1 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Michael Joseph, $38)

The heartwarming epistolary novel with a huge number of five-star reviews on Goodreads. One of them is from acclaimed author Roxane Gay, who writes: “This is a perfect novel, so satisfying and beautifully conceived and written. Ten out of ten, no notes.”

2 The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Phoenix House, $28)

“Crazy, messy, funny, darkly life-affirming wonder of a book! A poolside pick for sad bitches! A beach read for the depressed divas!” So reads the website blurb from Amelia at Unity Wellington and, look, sold.

3 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (Penguin Classics, $18)

Dare we say a case of the book being better than the movie.

4 Departure(s) by Julian Barnes (Jonathan Cape, $38)

The final book from the Sense of an Ending author blurs the line between fiction and autobiography.

5 The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson (WW Norton & Company, $36)

Epic stuff from an up-and-coming poetry talent.

6 Red Rising by Pierce Brown (Hodder Paperbacks, $28)

The first book in an epic dystopian sci-fi trilogy that surprisingly hasn’t been made into a movie or TV series yet.

7 Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy (Fourth Estate, $35) 

The debut novel from the author of the attention-grabbing memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died is about a high school student who has an affair with her teacher, and has been received with fairly mixed reviews.

8 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, $60)

The political autobiography of 2025 returns.

9 The Ferryman and His Wife by Frode Grytten (Serpent’s Tail, $30)

Pairs nicely with The Correspondent (#1).

10 Everything but the Medicine by Lucy O’Hagan (Massey University Press, $40)

Medical memoir reviewed on The Spinoff last year: “O’Hagan has extraordinary depths of empathy, and speaks of a medical practice in which she absorbs the tragedy, the crisis, the illness and the trauma around her, bears witness to it, and uses that to inform her approach to patient care. Patient, always, so very patient.”

WELLINGTON

1 W*nkernomics: A Deep Dive in Workplace Bullsh*ttery by James Schloeffel and Charles Firth (Hardie Grant Books, $40)

A mercifully unserious self-help book for the modern office worker looking to harness the power of buzzwords and climb the corporate ladder.

2 The Work of Angels by Anisha Sankar (Dead Bird Books, $35)

Launched in Wellington last week, Dead Bird Books’ first poetry release of 2026 is “a meditation on sex, the celestial, and the spectre of communism.”

3 Parliamentary Privilege In Aotearoa New Zealand by Sir Geoffrey Palmer (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $30)

The privilege is all ours!

4 Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press, $28)

Everybody’s circling back to Maggie O’Farrell’s beautiful and sad 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction winner in the wake of its beautiful and sad movie adaptation.

5 What’s Going on in There? The Neuroscience Of The Adolescent Brain by Kathryn Berkett (Mary Egan Publishing, $35)

A field guide for parents, teachers and anyone else dealing with teenagers from New Zealand neuroscience educator (and mother to two grown-up kids) Kathryn Berkett. She says: “I wrote What’s Going On In There? for other parents, youth workers, other whānau members and teachers. This book is really for anyone who struggles with the fact that adolescents behave so differently during that upgrade time. My absolute hope is that it helps adults get a better understanding of what is going on for teens during this period of change so they can relax a little and allow their relationship to grow.”

6 Lyrical Ballads by Bill Manhire (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $30)

New poems from one of the greats, absolutely gobbled down by Claire Mabey who reviewed the book here.

7 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (Penguin Classics, $18)

8 Departure(s) by Julian Barnes (Jonathan Cape, $38)

9 Leather & Chains: My 1986 Diary by Kate Camp (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $40)

The diary of 14-year-old Kate Camp, each entry annotated by the poet’s grown-up self and the whole thing bookended by a pair of excellent essays. Read an excerpt from February 1986 here.

10 Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Michael Joseph, $38)