June Highlights 2010

The Caribbean islands are blessed with Atlantic breezes almost all year round, so it's no surprise that sailors flock to enjoy the perfect blend of turquoise seas, swaying palms, white sand beaches, lilting rhythms, blue skies, exotic fish and glorious sunsets - not to mention the rum cocktails. Experienced cruisers Ian and Andrea Treleaven spent two seasons visiting the Greater and Lesser Antilles and sampling the cuisine, night life, scenic attractions and excellent sailing on offer; this journal of their voyages will entice us all to follow in their wake. In Letters from the Caribbean, Andrea describes the highlights and adventures of their trips, and offers nearly ... read more

Living at home with her mother, aunt, and grandmother, Evelyn is still haunted by the death of her younger brother James in the First World War. She is also determined to make a career for herself as one of the first female lawyers. So when the doorbell rings late one night and a woman appears, claiming to have mothered James's child, her world is turned upside down. Evelyn distrusts Meredith at first, but also finds that this new arrival challenges her work-obsessed lifestyle. So far her legal career has not set the world alight. But then two cases arise that make Evelyn realise perhaps she can make a difference. The first concerns a woman called Leah Marchant whose c... read more

The late baby boomers are starting to reflect on ways to grow old well, and these 30 affecting pieces by prominent New Zealanders over the age of 65 serve as extremely strong pieces of autobiography, as inspiration and as meditation. No zimmerframes and retirement homes for this lot. The contributors, who include Elizabeth McRae, Wilson Whineray, Ranginui Walker, Brian Edwards, Merimeri Penfold, Hamish Keith, Elizabeth Smither, Sir Paul Reeves, Barry Brickell, Vincent O'Sullivan and Michel Corballis, continue to make a vital contribution to our nation. Editor Gordon McLauchlan encouraged them to be frank and self revealing. Their essays read like letters for their even... read more

Welcome to the troubled, tempestuous world of Frank Lloyd Wright. Scandalous affairs rage behind closed doors, broken hearts are tossed aside, fires rip through the wings of the house and paparazzi lie in wait outside the front door for the latest tragedy in this never-ending saga. This is the home of the great architect of the twentieth century, a man of extremes in both his work and his private life: at once a force of nature and an avalanche of need and emotion that sweeps aside everything in its path. Sharp, savage and subtle in equal measure, "The Women" plumbs the chaos, horrors and uncontainable passions of a formidable American icon. First published 2009.

In the wake of a devastating fire in the mountains of North Carolina, Highlander Jamie Fraser and his English wife find themselves homeless and without family, in the midst of the gathering storm of revolution. And thanks to his time-travelling wife's information, he knows what the coming spring of 1778 will bring. But then Jamie's illegitimate son, William, arrives in North Carolina, a young officer in King George's army. Jamie has sworn two things to himself: his son will never know his true paternity - and he himself will never face his son across the barrel of a gun. Between the mountains of North Carolina and those of the Scottish highlands lie blockades and battl... read more

An epic drama of adventure, courage, ruthlessness and passion by one of Scandinavias most acclaimed storytellers.

In 1848 a motley crew of Danish sailors sets sail from the small island town of Marstal to fight the Germans. Not all of them return and those who do will never be the same again. Among them is the daredevil Laurids Madsen, who promptly escapes again into the anonymity of the high seas.

As soon as he is old enough, his son Albert sets off in search of his missing father on a voyage that will take him to the furthest reaches of the globe and into the clutches of the most nefarious company. Bearing a mysterious shrunken head, and plagued by pre... read more

Simon Serrailler has just wrapped up a particularly exhausting and difficult case for SIFT- Special Incident Flying Taskforce - and is on a sabbatical on a far flung Scottish island when he is called back by the Chief Constable before his leave is due to end. Two local prostitutes have gone missing and are subsequently found strangled. By the time he gets back, another girl has disappeared. Is this a vendetta against prostitutes by someone with a warped mind ? Or a series of killings by an angry punter?
But then the wife of the new Dean of St Michael’s Cathedral goes missing, followed by another respectable young married woman, on her way to the early shift at work... read more

Maxwell Sim seems to have hit rock bottom. Estranged from his father, newly divorced, unable to communicate with his only daughter, he realizes that while he may have seventy-four friends on Facebook, there is nobody in the world with whom he can actually share his problems. Then a business proposition comes his way - a strange exercise in corporate PR that will require him to spend a week driving from London to a remote retail outlet on the Shetland Isles. Setting out with an open mind, good intentions and a friendly voice on his SatNav for company, Maxwell finds that this journey soon takes a more serious turn, and carries him not only to the furthest point of the Un... read more

Natalie's pick...

(Fiction)

Set in Birmingham, The News Where You Are tells the funny, touching story of Frank, a local TV news presenter. Beneath his awkwardly corny screen persona, Frank is haunted by disappearances the mysterious hit and run that killed his predecessor Phil Smethway; the demolition of his father's post-war brutalist architecture; and the unmarked passing of those who die alone in the city. Frank struggles to make sense of these absences while having to report endless local news stories of holes opening up in people's gardens and trying to cope with his resolutely miserable mother. The result is that rare th... read more

Japan, 1868: the last shogun has been defeated, the age of the emperors is about to begin