Olivia Spooner’s gripping WWII novels (most recently The American Boys) have been mainstays of NZ’s bestseller charts and were Auckland Libraries’ most-borrowed titles of 2025.

It’s a remarkable achievement. Perhaps even more remarkable is that Spooner had no interest in history until her thirties, when an encounter with a wartime story piqued her curiosity.

For Australian author Hannah Kent, a story discovered during a teenage exchange year in Iceland became the seed for her global bestseller Burial Rites and changed her life’s course.

Ockham NZ Book Awards longlisted Tracy Farr’s Wonderland – which imagines an alternative history for a real amusement park and Marie Curie on the Miramar Peninsula – began life from an overheard remark in a café.

They discuss their gripping books and the equally fascinating paths behind them with Caroline Barron (Te Uri O Hau, Pākehā).