Great new reads to please even the pickiest of bookworms.
THE FRAUD
Zadie Smith | Penguin, $37
The Fraud is acclaimed novelist Zadie Smith’s (White Teeth) first foray into historical fiction (based on wonderfully reimagined real events), with a handful of compelling characters (such as Mrs Eliza Touchet, a seemingly unassuming housekeeper for renowned novelist William Harrison Ainsworth), and set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England. Cleverly written and beautifully researched, Smith’s tale travels from Scotland to England to Jamaica.
THE DRESSMAKER & THE HIDDEN SOLDIER
Doug Gold | Allen & Unwin, $38
From well-known Wellington-based media figure Doug Gold comes The Dressmaker & the Hidden Soldier. Based on the extraordinary true story of New Zealand soldier Peter Blunden, young Greek dressmaker Thalia Christidou and resistance heroine Tasoula Paschilidou, it’s an epic love story that unfolds in a country under Hitler’s oppressive regime.
THE SEVENTH SON
Sebastian Faulks | Penguin, $37
When young American academic Talissa Adam offers to carry another woman’s child, she has no idea of the life-changing consequences. Behind the doors of the Parn Institute, a billionaire entrepreneur plans to stretch the boundaries of ethics as never before. Through a series of IVF treatments, which they hope to keep secret, they propose an experiment that will upend the human race as we know it. A captivating new novel from the worldwide bestseller.
THE MODERN
Anna Kate Blair | Simon & Schuster, $38
The debut novel from Melbourne-based Kiwi writer Anna Kate Blair, The Modern tells the story of Australian Sophia, who has moved to the Big Apple and appears to be living the dream – in a great apartment, working at the iconic Museum of Modern Art, and newly engaged to the perfect man. But things take a different direction when she falls for someone unexpected. A brilliantly wry and insightful first novel about art, sexuality, commitment and whether being on the right path can lead to the wrong place.