We love it when we find a great young readers novel. This is a brilliant debut for UK author, Jack Mackay, who is a self-proclaimed horror enthusiast. About a grieving family, a decaying house and a babysitter with a monster secret. Nothing on Gloam Island is quite what it seems. Gwen, the eldest sibling, knows she’s quite capable of looking after her younger siblings after her mother dies. But stepdad isn’t convinced and enlists the help of a local babysitter. But Gwen isn’t fooled by Esme’s hungry eyes and sharp tongue. As Esme’s power grows, Gwen must embrace her deepest...
In September 2025, Nigel Latta passed away from gastric cancer, one year after his diagnosis, when doctors had given him just six to twelve months to live. On the very same day, his new book Lessons on Living arrived in bookstores. I think he would have appreciated the irony of that timing. Many of us know Nigel Latta from his television shows, parenting books, and presentations. As a clinical psychologist, he had a remarkable ability to make psychology relatable and practical. His down-to-earth, conversational style on screen carried through to his writing—filled with real stories, humour, and entertaining examples. Lessons on...
He Told Us is one of those books you almost don't want to pick up. Not because it isn't well written, but because you know the story it tells will be confronting. Yet it feels like a book we owe it to the victims, survivors, and their families to read. Some stories are too important to look away from. The Christchurch mosque attacks were unprecedented in New Zealand. Never before had the country experienced an act of terrorism on such a devastating scale. For many New Zealanders, it shattered the belief that something like this could never happen here. And...
Every parent's worst nightmare becomes reality in this novel, when three-year-old Oliver disappears from a remote beach car park. His young father, Scott, leaves him sleeping in the car while he carries the fishing gear down to the shore. He returns to find the car empty and his son gone without a trace. How many of us have left a sleeping child in the car, convinced we'd only be gone for a moment and not wanting to wake them? It's such a familiar decision that makes Oliver's disappearance all the more chilling, drawing readers into a story that feels frighteningly...
If you’ve ever read The Midnight Library, you’ll already know how brilliantly Matt Haig takes the simplest of situations and turns them into something unexpectedly powerful. He has a knack for drawing readers into ordinary moments and giving them extraordinary weight - the kind that lingers long after the final page is turned. The Midnight Train has exactly the same impact on the reader. Even the name of the main character, Wilbur, paints a picture in my mind of a gentleman with kind eyes and a gentle heart. We first meet him as a young man, hopelessly in love and...
It takes something truly special for a book to move a reader to tears, and it’s only in the final pages that the full weight of this story lands. Knowing it’s a debut novel makes the achievement all the more remarkable. Throughout, the author leads you on an epic journey of resilience against all odds, prompting a confronting question - could any of us have endured the horrors of WWII, let alone faced them as young teenagers? Max and Hans, childhood friends, having been forced to become soldier trainees, escape the clutches of their youth regiment, to embark on a...
