As the year unfolds, Aotearoa’s literary landscape continues to reflect the complexity, beauty, and contradictions of the society it serves. For those in the judiciary and legal professions — readers attuned to questions of ethics, power, and human behaviour — 2025 offered a particularly rich crop of New Zealand books. From historical reimaginings and political memoirs to Indigenous art histories and psychological fiction, these works explore justice in its many forms: social, moral, and personal. Here are five standout titles to add to your summer reading list.
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Published 6 May 2025)
A chilling dystopia set in an alternate 1979 England, this novel explores identity, belonging and the value of life in a system where some lives matter less than others. This book invites reflection on systemic injustice, the ethics of state power, and the human costs of processes that de-value groups of people.
2. A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Published June 2025)
In this memoir, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand shares her leadership journey, choices made under pressure, and reflections on power, service and accountability. Leadership, ethics and public responsibility are key interfaces between political power and judicial oversight. This work offers a real-world lens on governance, decision-making, and the burdens of public office.
3. A Far Better Thing by H. G. Parry (Published June 2025)
A historical fantasy novel by a Kiwi author, this reinvents Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities through magical retelling and themes of justice, sacrifice and change. Though fictional, the novel engages with themes of justice, rebellion and societal transformation.
4. Ash by Louise Wallace (Published 2 September 2025)
Set in a rural New Zealand community, Ash explores a woman’s life under pressure — juggling family, vocation and awakening inner conflict. This novel draws attention to domestic life, systemic pressures, and the interplay of personal crisis and institutional context.
5. Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art by Ngarino Ellis, Deidre Brown & Jonathan Mane‑Wheoki (Published February 2025)
A landmark art-history volume by Māori scholars which traces Māori artistic practice across time, mediums and contexts — the first comprehensive Indigenous-led history of its kind. Understanding tikanga, whakapapa, and Indigenous perspectives on law and knowledge deepens comprehension of legal pluralism, cultural heritage rights, and equitable justice frameworks in Aotearoa.
These five books span fiction and non-fiction, domestic and global, imaginative and real. They invite you to pause, consider, reflect — and perhaps draw unexpected parallels to the work you do in the judiciary: questions of power, identity, law and society.