• A dark lake with darker secrets. • The bizarre delivery of a mysterious crate. • A fortune-teller unnerved by what she reads in a palm. • Why is the past reaching for the present with such bony fingers? For the four teenagers staying near a West Coast lake, what begins as an intriguing puzzle ends with the most terrifying night of their lives, a night that will change them forever… Award-winning author James Norcliffe’s compelling supernatural tale will delight and thrill all young readers with its bittersweet ending as unexpected as it is satisfying. “James Norcliffe is a national treasure.” – Sarah Forster, The Sapling

Bind: paperback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 153 x 234 mm

Publication Date: 25-10-2022

“A Millennial New Yorker, a Stewart Island fisherman, and a WW II veteran walk into a bar...” Maudie’s on the run – from New York and from her past – but she runs headlong into her future when she ends up on Rakiura Stewart Island on assignment to cover Aotearoa New Zealand’s southernmost running trails. Or, as her new fisherman friend Vil puts it: “Giving brainless bucket-listers hard-ons for islands like mine.” She quickly becomes absorbed into island life and once she hears tales of buried treasure, Maudie embarks on a dogged pursuit of the truth, increasingly hooked by gossipy hints. Clues and waypoints are buried in old SINs (Stewart Island News) and pieces of the puzzle are scrawled on buoys washed up on the pages. Maudie doesn’t cut a convincing detective figure. She’s an erratic, impulsive, semi-alcoholic millennial, but nothing breaks her stride as she wades into the world of laconic locals and dune grass politics. Like a daydreaming runner, the narrative weaves, loops, and backtracks, taking in pāua divers, whales, yellow-eyed penguins, muttonbirds, floating libraries and Sunday pub quizzers. Welcome to a tale of romance, adventure, and a treasure hunt which will take you through decades and landscapes, from the beaches of Rakiura Stewart Island to the battlefield of Monte Cassino, to post-war Paris, to the Twin Towers rebuild. Vast and sweeping in scope, this brilliant debut novel is braided with stories of love and war, loss, relationships, island lore, and the joys of running.  A Runner’s Guide to Rakiura is also playful, funny, and romantic, and like any good treasure hunt, there will be reckonings, redemptions, and yes… there will be treasure.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 424

Dimensions: 153 x 234 mm

Publication Date: 18-10-2022

A sensitive and evocative account of the life of a New Zealand World War Two artillery soldier that gives insight into New Zealand's rural culture from the pre-depression years, the impact of war on a family through generations, and the magic of companionship in the New Zealand backcountry. The story is loosely based on the author's parents, with his father never seeming to adjust to what he experienced in Italy during the Second World War. Bill's journey is about his growth from childhood and the character he forges until needing to deal with teh effects of brutalizing trauma, and finding his path to self-acceptance through his relationship with his long-standing mate, Charlie, his wife Joan and their children. The under-appreciated cost of war and its psychological impact are dealt with through a series of fictional incidents, largely based on the author's childhood and teenage experiences. The setting is non-specific but is consistent with the Southland and Canterbury regions of New Zealand and Monte Cassino, Italy. Beautifully written and laced with sardonic Kiwi humour, the author's style is fluent and engaging; an easy read that deals with a difficult and often painful topic in a meaningful way.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 150 x 228 mm

Publication Date: 13-06-2022

When Julian meets Julia, he is less than impressed. After all, what 13-year-old boy looks forward to having his great-granny join the household? But on discovering a diary written by Julia when a young girl, he becomes absorbed in the account of her wild, romantic adventures in a remote South American forest as she goes in search of the legendary and magical Candle Trees. Julia is supposed to be safely at home on her uncle’s remote estate but the date is 1899 and a new century is dawning. Julia is a modern miss, inquisitive and restless for adventure, and ignoring rumours of evil spirits, wild animals and even wilder men, she steps into the forest’s mysterious interior alone – and vanishes. A long and dangerous journey lies ahead, filled with wonders, strange encounters and terrifying ordeals. But the lure of the Candle Trees is irresistible, and Julia makes discoveries beyond her wildest imaginings. The Candle Trees is a wondrous tale, compelling in its power of the written word, and unites both Julia and Julian in the discovery that age is no barrier to experience, or to love.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 168

Dimensions: 152 x 229 mm

Publication Date: 26-10-2022

Tucked away in the Māniototo region of Central Otago, Gilchrist and Sons General Store is a survivor. Operating under the same name and serving the same communities it did when business-savvy Thomas Gilchrist established it in 1902, the store is a living reminder of this once ubiquitous form of shopping in Aotearoa New Zealand. For decades, shops like Gilchrist’s sold everything from bread to bedding, cabbages to cigarettes, dusters to dynamite, fabrics to fencing, garters to gasoline, and much, much more, all crammed into one space. These stores cum community hubs were most evident in rural towns and villages. All gave their customers personalised service; most offered ‘store to door’ grocery and mail deliveries. The three generations of the Gilchrist family who owned the store and, for a time, an ancillary one at Ranfurly, excelled at both, and their customers knew it. Set against the backdrop of the social, economic, and political forces that helped shape the fortunes of Gilchrist and Sons’ Ōtūrēhua store, the story this book tells is as much about the communities that benefited from the shop as it is about the shop itself, the enterprising and loved family who ran it for so long and the people who have kept it open since.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 328

Dimensions: 210 x 280 mm

Publication Date: 10-08-2023

Skippers Canyon is an artist’s paradise and one of New Zealand’s most stunning locations. This historic and scenic gorge, carved out by the Shotover River in Queenstown’s back country, has been a favourite destination and inspiration for artist John Gillies for some forty years. His love of Skippers and the challenges it presents is illustrated in this beautiful collection of paintings and sketches interspersed with personal and historical notes that mark John’s frequent journeys to this remarkable part of Aotearoa New Zealand. “Whatever I had experienced in my journey so far, a moment of sheer glory was revealed from Campbells Saddle. There before me, Mt Campbell took visual command with its servants, the Branches Flat and Shotover River, obediently nestled below. This majestic scene I will never forget and instantly, I knew that for me, it would become my tūrangawaewae, my spiritual home.”

Bind: hardback

Pages: 104

Dimensions: 280 x 213 mm

Publication Date: 28-09-2023

This book is a compilation of essays, vignettes and discussion papers written by a retired geriatrician to consider some of the issues associated with ageing and older people, including the health conditions of later years. These are supplemented by pieces illustrating the value of literature in gerontology. Also included are thoughts about the philosophy and ‘essence’ of geriatric medicine including interdisciplinary teamwork, clear communication and maintenance of function. It is meant to entertain, reflect and to some extent, teach. Although it covers some medical subjects it is not a textbook; rather, it seeks to raise the profile of a medical discipline that has sometimes been poorly understood. Medical conditions are discussed but in a way that is readily understood by a lay audience. The author’s intention is that there should be something of interest for every reader and to encourage the study of older people in literature.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 190

Dimensions: 152 x 229 mm

Publication Date: 05-04-2022

One of New Zealand’s most prominent, well-loved and accessible poets Kevin Ireland’s words pop like seaweed pods, whether he is: honouring friendships — making sourdough bread — grinning at the weather gods — wondering why he slept in — marvelling at the miracle of a shower — giving advice to writers — analysing chance remarks and philosophical paradoxes — celebrating the benefits of a failing memory — circumnavigating childhood, ageing and death … or just having fun, which he does refreshingly often. Shape of the Heart sparkles with poems that take us from brain to heart, sometimes detouring to unexpected places (such as the belly button), but most often in a direct and delightful line.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 64

Dimensions: 140 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 12-05-2020

From its inception, the directors of Sheppard & Rout Architects have been concerned that its architectural and planning projects all reflect their cultural and historical contexts. The events of the destructive Christchurch earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 and the subsequent considerable rebuild of the city has reaffirmed the need to ensure that these values continue to be upheld. The ‘conversations’ with the directors in this book will enable readers to experience the practice’s rich exploration of these values in their many and diverse projects carried out between 1982 and 2021. Numerous projects realised in other parts of the country and overseas are also included.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 212

Dimensions: 250 x 250 mm

Publication Date: 30-11-2023

This is a novel of insights, bold assessments and revelations told by four contrasting characters from the generation whose adult lives were affected forever by World Wars I and II, the Depression, the Spanish Civil War and the domestic upheaval that accompanied the waterfront lockout and protests against the war in Vietnam. It is an account to treasure, not simply because of its narrative power, its superb interweaving of the real and the imagined, and its huge and contrasting canvases, but because of its brilliant and meticulous archival research and its compassionate yet rigorous re-evaluation of some of New Zealand’s most bitter and wounding military, social and political battles, and of the officers, soldiers, nurses, trade unionists, conscientious objectors and political leaders involved. No New Zealand novel about the harrowing experience of our growth towards nationhood has a broader sweep and more detailed grasp of events. It is a masterpiece of times that must never be forgotten - Kevin Ireland The war to end wars ended in 1918. It is, however, still early in the twentieth century and Nelle, the World War I nurse who patched up the remnants of men who ‘survived’, fears for her fighter-pilot son; disastrously, Frank, the intellectual, has fallen in love with a German refugee; World War I sniper hero, Harry, the Christian, now fights for peace; and left-wing activist, Jim, goes to war in Spain to fight Fascism. In Province of Danger, our four narrators tell of their lives and loves during the years of a bitterly divided New Zealand; in the pitiless Spanish Civil War; in the six long years of World War II, and then its aftermath. We learn from them that when soldiers of the New Zealand division are sent to participate in what became the disasters of Greece and Crete, Crete was lost to the vastly outnumbered Germans through a combination of failure by senior officers to exercise initiative or to obey orders – their believing they were still fighting World War I. Thrown then into the North African battles the New Zealanders, at great cost, become a formidable fighting force. Thereafter, against the considered judgement of their general, they are shipped to the bloodshed and torment of the futile Italian campaign. Province of Danger brings to life a rich tableau of characters who, when forced to confront the most demanding circumstances, respond in various ways: many with courage, integrity and resilience. Not all of those at a higher level, however, reacted so positively when military and political blunders – too often glossed over by historians – were committed. Province of Danger, like its predecessor, March to the Sound of the Guns, is a story that vividly recreates the turbulence of the years in which New Zealand stumbled towards nationhood.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 448

Dimensions: 153 x 234 mm

Publication Date: 16-08-2018