I Am Rotorua – Geraldine

"It’s that serendipitous moment when you walk into, even a charity shop, and there it is.

"There’s something precious about owning a book. That you see, that you can hold, you can feel. You can turn the pages. It’s a different feeling from reading that book online.

"The type of people that come into second hand bookshops generally aren’t in a rush, ya know? They wanna browse around, they wanna look. They have time to chat. We get to know our local people who are really loyal to the shop. They like the few little quirky things we have around the store.

"The hardest books - the ones we could sell the most - are Māori historical. You know the problem in NZ is that we have a small population which means small print runs. They’re real taonga to hang on to. I think things will change though, because we’re getting a lot more books in te reo Māori. That’s a positive step forward. The books with rich Rotorua history" (she points to Don Stafford’s ‘The Founding Years’), "they’re hard to come by.

"I like historical fiction, but I got introduced to Lee Child, who’s kind of more a thriller kind. I graduated from him to another called Gregg Hurwitz who I just really love. I should get a commission for the number of times I’ve recommended him to people who do like people like Vince Flynn, Lee Child and David Baldacci."