Fiction Staff Picks 2025

Recommended reads from staff at Puke Ariki, Community Libraries and the Museum

Updated December 18, 2025
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Kōtui New Plymouth Libraries
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Fiction Staff Picks 2025

Recommended reads from staff at Puke Ariki, Community Libraries and the Museum

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Alchemised
SenLinYu
Paper Book
\"What is it you think you're protecting in that brain of yours? The war is over. Holdfast is dead. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There's no one left for you to save.\" Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner-of war and of her own mind. Her...
Alien clay
Tchaikovsky, Adrian
Paper Book
Finalist for the 2025 Locus Awards, Best Science Fiction Novel Finalist for the 2025 Hugo Awards, Best Novel Nominated for the 2025 Philip K. Dick Award A thrilling, page-turning standalone adventure, set in the distant future, from master sci-fi author and Arthur C....
All fours
July, Miranda
Paper Book
The New York Times bestselling author of The First Bad Man returns with an irreverently sexy, tender, hilarious and literary novel about a woman upending her life
All that we know
Kino, Shilo
Paper Book
Named one of the best NZ books of 2024 by The Spinoff and Newsroom In the Bookety Book Books Reader's Choice Top 10 This is Aotearoa, New Zealand. This is a novel about who we are now. Past, present and future. All that we have<...
All the colours of the dark
Whitaker, Chris
Paper Book
A missing persons mystery, a serial killer thriller, and an epic love story - with a unique twist on each...* * * * *Late one summer, the town of Monta Clare is shattered by the abduction of local teenager Joseph 'Patch' Macauley. Nobody more so than Saint Brown, who is broken...
Atmosphere
Reid, Taylor Jenkins
Paper Book
***THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER*** 'Tipped to be this summer's biggest read' SUNDAY TIMES 'A richly drawn page-turner' OBSERVER 'Quite possibly our favourite TJR novel yet' COSMOPOLITAN 'I absolutely adored this' BRYONY GORDON 'A...
A beautiful family
Trevelyan, Jennifer
Paper Book
An eventful summer forever changes the lives of a family in the most engrossing debut you'll read this year.
Birnam Wood
Catton, Eleanor
Paper Book
Birnam Wood is on the move ...A landslide has closed the Korowai Pass in the South Island of New Zealand, cutting off the town of Thorndike, leaving a sizable farm abandoned. This land offers an opportunity to Birnam Wood, a guerrilla gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will...
Black silk & buried secrets
Challinor, Deborah
Paper Book
The second captivating novel featuring intrepid heroine Tatty Crowe and the fascinating world of Sydney's Victorian funeral business, from bestselling historical fiction author Deborah Challinor. Sydney, 1871. Twenty-five-year-old widow Tatty Crowe is the owner of busy undertaking...
The book of guilt
Chidgey, Catherine
Paper Book
In a sinisterly skewed version of England in 1979, thirteen-year-old triplets Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents of a New Forest home, part of the government's Sycamore Scheme. Each day the boys must take medicine to protect themselves from a mysterious illness to which...
Broken Country
Hall, Clare Leslie.
Paper Book
Over 1 Million Copies Sold A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK | A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is an unforgettable story of love, loss, and the choices that shape our lives...but it's also a masterfully crafted mystery that...
Butter
Yuzuki, Asako
Paper Book
THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING SENSATION WINNER OF WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER AWARD 2025 A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK<...
City of night birds : a novel
Kim, Juhea
Paper Book
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK "This story left me thinking about the ways we overcome setbacks and redefine what truly matters." - Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club December '24 Pick) A once-famous ballerina faces a final choice--to return to the world of Russian dance that nearly broke...
The covenant of water : a novel
Verghese, Abraham
Paper Book
OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in...
Heartless hunter
Ciccarelli, Kristen
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! "A steamy game of cat and mouse between witch and witch-hunter, played out against a backdrop of opulence, secrets, and bloody history. I couldn't look away." - Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of...
Death of the Author
Okorafor, Nnedi.
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER Order now and receive the stunning DELUXE LIMITED EDITION while supplies last―featuring a special alternate cover design on the hardcover case, gorgeous sprayed edges, and exclusive endpapers. This breathtaking edition is only available on a limited...
Deep end
Hazelwood, Ali
Paper Book
The Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! This edition includes an exquisite, glistening cover with effects and brilliantly illustrated four-color interior art. A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from...
The devils
Abercrombie, Joe
Paper Book
The emperor of gladness : a novel
Vuong, Ocean
Paper Book
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Heartbreaking, heartwarming yet unsentimental, and savagely comic' Guardian 'Some of the most beautiful writing I've experienced in my lifetime' Oprah Winfrey READERS ARE OBSESSED WITH THE...
Fable for the end of the world
Reid, Ava
Paper Book
The epic standalone dystopian romance from the Sunday Time bestselling author of A Study in Drowning and Lady Macbeth. Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and The Last of Us SURVIVAL SACRIFICE A LOVE THAT RISKS EVERYTHING ...
The favourite
Littlewood, Fran
Paper Book
Alex, Eva and Nancy. Three grown-up sisters; each wonderful and messy in their own individual ways. And loved equally by their parents, Vivienne and Patrick. Or so they thought . . . Until on their annual family holiday, Patrick accidentally lets slip that he has a favourite daughter -...
The girl from London
Spooner, Olivia
Paper Book
London, 1940. Ruth, a young schoolteacher, volunteers as an escort helping to evacuate children from war-torn England to Australia and New Zealand. Her three-month voyage is fraught - their passage is perilous, and the children anxious and homesick. Nine-year-old Fergus is more troubled...
Gravity let me go
Dalton, Trent
Paper Book
Trent Dalton, Australia's #1 bestselling author, returns with the astonishing Gravity Let Me Go - a story you won't ever forget. Longlisted for Best Fiction in the Indie Book Awards 2026 How will you ever know how the story ends, if you let the story go?<...
Great big beautiful life
Henry, Emily
Paper Book
The dazzling new love story and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick from the TikTok sensation and Sunday Times bestselling author of Beach Read and Funny Story. AN INSTANT NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER! 'Emily knows how...
Home truths
Norman, Charity
Paper Book
How do you fight an invisible enemy? An unputdownable and timely new novel from the Ngaio Marsh-winning author of Remember Me.
The Hop : a novel
Clarke, Diana
Paper Book
"A fresh ode to sisterhood and sexual agency that crackles with verve and wit. I couldn't put it down."--Gabriela Garcia, author of the New York Times bestseller and Good Morning America Pick Of Women and Salt "Clarke refuses to turn this story into a morality play. . . [and...
Huia short stories. 15
Waitere, Eboni
Paper Book
Here are the best short fiction stories, short non-fiction pieces and poetry from the Pikihuia Awards for Māori writers 2023 as judged by Emma Espiner, Carol Hirschfeld, Maiki Sherman, Mike Ross, Hēmi Kelly and Robert Sullivan. This competition, run by the Māori Literature...
Hum
Phillips, Helen
Paper Book
A Most Anticipated Book for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Goodreads, LitHub, and Book Riot A Best Book of the Summer for Esquire, Electric Lit, and Town & Country A People Book of the...
The Intruder
Mcfadden, Freida
Paper Book
"A dark and stormy night. An isolated cabin in the woods. A runaway child with a mysterious past...Thriller fans, buckle up!" -- Jason Rekulak, New York Times bestselling author of The Last One at the Wedding There's someone at your front door - should you let them...
Island calling
Segal, Francesca
Paper Book
What if your mother knows you better than you know yourself? 'Absolutely blissful... Get both books in the series: I'll eat my hat if you don't love them' India Knight, Sunday Times READERS LOVE ISLAND CALLING: '...
Isola : a novel
Goodman, Allegra
Paper Book
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * "A shocking story, made all the more stunning by the fact that it has its roots in true history."--Jodi Picoult, author of By Any Other Name "A new generation of survival story . . . an extraordinary book that reads like a...
The Jackal's mistress : a novel
Bohjalian, Chris
Paper Book
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER * #1 BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER * USA TODAY BESTSELLER * In this Civil War love story, inspired by a real-life friendship across enemy lines, the wife of a missing Confederate soldier discovers a wounded Yankee officer and must decide what she's willing to risk...
The kill list
Forsyth, Frederick
Paper Book
An extraordinary cutting-edge suspense novel from the master of international intrigue and #1 New York Times-bestselling author. In Virginia, there is an agency bearing the bland name of Technical Operations Support Activity, or TOSA. Its one mission is to track, find, and kill those so...
The last living cannibal
Ngarewa, Airana
Paper Book
Muru is not revenge. Muru is about balance. You put your hands on one of theirs and they had every right to take from you and yours whatever they meant to take, short of a life. Aotearoa in the 1940s, and the Māori men of Taranaki will not join the Māori battalion...
Lyrebird
Caro, Jane
Paper Book
Lyrebirds are brilliant mimics, so if they mimic a woman screaming in terror and begging for her life, they have witnessed a crime. But how does a young, hung over PHD student and a wet behind the ears new detective, convince anyone that a native bird can be a reliable witness to a murder,...
Mad Mabel
Hepworth, Sally
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Soulmate and Darling Girls comes the story of Mad Mabel. They called it murder. She called it justice.In 1959, at just fifteen years of age, Mabel Waller became the youngest Australian in history to be convicted of...
Magic hour : a novel
Hannah, Kristin.
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Women comes an incandescent story about the resilience of the human spirit, the triumph of hope, and the meaning of home. In the rugged Pacific Northwest lies the Olympic National Forest--nearly a million acres of...
The midnight hour
Chase, Eve.
Paper Book
Notting Hill, London. One May evening, seventeen-year-old Maggie Parker's mother walks out of their front door and doesn't return . . . With her little brother in tow, desperate to find her mother, Maggie is drawn into a labyrinthine world of antiques and shadowy figures, far...
The mires
Makereti, Tina
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 OCKHAM NEW ZEALAND BOOK AWARDS A tender and fierce novel that asks what we do when faced with things we don't understand. Is our impulse to destroy or connect? Water will come and you think it will be soft. You...
The Montegiallo school of swearing
McDonald, Andrew HC
Paper Book
Accidentally buying a Sicilian villa for just one euro is not the great Eat, Pray, Love game changer that Brian Chapman hopes it would be. Instead, tumbledown buildings, a shortage of plumbers, and resentful locals make Brian's drunken whim look like the biggest mistake of his chequered...
The names
Knapp, Florence
Paper Book
Tomorrow - if morning comes, if the storm stops raging - Cora will register the name of her son. Or perhaps, and this is her real concern, she'll formalise who he will become. It is 1987 and in the aftermath of a great storm, Cora sets out with her nine-year-old daughter to register...
Nesting
O'Donnell, Roisín
Paper Book
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME  THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025 A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK  AN OBSERVER BEST...
Night swimmers
Maguire, Roisin
Paper Book
A funny and moving family story with an unconventional heroine in a quirky coastal community - Olive Kitteridge or The Shipping News on the edge on the Irish Sea
One golden summer
Fortune, Carley
Paper Book
She captured him once on film. This time, he might just capture her heart... Don't miss summer 2025's hottest read! From the New York Times #1 bestselling author of Every Summer After, comes an unforgettable and sizzling romance ...
Onyx storm
Yarros, Rebecca
Paper Book
THE STORM IS COMING . . .Get ready to fly or die in the breathtaking follow-up to Fourth Wing and Iron Flame from the no. 1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.Pre-order your copy now!OTHER BOOKS IN THE EMPYREAN SERIES:FOURTH WINGIRON FLAME
Orbital
Harvey, Samantha
Paper Book
**WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE** **THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER** 'A slim, profound study of intimate human fears set against epic vistas' GUARDIAN 'Stunning... An uplifting book' SUNDAY TIMES Life on our...
Out on a Limb
Bonam-young, Hannah.
Paper Book
A hot one-night stand--and an unexpected pregnancy--lead a young woman to someone she can depend on, from the viral TikTok author of Next of Kin and Next to You. "A beautiful love story, full of joy from beginning to end!"--New York Times bestselling author Sarah...
The Paradise Heights craft store stitch-up
Solly, Kate
Paper Book
Meet Fleck Parker: Mother, Crafter and Amateur Detective. Fleck loves a good puzzle. She spends most of her time feeling invisible, caring for three small children, and that's fine, really. But it does make her brain itch occasionally. When Trixie, fellow school-mum and...
Problematic Summer Romance
Hazelwood, Ali.
Paper Book
What is wrong meets what feels right in this romance set in Italy by the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of Deep End. Maya Killgore is twenty-three and still in the process of figuring out her life. ...
Quicksilver
Hart, Callie
Paper Book
Say you'll remember me
Jimenez, Abby
Paper Book
The instant #1 New York Times bestseller! "No one does funny, emotional, life-affirming love stories quite like Abby Jimenez. She just keeps outdoing herself." ―Emily Henry There's no such thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier...
A secret garden in Paris
Beaumont, Sophie (Pseudonym)
Paper Book
Spring in Paris ... the perfect time to turn over a new leaf   In the heart of a city blooming with flowers, three women face life-changing challenges. Driven by grief over the sudden death of her mother, Corinne, Sydneysider Emma Taylor has taken refuge with...
See how they fall
Paris, Rachel
Paper Book
A stunning tale of secrets and betrayal that questions how well we ever know the people we love... perfect for fans of Lucy Foley, Liane Moriarty, and Jane Harper. Turner Corp, a luxury goods empire, has been rocked by the death of its founder. As his three sons gather at the...
She's a killer
McDougall, Kirsten
Paper Book
The world's climate is in crisis and New Zealand is being divided and reshaped by privileged immigrant wealthugees. Thirty-something Alice has a near-genius IQ and lives at home with her mother with whom she communicates by Morse code. Alice's imaginary friend, Simp, has shown up, with a running...
Silver elite
Francis, Dani
Ebook
Small things like these
Keegan, Claire
Paper Book
**OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK 2024** **NEW YORK TIMES BOOK CLUB PICK 2024** NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING CILLIAN MURPHY A New York Times Bestseller * Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize * Winner of the Orwell Prize for...
The Society of Unknowable Objects
Brown, Gareth
Paper Book
From the author of the internationally bestselling The Book of Doors, another fantastical, stand-alone novel in which a trio of seemingly everyday people are members of a secret society tasked with finding and protecting hidden magical objects--ordinary items with extraordinary properties....
Somewhere beyond the sea
Klune, TJ
Paper Book
A #1 NEW YORK TIMES, #1 USA TODAY and #1 INDIE BESTSELLER! Hope is the thing with feathers. And hope is the thing with fire. DELUXE EDITION--Featuring gorgeous golden yellow sprayed edges! Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely anticipated sequel...
The space between
Keenan, Lauren
Paper Book
As English settlers wage war upon local iwi in colonial Taranaki, two women confront their pasts to survive the present. Frances is an unmarried Londoner newly landed in New Zealand, 1860, at the dawn of the First Taranaki War. Once well-regarded, her family's fall from...
Speak to me of home : a novel
Cummins, Jeanine
Paper Book
What does it mean to call a place home? From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jeanine Cummins comes a deeply felt multigenerational family story On her wedding day in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1968, Rafaela Acuña y Daubón has mild misgivings, but...
The stars are a million glittering worlds
Butson, Gina
Paper Book
A hypnotic novel about love, guilt and forgiveness. If you loved Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts by Josie Shapiro, you will adore The Stars Are a Million Glittering Worlds.
Summer romance
Monaghan, Annabel
Paper Book
Benefits of a summer romance: it's always fun, always brief, and no one gets their heart broken. There aren't enough labeled glass containers to contain the mess that is Ali Morris's life. Her mom died two years ago, then her husband left, and she hasn't worn pants with a zipper in longer than she...
The sunbird
Haddad, Sara
Paper Book
Nabila Yasmeen is in her eighties. She lives alone with over a hundred plants that she keeps in pots because she can't bear to put them in the ground. In June of 1948, as a six-year-old girl, she was expelled with her family from their village in Palestine. Now she carries the weight of that...
There are rivers in the sky : a novel
Shafak, Elif
Paper Book
Sweeping across centuries, and stretching from Mesopotamia to London, this enchanting new novel by a Booker Prize finalist conjures a trio of characters living in the shadow of one of the greatest epic poems of all time. In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River...
The vanishing place
Rankin, Zoë
Paper Book
"On the remote West Coast of the South Island, vast forests stretch out between mountain ranges and rugged beaches. There, in the small town of Koraha, not a lot happens - until a young girl with blood on her hands walks out of the bush and into the local store, collapsing to the floor. She cant -...
The Venice Hotel
Woods, Tess
Paper Book
When the lives of four very different women become entangled in a boutique Venice hotel, dark secrets unravel and not everyone who checked into the hotel will check out again. Signora Loretta Bianchi, the world famous cook at Venice's Hotel Il Cuore, is forced to choose between once-in...
Welcome to glorious Tuga : a novel
Segal, Francesca
Paper Book
A bighearted page-turner set on a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean about love, community, and what it means to come home Passionate about conservation and fleeing an argument with her mother, newly qualified London vet Charlotte Walker has taken up a fellowship on the tiny South...
What happened to Nina? : a thriller
McTiernan, Dervla
Paper Book
A New York Times' best thriller of the year! From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Murder Rule comes an emotional novel of suspense about two families at war. Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his...
When the Moon hatched
Parker, Sarah A. (Fantasy fiction writer)
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * THIS NEW PAPERBACK EDITION FEATURES METALLIC AND EMBOSSED COVER EFFECTS! "A wild ride that thrills as much as it enchants . . . This remarkable book is an instant classic." -- Thea Guanzon, New York Times bestselling author of The...
White king
Gómez-Jurado, Juan
Ebook
Wild dark shore
McConaghy, Charlotte
Paper Book
REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK FOR NOVEMBER 2025! 'At once a gripping mystery, an exquisitely written ode to the natural world, and a taut, psychological thriller, Wild Dark Shore is a triumph. Charlotte McConaghy is masterful in her ability to show the...
Wild reverence
Ross, Rebecca
Paper Book
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Blockbuster bestseller Rebecca Ross returns to the world of international sensation Divine Rivals with her most epic story yet. Before Iris sat at her typewriter and before Enva sang her song, a young goddess wandered dreams...
With a Vengeance
Sager, Riley.
Paper Book
You are here
Nicholls, David
Paper Book
A highlight for 2024 for the Sunday Times, Guardian, Independent, New Statesman, i, Observer, Grazia, GQ, Irish Times, Sunday Independent, Prima, Good Housekeeping'Magnificent' MARIAN KEYES'A beautiful book'...
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