THE BOOK OF GUILT, RRP $38.
Kiwi novelist Catherine Chidgey’s latest work of fiction is set in a sinisterly skewed version of England in 1979, where 13-year-old triplets Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents of a New Forest home, part of the Government’s ‘Sycamore Scheme’. Gradually surrendering its dark secrets, The Book of Guilt is a spellbinding novel from one of New Zealand’s greatest storytellers. It’s a profoundly unnerving exploration of belonging in a world where some lives are valued less than others.
WHEN THE DEEP DARK BUSH SWALLOWS YOU WHOLE, RRP $38.
A haunting debut crime novel from Geoff Parkes takes readers to a small rural New Zealand town in the 1980s. During his university summer break, Ryan Bradley returns to a remote town in the rugged King Country. He’s working long, punishing hours as a woolpresser, needs to sell his late mother’s house, and he’s increasingly feeling like an outcast. But mostly he’s haunted by memories of Sanna Sovernen, a Finnish backpacker and his secret lover, who worked with him in the shearing shed the summer before, then vanished without trace.
