COMING SOON
The Valley of Unlikely Acquaintances
A NOVEL BY TERRI TE TAU
$ 38.00
A remarkable debut that follows one close-knit Māori community and the Wairarapa forest they are fighting to restore.
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 romantic field trips, 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.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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. She is a member of the art collective Mataaho, whose work won the Golden Lion at the 2024 Venice Biennale. She holds a PhD in Creative Arts from Massey University, and her story “Hīkoi Whetū” won the Emerging Māori Writer category of the 2024 Sunday Star-Times Short Story Award.
Photo: Rebecca McMillan
PRAISE
“This is a real deal Māori sci-fi thriller dripping in small-town charisma, rongoā, and twists. Terri Te Tau somehow manages to prove, with eye-watering brains and a bit of Indigenous futurism, that the highest technology in the cosmos truly is our whakapapa.”
— Coco Solid
“Ethereal and intelligent, it beautifully captures a sense of time that’s grounded in te ao Māori.”
— Lauren Keenan
“A celebration of ecology and love. An unputdownable environmental epic of time travel, mana whenua, and entanglement—at once intimate and hilarious, with characters that are now wrapped around my heart. Terri Te Tau is an extraordinary talent. The world needs this stunning debut right now.”
— Laura Jean McKay
“Terri’s celebrated work as part of the Mataaho Collective turns out to be only one aspect of her creativity. The [IIML Emerging Māori Writer in Residence] selection panel was bowled over by her fiction. She’s a writer to watch!”
— Damien Wilkins
“It captured me immediately, with a visually evocative opening line ... This writer created an entire universe with an economy of words ... It is rich with authentic dialogue and very Māori-specific humour.”
— Emma Wehipeihana on “Hīkoi Whetū”
INFORMATION
Published: 10 September 2026
ISBN: 978-1-0670189-1-7
Format: Paperback