The Listener
  • The Listener home
  • The Listener E-edition
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Health & nutrition
  • Arts & Culture
  • New Zealand
  • All Blacks
  • Consumer tech & enterprise
  • Food & drink

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • New Zealand
  • World
  • Health & nutrition
  • Consumer tech & enterprise
  • Art & culture
  • Food & drink
  • Entertainment
  • Books
  • Life

More

  • The Listener E-edition
  • The Listener on Facebook
  • The Listener on Instagram
  • The Listener on X

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Listener / Books

Mystery, magic, and resilience in new YA fiction

By Ann Packer
New Zealand Listener·
8 May, 2024 04:30 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest YA reads include local and international fiction. Photos / supplied

Latest YA reads include local and international fiction. Photos / supplied

The Apprentice Witnesser

by Bren MacDibble (Allen & Unwin, $19.99)

Western Australia-resident Kiwi Bren MacDibble has impressive credentials – she has won our junior fiction award twice (for How to Bee and The Dog Runner) and, as Cally Black, taken the YA award for In the Dark Spaces. Now she continues her climate-crisis adventure novels with a tale featuring endearing, resilient characters in a post-pandemic, post-industrial setting that addresses perhaps our most pressing issue du jour: what is truth? Basti, an apprentice Witnesser of Miracles, takes snapshots of “little moments” on an old-school camera to authenticate incidents for her guardian, the storyteller Lodyma. Hope-full.

Photo / supplied
Photo / supplied

Nine Girls

by Stacy Gregg (Penguin, $22)

From a writer much loved for her horse stories – her standalone titles have made the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults finals eight times and scooped the coveted Children’s Choice three times in a row – comes a very different tale. No horses, for starters. Instead, at a turbulent time in our recent history, a peeved teen displaced from a posh Auckland suburb returns to her mother’s home town of Ngāruawāhia, divided by race and a river. There’s a mystery concerning buried treasure dating back to the land wars, tapu and – yes – a talking tuna (eel). The taniwha, with an impeccable tribal pedigree, is a device for imparting historical information, some of which I suspect young readers might skip. And don’t go looking for nine characters – the title is finally explained in an author’s note.

Photo / supplied
Photo / supplied

Deep is the Fen

by Lili Wilkinson (A&U, $27.99)

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Australian writer Lili Wilkinson is nothing if not versatile. Her doomsday prepper novel, After the Lights Go Out, headed our 2018 50 Best list. With a huge online following, she offers a second dark fantasy – many, like my 15-year-old granddaughter Olive, enjoyed the previous Hunger of Thorns, not just for its stunning cover. Wilkinson, daughter of Australian historical fiction writer Carole Wilkinson, is great on plot, and I can take the mix of magic, secret societies (toads, anyone?) and witches, especially when it’s grounded in a convincing small town friendship circle of senior teens, flawed and all. But I’d have to put this right at the top of YA for its disturbing re-education camp passages. Like central character Merry, I felt lucky to get out of it alive.

Photo / supplied
Photo / supplied

Outlaw Girls

Discover more

Wild times for kids: New picture books that explore wonder

02 May 06:00 AM

In a call to arms for conservation, artist/writer shares her love of six-legged ghosts

09 Apr 04:30 AM

Rachael King’s first children’s book in more than 10 years defies categorisation

19 Feb 03:00 AM

The Year in Books: 50 top children’s books

27 Nov 11:30 PM

by Emily Gale & Nova Weetman (Text, $21)

A very Aussie story this, from a duo whose previous time-slip collab, Elsewhere Girls, was shortlisted for awards across the Tasman. This one features Ned Kelly’s last days from the point of view of his sister, Kate (a real person), and – a century on, looking back with full knowledge – city girl Ruby. Both are competent horsewomen, which allows them to meet in the bush clearing that becomes their portal. The other link in this “fictitious story including real events” is theft: Ruby is one of four kids who went to primary school together who are into shoplifting from the local supermarket but take on a tractor theft for a dare. The Kellys, of course, are stealing to stay alive, even before they hold up a bank.

Photo / supplied
Photo / supplied

Smoke & Mirrors

by Barry Jonsberg (A&U, $22.99)

Nothing is what it seems in this story of sassy teen Grace (aka Amazing Grace, amateur magician) and her cranky Gran, for whom she becomes caregiver. In many ways, the two are like mirror images – both rejecting help, refusing to face reality and making some very wrong judgments along the way. Sleight of hand, sarcasm, a brother who comes and goes … it’s a highly enjoyable and satisfying read.

Photo / supplied
Photo / supplied
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Most popular

LISTENER
Cat behaviour decoded: Why your cat scratches you, ignores you and plays hard to get
New Zealand

Cat behaviour decoded: Why your cat scratches you, ignores you and plays hard to get

22 Jun 06:00 PM
LISTENER
Half Life: Tracing a Jewish family's unpalatable truths
Books

Half Life: Tracing a Jewish family's unpalatable truths

22 Jun 06:00 PM
LISTENER
Instant sachet coffee is a popular choice, but what’s in it?
Health

Instant sachet coffee is a popular choice, but what’s in it?

16 Jun 06:49 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
Former coach points to Warriors’ contact troubles
Sport

Former coach points to Warriors’ contact troubles

23 Jun 06:30 PM
The staggering figure Paris Olympics cost French taxpayers
Olympics

The staggering figure Paris Olympics cost French taxpayers

23 Jun 06:29 PM
'Scary as hell': Council couldn't find way to stop hoarding before weekend inferno
Hawkes Bay Today

'Scary as hell': Council couldn't find way to stop hoarding before weekend inferno

23 Jun 06:00 PM
'Intolerable': Delays for quake-prone fire station rebuild sparks union ire
Bay of Plenty Times

'Intolerable': Delays for quake-prone fire station rebuild sparks union ire

23 Jun 06:00 PM
Why rice is poised to survive better in a warming world
World

Why rice is poised to survive better in a warming world

23 Jun 06:00 PM

Latest from The Listener

LISTENER
Book of the day: All the Perfect Days by Michael Thompson

Book of the day: All the Perfect Days by Michael Thompson

23 Jun 06:00 PM

Novel about a clairvoyant doctor is enjoyably lightweight.

LISTENER
Is Andrew Little the man to save Wellington?

Is Andrew Little the man to save Wellington?

23 Jun 06:00 PM
LISTENER
Aaron Smale: When is it an appropriate time to protest? Why not a music awards ceremony?

Aaron Smale: When is it an appropriate time to protest? Why not a music awards ceremony?

23 Jun 06:00 PM
LISTENER
Stars brighter than the script in Celine Song’s new film

Stars brighter than the script in Celine Song’s new film

23 Jun 06:00 PM
LISTENER
Law & society: A proposed curb on deepfake AI is a necessary step

Law & society: A proposed curb on deepfake AI is a necessary step

22 Jun 06:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Contact NZ Herald
  • Help & support
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
NZ Listener
  • NZ Listener e-edition
  • Contact Listener Editorial
  • Advertising with NZ Listener
  • Manage your Listener subscription
  • Subscribe to NZ Listener digital
  • Subscribe to NZ Listener
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotion and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • NZ Listener
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search