If you like ... New Zealand historical fiction
Annotation:Story of life through a young boy's eyes at the height of the Hokitika Gold rush.
Place a Hold
Annotation:Christchurch writer Coral Atkinson combines meticulous research, strong characters and an evocative setting in this 2005 novel. She has also written historical novel The paua tower.
Annotation:One of a series of historical detective novels featuring Inspector O'Rorke and notable for its depth of research, well-crafted plots and interesting characters.
Annotation:Best-selling author Deborah Challinor moves between Australia and New Zealand in her historical fiction. Here the setting is the New Zealand wars and the plot is one woman's forced choice between the worlds of Maori and Pakeha.
Annotation:In the 1930s and 40s Ginnie and Fag grow up in working-class Christchurch. Their story continues in the sequels The shining city and Mum.
Annotation:In 1849 a young girl hopes to escape her sexually abusive father by following her cousin to New Zealand. Also available as an audiobook.
Annotation:Along with Evenshiels and Never to know, this book forms a trilogy following nineteenth century settlers in Golden Bay.
Annotation:In the lead up to the Second World War an old man looks back to his time in South Africa fighting the Boer War, reflecting on his relationship with his brother and on patriotism versus imperialism.
Annotation:In 1836 an English clergyman falls in love on the four month sea journey to New Zealand. When the ship reaches Sydney a scandal erupts. Winner of the Deutz Medal for Fiction at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2004.
Annotation:Along with its sequels Riversong and Juliette's daughter, one of the best-known sagas of early New Zealand.
Annotation:On the West Coast of the South Island in the 1880s a romance between a half-Chinese woman and a young British man is impossible. Kaye's other novel, A secret mind, is also set on the Coast.
Annotation:Winner of the 1988 New Zealand Book Award for Fiction and based on the true story of Norman McLeod, a Scottish preacher who led a band of immigrants to Nova Scotia and then to Waipu in the Bay of Islands in the nineteenth century. Three generations of women battle a moralistic and hypocritical colonial culture.
Annotation:An amateur taxidermist and collector of tattoos returns to her ancestral home to claim her inheritance and to finish her thesis on Gothic novels.
Annotation:A closer look at Te Rauparaha, one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures in New Zealand history. Along with Pathways of Taranaki this book brings the man and his times to life.
Annotation:The story of the Crawfords began in the dramatised non-fiction book Oatcakes to Otago. Here the family follow their fortunes to the gold fields of Central Otago.
Annotation:Set in the remote and harsh landscape of the Buller coal plateau this novel and its sequel, Heart of coal, are two of New Zealand's best-selling books ever. Accessible and readable historical fiction.
Annotation:The New Zealand Book Council thinks this trilogy is 'perhaps the most important work of historical fiction yet produced by a New Zealand writer'. The stories of Te Kooti, Titokowaru and Hone Heke and their Pakeha sympathisers provide insight into our history.
Annotation:Winner of the 1995 New Zealand Book Award, this story of one family in the New Zealand wars is by one of the giants of New Zealand literature.
Annotation:Canterbury writer Carol Thomas's heroine tries to balance her love for a sea captain with her passionate belief in women's rights during the time of the fight for women's suffrage in Canterbury.
Annotation:In New Zealand's early days men were sent to live here on a remittance. They were usually men with a secret in their past. This is the story of one who ends up in Napier with an earring in his possession - an earring that will buy his freedom.
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Description
These books all give a glimpse into New Zealand's past and how it might have been. A Christchurch City Libraries list.
Genre Guide