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

“I wrote The Correspondent in the master closet of our townhouse!” says Virginia Evans in this interview on The Southern Review of Books. “We were living in this small and sweet, open-concept townhouse, which I loved. But there were no doors and nowhere to go, and my two kids were very little at the time. One day, I went into the master closet, which was also small. I took my husband’s clothes out and moved them to our daughter’s closet, cleared a wall, and slid a small desk into that space. I made myself a little office where I could write. I mean, it was terrible and dark with no windows, boxes piled up, and shoes and clothes all around, and you didn’t even know when the sun would come up…it was really bleak, HA! But I could close the door and write from 4.30 to 7.30am, which was always my writing window, especially since I had small kids and was working full-time. I wrote the entire book in that closet!”

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

An exquisite novel that has now been made into a pretty good movie starring some beautiful trees.

3 Strange Pictures by Uketsu (Pushkin Press, $37)

If you loved Strange Houses …

4 Flesh by David Szalay (Jonathan Cape, $38)

“An emotionally acute study of manliness.” Read the rest of the Kirkus Review here.

5 Strange Houses by Uketsu (Pushkin Press, $37)

If you liked Strange Pictures …

6 East of Eden by John Steinbeck (Penguin, $26)

With a screen adaptation in the works, this 1952 classic is a 2026 hit.

7 The Let Them Theory by Mel Robins (Hay House, $38)

The self-help juggernaut from 2025 returns.

8 The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden (Penguin, $28)

Welcome back most beautiful of historical novels!

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

A wedding crasher tale with a difference.

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

Apparently this will be Barnes’ last ever novel.

WELLINGTON

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

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

3 Flesh by David Szalay (Jonathan Cape, $38)

4 Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Michael Joseph, $38)

For fans of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

5 Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street by Elizabeth Cox (Massey University Press, $90)

Longlisted for this year’s Ockhams! Congratulations to Elizabeth Cox and Massey University Press and Mr Ward.

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

7 Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $40)

Mother issues memoir.

8 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) 

Longlisted for this year’s Ockhams! We have predicted a shortlisting too  … we’ll see come March 4 if we might have jinxed it.

9 Privatisation and Plunder edited by Richard Werry and Chris Werry (Steele Roberts, $30)

Election year book alert! Here’s the publisher’s blurb: “Privatisation & Plunder lays bare how forty years of neoliberalism reshaped Aotearoa New Zealand more radically than almost any other nation. Privatisation, deregulation and austerity tore through public life, deepening inequality and fuelling today’s crises in housing, work and the cost of living.

Bringing together leading voices from academia and activism, this powerful collection exposes the real legacy of the ‘New Zealand Experiment’ — and offers bold, practical alternatives: universal basic income, public ownership, democratic renewal and economic justice.

Accessible, provocative and essential, Privatisation & Plunder is both a wake-up call and a vision for a fairer, more hopeful Aotearoa.”

10 I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Vintage, $33)

A chilling dystopia from the past comes to haunt the present.