Join author Terri Te Tau for the launch of her remarkable debut novel, The Valley of Unlikely Acquaintances, which follows one close-knit Māori community and the Wairarapa forest they are fighting to restore.

Pre-order your copy through Spoor Books here ahead of its release. 

Tīria is a revolutionary scientist – or so she likes to think. Her work at the whānau-led Kōpuaranga Research Centre has transformed the valley’s reforestation efforts. But not everyone is convinced that genetically edited cats belong in the ngahere. While Tīria juggles disciplinary hearings and fieldwork with hot scientists, her best friend Lydia is left trying to hold the hapori together. When human remains are found in a nearby cave, the valley is drawn into speculation. What begins as an isolated discovery soon reveals unsettling ties to the 1800s, when the region’s ecological devastation first began. As rumours spread and tensions escalate, Lydia and Tīria are pulled into a history that promises to redefine not only the research centre, but the future of the community and the forest they call home.

Praise for The Valley of Unlikely Acquaintances:

“Dripping in small-town charisma, rongoā, and twists.” — Coco Solid

“An unputdownable environmental epic ... at once intimate and hilarious, with characters that are now wrapped around my heart.” — Laura Jean McKay

“Ethereal and intelligent.” — Lauren Keenan

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Terri Te Tau (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne ki Wairarapa) is a writer and artist, and the 2026 Emerging Māori Writer in Residence at the IIML, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Te Tau is a member of the art collective Mataaho, whose work won the Golden Lion at the 2024 Venice Biennale. Her writing has appeared in a range of publications, and her short story Hīkoi Whetū won the Emerging Māori category of the Sunday Star Times short story competition in 2024.