Gravel Roads Peter Butler David Ling, $29.99, ISBN 9781877378461 The Widow’s Daughter Nicholas Edlin Penguin, $40.00, ISBN 9780143204091 Settlers’ Creek Carl Nixon Vintage, $29.99, ISBN 9781869794033 Quinine Kelly Ana Morey Huia, $35.00, ISBN 9781869694319 Peter Butler…
Home: Civilian New Zealanders Remember the Second World War Alison Parr Penguin, $50.00, ISBN 9780143203541 Paradoxically, New Zealand was at its best during WWII. Driven by the integrative imagery of the “War Effort”, most of us felt we were…
Dead People’s Music Sarah Laing Vintage, $29.99, ISBN 9781869791087 Footnotes to Sex Mia Farlane Viking, $37.00, ISBN 9780670917938 Mother’s Day Laurence Fearnley Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 9780143011255 I am male, middle-aged, heterosexual and monogamous. The first two terms make me different…
Crown Lynn: A New Zealand Icon Valerie Ringer Monk Penguin, $45.00, ISBN 0143020633 Crown Lynn, Valerie Ringer Monk’s articulate account of New Zealand’s favourite pottery, serves many functions, from appealing coffee-table book to collectors’ guide to a 50-year local history…
The Cleaner Paul Cleave Black Swan, $29.95, ISBN 9781869417604 The Killing Hour Paul Cleave Black Swan, $27.99, ISBN 9781869418663 Overkill Vanda Symon Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 9780143006657 From My Cold, Cold Hands David McGill Silver Owl Press, $34.99, ISBN 9780958245159 The…
Aramoana: Twenty-two Hours of Terror Bill O’Brien Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 014300624X I was only nine years old when David Gray killed 13 people, too young to remember with any sadness or clarity the tragedy beamed into our living rooms that…
Heartlands: New Zealand Historians Write about Where History Happened Kynan Gentry and Gavin McLean (eds) Penguin, $35.00, ISBN 0143019929 History used to be about kings, queens, politicians, diplomats, generals, wars, revolutions, parliaments, laws and treaties. My early schooling followed the…
Different Kinds of Pleasure Elizabeth Smither Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 014302065X My Name Was Judas C K Stead Harvill Secker, $28.00, ISBN 9781846550126 Elizabeth Smither is adept at sounding the depths of the seemingly incidental moment or quotidian encounter. Laura Bening,…