This second novel by the author of The Widow's Daughter confirms Nicholas Edlin's growing reputation as one of New Zealand's finest young novelists. Mae Glass is the daughter of a once-famous American novelist. From New York to Auckland via post-war Korea, her colourful childhood was itself the stuff of stories. Thirty years later, a lawyer working in the Auckland crown prosecutor's office, she travels back to booming Seoul, which is preparing to host the Olympic Games. However, in Korea nothing is as it seems. Accompanied by a quirky, dubious team of guides, she tries to uncover the dark secret of her father's wartime exploits. But as she stalks the elusive mystery, Mae finds herself besieged by all manner of ghosts from the past – her Korean childhood sweetheart, her estranged husband, her only son ... The Below Country is a haunting, beautifully written novel about fragile innocence and the effects of loss. The powerful, ever-present thread of mystery and...

Downtown, wartime Auckland. Victoria Park is swamped by a vast American military camp and Ponsonby Road is a sometimes wild place of bars, drunken soldiers and brothels. Peter Sokel is a surgeon with the US Marines who falls in love with Emily. Soon he is out of control and behaving recklessly. But there's something strange about Emily's family, particularly the brooding manservant and Emily's brother Oscar. When Peter is accused of killing Oscar he goes AWOL. For every action, however, there is a consequence, especially in the Marines – there's now a price to pay. Years later, an older and wiser Peter tries to make sense of his bizarre war in New Zealand. Nicholas Edlin's startling debut novel brilliantly captures the Auckland of the early 1940s and weaves a spellbinding story of love and betrayal that will linger in the reader's mind.