Welcome to our Biography & Memoir section, where the real stories of extraordinary heroes come to life. Here, you'll find tales of courage, resilience, and inspiration from people who have shaped the world or navigated incredible journeys. Browse books that remind us of our shared humanity and the infinite ways we can all impact the world.
Staff Picks
Swan Song
Swan Song is a compelling biography that delves into the life and experiences of its subject, offering an intimate look...
Fictional Selves
Fictional Selves by Kyle MacLachlan is an intriguing exploration of identity and personal growth, offering readers a deep dive into...
The Steps
The Steps by Sylvester Stallone offers an intimate glimpse into his life and career, detailing pivotal moments that shaped his...
Home Again
Home Again is an unflinching memoir by Jon Toogood, frontman of SHIHAD, chronicling his 37-year career that shaped New Zealand...
Dogs, Boys and Other Things I've Cried About
Dogs, Boys and Other Things I've Cried About by Isabel Klee is a heartfelt exploration of the author's personal journey...
Famesick
Famesick by Lena Dunham is a reflective exploration into the complexities of fame and its effects on personal identity and...
This Angry Pen of Mine
This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley delves into the turbulent and often chaotic world of creativity and the...
Stakes
Stakes by Noelle McCarthy is a heartfelt memoir exploring the author's journey through personal struggles and family dynamics. McCarthy reflects...
Explore our Business Biographies...
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How To Be Wrong
Sometimes the only way to be right is to get comfortable with being wrong. Most startup advice is dangerously misguided. The mythology of the lone genius founder, the obsession with capital raising, and the theatre of startup ecosystems lead countless ventures astray. Drawing on two decades at the heart of New Zealand's most successful technology companies – Trade Me, Xero,...Paperback$3600Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Shoe Dog
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is a riveting memoir that unveils the remarkable journey behind the creation of Nike, one of the world's most iconic and successful brands. Phil Knight's story begins in 1962, when fresh out of business school, he embarks on a daring entrepreneurial adventure with a radical premise: to import high-quality, low-cost athletic shoes from Japan. Armed...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2899Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Regime Change
From the two reporters who have covered him more closely than perhaps anyone else over the past decade comes this definitive portrait of Donald Trump in the White House and the first year of his second presidency. Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented reporting from deep within the administration’s most closely guarded rooms, Regime Change takes the reader into...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$4299Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
No Pit Stops
What drives success? It started with wide-open roads and a barefoot Kiwi childhood, and has taken him to the top of New Zealand business. Grant Baker has done it all, driven by ambition, resilience, and a love of all things fast. In No Pit Stops, Grant recounts his highs and lows – from teenage exploits and early career lessons, to...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Zero to 60 and Beyond (revised and updated Edition)
Zero to 60 and Beyond by Tony Quinn – The Unstoppable Journey of a Self-Made Businessman and Motorsport Legend “Everyone’s got to live their own life, make the most of the cards they’re dealt, and write their own story. One of the gifts I was born with was the gift of the gab,” says Tony Quinn. From humble beginnings, turning...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Empire of Pain
The inspiration behind the Netflix TV series Painkillers, starring Uzo Aduba and Matthew Broderick. Amazon's Top 20 Best Books of the Year 'This is no dense medical tome, but a page-turner with a villainous family to rival the Roys in Succession, and one where every chapter ends with the perfect bombshell.' - Esquire The highly-anticipated portrait of three generations of...Paperback$2500Elsewhere:$2999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Start With Yourself
Start with Yourself is a game-changing, no-BS guide for anyone seeking meaningful success on their own terms. It’s an essential framework that will give you the tools and mindset to unlock your full potential in life and business—straight from a woman who defied all the odds to become a serial entrepreneur, co-founder of culture-defining global businesses, a non-profit champion, and...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Infinity Machine
A revelatory portrait of the visionary behind Google DeepMind, the race to control the future - and what it means to win. Even in a tech world crowded with visionary leaders, Demis Hassabis is recognised as a special case. Born to working-class, immigrant parents in North London, a chess prodigy by five and wizard coder in his teens, he turned...Paperback$3499Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Trading Game
The high-wire true story of the millionaire trader, who won the finance game and then blew it wide open. 'If you were gonna rob a bank, and you saw the vault door there, left open, what would you do? Would you wait around?' Ever since he was a kid, kicking broken footballs on the streets of East London in the...Paperback$2300Elsewhere:$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Chairman's Lounge
From the must-read journalist on how power, money, and influence work in this country, the full story of how one of the nation’s favourite brands brought itself to ground. Before Covid, both Qantas and its CEO Alan Joyce were flying high, the darlings of customers, staff, and investors. After Covid hit, only money mattered – in particular, the company’s share...Paperback$3600Elsewhere:$4199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
New ReleaseRoll the Calls
Roll the Calls is as ferociously powerful as the iconic figure at its centre, Ari Emanuel – the inspiration for Entourage’s Ari Gold, and one of the most legendary powerbrokers of all time – a man who made rage and chaos into the instruments of his success. Expertly written with Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and biographer J. R. Moehringer, Roll the...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseTech Bros
The extraordinary story of Atlassian - how two university friends with a billion-dollar idea created a global tech company. In a cramped share house in inner-city Sydney, university classmates Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar started working together to create a $160 billion company from scratch and revolutionise the way the world works. They couldn't have been more different - Cannon-Brookes...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The 5 Types of Wealth
A powerful call to action to think deeply about what lights you up’ TIM COOK, CEO of Apple ‘Full of great storytelling, great takeaways, and great wisdom’ SUSAN CAIN ‘An important clarifying force in anyone’s search to make the best possible choices for their life’ ANDREW HUBERMAN Throughout your life, you’ve been slowly indoctrinated to believe that money is the...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Snowball
The Snowball offers an enthralling and intimate account of the life and legacy of Warren Buffett, one of the most iconic and influential figures in the financial world. Alice Schroeder weaves together a narrative that captures the essence of Buffett's journey, from his humble beginnings in Omaha, Nebraska, to his rise as a globally renowned investor. This biography delves deeply...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3500Unit price /UnavailableBackorderShips early November -
Staff PickSteve Jobs
The acclaimed biography Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson unravels the rollercoaster journey of Steve Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple Inc. and a pioneer in the realms of personal computing, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. This compelling narrative is drawn from more than forty interviews with Jobs himself over two years, as well as interviews with...Paperback$2500Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Secret Life of Flying
How does a plane stay up in the air? Does the Mile-High Club actually exist? When you flush the toilet, where does it all go? Buckle up for some turbulence because nothing flies under the radar for Captain Jeremy Burfoot. With more than 35 years of airline experience, the former Qantas pilot presents an Airbus-load of stories about unruly passengers...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Softly As I Leave You: Life After Elvis
Priscilla Presley's divorce from Elvis left his fans incredulous. How could she leave theman every woman wanted? From the outside, life in Elvis's mansion looked glamorousand enviable, and in many respects, it was. But inside the mansion, her husband wasconstantly surrounded by a male entourage while at the gates, lines of beautiful womenwaited hopefully for an audience with the King....Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
What's Your Dream?
An inspirational guide to achieving fulfilment and finding purpose from Social Media's fastest growing angel investor. Simon loves dreams and he wants you to live yours. This book will stop you from giving up on your goals and start building the life you want – Jay Shetty, #1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author and host of the...Paperback$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Poor Charlie's Almanack
From the legendary vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, lessons in investment strategy, philanthropy, and living a rational and ethical life. Originally published in 2005, this compendium of eleven talks delivered by the legendary Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman between 1986 and 2007 has become a touchstone for a generation of investors and entrepreneurs seeking to absorb the enduring wit and wisdom of one...Paperback$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Liar's Poker
In Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis provides a riveting account of his time on Wall Street during the mid-1980s, capturing both the exhilaration and the excess of the era. As a young and naïve trainee at Salomon Brothers, one of the most powerful and profitable merchant banks of the time, Lewis is thrust into a world defined by intense competition, merciless...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Tim's Pick
Poor Charlie's Almanack
From the legendary vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, lessons in investment strategy, philanthropy, and living a rational and ethical life. "A timeless classic that will change how you approach life. There is a billion-dollar education inside this book." -Shane Parrish, founder of Syrus Partners and Farnam Street "Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you...Hardback$6999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Becoming Steve Jobs
The SUNDAY TIMES and #1 International Bestseller - with a new foreword by Silicon Valley legend Marc Andreessen. Becoming Steve Jobs presents an enthralling and detailed narrative of the rise, fall, and resurrection of one of the world's most iconic entrepreneurs, Steve Jobs. This meticulously crafted biography departs from conventional accounts, providing an unparalleled peek into the mind and life...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Anarchy
The Anarchy by William Dalrymple meticulously charts the rise of the East India Company from a modest enterprise to a formidable colonial force. Set against the backdrop of a crumbling Mughal Empire and a burgeoning British dominance, the book provides a captivating narrative of power, ambition, and historical upheaval. In August 1765, a pivotal moment in history occurred as the...Paperback$2200Elsewhere:$2499Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Bonfire of the Murdochs
When Rupert Murdoch made a fateful decision about who should inherit his media colossus, he believed that pitting his children against each other would produce the most capable heir. Twenty-five years later, that gamble would tear apart one of the world’s most powerful families and trigger a multi-billion dollar reckoning in a succession battle featuring betrayals, lawsuits, and revenge plots....Paperback$3499Elsewhere:$4199Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Biographies of political and civic leaders...
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One Last Question, Prime Minister
From Muldoon to Luxon, untold stories from the House of Parliament Barry Soper has spent close to five decades questioning New Zealand's prime ministers.From the imposing, larger-than-life characters of Rob Muldoon and David Lange, to the golden age of Helen Clark and John Key, and the post-Covid era of Jacinda Ardern and the 'Chrises', Soper's insight and nose for a...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Regime Change
From the two reporters who have covered him more closely than perhaps anyone else over the past decade comes this definitive portrait of Donald Trump in the White House and the first year of his second presidency. Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented reporting from deep within the administration’s most closely guarded rooms, Regime Change takes the reader into...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$4299Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Ockham WinnerA Different Kind of Power
What if we could redefine leadership? What if kindness came first? Jacinda Ardern grew up the daughter of a police officer in small-town New Zealand, but as the 40th Prime Minister of her country, she commanded global respect for her empathetic leadership that put people first. This is the remarkable story of how a Mormon girl plagued by self-doubt made...Hardback$4799Elsewhere:$5999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseA Different Kind of Power
#1 New Zealand bestseller #1 Amazon bestseller #2 Audible bestseller #3 New York Times bestseller #3 Sunday Times bestseller #4 Australian bestseller From the former prime minister of New Zealand, then the world’s youngest female head of government and just the second to give birth in office, comes a deeply personal memoir chronicling her extraordinary rise and offering inspiration to...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Built for This
Raised among strong women, butcher's benches, and hard ideas about what men are meant to be, Brad Poulter grows up knowing he's different long before he has the words for it. But in late '90s small-town New Zealand, 'different' isn't discussed, it's managed. Joining the Royal New Zealand Navy offers escape, certainty, and belonging. The rules are clear, the uniform...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Signed
The Chief and the Empire
The Chief and the Empire uncovers the extraordinary true tale of Te Tai Tokerau rangatira Te Pahi - the first influential Māori leader to cross the Tasman - whose curiosity about the Pākehā world forged alliances, saved lives, and ultimately cost him his own. On a visit to Sydney in 1805, Te Pahi was feted as a celebrity, building close...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release
Plunder
The last weeks of World War II on the Western Front in Europe witnessed extraordinary scenes of heroism, horror, melodrama, and pathos. In Plunder, Max Hastings presents a cast of fascinating people—British, American, and German—in a series of great events in which some distinguished themselves through wonderful deeds, others through the basest crimes. The book takes its title from Montgomery’s...Paperback$3699Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release
Serviceman J
A new edition of the bestselling 2024 memoir by a former NZSAS commander, on serving in Afghanistan over four deployments and operating at the edge of his limits. 'Frighteningly, devastatingly real.' - The Post In 2011, following the Taliban siege on Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel, an SAS soldier identified only as Serviceman J was awarded New Zealand's second highest military honour...Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Gulag Archipelago
The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is a monumental work that provides a harrowing account of the Soviet Union's labour camp system. Set against a vast canvas of camps, prisons, transit centres, and secret police, the narrative unfolds the grim realities of informers, spies, and interrogators while simultaneously celebrating instances of everyday heroism. This literary masterpiece, based on the testimony...Paperback$2500Elsewhere:$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Redwood
From the multi-million-selling historian, the remarkable, unknown Cold War story of how one spy saved the world from nuclear war. The year is 1981. Tehran is in violent turmoil in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. The Soviets are planning to overthrow the Ayatollah's fledgling Islamist regime. If they do so, one response from America — unknown to the public...Paperback$3399Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableBackorderShips mid October -
Manners and Mischief
Filled with sparkling anecdotes and tales of living life to the full, featuring previously unseen photographs from Lady Glenconner's personal collection. Lady Anne Glenconner, Lady-in-Waiting to Princess Margaret and Maid of Honour at the Queen's Coronation, returns with a rich, sparkling memoir told through an A to Z of her life. From affairs of the heart and Basil's Bar to...Hardback$3399Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Trump: The Art of the Deal
President Donald J. Trump lays out his professional and personal worldview in this classic work, a first-hand account of the rise of America's foremost deal-maker. The Art of the Deal is the number one bestseller from the 45th President of the United States. "I like thinking big. I always have. To me, it's very simple - if you're going to...Paperback$2500Elsewhere:$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Masters of the Air
Masters of the Air by Donald L. Miller is an electrifying narrative that delves into the lives and exploits of the men of the American Eighth Air Force during World War II. These brave airmen, piloting the renowned Flying Fortresses, played a pivotal role in crippling Nazi Germany’s grip on Europe. Their valiant efforts are brought vividly to life, taking...Paperback$2800Elsewhere:$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Spy and the Traitor
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre is a spellbinding Cold War thriller that unravels the true story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB double agent who risked everything to aid the British in the battle against Soviet oppression. In meticulously researched detail, Macintyre paints a vivid portrait of espionage, double-crossing, and unparalleled bravery, giving readers a riveting glimpse into...Paperback$2100Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Fly, Wild Swans
THE LONG-AWAITED SEQUEL TO WILD SWANS, THE MULTI-MILLION COPY INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING SENSATION Jung Chang’s Wild Swans was a book that defined a generation, an epic personal history of Jung, her mother and grandmother – ‘three daughters of China’. The book opens with her grandmother’s birth – and foot binding – in 1909, when China was under the last emperor, through...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
SAS Daggers Drawn
The real story of Blair 'Paddy' Mayne, endorsed by the Mayne family Summer 1944: the SAS were charged with the most crucial D-Day missions, taking on the might of the Nazi Reich deep behind enemy lines. Facing Hitler's fearsome Panzer divisions with little more than raw courage and their nimble Willys jeeps, it would take maverick thinking and unconventional warfare...Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Killing Thatcher
The Brighton bombing of 1984 remains one of the most audacious and chilling assassination attempts in recent political history. In Killing Thatcher, veteran journalist Rory Carroll meticulously reconstructs the series of events that nearly altered the course of British politics forever. This riveting account unveils the story behind the IRA's meticulous plan to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and decimate...Paperback$2399Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Churchill
The blockbuster biography of the greatest Briton, by one of Britain's bestselling historians. Winston Churchill towers over every other figure in twentieth-century British history. By the time of his death at the age of 90 in 1965, many thought him to be the greatest man in the world. There have been over a thousand previous biographies of Churchill. Andrew Roberts...Paperback$3600Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Wide Wide Sea
From New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides comes an epic account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration – the fateful final journey of Captain James Cook. In July 1776, Captain James Cook began his third voyage in HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, in Hawaii, Cook was killed – stabbed by the indigenous population. What brought...Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
RFK Jr: The Fall and Rise
A revelatory portrait of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., chronicling his battles with addiction and his astonishing journey from entitled scion to environmental activist to a prominent member of the president's cabinet, based on RFK Jr.’s secret journals and the author’s interviews with dozens of sources close to him. Born into one of the most storied families in American history, Robert...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe
Drawn from rigorous research, this true crime title tells the story of Marilyn Monroe's extraordinary life and explores the shocking circumstances of her death. BORN IN THE SHADOWS. LIVED FOR THE SPOTLIGHT. WAS SHE MURDERED? Before Marilyn Monroe, there was Norma Jeane. No one would have thought that the girl who spent her childhood between foster homes and orphanages would...Paperback$3400Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Thomas Cromwell
In Thomas Cromwell, Diarmaid MacCulloch offers an unrivalled exploration of one of Tudor England’s most enigmatic and influential figures. From his humble beginnings in Putney to his meteoric rise within the court of Henry VIII, Cromwell's life is a testament to the power and peril of ambition. Firmly rooted in historical context, this biography delves into the intricate and often...Paperback$2800Elsewhere:$3200Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Make Your Bed
Discover the power of small actions with Make Your Bed by Admiral William H. McRaven, a book that distils life-changing principles into accessible, actionable advice. This revolutionary title will empower readers to transform their lives, and ultimately the world, beginning with the simple task of making the bed. In his 37-year career with the Navy, Admiral McRaven learned ten essential...Hardback$2000Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Anything Could Happen
In this illuminating and beautifully written book, Grant Robertson reflects on the major events in his life, from growing up in a loving but complex family, to his highly successful career as a Labour politician and becoming Finance Minister in the Ardern government during one of New Zealand history's most tumultuous times. A natural storyteller, Robertson writes memorably about his...Paperback$3399Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Biographies of creative and artistic heroes...
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Home Again
Join rock-legend, former Shihad frontman and lead singer of The Adults, Jon Toogood in this unflinching and no-holds-barred memoir Home Again.This is more than a rock story. Toogood looks back on a 37-year career that helped define New Zealand rock music, and the personal cost that came with it. From a music-obsessed childhood in Wellington to the deafening roar of international stages, this...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseSwan Song
Beautiful. Beloved. Hunted. The extraordinary life and death of Diana, as told by her brother, Charles – available to pre-order now. ‘When asked, ‘What was it like, growing up with Diana?’, my first thought is always, But I don’t know what it was like not to grow up with her…’ In September 1997, Charles Spencer stood in Westminster Abbey before...Hardback$5499Elsewhere:$6500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
This Angry Pen of Mine
This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley invites you to dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the...Hardback$7299Elsewhere:$8999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release
The Steps
The long-awaited memoir from a true Hollywood icon. We know Sylvester Stallone as one of the most revered actors, writers, and directors of all time, yet his life story is every bit as dramatic, intense, and inspiring as his greatest creations on screen. Bringing together a no-holds-barred account of a fascinating life with messages of hope, positivity, and resilience, in...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Mother Mary Comes To Me
The incredible first memoir from the Booker-winning radical icon Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things. Arundhati Roy's first work of memoir, this is a soaring account, both intimate and inspiring, of how the author became the person and the writer she is, shaped by circumstance, but above all by her relationship to her extraordinary, singular mother Mary,...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Te Kaikaukau | The Swimmer
Novelist, memoirist and playwright Witi Ihimaera – author of Pounamu, Pounamu and The Whale Rider – decided, at the age of eighty, to dive back into the water and spend a year full-time at Te Wānanga Takiura, immersing himself in his own language, in te reo Māori. This book tells the story of this kaikaukau, this swimmer, and his year...Paperback$3500Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Did I Ever Tell You This?
In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion. By his own account, his...Paperback$3799Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Great Writers and the Cats who Owned Them
Throughout history, cats and writers have bonded together in a magical combination of comfort, companionship and inspiration. The famous authors featured here range from Samuel Johnson, whose cat Hodge dined on oysters, and Edward Lear, whose charismatic cat Foss was missing half his tail, to Margaret Mitchell, L. M. Montgomery and Dorothy L. Sayers, who rescued her kitten Blitz from...Hardback$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Paul Weller: Dancing Through the Fire
The groundbreaking oral history on one of the most legendary musicians of all time: Paul Weller. Across musical history, certain artists have transcended their craft to become cultural icons, leaving an indelible mark on the world of sound and style. Paul Weller, the legendary British musician, singer, and songwriter, stands among the select few whose influence spans generations. His enduring...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Signed Copy
Stakes
Read our interview with author Noelle McCarthy! A darkly funny, sparkling follow-up to the author’s bestselling memoir Grand. You have to invite him in. You have to want the vampire’s badness in the house with you. Growing up in Catholic Ireland, Noelle McCarthy is captivated by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The vampire is a risk-free fantasy, a suave alternative to the fraught realities...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseIntimate Audrey
The only official biography of fashion and film icon and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn, with the actress’s personal history, insights from her family about her philosophy of life, and an intimate picture of how she lived outside of the public eye. There are few celebrities of yesterday or today as iconic as Audrey Hepburn. From humble beginnings, growing up in the...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Land and its People
'Very little makes me laugh. I would say the one exception is anything by David Sedaris' GRAHAM NORTON 'Sedaris is the God of the comic essay... Sedaris' only rule: be funny or perish' LENA DUNHAM In The Land and Its People, David Sedaris investigates what it means to be a traveller, a brother, a lifelong friend. Trying on the role...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Vagabond
The outrageous, riotous memoir from the cult actor and star of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Clue, and IT. Actor, rock 'n' roll singer, the prince of Halloween, confusing sex symbol. Many labels have been given to the inimitable Tim Curry over the years. All are true, and yet none are quite right. Here, for the first time, Curry reveals...Hardback$4499Elsewhere:$6000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Moab Is My Washpot
The original bestselling autobiography by the comedian, novelist, and national treasure, Stephen Fry. Few people serve time in prison before studying at Cambridge. You might be surprised to know that Stephen Fry is one of them. Moab Is My Washpot, the remarkable story of Stephen Fry's tumultuous early life, is by turns funny, shocking, tender, delicious, sad, lyrical, bruisingly frank,...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release
Devil on my Shoulder
The definitive autobiography from Alice Cooper, the Godfather of Shock Rock and one of the world's most iconic musicians with a career spanning six decades. In the beginning, Alice Cooper was the name of a rock group. Then my stage name. And then a monster. Now I've written a book that tracks Alice's 'evilution', how he and I became almost...Paperback$3600Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release
Fictional Selves
From the beloved actor and star of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet and Sex and the City comes a candid and deeply personal memoir. In this highly anticipated memoir, the beloved actor and star of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Sex and the City and more shares his utterly original account of his offbeat journey in Hollywood, his battles with fear and...Hardback$4799Elsewhere:$6000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
I'm Glad My Mom Died
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER MORE THAN 3 MILLION COPIES SOLD! A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life. Jennette McCurdy was six years old...Paperback$2399Elsewhere:$2899Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Diddly Squat: The Farmer's Dog
It's been another memorable year on Diddly Squat Farm - and another book full of hilarious stories. Clarkson's farm is the gift that keeps on giving, and now our hero has decided to bring his misunderstood entrepreneurial flair to bear on a new venture—a pub. Let the doors open on The Farmer's Dog. All British produce, Hawkstone beer on tap,...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Mother Mary Comes To Me
The incredible first memoir from the Booker-winning radical icon Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things. 'Heart-smashed' by the death of the mother she ran from at age eighteen and shaken by the intensity of her response, Arundhati Roy began this remarkable memoir—a soaring account, both intimate and inspiring, of how the author became the person and the...Paperback$2399Elsewhere:$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Always Home, Always Homesick
WINNER 2026 INDIE BOOK AWARDS FOR NON-FICTION 'In my brief breath of life, might I find a way to fit light to paper?' In a land of ethereal beauty, within a culture soaked in myth, a young woman discovers the story that will change her life. In 2003, seventeen-year-old Australian exchange student Hannah Kent arrives at Keflavík Airport in the...Paperback$2299Elsewhere:$2800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Make-Believe
From the actor in Skins and Games of Thrones, a deeply intimate, shockingly honest memoir about acting, fame, mental illness and the struggle to leave a cult-like organisation whose belief in magic shattered Hannah's reality. In 2017, Hannah Murray was a successful actor whose career had taken her to Hollywood and given her the opportunity to act with A-list stars...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Mr Wilman’s Motoring Adventure
Twenty years of magic and mayhem on Top Gear and The Grand Tour — from the mysterious man behind the camera... Top Gear turned gloomy Sunday nights into celebratory Friday nights. It made household names of presenters Clarkson, Hammond and May, their unique chemistry and buddy movie antics proving irresistible to a global audience, earning them the Guinness World Record...Paperback$2500Elsewhere:$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Simply More
It is never too late to build the life you’re seeking.Cynthia Erivo learned the music to Wicked a decade before she needed it, not knowing that those same lyrics would change her life. Ten years later, she has the chance to perform those songs on a world stage, showing us that there is always time to keep discovering ourselves, that the journey...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Year of Magical Thinking
Introducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience – classics which will endure for generations to come. A single person is missing for you, and the whole world is empty. John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their daughter fall ill. At first,...Paperback$2600Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Be inspired by our great Kiwi heroes...
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Home Again
Join rock-legend, former Shihad frontman and lead singer of The Adults, Jon Toogood in this unflinching and no-holds-barred memoir Home Again.This is more than a rock story. Toogood looks back on a 37-year career that helped define New Zealand rock music, and the personal cost that came with it. From a music-obsessed childhood in Wellington to the deafening roar of international stages, this...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Surviving White Island
Surviving White Island - Surviving the unsurvivable. Healing from the unhealable. This is an inspiring memoir of physical and mental recovery, from someone who lived through the Whakaari White Island volcanic eruption. "I heard someone say, 'Wow!' And someone else exclaimed, 'Look at that!' I had my back to the crater. I turned around. The moment I saw it, I...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Pre-order
Nothing to Lose
There's no one as dangerous as someone who believes they have nothing to lose. Eight years ago, Nix Adams started posting videos on Facebook while she was freshly out of jail, in order to show her kids that she was sober and on the path back to them. It was after her youngest child, Alaska, died suddenly of a virus...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableOut 3 Nov 2026Pre-order -
New Release
Lucky You're Tough
Lucky You're Tough chronicles the early life of helicopter pilot and NZSAS soldier Mark Law, from growing up in the rural wilds of Whangamōmona through to surviving a series of life-threatening events that would shape his life and career. After a career as a badged soldier in the NZSAS that led to an intriguing stint with the British SAS and...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseThe Farm
The Farm is a lyrical and entertaining journey to the heart of rural life in New Zealand from one of our greatest living writers. When Bruce Ansley visited a friend on a sheep farm on Banks Peninsula, they pointed out a property for sale, down by the water. Down a drive curving through sycamores, oaks, and rhododendrons, there was a...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Did I Ever Tell You This?
In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion. By his own account, his...Paperback$3799Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release
Go Hard or Go Home
From the front bench to rock bottom: Go Hard or Go Home is Kiri Allan's fearless memoir of ambition, disruption and survival in NZ politics and beyond. Kiri Allan's six-year political career spanned some of the most challenging times in recent history. Events a government might encounter once in a generation stacked up: a terrorist attack, a volcanic eruption, destructive and deadly...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
No Pit Stops
What drives success? It started with wide-open roads and a barefoot Kiwi childhood, and has taken him to the top of New Zealand business. Grant Baker has done it all, driven by ambition, resilience, and a love of all things fast. In No Pit Stops, Grant recounts his highs and lows – from teenage exploits and early career lessons, to...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
A Place to Stand
A Place to Stand by Clare Ward is a profound memoir that delves into the life of a country doctor living and working in the Hokianga Harbour area in the far north of Aotearoa New Zealand. This region is sparsely populated and poses numerous health challenges. This thoughtful account details Clare’s thirty-year career, highlighting the people she works with and...Hardback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
One Last Question, Prime Minister
From Muldoon to Luxon, untold stories from the House of Parliament Barry Soper has spent close to five decades questioning New Zealand's prime ministers.From the imposing, larger-than-life characters of Rob Muldoon and David Lange, to the golden age of Helen Clark and John Key, and the post-Covid era of Jacinda Ardern and the 'Chrises', Soper's insight and nose for a...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Te Kaikaukau | The Swimmer
Novelist, memoirist and playwright Witi Ihimaera – author of Pounamu, Pounamu and The Whale Rider – decided, at the age of eighty, to dive back into the water and spend a year full-time at Te Wānanga Takiura, immersing himself in his own language, in te reo Māori. This book tells the story of this kaikaukau, this swimmer, and his year...Paperback$3500Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseA Bushman's Book of Yarns
Back to the bush with the bestselling author of Sam The Trap Man. Sam Gibson's best-selling debut, Sam The Trap Man, introduced us to a natural-born storyteller with a deep enthusiasm for the ngahere. Now, Sam takes us back to the bush with another round of cracking yarns and hard-case characters, as well as a guide to edible native plants...Paperback$3799Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseShane Cameron
This is the gripping, often surprising story of one of New Zealand's toughest and most resilient fighters. Shane Cameron rose from humble beginnings to become a dominant force in the Australasian heavyweight division. Known for his explosive power and fearless fighting style, Cameron captured multiple national titles and fought 'The Fight of the Century' against David Tua in the biggest...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release
A Different Kind of Power
#1 New Zealand bestseller #1 Amazon bestseller #2 Audible bestseller #3 New York Times bestseller #3 Sunday Times bestseller #4 Australian bestseller From the former prime minister of New Zealand, then the world’s youngest female head of government and just the second to give birth in office, comes a deeply personal memoir chronicling her extraordinary rise and offering inspiration to...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Built for This
Raised among strong women, butcher's benches, and hard ideas about what men are meant to be, Brad Poulter grows up knowing he's different long before he has the words for it. But in late '90s small-town New Zealand, 'different' isn't discussed, it's managed. Joining the Royal New Zealand Navy offers escape, certainty, and belonging. The rules are clear, the uniform...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Every Second Counts
Every Second Counts is a fascinating, fast-paced memoir by award-winning NZ journalist Charlotte Glennie, who survived life-changing injuries after a near-fatal accident. She went on to break new ground reporting across Asia during major world events, including military and political crackdowns and natural disasters. Set in New Zealand, Australia, Asia and Europe, this is the adrenaline-fuelled life of a journalist...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Signed
The Chief and the Empire
The Chief and the Empire uncovers the extraordinary true tale of Te Tai Tokerau rangatira Te Pahi - the first influential Māori leader to cross the Tasman - whose curiosity about the Pākehā world forged alliances, saved lives, and ultimately cost him his own. On a visit to Sydney in 1805, Te Pahi was feted as a celebrity, building close...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
It Nearly Killed Me But I Love You
Everyone told Sinead that having a newborn was a bubble of bliss - and after a traumatic pregnancy, she was hoping they were right. Instead, a few weeks in, Sinead was admitted to the Mother & Baby unit at Starship with Vivie, in the grips of severe postnatal depression. An honest, gut-wrenching, irreverent and shockingly funny memoir about motherhood and...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Saving Elli
One child. Two years in hiding. Three lives in mortal danger. In Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, near Anne Frank's house, another Jewish girl is hidden. Her name is Elli. Her father has been executed at Mauthausen concentration camp. Her mother is fleeing for her life. Elli is next. To save her, resistance couple Frits and Jo Hakkens must risk everything, concealing her...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseOne Year Out
This is the voice of a writer with a keen sense of life’s mundane weirdness, and a poet’s knack for startling imagery. One Year Out is a valuable addition to the personal essay genre. - Airini Beautrais One Year Out traces one terrible, beautiful year through addiction, public rehab, and mental unravelling - then an unexpected move to Bali, where...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Crash
In 1987 Sally Wenley was the driven, fun-loving and at times naughty sports prefect of her Hawke’s Bay school with everything to live for. When a bus crashed on a school trip, five people were killed and she became a paraplegic, her sporting dreams in tatters. Now an award-winning radio reporter, in this engaging, uplifting and at times hilarious memoir...Paperback$3400Elsewhere:$3700Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Mana
Mana. It's a big word. But what is it? Are you born with it, can you earn it, can it be taken away? For more than five decades, Tāme Iti has stood at the heart of Aotearoa's struggle for indigenous rights. From land marches to performance art, police raids to prison cells, his voice has challenged New Zealand to reckon...Hardback$4199Elsewhere:$4999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Become Unstoppable
Master your winning mindset with lessons from the life and career of coaching legend Gilbert Enoka. In a career spanning almost three decades, visionary psychological coach Gilbert Enoka changed the way the All Blacks played their game. With a 77% winning record in test match rugby, the highest of any professional sports team, they are the only international team to...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Ockham Winner
A Different Kind of Power
What if we could redefine leadership? What if kindness came first? Jacinda Ardern grew up the daughter of a police officer in small-town New Zealand, but as the 40th Prime Minister of her country, she commanded global respect for her empathetic leadership that put people first. This is the remarkable story of how a Mormon girl plagued by self-doubt made...Hardback$4799Elsewhere:$5999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today