1. (1) Tasty by Chelsea Winter (Allen & Unwin)
There must have been plenty of versions of Chelsea Winter’s Noodle Peanut Stir-Fry and Aloo Palak whipped up over the break. The MasterChef NZ winner’s latest cookbook, chock-full of plant-rich comfort food as it is, has held tight to the top of the bestsellers’ charts. It’s been four years since the mega-selling Supergood. As she told the Listener: “Tasty is a plant-based book, but it’s not staunchly plant-based. I’ve designed it to be flexible. If someone wants to use a recipe as fully plant-based – great. If they want to sub in a bit of cheese and cream – perfect. If they want to serve it alongside a cut of meat, or chuck some chicken or fish in one of the curries – perfect. It’s for every kind of eater.” She replaced refined sugar in recipes with the likes of coconut sugar after seeing the effects on her children. “Man, my children don’t need any more energy.” For recipes from Tasty, go here.
2. (2) More Salad by Margo Flanagan & Rosa Power (A&U)
The latest cookbook from sisters Margo Flanagan and Rosa Power, which promises more of the same tasty-looking food that delivered them previous bestsellers. Neither are vegetarian or vegan, they just encourage moderation in all things. Recipes go from raw to pan to oven, as well as desserts. Included are swappable ingredients, tips and timesavers, and pairing suggestions. You’ll find recipes from the book here.
3. (4) The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone by Gareth Ward & Louise Ward (Penguin)
“When we opened Sherlock Tomes people warned us that we’d made a terrible mistake. People warned us that e-readers were taking over. People warned us that we’d never compete with Amazon. The one thing they didn’t warn us about was the murders.”
And so begins this first joint novel from actual Hawke’s Bay booksellers Gareth and Louise Ward, a cosy murder-mystery that promises bookshop insider titbits and literary puns galore. The plot has Garth and Eloise, with their dog Stevie “are drawn into the baffling case of a decades-old missing schoolgirl. Intrigued by the puzzling, bookish clues, the two ex-cops [who tell the story in alternate chapters], are soon tangled in a web of crime, drugs and floral decapitations, while endeavouring to pull off the international celebrity book launch of the century.”
A follow-up is out later this year. Learn how Gareth and Louise Ward’s previous careers as UK police officers helped them write The Bookshop Detectives.
4. (3) The Songbirds of Florence by Olivia Spooner (Moa Press)
The new book from the bestselling Kiwi author of The Girl from London is a rewarding read, said the Listener: “In her second novel Olivia Spooner shines a light on a little-known group of Kiwi women, known as the Tuis, who were sent first to Egypt and then on to Italy during World War II. The women were sent in support of the New Zealand Second Division, headed by Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg. The Tuis were the brainchild of his wife, Lady Barbara Freyberg, and part of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. In June 1942 the Tuis arrived in Cairo, when the Germans were winning the war in North Africa, played out in harsh desert conditions. The Tuis worked in the NZ Army clubs, often requisitioned hotels, where soldiers came for R&R during their breaks from fighting … As the story starts in Cairo, we’re quickly invested in the main characters. There’s Margot, a grief-stricken young widow from Masterton whose husband died in Crete. Bookish and quiet, she’s happiest working in the library at the club, talking with soldiers seeking a refuge. Addy, her roommate, is a beautiful livewire, delighted to have broken away from her conservative Auckland family and making the most of every new experience … The reality of a long cruel war far from home is well portrayed by Spooner. Her characters are richly developed and real, her descriptions of the locations, from Cairo to Bari, Rome and Florence, well drawn.”
5. (5) Kāwai: Tree of Nourishment by Monty Soutar (David Bateman)
As the Listener’s review notes (you can read it here), Monty Soutar picks up the narrative where Kāwai: For Such a Time as This left off. “The advent of muskets placed the power of fire and death into the hands of any iwi with the cunning, the connections and the economic capacity to possess them. In so doing, the musket undermined the foundations of Māori society, including the mana of the tohunga, upending their command of magic and their bond with the spirit world through its blind disregard for the sacred pageantry of war, death and the interweaving of these things with all that is tapu. This in turn paved the way for European missionaries to bring stories of a different god, a new perspective on faith and the sanctity of life, and irrevocable change. Soutar uses this narrative to explore the power of words, both the writings of men who claimed to be holy and the fractious ink of te tiriti, whose intentions remain contested to this day.”
6. (7) The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (A&U)
It’s now more than 80 years since D-Day. Pippa Latour, who died in West Auckland late in 2023 aged 102, helped lay the groundwork for the operation’s success and the end of the war by acting as a secret agent in France for Britain during WWII.
“I was not a James Bond-style spy,” said Latour. “I was a secret agent whose job it was to blend into the background and cause quiet chaos.” It was exhausting work; she was unable to trust anyone, had several code names, and was often hungry. It was desperately perilous, too. Many of the 13,000 SOEs were killed, including 14 women out of 39 in France. The average life expectancy of male wireless operators in France when she served was six weeks. Latour’s was a truly remarkable life all around, and The Last Secret Agent, co-written with Jude Dobson, is a clear and fluent account. Read the review here.
7. (6) Kataraina by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press)
As the Listener’s recent interview with Manawatu notes, a swamp, or kūkūwai, runs under and through Kataraina. “It is a shifting, changing body of water – an expansive wetland, a drained and lifeless bog, a deep lagoon. Like poet Seamus Heaney’s Irish bogs preserving Iron Age bodies in places where “there is no reflection”, it is a repository for memories of ancestral violence and retribution. As Aunty Moira says in the book, “That kūkūwai is all roimata. Tears.”
“Kataraina takes up the story of Kataraina Te Au, Aunty Kat. In Auē, she is a partially drawn character, seen through the eyes of the nephew she looks after, young Ārama, and feisty Beth. They see her spark, her love, her defensiveness, but also her bruises, meted out by Stuart Johnson, Uncle Stu, and never talked about. Never discussed.” You can read the full interview with Becky Manawatu here.
8. (10) Atua Wāhine by Hana Tapiata (HarperCollins)
Writer Hana Tapiata (Te Arawa, Ngāti Awa, Ngati Porou, Waikato, Pākehā) is a mother and writer who lives by Māori philosophies “to explore wellness, self-determination and liberation”.
From the publisher: “Atua wāhine are the Māori goddesses who make up the world around us: earth, fire, water, the moon and more. From the earth mother, Papatuanuku, who sustains and nurtures us to the goddess of peace, Hinepūtehue, who transformed pain into beauty, and the misunderstood goddess of the underworld, Hine-nui-te-pō, who created purpose and enlightenment from betrayal – this book is a treasure of knowledge and insight.
“Drawing on whakataukī (proverbs) and pūrākau (traditional stories), discover how the wisdom of 17 atua wāhine can help us live with courage and confidence in the modern world. With guided steps, these atua will inspire you to foster creativity, acknowledge cycles of change, and embrace self-determination.”
9. (RETURN) This is the F#$%ing News by Patrick Gower (A&U)
TV journalist Paddy Gower’s account of his life promises to be “funny, brutally honest and packed with incredible yarns”. One reviewer said the (ghostwritten) memoir was a “diverting, sometimes affecting narrative. He comes across more like a journo from a gritty thriller: a bit battered, more than a bit addicted, basically decent and always determined.” Another says Gower’s life is full of surface yarns … you never find out in This is the F#$%ing News who Gower really is or what his life is like but the March 15 chapter is more important than that. It’s journalism, powerfully and vividly presented, told by a master storyteller.”
From the publisher: “Paddy Gower has never been afraid to stand up for what he believes in. From his teenage and university years, where he learnt to defend himself from cruel bullying about his looks, to the pressure-cooker years he spent in the press gallery holding politicians to account, to advocating for the families of the Christchurch terrorist attacks and for sufferers of cystic fibrosis, he has scrapped and fought for the truth and justice for others. This unrelenting drive has come at a cost: a serious alcohol addiction, anger issues at times, and bouts of anxiety and depression. Ironically, it was through his own work – a documentary about the outsized role that alcohol plays in many Kiwis’ lives – that Paddy’s wake-up moment came. It led him to quit the booze for good; a decision he has never regretted despite the knockbacks that kept coming, including the shock of the decision to close down the entire Newshub operation.”
10. (RETURN) Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Books)
A brief, easily digestible guide to the basics of the Treaty of Waitangi written by a human rights lawyer and educator.
(Source: Nielsen Bookscan NZ – week ending January 18.
