Te Rangi. Ancestor of the people of Te Tai Rawhiti, he travelled from Hawaiki, the place of the Ancients, to the East Coat of New Zealand. Then there was Kahu. The first great-grandchild of the whanau, she was loved by all her relatives except the one whose love she needed most — her great-grandfather.Moving effortlessly between mythology and realism, pathos and comedy, The Whale Rider will delight readers of all ages. Since its publication in 1987, The Whale Rider has been reprinted numerous times and ... read more

The third instalment of Maurice Gee's breathtaking Salt series - now rejacketed.

What is the source of the Limping Man's monstrous power? Nobody can withstand it, a soft crawling that seeps into your skin and wriggles into your mind, making you powerless with love for him even as his cruelties multiply. When Hana's mam chooses to swallow frogweed poison rather than die in the great witch-burning in People's Square, Hana flees the burrows before she too is taken. Deep in the forest she meets Ben, son of Lo, and the two ... read more

The brilliant, haunting new novel from the author of the award-winning Mister Pip. A quiet, mysterious, unnamed woman has come from Africa on an impassioned quest. From the shoreline of Tunisia to the confusion of Berlin, she relies on strangers - some generous, some exploitive - to guide her passage, encountering love and betrayal in its many guises along the way. When the truth behind this spellbinding story is finally revealed, we are forced to revisit everything that has gone before.About the author:Lloyd Jones has published ... read more

The Cup - a short satirical novel. Brilliant. We needed a comic novel about the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and here it is. Like a direct decendant of Vincent O'Sullivan's 70s satire "Miracle", Dan Cleary's "THE CUP" also has an affectionate and informed crack at rugby, politics and the unholy combination of the two through its central character, Baldy. Poor Baldy has been charged with running the preparations for the Rugby World Cup - and it turns out to be the worst job in New Zealand. Victoria Cartwright is a ratings-hungry TV jour... read more

Remaindered copies A BRILLIANT RENDITION OF THE NEW ZEALAND CLASSIC.

DoP September 2009, NZ 148 x 210mm Softcover This second novel by New Zealand writer, Donald Armstrong, explores the idea, suggested by recent rat bone research, that people lived here before the great Polynesian migrations of around the twelfth century - people who, given the unstable nature of the land, disappeared leaving little or no trace.

Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Vela, so red and ugly at birth they called him the Cooked; Vela the lonely admirer of pigs and the connoisseur of feet; Vela the lover of song maker Mulialofa the Boneman. Follow him down through the centuries on his travels, encountering the single-minded society of the Tagatanei and the Smellocracy of Olfact. Accompany him, too, as he recounts the stories of Lady Nafanua, the fearsome warrior queen, before whose powers Palagi priests and travelling chroniclers still bow down today.

In a small coastal community threatened by developers who would ravage their lands it is a time of fear and confusion - and growing anger.
The prophet child Tokowaru-i-te-Marama shares his people's struggles against bulldozers and fast money talk. When dramatic events menace the marae, his grief and rage threaten to burst beyond the confines of his twisted body. His all-seeing eye looks forward to a strange and terrible new dawn.
Patrica Grace's second novel is a work of spellbinding power in which the myths of older t... read more

This beautifully written novel by Laurence Fearnley is about finding love in the most unlikely of places. Set in the southern South Island, it describes the unusual friendship formed between 62-year-old photographer Edwin and 22-year-old Matilda, whom he meets when shooting photographs for her wedding. Brought together, Edwin and Matilda embark on a search for Edwin's mother, a woman he has long believed dead. The journey involves a series of telling, sometimes agonising, discoveries by Edwin - all the while with Matilda by his si... read more

Classic Ihimaera. First published by Reed in 1972, it collects stories about Maori within settings that are Maori and with characters who are central to that setting — heroes, heroines and villains — rather than supporting players or sidekicks. These stories introduce the themes of aroha, whanaungatanga and manaakitanga — love, acknowledging kin and tribal relationships, and supporting Maori identity — tha... read more

Laurence Fearnley (Dunedin) wins the 2011 New Zealand Post Book Award for Fiction for her seventh novel, The Hut Builder. Emily Perkins, on the Awards judging panel, said this is ‘elating, transformative prose.ÂÂÂ’ ‘In this novel Laurence Fearnley continues her committed exploration of Southern lives, and in doing so creates something new – a 21st century approach to a sort of 20th century Pakeha origin story. Through the character of Boden... read more

In 1905 a motley group of young New Zealand rugby players sets out by steamer on a journey to the other side of the world. Their exploits on the field of play as they move through the British Isles are staggering. Then the following year they are back, accorded a hero's welcome, the likes of which has never been seen in their country before. Their fame has spread before them across three continents. Winner of the 2001 Deutz Medal for Fiction at the Montana Awards. First published 2001.

The 'war on terror' in Afghanistan and beyond has been the longest foreign war in New Zealand history, yet most New Zealanders know almost nothing about their country's part in it. For ten years, nearly everything controversial or potentially unpopular was kept secret, and obscured by a steady flow of military public relations stories. Based on thousands of leaked New Zealand military and intelligence documents, extensive interviews with military and intelligence officers and eye-witness accounts from the soldiers on the ground, Ni... read more