Join the digital book club: Together We Read NZ

 

Together We Read NZ: 27 September - 11 October 2023

From 27 September to 11 October, book lovers from across Aotearoa are invited to join the country’s biggest online book club, Together We Read. This year, the chosen book is Remember Me by local author Charity Norman – a heartfelt, page-turning suspense novel. 

For two weeks, readers can borrow Remember Me on the Libby by OverDrive app with no waitlist! All you need is your Auckland Council Libraries barcode number. And if you don’t have a free library membership, join the library online today!

The Together We Read digital book club is run by OverDrive and connects readers across New Zealand’s public libraries. During the programme, readers can participate in online discussions about the book and attend an online event with the author hosted by Auckland Libraries.

How it works

Find out how to take part in Together We Read NZ!

• You’ll need a free Auckland Council Libraries membership – join online or visit your local library. 
• Download the free Libby by OverDrive app on your device from Google Play or the Apple App Store. Find out more in our guide to Libby.
• Borrow Remember Me by Charity Norman as an eBook or eAudiobook on the Libby app between 27 September and 11 October 2023. There will be no holds or waiting between these dates, so get reading!
• Join the author for a free online author event hosted by Auckland Council Libraries on Wednesday 11 October, 7-8pm. Register on Eventbrite to receive a Zoom link on the day of the event. Go to the Eventbrite event

Together We Read 2023

This year is the second New Zealand-specific edition of Together We Read. The selected novel, Remember Me by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin) explores a community that is ripped apart by new revelations about a woman’s disappearance decades earlier. This bestseller is described by author Kelly Rimmer as an “emotional tale of family, mystery and love … [Charity] is an extraordinarily talented storyteller”.

Charity Norman describes what it means to her to be selected as the Together We Read author for 2023: "As an anxious schoolgirl, the library offered me a safe haven, its shelves brimming with ideas, friendship and adventures. As a mother, libraries were magical places to bring my children – sitting on bean bags, binge reading. I’ve researched and written entire books in libraries. But a novel only comes to life when it is being read – until then, it’s just a lot of words. That’s why I’m so very excited and honoured to be a part of Together We Read, to know that readers around New Zealand will be bringing ‘Remember Me’ to life."

About the book

They never found Leah Parata. Not a boot, not a backpack, not a turquoise beanie. After she left me that day, she vanished off the face of the earth.

A close-knit community is ripped apart by disturbing revelations that cast new light on a young woman's disappearance twenty-five years ago.

After years of living overseas, Emily Kirkland returns to New Zealand to care for her father, Felix, who suffers from dementia. As his memory fades and his guard slips, she begins to understand him for the first time – and to glimpse shattering truths about his past. Truths she'd rather were kept buried.

(Publisher's description)

About the author

Charity Norman was born in Uganda and brought up in successive draughty vicarages in Yorkshire and Birmingham. After several years' of travel, she became a barrister, specialising in crime and family law in the northeast of England. Also a mediator and telephone crisis line listener, she's passionate about the power of communication to slice through the knots. 

In 2002, realising that her three children had barely met her, she took a break from the law and moved with her family to Aotearoa New Zealand. Her first novel, Freeing Grace, was published in 2010. Remember Me is her seventh book.

If you’d prefer to read a physical copy of Remember Me, request it in the library catalogue.

Discover more books by Charity Norman and similar authors in our staff-curated book list.