The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending February 6

1 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Michael Joseph, $38)

“I wrote The Correspondent when my last novel wasn’t selling, and in fact I was probably coming to some terms with the possibility that nothing I wrote would ever sell,” wrote Evans on Instagram. “I had been through the process several times with failure always the result, so when I started on the fictional letters of Sybil Van Antwerp I wasn’t ever thinking I’d show them to anyone. It was a kind of break I was taking, writing only for myself, and I can’t say exactly why it worked this time around, but I imagine it has something to do with that abandon with which I wrote precisely the book I myself wanted to read, without the consciousness of an audience. I don’t think there is anything noble in it, it’s just the truth about how this book came to be.”

2 Departure(s) by Julian Barnes (Jonathan Cape, $38)

“Departure(s) is a novel, but not only a novel; its fictional characters may in fact be real people, according to whether or not we believe Barnes, and there is a significant portion of autobiography, which he dares us to disbelieve (‘google that if you wish’). One of these made-up real people would not approve: ‘This hybrid stuff you do – I think it’s a mistake. You should do one thing or the other,’ Jean tells him. Luckily/sadly, she’s dead, and he can tell us the story that he promised her he never would: of how he introduced her to Stephen when they were all at Oxford, witnessed the flourishing and dissolution of their youthful love affair, and then reintroduced them in late middle age only to watch the whole cycle repeat.” Read the rest of this fine review of Barnes’ final novel on The Guardian.

3 Flesh by David Szalay (Jonathan Cape, $38)

The 2025 Booker Prize winner.

4 Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara (Ebury Press, $40)

The chef that turned an average spot into the best restaurant in the world tells us how he did it.

5 Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent (Āporo Press, $35)

Back in the charts! No doubt due to being longlisted for this year’s Ockhams.

6 Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy (Fourth Estate, $35)

From the bestselling author of I’m Glad My Mom Died (this new one is a novel, though).

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

Triplets and sinister secrets!

8 The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller (Spectra, $28)

Longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize and popping back up in here for uncertain reasons.

9 Sympathy Tower Tokyo by Rie Qudan (Penguin, $30)

Intrigued by this publisher’s blurb: “Welcome to the Japan of tomorrow. Here, the practice of a radical sympathy toward criminals has become the norm – and a grand skyscraper in the heart of Tokyo is planned to house wrongdoers in compassionate comfort. Acclaimed architect Sara Machina has been tasked with designing the city’s new centrepiece, but is riven by doubt. As she casts her mind to the terrible crime she experienced as a young girl, she wonders if she might think against the grain of her time- could it be that criminals deserve the punishment and disdain of the past? In search of solace, in need of creative inspiration, Sara turns to the knowing words of an AI chatbot…”

10 The Wax Child by Olga Ravn (Viking Penguin, $40) 

A dark story of the 17th century Danish witch trials, narrated by … a wax child.

WELLINGTON

1 Departure(s) by Julian Barnes (Jonathan Cape, $38)

2 Flesh by David Szalay (Jonathan Cape, $38)

3 Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press, $28) 

Word on the street is that O’Farrell’s latest novel, Land, is also getting the screenplay treatment.

4 Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Michael Joseph, $38)

One puff quote describes this book as “bananapants” – compliment?

5 Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent (Āporo Press, $35)

6 The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Phoenix House, $28)

Sad stranger ruins wedding.

7 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Michael Joseph, $38)

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

Still going strong! Get a preview of this magnificent doorstopper right here on The Spinoff.

9 Good Economy by Craig Renney (Bridget Williams Books, $20)

“In The Good Economy, economist Craig Renney asks what kind of economy we want – and who it should serve,” explains the blurb. “Through sharp analysis and the voices of New Zealanders – from workers and business owners to young people and community leaders – they explore the values shaping our current system, how we got here, and what it would take to build something fairer and more resilient.”

10 This Way Up: When Maps Go Wrong (& Why it Matters) by Map Men (HarperCollins, $40) 

Cartographic chaos.