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Chilled to the core
Rosamund Lupton’s new novel explores a deaf child’s world in a thriller about a desperate struggle to find a missing husband in an icy wilderness, she tells Stephen Jewell.

Curious case of Harper Lee
This week To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee breaks her 55-year silence. But who is really behind her new book? Gaby Wood reports.

Cardboard Cathedral win NZ book design prize
The big winner at the PANZ Book Design Awards 2015 was Cardboard Cathedral by Andrew Barrie which won the best illustrated and best typography categories of the awards for designer Janson Chau and publisher Auckland University Press.

New Harper Lee novel in stores
One of the most anticipated books in the past decade will be released in New Zealand and around the world today.

Middletons in royal baby books
They've dined with the Queen at Windsor Castle, now the Middletons have had their almost-royal credentials boosted even further.

To Kill a Mockingbird hero a racist
Shock for fans of beloved classic as author Harper Lee turns Atticus Finch, the champion of racial justice, into a bigot for sequel.

Thriller's sinister assault on teenager
Lisa Jewell’s latest book is a thriller about a sinister assault on a teenager. She talks to Stephen Jewell.

Coming-of-age journey captivates
It’s 1978 and the inhabitants of Gaialands, an idealist vegan commune in the Coromandel, are living the sustainable dream.

Revisiting a noir wasteland
There’s a neat conceit, albeit an unlikely one, to Joseph Kanon’s new thriller, Leaving Berlin.

Turning the heat on the Cold War
Marian remains a compelling heroine, whose many contradictions are all believable — even if, to the long list of men who are smitten by her, we can confidently add the name of Simon Mawer.

What is your favourite NZ novel?
After a 12-month hiatus, the country's premier book awards will return in 2016 with a new structure and an annual fiction prize of $50,000. Do you have a favourite novel by a New Zealand writer?

Could Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell be the new Game of Thrones?
New BBC period drama Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell blurs history and magic, explain the cast and creators.

NME magazine is going to be a free giveaway
Long-running British music magazine NME is going to be made available for free later this year in a bid to stem its falling readership.

NZ Book Awards return with major fiction prize
After a 12-month hiatus, the country's premier book awards will return in 2016 with a new structure, a new judging process and an annual fiction prize of $50,000.

Irish author's anorexia relapse book leads new wave of young adult fiction
With her positive messages and dark themes, Louise O’Neill is leading a new wave of young adult fiction that appeals to anxious parents too. ‘We need to be open and honest,’ she tells Sarah Hughes.

Engineer's thriller questions real-life
Engineer Paul Hardisty, a veteran of working in developing nations, has set his first thriller in Yemen. It’s a novel which raises plenty of questions about real-life, he tells Craig Sisterson.

Stephen King's new moving novel
Almost 30 years later, Morris Bellamy, the pasty-skinned, red-lipped villain of King's new novel, Finders Keepers, takes a less nuanced approach when confronting his own literary hero.

'Ungrateful hua' comments cleared
Sean Plunket's comments describing Eleanor Catton as an "ungrateful hua" and a "traitor" were not in breach of broadcasting standards.

Books: Recent releases June 28
There is a real purity to Patricia Grace's fiction. She may be New Zealand literary royalty but her writing is not about showing off her finery.

New Zealand's most private author
Author Charlotte Grimshaw talks to Linda Herrick about the strangely familiar characters in her new novel, growing up with her famous father, C.K. Stead, and how a dog named Philip has changed her.

How Lance O'Sullivan turned his life around
Dr Lance O’Sullivan has made it his dream to change the world from the Far North. But, as Greg Dixon discovers, first he had to change himself.

Stephanie Johnson on how to make merry mischief
A couple of years ago, Stephanie Johnson wrote a highly entertaining novel about a writing class at an Auckland tertiary institution.

Stan Lee: Spider-Man should be straight and white
At a time when the debate over race and racism is raging in the real world, it is perhaps no shock that the same discussion is also swirling in the alternate universe of comics.

What we learn from the Fifty Shades spin-off
Grey is nearly identical to Fifty Shades of Grey. The only difference is that the narrator - Christian instead of Anastasia - uses naughty words instead of heartland interjections like, "Holy cow!"