A Good Keen Man


Barry Crump - 1960
    Set against the rugged beauty of the New Zealand back country, this is the tale of a young man's introduction to the art of deer culling and follows the exploits of a good keen man as he learns the skills necessary to become a good bushman.

The Sorrows of an American


Siri Hustvedt - 2008
    The Sorrows of an American tells the story of the Davidsen family as brother and sister uncover its secrets and unbandage its wounds in the year following their father’s funeral.Returning to New York from Minnesota, the grieving siblings continue to pursue the mystery behind the note. While Erik’s fascination with his new tenants and emotional vulnerability to his psychiatric patients threaten to overwhelm him, Inga is confronted by a hostile journalist who seems to know a secret connected to her dead husband, a famous novelist. As each new mystery unfolds, Erik begins to inhabit his emotionally hidden father’s history and to glimpse how his impoverished childhood, the Depression, and the war shaped his relationship with his children, while Inga must confront the reality of her husband’s double life.A novel about fathers and children, listening and deafness, recognition and blindness; the pain of speaking and the pain of keeping silent, the ambiguities of memory, loneliness, illness, and recovery. Siri Hustvedt’s exquisitely moving prose reveals one family’s hidden sorrows through an extraordinary mosaic of secrets and stories that reflect the fragmented nature of identity itself.

Adults


Emma Jane Unsworth - 2020
    Supposedly. At thirty-five she owns her own house, writes for a cool magazine and has hilarious friends just a message away.But the thing is:• She can’t actually afford her house since her criminally sexy ex-boyfriend Art left,• her best friend Kelly is clearly trying to break up with her,• she's so frazzled trying to keep up with everything you can practically hear her nerves jangling,• she spends all day online-stalking women with beautiful lives as her career goes down the drain.And now her mother has appeared on her doorstep, unbidden, to save the day…Is Jenny ready to grow up and save herself this time?Deliciously candid and gloriously heartfelt, ADULTS is the story of one woman learning how to fall back in love with her life. It will remind you that when the world throws you a curve ball (or nine), it may take friendship, gin & tonics or even your mother to bring you back…

Tragedy at Pike River Mine: How and Why 29 Men Died


Rebecca Macfie - 2013
    Later that day two ashen men stumbled from the entrance. Twenty-nine men remained unaccounted for. Initial probes revealed fatally high methane levels in the mine – conditions deemed unsurvivable for the trapped men. But it was only after a second blast five days later that all hope was extinguished.Tragedy at Pike River Mine is a dramatic, superbly researched and page-turning account of a disaster that should never have happened, of the dramatic political and legal fallout, and the effect on the small West Coast community. It reveals an appalling string of mistakes, from consent being given for the mine in the first place, to lack of proper monitoring equipment, pressure to ignore safety requirements, and effectively only a single exit. It puts a human face on the people who suffered, and provides penetrating insight on who's to blame.This is an essential read for everyone who cares about the future of New Zealand and our values as a nation. Rebecca Macfie's writing on Pike River has been hailed for its veracity, perspicacity and powerful human interest.

The Pleasure of My Company


Steve Martin - 2003
    After all, outside there are 8-inch-high curbs and there's always the horrible chance he might see a gas station attendant wearing a blue hat. So, except for the occasional trip to the Rite Aid to admire the California girl Zandy and to buy earplugs because they're on sale, he stays home a lot. And a good thing too, or he would have never been falsely implicated in a murder, never almost seduced Philipa, never done the impossible task of jogging around the block with Brian, never ironed his pillows, and he might never have won the Most Average American essay contest. The Pleasure of My Company is the chronicle of a modern-day neurotic yearning to break free.

This Must Be the Place


Kate Racculia - 2010
    But their small, quiet life is upended when Arthur Rook shows up in the middle of a nervous breakdown, devastated by the death of his wife, carrying a pink shoe box containing all his wife's mementos and keepsakes, and holding a postcard from sixteen years ago, addressed to Mona but never sent. Slowly the contents of the box begin to fit together to tell a story—one of a powerful friendship, a lost love, and a secret that, if revealed, could change everything that Mona, Oneida, and Arthur know to be true. Or maybe the stories the box tells and the truths it brings to life will teach everyone about love—how deeply it runs, how strong it makes us, and how even when all seems lost, how tightly it brings us together. With emotional accuracy and great energy, This Must Be the Place introduces memorable, charming characters that refuse to be forgotten.

Notes to My Future Husband: A Bitch's Guide to Our Happily Ever After


The Coquette - 2012
    It's a picture of an ideal relationship for a new generation of married couples: alternately grotesque, sexy, silly, and sexually permissive, but above all, built on mutual respect and honesty: •I promise: to never comment on your bad breath, as long as you don't come near me with bad breath. •We're going to make a lot of parenting mistakes: Let's not make putting leashes on our children when we go to the mall one of them.•Your job: I know I'm the 'free spirited one', but you're not allowed to be doing something that makes you miserable. Sorry. We'll f**'in live in a box, it's fine.

Unspeakable Secrets of the Aro Valley


Danyl McLauchlan - 2013
    A sleepy bohemian neighbourhood.An ancient legend from the ancient past.A brilliant but troubled young writer.A voluptuous healer.A shadowy cult and its sinister leader.A trail of riddles; a hidden artefact.An explicit sex scene, then a struggle for ultimate power.And a final, unspeakable secret.Unspeakable Secrets of the Aro Valley is a dark and hilarious odyssey through Wellington’s underbelly.

The Transformation of Minna Hargreaves


Fleur Beale - 2007
    She's got lots of friends, and her boyfriend is the school hunk. She's being encouraged to 'take the relationship to the next stage' by her friend Lizzie.Home is pretty much a non-event. Her mother seems distracted, her father breezes in and out but isn't really present, her brother is a stoner. Her life is turned upside down when Dad announces that he wants them to live on an off-shore island for a year and work to make it into a conservation island. Minna is horrified at the idea, as is her mother. All the more so when they discover that the whole venture is to be made into a reality TV series.To her utter dismay, Minna finds herself on an island, with only her family for company. There's no phone or email contact with the outside world. The helicopter ride to the island has made Mum sick and she doesn't seem to be recovering. Minna has to cope with new family dynamics, come to terms with the fact that her parents' marriage is doomed, and has to learn domestic arts that don't rate very highly on her excitement meter.Can you find a new you?

Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties


Camille Pagán - 2018
    Perpetually anxious, she’s also accumulated a list of semi-reasonable fears: falling air conditioners, the IRS, identity theft, skydiving, and airbag recalls. But never once did Maggie worry that her husband of nearly thirty years would leave her.On the day Adam walks out the door, everything that makes Maggie secure goes with him. Only then does she realize that while she’s been busy caring for everyone else, she’s become invisible to the world—and to herself.Maggie cautiously begins to rebuild her life with a trip to Rome, a new career, and even a rebound romance. But when a fresh crisis strikes and an uncertain future looms, she must decide: How much will she risk to remain the woman she’s just become?

The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing


Melissa Bank - 1998
    With an unforgettable comic touch, Bank skillfully teases out issues of the heart, puts a new spin on the mating dance, and captures in perfect pitch what it's like to be a young woman coming of age in America today.

The Newlyweds


Nell Freudenberger - 2012
    A hundred years ago, Amina would have been called a mail-order bride. But this is an arranged marriage for the twenty-first century: Amina is wooed by - and woos - George Stillman online. For Amina, George offers a chance for a new life and a different kind of happiness than she might find back home. For George, Amina is a woman who doesn't play games. But each of them is hiding something: someone from the past they thought they could leave behind. It is only when they put an ocean between them - and Amina returns to Bangladesh - that she and George find out if their secrets will tear them apart, or if they can build a future together. The Newlyweds is a surprising, suspenseful story about the exhilarations - and real-life complications - of getting, and staying, married. It stretches across continents, generations, and plains of emotion. What has always set Nell Freudenberger apart is the sly, gimlet eye she turns on collisions of all kinds - sexual, cultural, familial. With The Newlyweds, she has found her perfect subject for that vision, and characters to match. She reveals Amina's heart and mind, capturing both her new American reality and the home she cannot forget, with seamless authenticity, empathy, and grace. At once revelatory and affecting, The Newlyweds is a stunning achievement.

The Postmistress


Sarah Blake - 2009
    CDs, 9 CDs, 11 hoursWhat would happen if someone did the unthinkable-and didn't deliver a letter? Filled with stunning parallels to today, The Postmistress is a sweeping novel about the loss of innocence of two extraordinary women-and of two countries torn apart by war.

Driving to Treblinka: A long search for a lost father


Diana Wichtel - 2017
    Her mother was a New Zealander, her father a Polish Jew who had jumped off a train to the Treblinka death camp and hidden from the Nazis until the end of the war. When Diana was 13 she moved to New Zealand with her mother, sister and brother. Her father was to follow.Diana never saw him again.Many years later she sets out to discover what happened to him. The search becomes an obsession as she painstakingly uncovers information about his large Warsaw family and their fate at the hands of the Nazis, scours archives across the world for clues to her father’s disappearance, and visits the places he lived.This unforgettable narrative is also a deep reflection on the meaning of family, the trauma of loss, and the insistence of memory. It asks the question: Is it better to know, or more bearable not to?

Everyone Deserves a Second Chance: A Billionaire Romance Box Set


Tara Brent - 2020
    For readers who love billionaire romances with secret babies, hot daddies, and single moms. Family dramas and friendships will keep your kindle burning all night long!The Billionaire’s Secret RegretRule #1 Hands off Samantha. My best friend’s little sister.I knew that… Then how do I explain to him she’s pregnant with my baby?When I was young and stupid, I broke the heart of the only girl I’d ever loved, Sam Jenkins. We had a hot and wild summer romp that completely blew my mind, but everything changed when she told me she was pregnant.I was scared and I told her to get rid of it... I’ve never regretted anything more.We parted ways and I thought I’d lost my chance of a happy ending with Sam. At least, I felt that way until she showed up out of the blue after three years of total silence. I knew I couldn’t waste this opportunity.I had to win her back, but how on Earth could I make up for what I had done?The Billionaire Returns HomeHe’s back in town. Filthy Rich, a Single Dad.And gorgeous as Hell!We were inseparable as kids.When he left, he took a piece of my heart.Now he’s back and needs my help.And I begin to school his little girl.We soon discover the spark is still alive.When he takes me on the front room sofa I’m lost in the pits of lust.I’m in heaven and life is a dream.We are lovers - until he leaves me again!!!Turns out he doesn’t think my family is good enough for him!I have to let him go. Family blood is stronger than childhood romances.So why does it feel like my heart has stopped beating?Do we get to have a Happy Ever After?The Billionaire’s Surprise HeirI’m FURIOUS that she kept this from me!A secret she had NO right to keep…Do I destroy her or make her mine?Every redhead turns my head. It’s my greatest weakness.Why?Tiffany…that was her name, a redhead hottie from my college days.Imagine my shock when I meet up with her again on a blind date!Now, I’m not the kinda guy to go on blind dates, but I’m glad I did.This woman rocks my boat and now she’s in my life again I won’t let her go.Yet, she always pushes me away.Talk about a she-devil in disguise. She’s dodging me and lying too.What game is she playing?I WILL find out, even if it means stalking her!Will Tiffany’s secret blow up in her face and destroy her Happy Ever After?-with the only man she has ever loved.A collection of three steamy standalone romance novels. No cliffhanger, no cheating and a guaranteed HEA.