Kia ora book lovers, customers and friends
Welcome to 2026 and our first monthly newsletter of the year.
A new year has brought exciting changes to our bookshop layout. Our children's books have been moved into the back part of the giftware area and the smaller, annex space where they were is now home to lifestyle books - cooking gardening, home and interiors - as well as sale books (lots of books being added to our sale shelves each week), jigsaw puzzles and cards & wrap.
We hope you will enjoy the improved space to look at our large selection of children's books - complete with a couch to sit on and a playmat for the kids.
Pop in and check us out.
We will still keep many of our giftware items that work well alongside our books; so do pop in and let us help you find the perfect gift and wrap it beautifully for you.
We proudly supported Kiwi Christmas Books again this year, with an amazing total of 190 new children's books going to our local charities - Women's Refuge and Butterfly Compassion Community. The latter charity connected with us via the Kiwi Christmas Books founder and author Sonia Wilson. (The Ōtaki Foodbank wasn't in need of new books this year as they still had some left to distribute from last year's generous collection.) Both charities were extremely grateful for the books, which they have been able to distribute to children and families. Thank you so much to all who donated books. We, and Kiwi Christmas Books, really appreciate your annual support.
Coming up:
We are co-hosting a special 'travel and books' event with Vanessa of Travelust on Wednesday 18 February. [See flier below.]
With the Ōtaki Kite Festival not far away, there's some info about a kite-making workshop with kite-maker and textile artist Yvonne de Mille - also in February. [See flier at end of newsletter.]
Read on for all the news.
We hope to see you soon in person or online.
Thanks for supporting our independent bookshop!
from the team at Books & Co
Our highway neighbour, Vanessa of Travelust, will co-host an Iconic Train Journeys evening event with us next month - focusing on
train journeys of Australia.
Wednesday 18 February, 5.30 -7.30pm.
If you're interested in travel, and would like to join us, please let us know. Refreshments will be available with time to browse in the bookshop as well.
Please RSVP to 021 745 903, or vanessa.kirkman@traveladvocates.co.nz
WOMEN'S PRIZE for Non-Fiction 2026
The longlist for this award is to be announced 11 February (and shortlist 25 March).
This will be only the third Non-Fiction prize awarded by the Women's Prize. The inaugural winner was Naomi Klein with Doppelganger (2024) followed by Rachel Clarke's The Story of a Heart in 2025.
"The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction is an annual book prize that celebrates exceptional narrative non-fiction by women. The Prize promotes excellence in writing, robust research, original narrative voices and accessibility, showcasing women’s expertise across a range of fields.
The Prize is awarded annually and is open to all women writers from across the globe who are published in the UK and writing in English. The winner receives a cheque for £30,000 and a limited-edition artwork known as the ‘Charlotte’, both gifted by the Charlotte Aitken Trust." - womensprize.com
The WOMEN'S PRIZE for Fiction is a few months later with the longlist and shortlist being announced 22 April and 11 June. respectively.
Recommended reads
The Land in Winter, by Andrew Miller (Sceptre/Hodder & Stoughton, 2024)
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2025; Winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2025; and Winner of the Winston Graham Historical Prize 2025.
Andrew Miller's novel spans only the few months of the UK's Big Freeze of 1963, within which short time two West Country couples' relationships unravel. The rural landscape, the remnants of WWII and the rigid class system all form the background to the four characters' altered paths.
I'd not read any Andrew Miller before now and I highly recommend this as great place to start!
Tracey
Helm, by Sarah Hall (Faber & Faber, December 2025)
One of my all-time favourite authors, Sarah Hall has stunned me again with multiple narratives around the UK's only named wind in Helm. Spanning centuries, Sarah's characters interact with The Helm Wind of Cumbria in myriad ways: the neolithic tribal leader and her clan revere Helm; the self-important Victorian gent wants to measure Helm with coloured 'mist'; the contemporary scientist uses Helm as an excuse to avoid people.
As always, Sarah's writing is exquisite.
Unfortunately we, as a small-orders bookshop, missed out on the first shipment of Helm out of Australia and we expect our order later this month. Pop your name down for a copy.
Tracey
A beautiful new children's book following the mythology of witches, from their creation, origins, and legends, to modern ideas of witches. This book is full of the most beautiful illustrations, ones that bring the words on the page to life. The story and art together create a world bursting with mysterious women and men, fantastical ideas, and easily understood history, making each page a new and old world to explore. I couldn't decide what I loved more, the stories or the art.
Cara
A Short Road to Longbrook by Bethan Roberts (Penguin Random House, March 2026)
This novel deals with mothers and daughters, mental health issues, secrets and half-truths, things we pass on and paths we choose to follow. It is set in two time periods - the 19602s and 2005. Lilian, is the daughter of WInnie and the mother of Rachel. Through their different eyes, we see how women struggling with anxiety and depressions could be treated, including time in an asylum, the Longbrook in the title. Despite the often serious themes, the novel is gentle and poignant.
Jacqui
Elsewhere by Gabriel Zevin, (Bloomsbury, May 2024)
The book follows Liz, a teenage girl who dies in an accident and wakes up in Elsewhere, a place where the dead age backward until they are reborn. Initially, she fights her situation, not wanting to move on and accept things. Gradually she learns that life (and the afterlife) is messy and full of poignant and wonderful moments and that if she lets herself, she can find family and love. (stock due in 4 weeks)
One of Time Magazine's 100 Best YA Books of all time.
Jacqui
Dusk by Robbie Arnott, (PanMacmillan, Oct 2024)
If you enjoy gorgeous lyrical visual language; historical fiction, character driven narrative, richly drawn imagery, this is a lovely and haunting read. The main characters are twins, surviving on the edge in Tasmania in the 1800s. They learn of a bounty for the capture of Dusk, a puma on the loose in the wild. Their journey forces them to make life and death choices. This novel won several prizes in Australia including the Indie Book Awards Book of the Year for Fiction in 2025.
Jacqui
A Guardian and A Thief, by Megha Majumdar , (Simon and Shuster, Oct 2025)
Speculative near future fiction where climate change has impacted many, set in India, when floods have driven people to the cities; where food is scarce and the escape route option of a visa for America becomes increasingly out of reach. Each of the main two characters strives to save themselves and their families. Set over a week, the lives of these characters become intertwined and tragically, not all will survive. Frighteningly real, emotional and gripping, masterful and unsettling writing. Shortlisted for the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction in the USA.
Jacqui
The First Law of the Bush, Geoff Parkes, (Penguin Random House, Jan 2026)
The sequel to When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows you Whole, this Kiwi crime novel is set in the 1990s, in the fictitious town of Nashville somewhere north of Whanganui and not too far from Lake Taupo. A man dies falling from the viaduct. Did he jump or was he pushed? Each chapter alternates between the different voices: the young ambitious policeman, the detective with something to hide, the dodgy baker, local drug runner, the wife of the dead man fighting for justice, and the lawyer on her case. Deftly written with recognisable Kiwi touches and flavour, the novel is an enjoyable read, with touches of humour, hidden secrets and building tensions in the town.
Jacqui
On the Ashes, by Gideon Haigh (Allen and Unwin, Nov 2025) and Ten Out, by Ian Brayshaw (Hardie Grant, Oct 2025)
The welcome arrival of warmer, sunnier days means the onset of a new cricket season and the timely arrival of some new cricket books. Notably among them is an updated version of On the Ashes. Its author, Gideon Haigh, is, to my mind, the doyen of contemporary cricket writers, combining shrewd and fearless views on the game with an original and entertaining style of writing.
The game is also notorious for producing all sorts of oddities and quirks arising from its leisurely pace and unusual nature. This is reflected in Ten Out, Ian Brayshaw’s study of those bowlers who have taken all ten wickets in an innings in first class cricket, including Test matches. Statistically, this feat has been achieved just 91 times in more than 62,000 matches or once in every 2,222 innings. Given that English county cricket for many years comprised most of the first class matches played, it’s not surprising that the bulk of ten-fors occurred in that competition. In recent years, the incidence has spread but not to Test matches where only three have occurred – one by our own Ajaz Patel, 10-119 v India at Mumbai, 2021. An easy and frequently amusing narrative.
Guest reviewer: John C
Text