New Zealand Historical Fiction - Christchurch City LibrariesLike this list

18 items

• 1985

  a Novel

  Hoey, Dominic, 1977-

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  1985 starts with a bang - literally - as the Rainbow Warrior is blown up and there's a dead body out front of Obi's family home. The struggle of a dysfunctional working-class family amidst the chaos of Auckland is told in Hoey's signature vivid,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Space Between

  Keenan, Lauren

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  This novel is set just prior to the outbreak of the First Taranaki War, when tensions between the iwi who had been ousted from their home and the new settlers were at their peak. The story revolves around the relationships between Henry White and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Seasonwife

  a Novel

  England, Saige

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  Saige England's first novel is a fictionalised account of the colonisation of early Aotearoa: a wild place, prey to lawless men who exploited everyone and everything: flora, fauna, Māori, European women and children. There's heartbreaking content in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The War Photographers

  Beaumont, S. L. (Sheryl Louise), 1970-

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  This captivating read focuses on two strong women in the midst of two differing historical events; World War II and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mae is part of the code-breaking team at Bletchley Park in 1943, where she is enlisted to expose a spy…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Better Place

  Daisley, Stephen, 1955-

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  Shortlisted for the Jann Medlicott Award for New Zealand Fiction in 2024, A Better Place is the harrowing story of the separation, during World War Two, of two brothers from an isolated farm in North Taranaki. Strongly characterised, it's full of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Imaginary Lives of James Pōneke

  a Novel

  Makereti, Tina, 1973-

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  James Pōneke's young life is full of loss - orphaned from an early age; he struggles to find a sense of belonging and identity. His journey takes him to Victorian-era London and an unlikely "found family" of other outsiders, misfits, and outcasts.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Flight of a Maori Goddess

  Lark, Sarah, pseud., 1958-

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  The third book in the Sea of Freedom saga is set in the beginning of twentieth century Aotearoa. A descendent of Matariki Drury, who fought for women's suffrage in book two, Atamarie Turei, with an obsession for early flight, is the first woman to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Luminaries

  Catton, Eleanor, 1985-

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  Winner of the Man Booker Prize in 2013, The Luminaries is a deftly crafted historical mystery set in Hokitika, New Zealand. With a vividly imagined setting, and sophisticated use of language, the experience of living in the period and place is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Parihaka Woman

  Ihimaera, Witi, 1944-

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  This is a deeply moving story of a woman, Erenora, fighting to protect those she loves. Set against the backdrop of the Parihaka protests when the peaceful Taranaki settlement was fighting against land confiscation and war. An inspiring and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Hokitika Town

  Randall, Charlotte

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  Hokitika tells the story of life at the height of the Hokitika Gold Rush through a young boy's eyes. Halfie is a coin-boy, naïve yet street-smart, running around doing odd jobs for anyone and everyone. The riotous environment of the gold-rush era…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Wulf

  Clayton, Hamish, 1977-

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  Compelling and inventive, this evocative novel reads like an epic poem. Set in the early nineteenth century, ‘Wulf’, is the story of the Ngāti Toa rangatira Te Rauparaha and an English trader John Stewart as they make their way through a train of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Tu

  Grace, Patricia, 1937-

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  By beloved author Patricia Grace (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Te Āti Awa), Tu is the story of the title character - named after the Maori god of war, Tūmatauenga. Tu is the only brother in his whanau to return from fighting in Italy for the Māori…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Denniston Rose

  Pattrick, Jenny, 1936-

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  A story of survival set in the 1880s in the remote and harsh landscape of Denniston, a mining town on the West Coast. A misfit community battles isolation, hardship and hostilities in this touching read. ‘The Denniston Rose’ and its sequel ‘Heart…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Tamar

  Challinor, Deborah, 1959-

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  Deborah Challinor is one of our bestselling writers of New Zealand historical fiction. Orphaned 17-year-old Tamar leaves her small Cornish village to come to New Zealand. On the long journey out she starts an unlikely friendship with a brothel…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Singing Whakapapa

  Stead, C. K. (Christian Karlson), 1932-

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  A sprawling and darkly intriguing detective novel full of avarice, betrayal, and murder. Winner of the 1995 New Zealand Book Awards, this story follows one family during the New Zealand Wars, and is a canonical novel of New Zealand historical…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Oracles & Miracles

  a Novel

  Eldred-Grigg, Stevan, 1952-

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  Oracles & Miracles will take you straight back to working-class Christchurch in the 1930s and 40s. This touching story follows the lives of Ginnie and Fag, twin sisters growing up in a provincial city and trying to turn their poverty-stricken lives…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Book of Secrets

  Kidman, Fiona, 1940-

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  Winner of the 1988 New Zealand Book Award for Fiction, The Book of Secrets is 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. A charismatic and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Man Alone

  Mulgan, John, 1911-1945

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  Man Alone is the proverbial Kiwi classic of man-goes-bush, published in 1939. Johnson is a war veteran seeking his fortunes in New Zealand. The story chronicles first the depression-era riots in Auckland, then, after an unfortunate incident with a…Read moreRead more of this annotation