Sooley

by John Grisham

Seventeen year old Samuel Sooleyman comes from a village in South Sudan, a war-torn country where one third of the population are refugees. Samuel's great love is basketball, and he is an exceptional player; he has been noticed by a coach taking a youth team to the United States. 

If he gets through the tournament, Samuel’s life will change beyond recognition; but it’s the longest of long shots. His talent is raw and uncoached and there are hundreds of better-known players ahead of him. As American success beckons devastating news reaches Samuel from home. Caught between his dream and the nightmare unfolding thousands of miles away, Sooley must make hard choices about his future. This quiet, dedicated boy must do what no other player has achieved in the history of the game: become a legend in 12 short months.

The Missing Sister

by Lucinda Riley 

The six D’Apliese sisters have each been on their own incredible journey to discover their heritage, but they still have one question left unanswered: who and where is the seventh sister? 
They only have one clue – an image of a star-shaped emerald ring. The search to find the missing sister will take them across the globe – from New Zealand to Canada, England, France and Ireland – uniting them all in their mission to complete their family at last. 
In doing so they will slowly unearth a story of love, strength and sacrifice that began almost one hundred years ago, when other young women risked everything to change the world around them. 
The Missing Sister is the seventh instalment in Lucinda Riley’s epic series: The Seven Sisters. 
Available now from Malcolm’s Takenote Mairangi Bay.

Flit the Fantail and the Matariki Map

by Kat Quin 

Flit, the little piwakawaka has lost his way home on a nighttime adventure. Along with Keri, his kiwi friend, he was trying to catch the moon, but it has all gone wrong. Will the friends find their way home again? Will the Matariki stars lead the way? This is a delightful story which is also available in a te reo Māori edition.

Still

by Matt Nable 

This is an evocative, page-turning thriller, for fans of “The Dry “ and “Scrublands “.  Set in Darwin in 1963, the place and time period are captured perfectly by Nable. Darwin is an unforgiving town, with a harsh landscape and climate, and deep racial discord. 

When Senior Constable Ned Potter finds a body in shallow marshland he doesn’t realise it will be the first of several murders; and that the senior politicians and police officers are obviously covering something up. 

Charlotte Clark is a 23 year old housewife, married to a cowboy who isn’t who she though he was. The days ahead feel suffocating, living in a town where she is supposed to keep herself nice and wait for her husband to come home from the pub. One day a chance encounter with a brutally beaten man changes her life. 

Both Charlotte and Ned will learn that the world they live in is full of secrets and that it takes courage to fight for what is right . But there are people who will do anything to protect themselves and sometimes courage is not enough to keep you, or those you love, safe.

Two Shakes of a Lamb’s Tail The Diary of a Country Vet

by Danielle Hawkins 

Danielle Hawkins is the author of several best-selling novels and this is highly entertaining diary of a year in her life as a New Zealand farm vet. 

With a husband and two children, 1200 sheep and 400 cattle, farm dogs, and pet lambs, pigs and goats, country life is never dull. From calving cows to constipated dogs, weddings to weaning lambs, daffodils to ducklings to drought, each season brings new challenges and delights. Sometimes it’s exhausting but it’s almost always a lot of fun. 

This is an entertaining and interesting read, filled with humour and often surprising details of life as a country vet.