Witi Ihimaera’s Sky Dancer has slotted into the #1 spot in the New Zealand Fiction for Adults charts, but the real surprise is the big drop to #5 for the previous leader, Maurice Gee’s The Scornful Moon.

Straight in at #2 is new entrant By Bread Alone by Sarah-Kate Lynch (pictured), the former editor of Woman's Weekly and New Zealand’s leading 'chick lit' writer. Different editions of Whale Rider take up the #3 and #4 spots; with three out of the top five books in his name, Ihimaera can expect a Christmas card from his bank manager this year.

In the Non Fiction for Adults list, Ian Brodie’s Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook (2nd edition) has ridden the wave of interest in LOTR and landed at #1. Christian Cullen is displaced to #2. Familiar titles pack out the rest of the top ten (Edmond’s Cookbook, etc.), so the gift-buying season must now be upon us…