A gripping drama about friendship, grief and nostalgia, set in the 1990s Auckland club scene. Debut fiction from award-winning New Zealand author of Ripiro Beach, Caroline Barron.

GOLDEN DAYS
by Caroline Barron
Affirm Press, March 2023
(via Kaplan/Defiore Rights)

Becky thought she’d left Zoe Golden and that summer far behind. Until now. Set in 1995 against the backdrop of Auckland’s burgeoning party scene, GOLDEN DAYS is the story of an intense late-teens friendship between bookish Becky and star-dusted Zoe Golden, and what happened when one terrifying night changed their lives and destroyed their friendship forever.
After finding out that her husband has been cheating on her, Becky is mourning the end of her picture-perfect marriage at the bottom of a bottle. She thought she’d left that summer far behind, but the trauma of her present day brings back memories of one horrific night.
With Zoe’s reappearance, Becky is forced to reconsider her interpretation of events, as well as where blame lies, her true nature and her place in the world. Music, clubs, art, collaboration, spirituality, sex — GOLDEN DAYS is a thrilling and nostalgic ride into the past, where nothing is as it seemed.
For fans of Daisy Jones & The Six.

Caroline Barron is an award-winning author, manuscript assessor and book coach, book reviewer and writing teacher. Her devastating memoir Ripiro Beach won the New Zealand Heritage Literary Award for Best Non-fiction Book in 2020. She holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Auckland plus a journalism degree and, in a previous life, owned and ran Nova—a leading model and talent agency. Caroline resides between Auckland and Northland’s Ripiro (Baylys) Beach, with her husband and two young daughters. GOLDEN DAYS is her first work of fiction.