At a time when publishers are feeling understandably averse to risk, it's good to see fresh talent still emerging. Auckland journalist Bianca Zander's first novel, The Girl Below (Penguin, $30), is by no means flawless but it demonstrates admirable depth, skill and inventiveness, marking her as one of the more interesting new Kiwi writers I've come across in recent years.
If I had to stick a label on this book then it would read "supernatural coming-of-age drama". Its key character, Suki Piper, is an emotional mess.
Adrift in the world, grieving for the mother she lost to cancer as a teenager and haunted by a dark incident in her childhood, Suki is desperately trying to find a place where she belongs.
The story opens with her return to London's Notting Hill after 10 years in New Zealand.
"It was only May but the streets flared golden like they do in high summer, and all around me the neighbourhood sighed with so much privilege that I felt shut out - a stranger on the block where my childhood took place," Suki tells us.