Greta & Valdin *Winner Best First Fiction Ockham 2022*

Bestseller and international sensation Greta & Valdin has captivated readers everywhere with its offbeat comedy and quirky goodness. Valdin is still in love with his ex-boyfriend Xabi, who used to drive around Auckland in a ute but now drives around Buenos Aires in one. Greta is in love with her fellow English tutor Holly, who doesn’t know how to pronounce Greta’s surname, Vladisavljevic, properly. From their Auckland apartment, brother and sister must navigate the intricate paths of modern romance as well as weather the small storms of their eccentric Maori–Russian–Catalonian family. This beguiling and hilarious novel by Adam Foundation Prize-winner Rebecca K Reilly owes as much to Shakespeare as it does to Tinder. Set in a world that is deeply familiar (but also a bit sexier and more stylish than the real one), Greta & Valdin will speak to anyone who has had their heart broken, or has decided that they don’t want to be a physicist anymore, or has wondered about all of the things they don’t know about their family. ‘Generous [and] tender. . . Reilly’s warm, overflowing novel defies categorization because its characters are too complex and multifaceted to be easily summed up. They’re too alive in their messiness. If this novel shows us anything, it’s that love—of family, of romantic partners, of community—is most joyful when it’s without limits.’ —The New York Times ‘Quintessential rom-com meets the delicious family sprawl of a Russian classic.’ —Vanity Fair ‘Say hello to your new favorite fictional family. In the wrong hands [Greta & Valdin] could all be quirk for quirk’s sake, or a half-baked hybrid of Schitt’s Creek and The Royal Tenenbaums. But Reilly’s humor is so riotously specific, and the many moments of true poignancy so gently infused with that same humor, that the Vladisavljevics seem like no one but themselves.’—Kirkus Reviews (*starred*) Rebecca K Reilly (Ngati Hine, Ngati Wai) is a writer from Tamaki Makaurau. Her first novel, Greta & Valdin, won the Hubert Church Prize for Best First Book, and was published by Simon & Schuster (US) and Penguin (UK) in 2024. Cover: Todd Atticus