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New Zealand Books

The world of New Zealand books is filled with surprises. Here are our top ten picks for New Zealand fiction. Read iconic works from New Zealand authors Keri Hulme, Alan Duff, Janet Frame, Elizabeth Knox and Catherine Chidgey.

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This country is home to many wonderful writers of New Zealand fiction. Booksellers New Zealand keeps watch over our nation's bestsellers, awarding shoppers' top picks with platinum, gold, silver and bronze seals. Other New Zealand books have achieved great status not through sales, but by the contribution they have made to our literary culture or the iconic status they have assumed in the years since their publication.

Read your way through our top ten New Zealand books:

1. The Bone People (1984) by Keri Hulme
Inspired by Hulme's own dreams, The Bone People focuses on the lives of Kerewin Holmes, Joe Gillayley and Simon, a young mute boy. Washed ashore, Simon's real identity is unknown and his wild ways lead to some violent discipline from his adoptive father. Kerewin's positive influence on their lives is cut short by life's twisting turns. This dark novel covers issues as diverse as Maori identity, gender politics and domestic violence. As winner of the Booker Prize in 1985, it is the only New Zealand book to have attracted such high international acclaim.

2. Once Were Warriors (1990) by Alan Duff
Continuing the theme of violence and unsettling familial relationships, Alan Duff's iconic work, Once Were Warriors, is complex and dark. The book's central character, Jake Heke, undertakes a transformative journey, bringing pain and anguish to the lives of those around him. Intertwined with his tale are the stories of this children and partner. Gang life, death, suicide, domestic violence; this is dark, angry stuff, but well worth a read if you're feeling robust. As in Hulme's work, issues of Maori life are brought to the fore and difficult aspects of life are examined. Duff' novel has been adapted for film and followed up with a sequel entitled What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?

3. The Whale Rider (1987) by Witi Ihimaera
Published in 1987, Ihimaera’s work was written in just three weeks. Again, the subject is Maori life, but this time we enter a world of magic and mythology. Through a strong bond with a whale, a young girl saves her village and earns the respect of her great-grandfather. This inspiring tale is one of strength and courage, as a young girl confronts the past and challenges the male-dominated Maori tribal system. The role of Pai in the film adaptation of the book earned young New Zealand actress Keisha Castle-Hughes an Oscar nomination.

4. Owls Do Cry (1957) by Janet Frame
The late Janet Frame saw the world in a unique way. With the eyes of an artist and writer, she penned her first novel, the vivid and powerful Owls Do Cry. With strands drawn from her own life, Frame tells the tale of four children entering adulthood and facing the perils of the world. Through madness and epilepsy, two of the novel's characters gain access to truths unavailable to others. As the writer herself says, she was haunted by "pictures of great treasures in the midst of sadness and waste" and conveyed this sense of beauty and tragedy in Owls Do Cry.

5. The Vintner’s Luck (1998) by Elizabeth Knox
Knox's award winning novel is set in the nineteenth century, in Burgundy. Knox weaves a magical tale of Sobran Jodeau, whose life is irrevocably altered when he experiences a visitation from an angel. The Vintner's Luck catches the essence of the relationship between man and angel, spanning more than fifty years and overcoming the vast distances between earth, heaven and hell.

6. Potiki (1986) by Patricia Grace
Dealing with issues of Maoridom, Potiki tells the story of property development on Maori land, a theme which easily translates into real-life Maori issues: land claims, the Treaty of Waitangi and colonisation. Threatened by the arrival of Pakeha values (the dollar, development and progress), the future of Maori cultural identity is put at risk. Grace affirms the sacred relationship between Maori and the land, but here it comes to embody ancestral values and the history of the Maori people. Can Maori and Pakeha negotiate a way forward?

7. In My Father’s Den (1972) by Maurice Gee
In this acclaimed novel, the past is difficult to overcome. Paul, a journalist, returns home following the death of his father, befriending the teenage Celia and inadvertently entering her complex world. They share a love of books and an inability to fit into the small community, but when Celia disappears, Paul finds himself the subject of intense scrutiny and suspicion. Attempting to prove his innocence, Paul uncovers the secrets and tragedies of a family's past. Maurice Gee's novel has been made into a successful film.

8. In a Fishbone Church (1998) by Catherine Chidgey
Telling a story of family inheritances and histories, Catherine Chidgey covers three generations of the Stilton family, from the 1950's to the present day. Through the meticulous diary recollections of his father, Gene finds life within the words of a dead man. The stories of each generation are woven together, forming an evocative and powerful first novel. In a Fishbone Church won the Best First Book of Fiction award in the 1998 Montana Book Awards and was runner up for the Deutz Medal.

9. The Shag Incident (2002) by Stephanie Johnson
Stephanie Johnson carves a story in 1985 New Zealand, using for her material the familiar Mervyn Thompson incident (in which a man was abducted by a group of women and left tied to a tree). In a fictional interpretation of this incident, Howard Shag is the victim of a life-changing assault, which leaves him with a fear of physical contact and an inability to function normally. Twenty years on, Melody is given the task of unlocking the secrets of Shag's life. A parallel storyline follows Jasper, a young man caught up in a world of drug trafficking, whose connection with Howard Shag eventually becomes clear. This book was the winner of the Deutz Medal for Fiction in 2003.

10. Stonedogs (Craig Marriner)
A surprise winner of the Deutz Medal for Fiction in 2002, Craig Marriner's harsh expose of the underbelly of New Zealand society echoes Alan Duff's Once Were Warriors. With gang life, drugs and violence at the fore, Stonedogs is not a book for the fainthearted. This young author received critical acclaim for his debut novel, written in raw, unpolished prose. Entering the world of Roto-Vegas, we see Gator and his cohorts live out a relentlessly nightmarish, yet oddly humorous, life.

All New Zealand book lovers have read titles from international authors Dan Brown, Marian Keyes, Zadie Smith and others, but how many New Zealand books have we read? Dip into the work of talented New Zealand authors and learn more about what's happening in our own backyard.

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Arts images from Flickr: Book Collection, Maori Carving and Wellington Sculpture.