Library Books > Fiction > NZ Adult Fiction

Their love has survived the test of time. But can it survive fate? It is America, 1772 - it is only a few years before the war of independence and the colony seethes with unrest. As battle lines are drawn up and loyalties tested, no one is safe in this new country. Jamie Fraser receives a message from Governor Josiah Martin. He wants Jamie's help to keep the backcountry safe for King and Crown. But Jamie knows what's to come. His wife, Claire, has travelled back from the twentieth century and she knows what will happen to those loy... read more

Journalist and historian Dick Scott broke new ground with Ask That Mountain. The book draws on official papers, settler manuscripts and oral histories to give the first complete account of what took place at Parihaka, the small settlement at the foot of Mount Taranaki where the chiefs Te Whiti and Tohu opposed the colonial government in the latter half of the nineteenth century - making one of the world's first recorded campaigns of passive resistance. First published 1975.

<i>Ask the Posts of the House</i> is a brand new collection of short stories, including five novella-length stories.

How do you choose between love and honour? Fleance, the 21-year old son of Scottish thane Banquo has been living rough in the woods of northern England since he escaped on that fateful night ten years ago when his father was brutally murdered. He has never told anyone who he is because he has yet to discover who wanted him dead, but he has learnt things - how to survive, how to use a cross bow, how not to trust anyone, but also how to love. But before he can truly give himself to the beautiful Rosie, Fleance must avenge the murder ... read more

A reprint of Michael King’s seminal book on what it means to be a non-Maori New Zealander.First published in 1985, Being Pakeha Now became a kiwi classic, a strong reply both to Maori who were asserting their own identity and also to Pakeha who were mumbling that they didn’t have a strong culture or identity of their own. Being Pakeha Now was updated in 1999 and is being reprinted again with a foreword by Kerry Howe, Professor of History at Massey University and author of The Quest for Origins.Because of Michael’s... read more

Blindsight is the story of a good though damaged man and his less than virtuous sister. As their childhood closeness unravels, Alice moves into her career in science (she's a mycologist), while Gordon descents into vagrancy and silence. For more than thirty years they do not meet. Then a young man appears at Alice's door, claiming a relationship she never knew she had. As he becomes part of her carefully guarded world, she cautiously begins to reveal the past. But is she telling him everything? Jealousy, ambition and love sh... read more

Materena lives with Pito and their three kids in Faa'a PK55, behind the petrol station, and life is good. Until one day Pito comes home drunk and asks Materena to marry him.Becoming a madame, eh? Materena wouldn't mind that . . . But as she starts rounding up the relatives to organise everything she realises there's more to getting married than meets the eye. And that includes reminding the groom that he proposed in the first place. First published 2000.

Davey lives with Tiny, his hard case, beer-drinking father, and Thelma, his long-suffering, tea-drinking mother. Davey is a bit of a hard case himself, constantly getting in trouble with the local bully and giving everyone plenty of lip. The act of violence that follows his discovery in the woolshed sends Davey down a troubling path of choices. He knows he should choose the moral option, but then will his family survive? In this classic coming-of-age novel, Paul Shannon vividly evokes life in the working-class suburbs of the Sou... read more

A graveyard is all that's left of the remote Central Otago settlement of Drybread, which miners, often hungry and disappointed, once searched for gold. It is to an old cottage nearby that Penny Maine-King flees with her young son, defying a Californian court order awarding custody of the child to her estranged husband. And seeking her in this austere, burnt country is journalist Theo Esler. He is after a story, but he discovers something far more personal and significant. Drybread, Owen Marshall's third novel, is a moving study of ... read more

A historical romance based on the Ballantynes Department Store Fire in 1947 that killed 41 people, most of them store employees trapped in controversial circumstances. Set in an unnamed NZ city in 1953, Fire tells the story of four working class friends, all employed at Dawsons, one of the country's most glamorous and sophisticated department stores. The girls are Nancy, a salesgirl in the dress department, Kay who works in lingerie, Louise, a typist in Accounts and Judy, a milliner in the workroom out the back. The story takes... read more

Janus Carpenter finds an object, which he calls "The Orb", near a forest track that unlocks the corridors to wisdom and eternity. A spiritual entity from the Orb attaches itself to him, and teaches him many secrets. The entity has knowledge of all things except the emotional understanding of humanity. Together they explore the depths of human passion, fear and unworthiness. They enter the dimensions of life after death, healing and religious teachings. As Janus's extraordinary gifts become known in his wider community, he is hi... read more

Student drop-out Greg Duffie's suicide off the Kapiti coast is interrupted by an immediate threat. He is mistaken for his uncle, Professor Ben Duffie, recently sacked from the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences for allegedly pilfering commercially sensitve oil-locating data. Other interested parties go to extreme lengths to recover the data and its putative thief. The stroppy scientist meets fire with fire, his confrontational style extending to global warming zealots, government cliques, oil lobbyists and the naively pow... read more

Eighteen years have passed since the child Rose arrived on Denniston, riding up the terrifying Incline on a stormy night. She has now grown into a young woman, intelligent and talented, with an outrageous zest for life. The trauma of her early years seems forgotten, though some recognise its shadow in her often unconventional behaviour. Rose is expected to marry her childhood friend the golden Michael Hanratty, but when dark and stubborn Brennan Scobie arrives back on the Hill after a seven-year absence, a challenge is inevitable. ... read more

A collection of David Hill's adult short stories and articles with an introduction by Elizabeth Smither.There's something for everyone, from the poignant to the laugh-out-loud.

'I hope you believe this Swan Story as it is rather fantastic. Gene & I arrived at the Greenpark Paddock at 7 a.m. ... It was good to be alive on a morning like this & having my son with me. Once again the dark shapes of the Swans could be seen against the mountains. Closer, closer, 100yds 80yds 60yds 40yds hell let loose range zero. Bang-Swan Bang-Swan Bang bang-Swans more Swans our stockpile grew high...' When Clifford Stilton dies, his son Gene crams his carefully kept dairies into a hall cupboard - but Clifford's wo... read more

Wood never dies. Not really … Sometimes, when I touch it, I know that I can bring it back … there are some things about wood that never die, and I think perhaps it would be better if they did. Regan is an acclaimed sculptor, renowned for her sensuous work in wood. When her relationship with the much younger Jason Sullivan ends abruptly, Regan re... read more

Instant! Maori is a pocket-sized Maori-English phrase book packed with hundreds of practical and down-to-earth phrases – made easy. Using phonetics, it enables readers to speak correct Maori in seconds. The content includes the short and long version of what to say on a Marae, how to talk to your pets, appropriate phrases to say when at a hangi or in the pub, how to recite The Lord’s Prayer, how to introduce yourself and family in Maori and even verbal exit strategies when... read more

“Quirky, rich, eccentric” was Margaret Atwood’s response in the New York Times when this dazzling, award-winning novel appeared in 1979. Through the eyes of a woman of myriad personalities — ventriloquist, gossip and writer — Janet Frame playfully explores the process of writing fiction: the avoidances, interruptions and irrelevancies, as well as a teasing blurring between fact and fiction. The latest reissue in the beautiful Janet Frame Collection.

Manawa Hine – literally ‘Female Heart’ – retells the stories of four famed Maori heroines, each of whom swam against the tide in their own way. Kahe te Rau o te Rangi swam from Kapiti Island to the mainland with her baby on her back and in doing so saved many lives. Hinepoupou was abandoned by her abusive husband on Kapiti Island but swam home to D’Urville Island. Huria Matenga was just 22 when she swam out in raging seas to a sinking brig and saved the lives of nine men onboard. Pania of Hukarere was a young woman o... read more

The Maori have a rich and colourful tradition of myth and legend. Some of their most important and popular tales are retold in this classic book. The stories range from the creation of the world and the coming of life, death and knowledge, to supernatural tales of love, terror and adventure. Read about the great god Tane, about Maui who tamed the sun, about the woman on the moon, about monsters, fairies, fabulous birds and moving mountains.