Linda’s Pick: Tess / Kirsten McDougall.
“In the silence she could hear the oncoming hum, like a large flock approaching. She didn’t want to hear his story; she’d had enough of them. Tess is on the run when she’s picked up from the side of the road by lonely middle-aged father Lewis Rose. With reluctance, she’s drawn into his family troubles and comes to know a life she never had. Set in Masterton at the turn of the millennium, Tess is a gothic love story about the ties that bind and tear a family apart.” (Syndetics summary)

Jamie’s Pick: Crisis four : a Nick Stone thriller / Andy McNab.
“Ex-SAS trooper Nick Stone is clever, ruthless and very effective, it is no surprise that he is hired by British Intelligence. Sarah Greenwood is beautiful, intelligent and cunning, and the only woman Stone has ever truly opened up to. But now he has been ordered to hunt her down. Hotly pursued through the American wilderness, Stone finds himself at the center of a deadly game of cat and mouse and must get to the heart of a terrifying conspiracy theory to which only Sarah holds the key.” (Adapted Syndetics summary)

Frith’s Pick: Iceland / Dominic Hoey.
“Aspiring musician Zlata meets graffiti artist and part-time drug dealer Hamish at a party. Together, they start to get their lives on track Zlata gets her record deal and album tour, and Hamish gets an exhibition of his art in Auckland, then in Tokyo. Then one of their group of friends kills someone, and everything starts to unravel as they deal (or not) with the aftermath” (Syndetics summary)

Tim’s Pick: Leave before you go / Emily Perkins.
No New Zealand novel better captures the sad ambience of finding yourself a little older than you feel ready for and also you’ve just locked yourself out of your flat again. In a good way.
“A generation’s dilemma: should we find real jobs & relationships & houses, or shall we sit here, watch TV & maybe think about going out later? Leave Before You Go is a witty novel from last year’s winner of the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize.” (Syndetics summary)

Reece’s Pick: The crossing / by Cormac McCarthy.
“In The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy fulfills the promise of All the Pretty Horses and at the same time give us a work that is darker and more visionary, a novel with the unstoppable momentum of a classic western and the elegaic power of a lost American myth.  An essential novel by any measure, this is a luminous and appalling book that touches, stops, and starts the heart and mind at once.” (Adapted Syndetics summary)

Jess’ Pick: Daughter of the forest / Juliet Marillier.
“A tale of history and heritage, myth and magic, legend and love. Lord Colum of Sevenwaters is blessed with seven children, but it is Sorcha, the youngest and only daughter, who is destined to defend her family and protect their land. The only one who escapes the cruel influence of her father’s new wife, exiled and cast out into the forest and the terrifying world beyond, Sorcha falls into the hands of the feared enemy. Now she is torn between a life she has always known and a love that only comes once.” (Adapted Syndetics summary)

Zuhara’s Pick: Gone with the wind / by Margaret Mitchell.
“Often remembered for the epic film, Gone With the Wind explores the depth of human passions with an intensity as bold as its setting in the red hills of Georgia. This is the tale of Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled, manipulative daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, who arrives at young womanhood just in time to see the Civil War forever change her way of life. A sweeping story of tangled passion and courage, Margaret Mitchell brings to life the unforgettable characters that have captured readers for over seventy years.” (Adapted Syndetics summary)

Paul’s Pick: The unthinkable thoughts of Jacob Green : a novel / by Joshua Braff.
“It’s 1977, housewarming, Annie Hall and bar mitzvah parties punctuate Jacob Green’s childhood and require command performances by all the Green family members. Jacob doesn’t mean to disappoint his father, but he can’t help thinking the most unthinkable (and very funny) thoughts about public-school humiliation, Hebrew-school disinclination, and in-home sex education (with the live-in nanny!). This self-assured, comic, yet piercing first novel deftly captures the struggle of an imperfect boy trying to become a suitable son.” ( Adapted Syndetics summary)

Beth’s Pick: The English patient / Michael Ondaatje.
“Set during the end of World War II, this novel explores the lives of four very disparate people who find themselves holed up together in a ruined villa north of Florence as the war retreats around them. Michael Ondaatje is the author of Running in the Family and In the Skin of a Lion.” (Syndetics summary)

Ligia’s Pick: The book of disquiet / Fernando Pessoa ; edited by Jerónimo Pizarro; translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa.
“An “autobiography” or “diary” containing exquisite melancholy observations, aphorisms, and ruminations, this classic work grapples with all the eternal questions. Now, for the first time the texts are presented chronologically, in a complete English edition by master translator Margaret Jull Costa.” (Syndetics summary)

Sela’s Pick: The bronze horseman / Paullina Simons.
“The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler’s armies attack Russia and yet there is light in the darkness. Tatiana meets Alexander, a brave young officer in the Red Army. Tatiana and Alexander’s impossible love threatens to tear the family apart and expose Alexander’s dangerous secret, a secret as devastating as the war itself.” (Syndetics summary)