Good news at last for historian Michael King, who is undergoing chemotherapy treatment at Waikato Hospital for throat cancer. He recently collected $60,000 when he won one of the Prime Minister's Awards For Literary Achievement. And now his highly-acclaimed Penguin History of New Zealand has debuted at #1 in the Non-Fiction for Adults chart. It has sold out its first print run of 10,000 copies.

Helen Clark said, "Michael King has established a formidable reputation as a chronicler of the history of New Zealand and its peoples," and she's right.

Tim Hanna's John Britten, another debutante, is at #2 in the charts. Other new entrants include My Dream by John Bougen at #6, and Winning Spirit by Sheila Laxon (ghost-written by Tina Shaw) at #7.