Standout books that defined the year

Wednesday, 24 December 2025

Susanna Andrew is the manager of Unity Books in Wellington

Unity’s Books of the Year are so called because either they’ve sold a huge number, or we’ve simply loved selling them. Not that these are mutually exclusive, just that the long chain of command from finished manuscript to book doesn’t always play a fair hand.Was there a local launch? Did someone review it in The Post? As booksellers we like to think we can also make a book sell too.

Here’s our list of the top books of the year, based on a mix of sheer volume of sales and our own bias - from the meticulous cartography of Wellington to a self-published collection of poems written by a dad to his daughter. I guess it’s unusual to have two books of maps - Mr Ward’s Maps and New Zealand Land Wars on the list but local history has always been a strong part of Unity’s purview, and we’ll never get a better future if we don’t understand the past. There’s hope in both Abundance by Thompson and Klein and in Slowing the Sun by Nadine Hura who show us we have the tools and ingenuity to make this world a better place.

Slowing the Sun by Nadine Hura (BWB, $40)

Hura’s journalistic quest to understand climate science takes an introspective turn when her brother dies. By connecting the vast often overwhelming issue of climate change to intimate stories of family loss and resilience we get a sense and an understanding of our place in the scheme of things. By staff consensus this was one of the most beloved books of the year.

Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street by Elizabeth Cox (Massey University Press, $90)

Mr Ward’s Map is really the city’s autobiography written in the language of streets, landmarks and boundaries. Elizabeth Cox reveals the historical soul of Wellington with all its 19th-century wooden Victorian buildings drawn with meticulous precision.

Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (Profile $40)

When there are many voices telling us what’s wrong with the world. Klein and Thompson offer us ways in which to fix things. From healthcare to housing this is an optimistic and pragmatic way to a future with abundance.

Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton ($28)

A public servant during lockdown escapes London and rescues a baby hare (leveret) while out walking in the countryside. What follows is a poetic introspective story about human-animal connection. Bookseller Lisa Adler reviewed this on the radio and caused a run on the stock. A warm hit with everyone.

Erik Satie: Three Piece Suite, by Ian Penman (Fitzcarraldo $50)

There were some great music bios out this year, but this was the staff pick. The publishing imprint Fitzcarraldo has become the go-to publisher for terrific interesting books because they consistently take risks on ambitious innovative writing, just like this one on Satie.

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams (Macmillan, $40)

At first, we thought who will really care about a memoir by a woman who worked for Meta and got burnt by the toxic work culture, but then Meta told everyone they couldn’t read it and then yes, we cared a lot plus there’s a terrific shark attack story that happened in NZ.

I Left the Cage Door Unfastened by Jon Jensen ($35)

One day a customer came into the bookshop and told us a wonderful story - her father had sent her a poem every week since she was a child and had continued to do so all her life. Now that he was dying, she had published a selection of them as a gift to him. We have delighted in selling this wry clever collection of funny verse illustrated with cartoons by Chris Slane.

Atlas of the New Zealand Wars by Derek Leask (AUP $90)

A huge book that was 30 years in the making but what makes this book so extraordinary apart from the scholarship are the cartographic works that Leask was able to access.

A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, $60)

It is verily true that Unity Books sold more copies of this memoir not just in Wellington but more than anywhere else in the country. Thanks Jacinda.

The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka Press, $38)

Chidgey has become as reliable as a lighthouse in a storm, consistently delivering thought provoking novels and her latest was no exception.

Delirious by Damien Wilkins (THWUP $38)

Yes, this book was published in 2024 but it wasn’t until it won the 2025 Jan Medlicott Acorn prize in May that it really began to fly out the door, keeping it on the bestseller list all year long. Set on the Kapiti coast about a Wellington couple coming to terms with aging, the undertow of grief and the only thing that survives us, love.