Fiction Genres Recent Picks

New Zealand fiction

August 2010

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Julian Corkle is a filthy liar D. J. Connell. (2010). (2010)
Julian Corkle has got small-screen ability. His mother tells him he'll be a star one day. Not everyone shares Julian's dreams of stardom. Television is too much like hairdressing for his father's tastes. A Tasmanian man wants a son for sporting purposes. 'Boys don't like dolls,' he tells Julian, 'They like Dinky Toys.' Not this boy, thinks Julian, who knows better than to tell the truth. Besides, the family already has a sporting hero, Julian's sister Carmel aka 'The Locomotive'. Julian likes his sister, but knows better than to tangle with her bowling arm. It's the same one she uses for punching. (Book cover)

The crime of Huey Dunstan, James McNeish. (2010)
Professor Chesney, Ches for short, recalls a court case in which he was an expert witness. At its centre is Heuy Dunstan, a young man accused of murdering a taxi driver in cold blood. Ches, called in to try and determine the motivation behind this uncharacteristic act of violence, is at first baffled by an ordinary, unassuming, polite young man who seems determined at all costs to incriminate himself. The crux of the case involves the twin enigmas of buried memory and provocation, both contentious elements that require risk taking at the edge of New Zealand law. But ches is no foreigner to dilemmas of this kind: he is a trained psychologist, specialising in trauma, and he is blind. (Book cover)

Visions of heat Nalini Singh.(2007)
Used to cold silence, Faith NightStar is suddenly being tormented by dark visions of blood and murder. This is a bad sign for anyone, but worse for Faith, an F-Psy with the highly sought after ability to predict the future. Then the visions show her something even more dangerous-aching need and exquisite pleasure. But so powerful is her sight, so fragile the state of her mind, that the very emotions she yearns to embrace could be the end of her. Changeling Vaughn D'Angelo can take either man or jaguar form, but it is his animal side that is overwhelmingly drawn to Faith. The jaguar's instinct is to claim this woman it finds so utterly fascinating and the man has no argument. But while Vaughn craves sensation and hungers to pleasure Faith in every way, desire is a danger that could snap the last threads of her sanity. And there are Psy who need Faith's sight for their own purposes. They must keep her silenced and keep her from Vaughn. (Amazon)

Band of gold Deborah Challinor. (2010)
When the Yarrowee River bursts its banks, Rian Farrell, a dashing Irish Sea captain and part-time gunrunner, disappears in the torrential flood. Believing herself a widow, the headstrong and passionate Kitty Farrell’s heart is left in tatters after the sudden death of her beloved husband. In her grief, she finally succumbs to the attractions of his long-time shipmate, Daniel, who has loved her from afar for many years. The consequences are disastrous, and will challenge Kitty Farrell both physically and mentally. (Book cover)

The night book by Charlotte Grimshaw. (2010)
Roza Hallwright leads a quiet, orderly life, working at her publishing job each day, returning home to the large, comfortable house she shares with her politician husband David and her two stepchildren. But this peaceful existence is about to be changed forever. In the next few months there will be an election, and, if the polls are correct, Roza will become the Prime Minister’s wife. She has faced the prospect with relative calm, but a chance encounter with party donor Simon Lampton sparks a chain of consequences that will bring turmoil to both their lives. (Book cover)

Freeing Grace by Charity Norman. (2010)
Unable to have children of their own, David, curate of an inner-city parish, and Leila, his Nigerian-born wife, are desperate for a family. When they finally hear they’ve been approved to adopt a baby, Grace, they can scarcely believe their good fortune. There’s just one problem for which David and Leila cannot plan; Grace’s birth family, the enigmatic, charismatic Harrisons. Enlisting their friend, the feckless, charming New Zealander, Jake Kelly, who’s half in love with all of them, one way or another the Harrisons send him on a quest that will force a confrontation. Ultimately each has a terrible decision to make. Everyone only wants what’s best for Grace, but who can say exactly what that is? (Book cover)

Inheritance, by Jenny Pattrick. (2010)
Elena catches a glimpse of her friend Jeanie Roper in a New Zealand art gallery. It is twenty-three years since Jeanie suddenly disappeared. They had been close when Jeanie lived in Samoa with her bullying husband and gentle father. But why is Jeanie hiding her identity? Elena is intrigued to discover Jeanie has a daughter who is unaware of her Samoan ancestry. There are family secrets here, possibly dangerous, that Elena is determined to uncover. (Book cover)

Hunting blind by Paddy Richardson. (2010)
On a perfect summer’s day, at a school picnic beside a lake, a little girl goes missing, leaving a family devastated and a community asking questions. Seventeen years later her sister, Stephanie, is practising as a psychiatrist. A new patient’s revelations force her to re-examine her sister’s disappearance. Why are their stories so similar? Unable to let the matter rest, Stephanie embarks on a journey to find out what happened to her sister. (Book cover)

Lola by Elizabeth Smither. (2010)
Lola marries into Dearborn & Zander, a family of funeral directors, when she falls for Sam Dearborn at a dance. But when Sam, and her friend Alice Zander, injured in freak accident, die, Lola devotes the rest of her life to exploration. She takes up residence in an art deco hotel; she befriends members of the Sylvester Quartet after gate-crashing a rehearsal. She reflects on two different kinds of love offered by men: Luigi the Italian undertaker who buries a dog with its owner, and Charles the retired surgeon with his disruptive daughter, Brandy. (Book cover)

Short Stories

Everything we hoped for by Pip Adam. (2010)
This is a remarkable debut, distinguished by an exquisitely crafted surface and barely contained emotional force. A young mother in shocked contemplation of her new baby and young women in rehab and jail feature in mostly short and oblique stories which echo and connect with cumulative power. A broad rang of other characters, including NZ servicemen returned form active duty in Dili, the Witch king’s wife at a fan convention, the employees of a $2 Shop and a vegan couple at a Samoan resort complete a vivid and distinctive contemporary canvas. (Book cover

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