This page lists and summarises novels and novella for adults in all genres (excluding fantasy). Listed books have been published by Top of the South writers and are available for purchase.

To find out where to buy the book and learn more about the author, click on the author's name. 
Cross the River To Home
Kaye Kelly (2011) 
​In a small West Coast in the 1870s, family ties, racial prejudice and the local community conspire against the futures of a half-Chinese woman and a young immigrant from Britain . . .
A Fragile Strength
Patricia Berwick (2020)
A young girl grows up in Taranaki in the 1860s to 1880s. At once both Māori and Pakeha and yet a misfit in both societies, she witnesses the changes that are being wrought on her world and the multifarious players involved: the  outspoken parliamentarians, the land buyers and farmers, and the misguided settlers who thought they'd bought land through the New Zealand Company in London.​
Aqua Bay
Casey Fae Hewson (2017)
Nerissa Taylor’s heart lies in the spectacularly beautiful Aqua Bay. As an eco-tour guide she proudly showcases the pristine bay and dolphins she loves to the many tourists who visit the area. All that is about to end as she prepares to move to the city and marry her fiancé, Scott. But Nerissa soon faces unresolved issue from her past, and is forced to question exactly what she wants in life. 
A Secret Mind
Kaye Kelly (2012)
After an accident at four years old, Libby Budd has difficulty speaking, and in the face of  unsympathetic parents something like madness follows. A moving story that vividly recreates the rural world in 1880s New Zealand: the harsh lives; the attitudes to madness and drunkenness; and the strength of friendship and love.
Auralye on a Harp
W F Stubbs
When Auralye, a talented young trumpet student, enters his class, Patrick finds himself captivated not just by the music, but by Auralye herself. But can he allow himself to fall for a student and jeopardise his career? Will he allow himself to betray his role as a caregiver just to allow the dream to come true? And can Patrick dare to imagine Auralye has the same feelings for him? 
Awhina's People
Suzanne Clark (2011)
Āwhina does her best to protect and nurture her family but her people are being swept up in a deadly cycle of insult and revenge. Tight bonds of kinship and the power of the ancestors are called on, as all stand together to defend their hilltop fortress. But will courage and stockade walls be enough against an enemy wise in the arts of warfare and well versed in treachery?
Big End
Paul Maunder (2019)​
Big End is a coming of age novel set in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. A young man reassembles the engine of his Ford 10 prior to leaving for the city. His girl friend arrives to tell him of the crisis, which unfolds on the radio as they explore the end of their relationship, make love and interact with his nervous mother, his red neck father and his brother who is marrying a Māori woman.
Blitz
Sue Perkins (2022)
Tall, dark, and handsome, Jack sweeps Velma off her feet and asks her to marry him. Her sisters disapprove, but Velma accepts. The Great War looms on the horizon and Jack must go to face the enemy, leaving Velma devastated. Will their love survive this separation – or will their parting be forever?
By the Tracks We Leave
David Briggs (2016)
When he finds a body in the New Zealand hills, Rogan Fielding tries to make sense of the man's life. Yet as he does so, he uncovers two contrasting versions of the man: local hero, and international villain. Which is the truth - and can Rogan risk revealing it, without destroying his own hopes of happiness?
Caging Skies
Christine Leunens (2019)
​An avid member of the Hitler Youth in 1940s Vienna, Johannes Betzler discovers his parents are hiding a Jewish girl named Elsa in their home. His initial horror turns to interest—then love and obsession, and when his parents disappear, Johannes is the only one aware of Elsa’s existence and he alone is responsible for her fate. 
Conscience Money
Wix Hutton (2013)
Cassidy StPaul will find your missing money - but there's no accounting for murder. And Cassidy is back, dealing with everything from earthquakes to embezzlement.
Cross the River to Home
Kaye Kelly (2011)
In 1870s New Zealand as Henry searches for his sister, he falls in love with Mai, a half-Chinese woman who has brought her grandfather to New Zealand for eye surgery.  With family ties, racial prejudice and the local community conspiring against them, Mai and Henry's love seems doomed. But perhaps Mai's grandfather is not the only one destined to see more clearly . . . 
Dead Money
Wix Hutton (2012)
Friday morning: Cassidy StPaul battles out-of-town client Lindsay Cabot Carr’s insurance demand for dead brother Stewart Cabot; condemned to a weekend in her home town, Cassidy races to find nearly-bankrupt Guthrey Rutherwood’s money before his bank pulls the plug. Saturday morning – Cassidy’s clients accuse each other over Stewart’s death three years earlier: accident, suicide or murder?
Ditty Box
Sue Perkins (2022)
As war looms, Enid falls in love with a newly recruited sailor in the Royal Navy, Phil Field. After he's left to join his ship following a stint of leave on shore, she discovers she’s pregnant. As he fights for their country she tries to cling to her hopes for their future together.
Everyman
Paul Maunder (2019)
A New Zealand novel which tells the story of three men discovering their ancestral roots during a time of crisis. Everyman is a story about history, sexual orientation and ethnicity, with the Spanish War becoming the key historic moment. It is in some ways a travel book as we move through New Zealand and then through Spain.
Farmer Bill
Garrick Batten (2017)
​The story of a man living through half a century of change in New Zealand agriculture, as horses were replaced by tractors and trucks, haystacks by barns and bales, and new technology take over the farmer's life. (The fictional extract from Garrick's book What happened to haystacks and horses?)
For Queen and Empire
Mike Ponder (2020)
A secret with the power to destroy the British Monarchy is used to blackmail Neville Chamberlain to sign the 1938 Munich Agreement, giving Germany the vital time it needs to prepare its war machine. 
​Now, two years later will Churchill succumb to the same demands? The future of Britain, the Monarchy, and the Empire hang by a thread.
For Reasons of Their Own
Chris Stuart (2021)
Winner of the Ngaio Marsh Best First Novel Award; shortlisted forNZ Booklovers Fiction Award 2021
When Robbie Gray fails to solve a murder in Melbourne, the Federal Police are called in. But convinced that they are misinterpreting the evidence, Robbie begins her own investigation assisted by a young Aboriginal policeman. What they uncover challenges their views of power and powerlessness and questions whether murder may sometimes be justified. 
Four Kings
Mike Ponder (2012)
Gus McKenzie’s land, Four Kings is ravaged by looters and murderers after Mugabe decrees all white-owned farms will be resettled. Left with nothing, Gus vows to take revenge. But who was responsible? Was it Mugabe, or was he a mere pawn in an international plot? Was the land taken for resettlement, or was there a more sinister reason? And why did the British not intervene?
Haven River
Casey Fae Hewson (2017)
Luke Conway is in his last year of high school in Haven River. Writing is his life: all he wants to do is be a journalist and write stories about storm chasers. But when Luke meets a trouble-making newcomer to town, Luke is set on a path of self-destruction. Can he escape from the forces that are tugging at him, and find a way of following his dream on his own terms?
His Father's Will
Suzanne Clark (2014)
The year is 1896, and young Will is his father’s constant companion as the family struggles to make a living on a stubborn pioneer farm. Then fate strikes an unkind blow, and life changes in ways that the Tyrrell family could not have imagined.
Hōkioi: Giant of the Sky
Suzanne Clark (2021)
A family group of Polynesian people settle in an area rich in moa and other large ground living birds - and home also to a pair of giant eagles — the hōkioi. Peering down from the clouds, the hōkioi observes strange creatures taking precious food stocks they need to maintain their large bodies and to feed their growing chick. But are these soft-bodied, featherless creatures also food for a hōkioi?
I Am the Local Atheist
W F Stubbs
I’m going to kill ... For the first time in my life, my emotional response was of violence – violence that wanted someone dead, and not just in the figurative sense, but to inflict suffering until that life was extinguished. I knew that thought, that feeling, was wrong, but this was Hell. Life in a community that defines itself by its religious stance and where everyone is  under social scrutiny.
In Amber's Wake
Christine Leunens (2022)
Set in 1980s New Zealand against the background of the anti-nuclear protest movement, film student Ethan Grieg is in love with Amber, an environmental activist. But as secrets are revealed, both find themselves forced into acts they would never have thought possible. This powerful story explores themes of love, social fabric, international politics, and the fundamental notions of right and wrong.
Island of Secrets
Patricia Berwick (2022)
Amongst abductions, cargo cults on a remote Pacific Island and a terrifying invention, an insane billionaire decides there are too many people in our world. His solution is simple: to kill millions  through the use of a spectacular killing machine! How will he achieve this? By manipulating local cultural concepts to gain privacy for his machine. Will he succeed?
Keep Your Head Up My Girl
Suzanne Clark (2016)
Fiercely determined to make her own way and protect her brother, Peggy encounters love and loss during World War I, an influenza epidemic, and the Great Depression. Courage, quick wit, and dressmaking skills are vital as Peggy strives to succeed in the changing world of fashion.​
Misty Springs
Casey Fae Hewson (2020)
Emily Seymour wonders if she’ll ever be able to recover from the accident that has disfigured her and ruined her life. Ricky Coles, working side jobs as a bartender, wants nothing more than to lay low, pay off his debts and put his past behind him. Will this unlikely pair end up proving that there’s a reason why opposites attract and that support often comes from the most unexpected places?
Mrs Lacy
Suzanne Clark (2012)
Bella Lacy rides her quad bike on the beach to collect driftwood, and enjoys soaking in her bathtub under the stars. The hostility of her neighbour threatens her safety and infuriates her beyond endurance, but Ted, the problem solver, is there to help. Bella feels things that others don’t which frightens and confuses her, yet her love for Ted and her coastal world give her strength.
Out of Here
Paul Maunder (2019)
Two low paid workers in a provincial town in New Zealand meet up. He’s on the run from a failed marriage and she’s been looking after her family since her mother died. They decide to escape their appointed lot by stealing a boat and heading for a remote area of bush. But there are always people, no matter where you go, while the natural world has a tale to tell and the gods test their courage.​
Peace and Goodness
Paul Maunder (2019)
In New Zealand in 1861, the government mail ship runs aground on shores of a warring province. The passengers who include a French nun, members of parliament, prostitutes, and a colonel from the Indian army are rescued and taken hostage by Māori. This leads to the rising of a local prophet who preaches peace and love. The nun responds and a picaresque journey begins.​
Peril and Paradise
Patricia Berwick (2024)
A young girl, starting out in life as an anthropologist, decides that she must carry out her research on a remote Pacific Island. But the island group she chooses has a dark secret, one that the islanders do not want anyone to reveal.This tale has excitement, tension, and intrigue told in a style that draws the reader into a strange, beautiful but frightening world.
Primordial Soup
​Christine Leunens (2002)
Influenced by her domineering mother, Kate Lester heads for college with strong and often bizarre views about life, not the least of which is a visceral hatred of meat. As she adapts to her new environment, Kate sees the world as a primordial soup of ever changing ingredients, in which sex seems to offer the only salvation - until she combines this with a newfound hunger for meat.
Rugby Money
Wix Hutton (2015)
It's 2015, it's Rugby World Cup season and Seph Daniel is determined to run out in the starting line-up when New Zealand defends against the world's best rugby teams. To get on the field, Seph must fend off lovers and strangers and sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. At first he dodges every tackle. But Seph trips over a series of bad calls, until his luck runs out and life will never be the same again. 
Shield Maiden
Martin Bird (2021)
Part 2 of the Four Masters Trilogy, this story moves deep into Leath Moga where Gudrun, the daughter of Rannal Halvorfsen, searches for the truth behind her husband's disappearance. The stakes are raised as regal ambition sweeps men and women into conflict. Silver and gold have been promised to Ivar's mercenary army, but blood and death are never far from where stolen wealth lies.
Solidarity
Paul Maunder (2023)
Three children from Blackball negotiate their lives, from the 1908 strike through to the turn of the century. Together, they take in left wing politics, World War 1, the Spanish Civil War, the Paniora, the saga of relationships, sexuality and gender, with a return to Spain to ground whakapapa and respond to new challenges.
Texas Money
Wix Hutton (2015)
Death and disaster stalk Cassidy StPaul as the Old Year casts a brooding shadow over Cassidy's shoulder. She needs more money. And she wants Forrest Johnson III, the charming Texan who's made his pile from dead bodies . . .​
The Art of Dodging
Phil Morrell (2017)​
Once notorious as Fagin’s Artful Dodger, Jack Dawkins has completed his seven-year sentence at a penal colony in New South Wales and is looking to the future. But Jack is no longer a naīve pickpocket. He's used the skills he learned on the streets of London to build a criminal network across the growing city of Sydney. What are the limits to his dreams? Will they bring redemption or infamy?
The Claim
David Briggs (2022)
Shortlisted for the NZ Booklovers Award 2018. Long-listed for the Michael Gifkins Prize 2018.
Prospecting in the western hills of New Zealand, Evan Cadwallader rescues a young woman, Addie, lost and close to death. But as he nurses her back to life, he finds himself entangled in a relationship that he can never quite resolve, until - in the final climax - the truth of Addie's life is revealed.
The Day of the Red Balloon
David Briggs (2024)
On Auckland Anniversary, on a Coromandel beach, a child goes missing. As the parents frantically search for him, the certainties of their lives begin to crumble, and it will be twenty years and another generation before the significance of that day is understood, and its legacy repaired.
The Direction of Our Fear
David Briggs (2016)
On a morning commuter train to Wellington, the lives of three very different people interleave, while in a dark basement room in Dunedin a young Muslim woman seeks to track down a terrorist plot that will threaten them all . . . 
The Floating Basin
Carolyn Hawes (2018)
Shortlisted for Best First Novel category of the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards.
​A small-town Gothic story, set against a murder inquiry, delving into the misfortunes of its  protagonists.
The Glasgow Smile
Chris Stuart (2023)
​Set against a background of civil unrest and rising white extremism, DI Robbie Gray investigates a murder with the the help of an Indigenous officer, Mac. As they work on the case, they find they must also grapple with their own demons of guilt and failure, and when an arrest is made, Robbie realises that not all killers hold a weapon, and the legacy of long-kept secrets can have tragic consequences.
The King's Priest
Martin Bird (2019)
In the aftermath of a bloody battle that has swept away the nobility of Connacht, Rannal Halvorsen, The King’s Priest, must deny his Viking heritage to unite the province and defeat the invaders. Thus, centuries-long rivalries are renewed in a storm of events that echo the ancient sagas and from which heroes will emerge to be proudly remembered for a thousand years.
The Seeds of Heimdall
Martin Bird (2022)
In the closing years of the 10th century, as the High King, Mael Sechnaill seeks to dominate the land, Brian Ború conceives an audacious plan to throw off the influence of the north. Thus, the former Viking raider turned priest is drawn once more into the eye of the storm, fighting for his homeland. And amidst the conflict, his sons must learn hard lessons or risk losing all.
The Shattered
Patricia Berwick (2016)
The action was not what I wanted and it was not my kind of adventure. When we went inside, the man sat me on his knee and said I was not to tell my parents about anything in the house. It was ‘our secret’. Based loosely on real life events, The Shattered tells the story of a young girl drawn into the videoing of sex games with bored middle-class adults.
The Tablets of Ur
Patricia Berwick (2023)
Ai’shah and Dr. Cassandra are kidnapped in Dubai and taken into the heart of the Taliban, just two years after 9/11. There, as they fight for survival and plot their escape, they learn that no matter where people live, how they dress or what they believe, there a can be good and bad people anywhere. To survive, they must make personal sacrifice and learn that living in peace is a challenge for us all.
The Terrible and Great Year of Molly Evans
Karen Heslop (2017)
​After a brutal attack, Molly begins to question everything she has known and looks for hope and peace, though not always in the best way. An aunt and uncle try to help, but Molly resists the moral choices it involves. Will she find peace, or will she keep searching in places it can't be found?
The Well of Truth
Elizabeth Gould (2022)
​A story of a woman on a journey of self-discovery. Through the telling of significant moments in her adult life, the heroine, Grace, garners insight and inspiration from mythic figures who skilfully guide her in creating a meaningful and authentic life for herself. The book is filled with reflections on feminine wisdom, power and agency. . .
The Windsor Conspiracy
Mike Ponder (2007)
A severed finger is mailed to journalist Joanna Doyle, with a note claiming the victim is Prince Charles. Having just watched a live interview with him on TV, she doesn't take it seriously. Yet why is the Secret Service so interested, and why did it demand that she give them the finger and note? Why, hours later, is she brutally murdered? And why is a Harrier jet sent to intercept the trawler carrying the captive?
Zarrin
David Briggs (2022)
In the merciless heat of the day, in the days before the start of the war, a young Muslim woman flees her home in Syria and starts the long trek to freedom in the west. She is Zarrin. This is her story. Walk with her . . .