99 books like The Raging Quiet

By Sherryl Jordan,

Here are 99 books that The Raging Quiet fans have personally recommended if you like The Raging Quiet. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Dreamhunter

Mandy Hager Author Of Singing Home The Whale

From my list on Aotearoa New Zealand's top writers for young adults.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love Aotearoa New Zealand books! Our writers are brave, feisty, original - and living in ‘the land of the long white cloud’ at the bottom of the globe gives us a unique take on the world that permeates through everything we write. But we struggle to get our voices heard internationally, so far from the rest of you! This is your chance to push out your boundaries and explore stories that derive from a culture very different from your own, while sharing the same human emotions that bring us all together. As one of these writers, I challenge you to check us out – you won’t be disappointed!

Mandy's book list on Aotearoa New Zealand's top writers for young adults

Mandy Hager Why did Mandy love this book?

Elizabeth Knox is a world-class writer with an exceptional imagination and her fantasy novel, Dreamhunter, is a great introduction to her work. Set in an alternative past, dreamhunters harvest dreams which are transmitted to the public for entertainment and therapy – or worse. Fifteen-year-old Laura Hame must enter The Place of Dreams to uncover what happened to her missing dreamhunter father and in the process reveals how the government has used dreams to control an ever-growing population of convicts and political dissenters. Those who love Philip Pullman or Garth Nix won’t be disappointed.

By Elizabeth Knox,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dreamhunter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

Laura comes from a world similar to our own but for one difference: The Place. An unfathomable land filled with dreams of every kind and invisible to all but a select few: the Dreamhunters. Treated as celebrities, the Dreamhunters catch larger-than-life dreams and relay them to audiences in the magnificent dream palace, The Rainbow Opera.

Now, 15 year-old Laura and her cousin Rose are going to find out whether they are part of this prestigious group. But nothing in their darkest nightmares can prepare them for what they are about to discover. For within the Place lies a horrific secret…


Book cover of The Catalogue of the Universe

Mandy Hager Author Of Singing Home The Whale

From my list on Aotearoa New Zealand's top writers for young adults.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love Aotearoa New Zealand books! Our writers are brave, feisty, original - and living in ‘the land of the long white cloud’ at the bottom of the globe gives us a unique take on the world that permeates through everything we write. But we struggle to get our voices heard internationally, so far from the rest of you! This is your chance to push out your boundaries and explore stories that derive from a culture very different from your own, while sharing the same human emotions that bring us all together. As one of these writers, I challenge you to check us out – you won’t be disappointed!

Mandy's book list on Aotearoa New Zealand's top writers for young adults

Mandy Hager Why did Mandy love this book?

Perhaps our greatest writer for children and young adult fiction, two-time Carnegie Medal winner Margaret Mahy, this book won the 2005 Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association. Essentially it’s a love story, but not as you’ve ever experienced it before. It’s brainy, surprising, endearing, and really, really worth a read!  

By Margaret Mahy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Catalogue of the Universe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

Determined to satisfy her curiosity about her unknown father, eighteen-year-old Angela May embarks on an emotional journey that shapes and forever alters the way she looks at herself, her unconventional mother, and her devoted friend Tycho. Reprint.


Book cover of I Am Not Esther

Mandy Hager Author Of Singing Home The Whale

From my list on Aotearoa New Zealand's top writers for young adults.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love Aotearoa New Zealand books! Our writers are brave, feisty, original - and living in ‘the land of the long white cloud’ at the bottom of the globe gives us a unique take on the world that permeates through everything we write. But we struggle to get our voices heard internationally, so far from the rest of you! This is your chance to push out your boundaries and explore stories that derive from a culture very different from your own, while sharing the same human emotions that bring us all together. As one of these writers, I challenge you to check us out – you won’t be disappointed!

Mandy's book list on Aotearoa New Zealand's top writers for young adults

Mandy Hager Why did Mandy love this book?

This gripping psychological thriller centers around a girl who is caught up in a religious cult, her name changed and all her supports ripped away. How will she survive this? Will she be able to escape? Still in print after 20 years, this book won the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-loved Book 2009.

By Fleur Beale,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I Am Not Esther as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

A classic bestseller that's been in print for over 20 years, this gripping YA thriller follows a teenage girl caught in a religious cult.

Imagine that your mother tells you she's going away. She is going to leave you with relatives you've never heard of - and they are members of a strict religious cult. Your name is changed, and you are forced to follow the severe set of social standards set by the cult. There is no television, no radio, no newspaper. No mirrors. You must wear long, modest clothes. You don't know where your mother is, and you…


Book cover of Under the Mountain

Mandy Hager Author Of Singing Home The Whale

From my list on Aotearoa New Zealand's top writers for young adults.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love Aotearoa New Zealand books! Our writers are brave, feisty, original - and living in ‘the land of the long white cloud’ at the bottom of the globe gives us a unique take on the world that permeates through everything we write. But we struggle to get our voices heard internationally, so far from the rest of you! This is your chance to push out your boundaries and explore stories that derive from a culture very different from your own, while sharing the same human emotions that bring us all together. As one of these writers, I challenge you to check us out – you won’t be disappointed!

Mandy's book list on Aotearoa New Zealand's top writers for young adults

Mandy Hager Why did Mandy love this book?

This book for younger YA’s has some of the creepiest villains you’ll ever meet and knuckle-biting tension as the heroes are chased by the evil Wilberforces, slug-like shapeshifters who live under Auckland’s extinct volcanoes. Their goal is the destruction of the world and only red-haired twins Rachel and Theo Matheson can stop them, with the help of the strange Mr. Jones, who helps the twins unleash their supernatural power.

By Maurice Gee,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Under the Mountain as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Beneath the extinct volcanoes surrounding the city, giant creatures are waking from a spellbound sleep that has lasted thousands of years. Their goal is the destruction of the world. Rachel and Theo Matheson are twins. Apart from having red hair, there is nothing remarkable about them - or so they think. They are horrified to discover that they have a strange and awesome destiny. Only the Matheson twins can save the world from the terror of what is under the mountain. Also available as an eBook


Book cover of The Boy with Two Shadows

Elissa Brent Weissman Author Of Hanukkah Upside Down

From my list on New Zealand.

Why am I passionate about this?

My family and I moved from America to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2019. As a children’s author, one of the best parts has been discovering a new world of literature. New Zealand is a very small country, so bookstores, libraries, and schools are filled with books from the U.S., the UK, Australia, and more. As one New Zealander so eloquently put it, “Kiwi kids read the world.” On the flip side, it’s extremely rare for books from New Zealand publishers to make it to other parts of the world, no matter how great they are. I hope this introduction to Kiwi KidLit makes you eager to seek out even more!

Elissa's book list on New Zealand

Elissa Brent Weissman Why did Elissa love this book?

There’s no way to talk about Kiwi KidLit without acknowledging Margaret Mahy, New Zealand’s most celebrated children’s writer and the author of more than 120 books.

The Boy with Two Shadows is a classic from 1971 about a witch who entrusts a boy with her shadow for two weeks.

I love how the playful story and language have some bite—there’s a deliciously sharp edge here that you won’t find in picture books today. Add wonderfully retro illustrations by Jenny Williams, and you feel instantly transported to 1970s New Zealand.

By Margaret Mahy, Jenny Williams (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Boy with Two Shadows as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

There once was a little boy who took great care of his shadow...

One day a witch notices the care he has for his shadow and asks him to look after her shadow while she goes away on holiday. But minding a witch's shadow turns out to be more complicated than the boy ever imagined!

Discover a magical and mischievous story about a boy, a witch and one cheeky shadow.

From the celebrated children's writer Margaret Mahy and award-winning illustrator Sarah Greig.

Book cover of Half the World from Home: Perspectives on the Irish in New Zealand, 1860-1950

Rebecca Lenihan Author Of From Alba to Aotearoa: Profiling New Zealand's Scots Migrants 1840-1920

From my list on British and Irish migration to Aotearoa New Zealand.

Why am I passionate about this?

Understanding the demographic, technological, and cultural pressures that prompt migration fascinates me. What makes a person leave behind everything they have ever known to go somewhere they have never seen, knowing the move is probably permanent? What features of individual and group identity are most important when you are on the other side of the world from everything that previously formed that identity? Examining such questions makes me reflect on my life and what makes me me. For example, visiting Scotland for my PhD research made me realize that I was not ‘New Zealand European’ but a New Zealander, which is a distinct identity. 

Rebecca's book list on British and Irish migration to Aotearoa New Zealand

Rebecca Lenihan Why did Rebecca love this book?

What I love most about this book is its challenge for New Zealand historians to examine the role of different British cultures in shaping New Zealand society. Akenson, a Canadian author, took a one-year research fellowship in New Zealand, and this resulting book has changed the face of migration studies in New Zealand in the decades since.

He describes previous works as cementing a tradition of biculturalism, ‘lumping… all white settlers into a spurious unity’, but more than just laying down the challenge to do something about that ‘lumping,’ he then shows a way forward, examining the Irish in New Zealand. Marvellous!

By Donald Harman Akenson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Half the World from Home as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Book by Akenson, Donald H


Book cover of A Woman of Good Character: Single Women as Immigrant Settlers in Nineteenth Century New Zealand

Rebecca Lenihan Author Of From Alba to Aotearoa: Profiling New Zealand's Scots Migrants 1840-1920

From my list on British and Irish migration to Aotearoa New Zealand.

Why am I passionate about this?

Understanding the demographic, technological, and cultural pressures that prompt migration fascinates me. What makes a person leave behind everything they have ever known to go somewhere they have never seen, knowing the move is probably permanent? What features of individual and group identity are most important when you are on the other side of the world from everything that previously formed that identity? Examining such questions makes me reflect on my life and what makes me me. For example, visiting Scotland for my PhD research made me realize that I was not ‘New Zealand European’ but a New Zealander, which is a distinct identity. 

Rebecca's book list on British and Irish migration to Aotearoa New Zealand

Rebecca Lenihan Why did Rebecca love this book?

What I love most about this book is the focus on women. That sounds really obvious, given the title, but it’s unusual. Male migrants are so easy to find in historical sources. On shipping lists, women and children were often only recorded as ‘wife and 5 children’ of a named man.

Due to this bias in the primary sources, men are usually at the center of 19th-century migration literature. Their experience is taken as the norm. Their motivations are assumed to be the ones guiding the migration. So I really love that this spotlight on women highlights the experiences and importance of these migrants to New Zealand and also that it has forced historians who have come after this publication to try harder to include women in their migration stories, too. 

By Charlotte Macdonald,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Woman of Good Character as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Between the 1840s and 1880s, thousands of young single women came to New Zealand as assisted migrants from Britain and Ireland. In this detailed study of forgotten lives, Charlotte Macdonald highlights the experiences and identities of a vitally important migrant group, one previously overshadowed by the stories of gold diggers, pastoralists, soldiers, adventurers and agricultural labourers.Macdonald, a pioneer of research into women’s history, brings a new perspective on New Zealand’s European settlement. Her compelling study will appeal to anyone seeking to investigate the origins of contemporary New Zealand identity.


Book cover of Children of the Furnace

Mandy Hager Author Of The Nature of Ash

From my list on speculative YA fiction from Aotearoa New Zealand.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a writer from Aotearoa New Zealand, I’ve always been interested in social justice and human rights, and my own writing explores such issues, including who holds the power and who exerts the control. By writing about real-world issues in a speculative future, it allows us to peel back the layers of conditioning and look at ourselves and our actions through the eyes of an outsider – which forces us to examine our best and worst human traits. I love the way speculative fiction can do this, and I love that it challenges us to do better.  

Mandy's book list on speculative YA fiction from Aotearoa New Zealand

Mandy Hager Why did Mandy love this book?

The first in a trilogy, it takes a little while to adjust your reading ‘ear’ to the strange new language used, but then you’re rewarded by another great speculative cli-fi novel, with complex, layered characters, lots of tension, and a plot that will challenge you to think harder about how climate change may affect the future. 

By Brin Murray,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Children of the Furnace as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Truth died in the fires. Only through courage can it be born again. Under the iron rule of the Revelayshun, one boy discovers the truth… ‘Ty promised my ma he’d bring me up right. Bring him up to hear the rhythm beat, she said, and to feel the heartsblood warm. Not Strong – not in their way – but strong in the ways of the heart.’ When the Revelayshun murders his pa, Wil discovers through savage inquisition that he’s marked as a Heater, one of the old-time heretics who burned up the world. But Wil holds the key to a…


Book cover of World War II Letters: A Glimpse into the Heart of the Second World War Through the Eyes of Those Who Were Fighting It

Clément Horvath Author Of Till Victory: The Second World War By Those Who Were There

From my list on World War II letters.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a Frenchman with a great interest in the history of the Second World War, specializing in the correspondence of Allied soldiers. Almost 20 years of collecting WWII letters led to the publication of my first book Till Victory which was an award-winning bestseller in France, before it was released in English worldwide in 2021. I also host a podcast (Till Victory: a podcast about WWII and Peace), where I interview British and American veterans, and have made documentaries such as Red Beret & Dark Chocolate or The Missing Highlander. It's all about trying to understand what the young men who fought and died to liberate my country went through when they were my age.

Clément's book list on World War II letters

Clément Horvath Why did Clément love this book?

Finally, a book with WWII letters that doesn’t focus exclusively on the British or Americans! Some of the soldiers are also from Australia, New Zealand, and even Germany! It helps to have a broader view of the conflict and it is very interesting to observe the differences in points of view. Moreover, this book provides the reader with beautiful photos of the letter writers, in addition to their names and stories before and after the war. Unfortunately, there is little or no historical context surrounding each letter, which is not disturbing when one is already familiar with the subject but is essential to understand all their subtleties.

By Bill Adler (editor), Tracy Quinn McLennan (contributor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked World War II Letters as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Writers from 20 Allied and Axis countries are gathered in this unique collection of letters from service-men and women to their friends, families and sweethearts. WORLD WAR II LETTERS provides an unflinching perspective on the lives of those who served throughout the world - in Europe, the Pacific, Northern Africa and Asia. Wide-ranging in scope, WORLD WAR II LETTERS includes writings by officers and infantry, nurses and doctors, pilots, POWs, those injured in action, killed in combat, and those reported missing. Introductory biographies and photographs vividly capture military life before, during and after the war.


Book cover of The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield

Reginald Gibbons Author Of Sweetbitter

From my list on characters’ life of feeling and cultural context.

Why am I passionate about this?

Nothing about the art of writing is more interesting to me—as both reader and writer—than the power of language to open, or to enhance, or to teach, our perceptions about life and about living in the richest emotional and thoughtful ways possible. My own Sweetbitter is my major effort at imagining in language or with language as a kind of perception. Our intuitions are immensely valuable, when we can catch hold of them; for the writer, the process of imagining and articulating is a kind of method of deepening our perceptiveness and our intuitions. My books of poems, also, are a necessary—for me—practice of the art of writing.

Reginald's book list on characters’ life of feeling and cultural context

Reginald Gibbons Why did Reginald love this book?

I *adore* Katherine Mansfield’s work. She wrote short stories, not novels.

She was still rather young when she died of tuberculosis. Her portrayals of love, family, and especially of children, are for me gloriously wonderful with insight and perceptiveness about relationships. From the New Zealand settings of many of her stories (where she was born and grew up), she emigrated to London, then to France (where she received medical treatment for TB), and Switzerland (also for treatment for TB—unsuccessful).

She seems to me a lonely genius—perceiving deeply not only other persons (of many sorts) on whom she modeled her short stories but also herself. Her seemingly idyllic childhood in NZ is perhaps the core source of her accomplishment—especially the novellas At the Bay and Prelude. But her adult life was difficult and she seems to have been uncertain about her writing, even though to me she seems a genius…

By Katherine Mansfield,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With an Introduction and Notes by Professor Stephen Arkin, San Francisco State University.

Katherine Mansfield is widely regarded as a writer who helped create the modern short story. Born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1888, she came to London in 1903 to attend Queen's College and returned permanently in 1908. her first book of stories, In a German Pension, appeared in 1911, and she went on to write and publish an extraordinary body of work. This edition of The Collected Stories brings together all of the stories that Mansfield had written up until her death in January of 1923.

With…


Book cover of Dreamhunter
Book cover of The Catalogue of the Universe
Book cover of I Am Not Esther

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