I've just read the'The Sugarbag Years' by Tony Simpson. It is a collection of people talking about living in NZ during the Great Slump/ Depression . The day to day details of life with wide spread poverty showed me how lucky I am . How people made do and pulled together was inspiring. This book is available to read from our very own Karamea library.
The library also has a collection of books by Bernard Cornwell. He tells riveting believable tales with an historic setting.