Ardern, Latta make Whitcoulls Top 100 books list, but fantasy dominates

Twenty-six New Zealand writers have made the 2026 Whitcoulls Top 100 Books List – the strongest showing in its nearly 30-year history.

Among the Kiwis to make the list are late clinical psychologist Nigel Latta, former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern and TVNZ Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver.

"This year, we not only received a record number of votes, but the popularity of local authors is at an all-time high compared to previous years," Whitcoulls book manager Joan Mackenzie said.

Mackenzie put the results down to readers' voracious appetites for voices and stories Kiwis can relate to.

Newcomers also had a strong showing, with Mackenzie adding that the “major refresh suggests readers’ dynamic engagement with books and reading”.

Fantasy was the most popular among readers, with Rebecca Yarros’s romance fantasy series Empyrean receiving the most votes for the second year in a row.

It was followed by fantasy writer Sarah J. Maas, whose A Court of Thorns & Roses and Throne of Glass series claimed the second and third spots, respectively.

Among the new, local books to make it on the list was Just a Mum’s Kitchen by Anna Cameron (7), Māori Ora by Hira Nathan (13), Habits of High Performers by James Laughlin (23), Surviving White Island by Kelsey Waghorn (28); and The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (50).

Resilience researcher Dr Lucy Hone got the most votes of any New Zealand author, with her bestselling book How Will I Ever Get Through This? claiming sixth place.

Other high-profile Kiwi authors to make the cut, including Latta’s Lessons on Living (19), Dame Jacinda’s A Different Kind of Power (60); Dreaver’s Be Brave (90), and Charlotte Glennie’s Every Second Counts (97).

Fiction dominated this year’s list with 78 titles – 30 of which were books in a series. Of that number, 26 were from the fantasy genre.

Romance, classics, inspiring stories, self-help and motivational titles also featured strongly.

Whitcoulls Top 100 Books List 2026

1 Empyrean series – Rebecca Yarros

2 A Court of Thorns and Roses series – Sarah J. Maas

3 Throne of Glass series – Sarah J. Maas

4 Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir

5 The Hunger Games series – Suzanne Collins

6 How Will I Ever Get Through This? – Dr Lucy Hone (New, Kiwi)

7 Just a Mum's – Kitchen Anna Cameron (New, Kiwi)

8 The Boys of Tommen series – Chloe Walsh

9 The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah

10 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

11 The Women – Kristin Hannah

12 The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R.Tolkien

13 Māori Ora – Hira Nathan (New, Kiwi)

14 Fungi of Aotearoa – Liv Sisson (Kiwi)

15 The Seven Sisters series – Lucinda Riley

16 Dungeon Crawler Carl series – Matt Dinniman (New)

17 Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling

18 Red Rising series – Pierce Brown

19 Lessons on Living – Nigel Latta (New, Kiwi)

20 The Housemaid series – Freida McFadden

21 Everyday Comfort Food – Vanya Insull (Kiwi)

22 Alchemised – SenYin Lu (New)

23 Habits of High Performers – James Laughlin (New, Kiwi)

24 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series – Holly Jackson

25 Once Upon a Broken Heart series – Stephanie Garber

26 Mad Mabel – Sally Hepworth (New)

27 Fae & Alchemy series – Callie Hart (New)

28 Surviving White Island – Kelsey Waghorn (New, Kiwi)

29 Yesteryear – Caro Claire Burke (New)

30 Off Campus series – Elle Kennedy (New)

31 Wild Dark Shore – Charlotte McConaghy (New)

32 The Bible

33 The Correspondent – Virginia Evans (New)

34 The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah

35 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

36 Atmosphere – Taylor Jenkins Reid (New)

37 Verity – Colleen Hoover

38 The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

39 Māori Millionaire – Te Kahukura Boynton (New, Kiwi)

40 Theo of Golden – Allen Levi (New)

41 Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby van Pelt

42 Hierarchy series – James Islington (New)

43 Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus

44 Moonfall series – Sarah A. Parker (Kiwi)

45 Other People's Bodies – Megan Nicol Reed (New, Kiwi)

46 A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara

47 The God of the Woods – Liz Moore (New)

48 Whakawhetai – Hira Nathan (Kiwi)

49 The Thursday Murder Club series – Richard Osman

50 The Book of Guilt – Catherine Chidgey (New, Kiwi)

51 The Let Them Theory – Mel Robbins

52 Shatter Me series – Tahereh Mafi

53 Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens

54 The Folk of the Air series – Holly Black

55 Twisted series – Ana Huang

56 The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller

57 The Frozen River – Ariel Lawhon

58 Chains of the Seven series – Devney Perry (New)

59 The Secret History – Donna Tartt

60 A Different Kind of Power – Jacinda Ardern (New, Kiwi)

61 East of Eden – John Steinbeck (New)

62 The Hobbit – J.R.R.Tolkien

63 The Stormlight Archive – Brandon Sanderson

64 The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelidis

65 Windy City series – Liz Tomforde (New)

66 Shepherd King series – Rachel Gillig

67 Become Unstoppable – Gilbert Enoka (New, Kiwi)

68 Game Changer series – Rachel Reid (New)

69 All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr

70 The Dead Speak – Thomas Coyle (New, Kiwi)

71 I Am Pilgrim – Terry Hayes

72 Atomic Habits – James Clear

73 Angel's Blood – Nalini Singh (New, Kiwi)

74 Crescent City series – Sarah J.Maas

75 The Names – Florence Knapp (New)

76 The Twilight Saga – Stephenie Meyer

77 The Vanishing Place – Zoe Rankin (New, Kiwi)

78 Six of Crows Duology – Leigh Bardugo

79 Malachite – Ashley Andersen (New, Kiwi)

80 Chestnut Springs series – Elsie Silver

81 Kings of Sin series – Ana Huang

82 The Poppy War series – R.F. Kuang

83 Violent Ends Duology – Chloe Gong (Kiwi)

84 The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho

85 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid

86 Caraval series – Stephanie Garber

87 The Blood Says Otherwise – Ruben Miller (New, Kiwi)

88 The River Is Waiting – Wally Lamb (New)

89 Better than the Movies – Lynn Painter

90 Be Brave – Barbara Dreaver (New, Kiwi)

91 Babel – R.F. Kuang

92 Edmonds Cookery Book – Edmonds (Kiwi)

93 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte (New)

94 The Last Secret Agent – Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Kiwi)

95 The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood

96 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

97 Every Second Counts – Charlotte Glennie (New, Kiwi)

98 The Courage to be Disliked – Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga

99 See How They Fall – Rachel Paris (Kiwi)

100 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab