Prince Harry’s memoir Spare has hit the bookshelves in New Zealand, where it’s predicted to make the bestseller list as it has done overseas.
The book broke records in Britain for sales of a non-fiction book on publication day, but there’s a mixed reaction to the Duke of Sussex’s new book in Aotearoa.
In Auckland, British ex-pat Benjamin said he wasn’t interested in reading the memoir, but understood why Prince Harry might have chosen to pen it.
“I would like to think it’s got something to do with Harry just having enough with everything that has been written about him.
“I think it is a response to all the negative media criticism he has had over the years and I think it has got to a point now where he has basically left the royal family, and people are asking why he wants that life and I completely understand it.”
Others RNZ spoke to weren’t interested in the book at all, while some were keen to read it but didn’t want to buy it.
Across Auckland’s 55 libraries, more than 1500 people have requested Spare in its various formats.
In Greytown, Mrs Blackwell’s Village Bookshop had half a dozen pre-orders and one customer at the door to nab a copy as soon as the shop opened on Wednesday when it was released.
Prince Harry on the set of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Photo / Twitter
Owner Millie Blackwell said plenty of people in the small country town were keen to share their opinions on both the book and its author.
“We’ve had a range of reactions, from the opinion that we share which is that it’s nice to hear people tell their own story in their own words, through to the less moderate opinions, which is that the author might be influenced by other people or has done a disservice to his family.”
She said the book would likely sell out in-store before the weekend and the decision to stock more would be based on the ongoing demand, but also how quickly they could secure more copies.
Blackwell said in the two and a half years since she started the bookshop, she couldn’t recall an author that had attracted such attention both nationally and internationally.”
Spare went on sale around the world on Tuesday. Photo / AP
“This is a public figure who’s had a lot of good and bad media coverage and to hear his story in his words gives them a chance to tell it,” he said.
“I know people have got quite fixated on the things that he said about his family, but I’ve read some of it, he does say a lot of interesting things about his own life and things that you hear the other side of what you saw the media say about him.”
In Wellington, Melissa Oliver, from Unity Books, said the new release had also been a hot topic in store and the book was selling consistently.
“We probably haven’t had a book that’s had quite so much mainstream media coverage and pre-release press since either Michelle or Barack Obama’s books, which is quite interesting.”
Oliver expects it will make the Unity Books bestseller list this week, which is published every Friday.
In Nelson, Page and Blackmore Booksellers owner Jo Dippie said some customers had pre-ordered the book and couldn’t wait for its release, “while others recoiled in horror at the thought of yet more woe-is-me Prince Harry”.
“The multiple interviews by Prince Harry, plus newspaper articles and the leaked book excerpts possibly have dampened interest, as some may think they already know everything the book has to say.”
While people may not be queuing up to buy the book as they have in the UK, thousands have placed it on hold at their local library.
Auckland Council’s head of library services Catherine Leonard said there were 82 copies of Spare on order, four of those were audiobooks and 18 were large print books. Across all the different formats, there were more than 1500 people waiting to borrow it.
“We expect to start receiving the hard copies probably in the next week or so and they arrive in the country and go straight to our community libraries where our customers have placed their holds and want to pick them up from.”
Leonard said biographies were a popular genre at libraries - this one for several reasons.
“There’s still a high interest and perhaps a sense of connection was the British royal family in New Zealand, which is amplified the interest more than perhaps in some other countries that are not part of the Commonwealth and then there’s the whole warring prince’s element in it as well, so it’s ticking lots of boxes and I guess that just adds to the intrigue.”
For those not wanting to wait to borrow a physical copy, Leonard said the wait list for the audiobook would be much shorter. The recording is narrated by Prince Harry himself.
