The Free-Range Bookclub
Bookclubbers without boundaries in Nelson, New Zealand
Category: Environmental fiction
What We Can Know – Ian McEwan
Posted on July 8, 2026 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Sally In 2014 a great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate about its message, but no copy has yet been found. In 2119 the lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas.… Continue Reading “What We Can Know – Ian McEwan”
How To Paint A Nude – Sam Mahon
Posted on April 22, 2026 by thefreerangebookclub
A local artist and a Belaruisan refugee meet regularly at a Christchurch cafe to discuss life, art and politics. A priest once told me that we fall in love with people with whom we have wounds in common, that in caring for them we’re… Continue Reading “How To Paint A Nude – Sam Mahon”
All Her Lives – Ingrid Horrocks
Posted on April 15, 2026 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS All Her Lives is a collection of nine linked stories about women throughout the ages who have battled, persevered and instigated change, and whom are finding their place in society. Did homecoming have to be this, too? Being outside,… Continue Reading “All Her Lives – Ingrid Horrocks”
Hum – Helen Phillips
Posted on September 17, 2025 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Rachel In a climate ravaged dystopian future where robots (Hums) take the every day jobs of humans and surveillance is at an all time high, a woman undergoes experiental facial surgery in order to pay her bills and treat her… Continue Reading “Hum – Helen Phillips”
Category: AI, Climate Fiction, Climate Fiction Prize, Contemporary fiction, Domestic Fiction, Dystopian, Environmental fiction, Family drama, Female Experience, Literary fiction, Political, Psychological, Realist, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Surreal, Thriller, US fictionTags: Free Range Bookclub 2025
Endling – Maria Reva
Posted on August 21, 2025 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Jodie Three women – a maverick biologist and two sisters embroiled in the Russian bride industry and searching for their missing mother – kidnap 13 hopeful bachelors and race across Ukraine trying to find a mate for a last-of-its-kind Lefty… Continue Reading “Endling – Maria Reva”
Wild Dark Shore – Charlotte McConaghy
Posted on May 28, 2025 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Rachel Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny sub-antarctic island that is home to the world’s largest seed bank. It is being destroyed by climate change and while the Salts await rescuers, a woman washes… Continue Reading “Wild Dark Shore – Charlotte McConaghy”
The Mires – Tina Makereti
Posted on April 4, 2025 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS Three neighbouring families in a small New Zealand town become acquaintances, some get along, others are suspicious of each other. Some share an attraction, another has a strange gift for premonition and another is acting cagey and has secrets… Continue Reading “The Mires – Tina Makereti”
Category: Climate Fiction, Colonisation, Contemporary fiction, Cultural, Domestic Fiction, Environmental fiction, Female Experience, Immigrant story, Kiwi lit, Literary fiction, Magical Realism, Māori Fiction, NZ Book Awards, Political, Realist, Speculative FictionTags: Free Range Bookclub 2025, Kiwi Fiction, Ockham NZ Book Awards
Orbital – Samantha Harvey
Posted on November 2, 2024 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKERTHON One day in the life of six astronauts in a space station, hurtling around earth 16 times. They admire and ponder life from afar, considering humanity from the Big Bang, current environmental crises through to thoughts on where humanity might end… Continue Reading “Orbital – Samantha Harvey”
Held – Anne Michaels
Posted on October 30, 2024 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKERTHON Beginning with a soldier injured in the WWI trenches and observing three subsequent generations of family, Held is a kaleidoscopic narrative of memories, dreams and the supernatural. Held together by symbols, metaphors and motifs rather than a traditional linear narrative, Michaels… Continue Reading “Held – Anne Michaels”
Stone Yard Devotional – Charlotte Wood
Posted on October 25, 2024 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKERTHON A grieving, unnamed narrator attends a spiritual retreat at a convent, departs and returns again with no plan of leaving. As an atheist she is committed to giving back through hard work rather than praying. Set over Covid, the narrator finds… Continue Reading “Stone Yard Devotional – Charlotte Wood”
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