AUSTRALIAN FICTIONWelcome to the Booksellers’Choice Summer Guide!We are delighted to share with youa selection of the best books for theseason as chosen and reviewed byAustralia’s leading booksellers.There is something to suit everyone– new Australian and internationalfiction, compelling life stories, history,nature and science books, gorgeousillustrated editions and a greatselection of children’s and YA reads.Happy reading!DamascusChristos TsiolkasAllen & UnwinPB $32.99Damascus is animaginative work ofsoaring ambition andachievement, immensepower and epic scope,taking as its subject the events surrounding thebirth and establishment of the Christian church.Based around the gospels and letters of St Pauland some characters two generations on fromthe death of Christ, Tsiolkas explores the themesof religion, masculinity, patriarchy, colonisation,exile and the ways in which individuals, familiesand communities are united and divided.BrunyHeather RoseAllen & UnwinPB $32.99In a not-too-distant worldAmerica has retreated fromthe UN, Australia’s closestally is China, and Daesh’sinfluence is spreading. When construction of ahigh-tech bridge to the tourist island of Bruny isbombed, Astrid Coleman agrees to investigate.Navigating her family and the politics of thebridge, Astrid uncovers a startling truth about thelengths people and governments will go to fortheir beliefs. From the winner of the 2017 StellaPrize The Museum of Modern Love.There WasStill LoveFavel ParrettHachette AustraliaPB $29.99Favel Parrett’s eagerlyawaited third novel is amesmerising and heartwrenchingstory of a familyseparated by war and politics. Alternating scenesin Melbourne and Prague capture the immigrantexperience both for those who stay behind andthose making a new life in far-away lands, andthe strength of the love that can stretch betweenthe two. A book that will stay with you long afteryou read the last sentence.The Wife andthe WidowChristian WhiteAffirm PressPB $32.99Set in a coastal town inthe middle of winter,this murder mystery istold from two differentperspectives, Kate, the widow of the manmurdered and Abby, the wife of the manaccused of his murder. As events unfold, bothwomen come to realise they didn’t really knowtheir husbands as well as they thought they did.Full of twists and turns like White’s The NowhereChild that will have you guessing right up untilthe very end.The Red HandPeter TempleText PublishingPB $32.99The late Peter Templewas considered amongthe very best: the firstAustralian to win theGold Dagger and theonly crime writer to winthe Miles Franklin Literary Award. This collectionof short fiction, reviews, essays and an originalscreenplay, plus most of an unfinished JackIrish novel, is connected by Temple’s trademarkwit, intelligence and love of Australia. Anentertaining introduction by publisher MichaelHeyward rounds out this tribute to a master.The WeekendCharlotte WoodAllen & UnwinPB $29.99When Sylvie, the linchpin ina group of four old friendsdies, it creates a distancebetween the others, withold secrets and resentments coming to thesurface. Jude, who ran a successful restaurant,Wendy, a respected academic, and Adele, amostly unemployed actress, gather over theChristmas weekend to clear out Sylvie’s beachhouse. Often darkly funny, this is an explorationof growing old, growing up, and what happenswhen we are forced to uncover the protectivelies we tell ourselves.The RichMan’s HouseAndrew McGahanAllen & UnwinPB $32.99A billionaire’s controversialmansion sits atop a peakadjacent to the Wheel, amountain rising 25 kilometres above the SouthernOcean. The architect, Richard Gausse, and severalworkers were killed during construction. WhenGausse’s daughter Rita accepts an invitation to themansion, she and the other guests find themselvestrapped in a fight for survival. The last novel by thewinner of the 2005 Miles Franklin Literary Award,The White Earth.Maybe theHorse Will TalkElliot PerlmanVintage AustraliaPB $32.99Everyone has problems.Stephen Maserov hasthem too; work, marriage,money. To save it all, he will have to do thingshe has never done before… This fast-paced,laugh-out-loud, account of life in a big legalfirm is a love story, a reflection on contemporarymarriage, and further, an examination of thegreater issues that affect us in workplaceseverywhere in the twenty-first century. By theauthor of Seven Types of Ambiguity andThe Street Sweeper.The Bee and theOrange TreeMelissa AshleyAffirm PressHB $35.00The incredible story ofthe woman who invented‘fairy tales’. In 1699 thesalons of Paris are filledwith the creative energy of fierce, independentmindedwomen, but the patriarchal forces ofLouis XIV and the Catholic Church are curbingtheir freedoms. Three women’s illusions will beshattered as they learn how far they will go topreserve their liberty in a society determined tocontrol them. A portrait of a time, a place, andthe subversive power of the imagination.SilverChris HammerAllen & UnwinPB $32.99Troubled journalist MartinScarsden returns to hishometown, Port Silver,this time with his newpartner, Mandy Blonde.Upon arrival he learnsof the brutal murder of his best friend from hisschooldays, with Mandy becoming the primesuspect in the murder. In his quest to pursue thetruth, Martin must overcome many obstacles toclear his partner from the crime. The past is everpresent and this time there is no escape. Fromthe bestselling author of Scrublands.Cilka’s JourneyHeather MorrisEchoPB $32.99In 1942, at just sixteen,Cilka is imprisoned inAuschwitz-Birkenau. Thereshe captures the eyeof the Commandant atBirkenau, Schwarzhuber.On eventual release, she is charged as acollaborator and sent to the Siberian gulag.There a female doctor takes her under her wingand teaches her to care for patients. HeatherMorris has written an uplifting novel thatcaptures the kindness and love possible in eventhe darkest of atrocities. From the bestsellingauthor of The Tattooist of Auschwitz.02Being Black ‘NChicken & ChipsMatt OkineHachette AustraliaPB $29.99Mike Amon is a teenager,which in itself brings enoughchallenges. Between firstkisses and fitting in, he doesn’t want to worryabout his mum having cancer and living with adad he doesn’t really know. Matt Okine, astand-up comedian, best known for his time asa Triple J breakfast presenter, is able to tacklegrief, puberty and racism with a unique lightnessand humour that makes this book an emotionaland wonderful read.Act of GraceAnna KrienBlack Inc | PB $32.99A brilliant meditation on fear and sacrifice,trauma and survival, as the lives of four charactersintersect over decades – Toohey, an Australiansoldier back from Baghdad with shrapnelin his neck and crippled by PTSD; teenagerRobbie, grappling with her father’s early onset dementia; Nasim,an aspiring Iraqi pianist whose family falls from favour with SaddamHussein; and Gerry, Toohey’s son, who must find a way to heal froma childhood of violence and damage.Wolfe IslandLucy TreloarPicador AustraliaPB $29.99From the author of SaltCreek, this is the tale ofKitty Hawke who livesalone on an island in theUS north-east —a witness to the island’s erosionwhile clinging to the ghosts of her past. Newsof mainland turmoil is distant until threats drawcloser and refugees arrive. Forced to flee fortheir lives, they journey north through winter, andKitty must decide what she will do to protect thepeople she loves.The Old LieClaire G. ColemanHachette AustraliaPB $32.99Similar to Claire G. Coleman’sdebut book Terra Nullius, weare presented with a familiarAustralia in an unfamiliarway. Set in an intergalactic war between theFederation (Earth) and the Conglomeration(other planets), Coleman recontextualizes ourhistory with war and Country asking us again todraw parallels with the experience of IndigenousAustralian’s through a sci-fi story.Paris SavagesKatherine JohnsonVentura Press | PB $32.99This historical novel follows the journey of threeBadtjala people in 1882 who are taken from theirnative Fraser Island to the bustle of Europe. Therethey perform for people in some of the world’smost famous cities. But when the fascination ofthese foreign crowds becomes intrusive, Bonny, Dorondera andJurano realise that they must find a way to return home. A novel thatbrings a little-known period of history to life and provides a scorchingexamination of cultural injustice.Boy Swallows UniverseTrent Dalton4th Estate Aus | PB $19.99Winner of the ABA Booksellers’ Choice Book ofthe Year Award. A wonderful novel of love, crime,magic, fate and coming of age, set in Brisbane’sviolent working-class suburban fringe–from oneof Australia’s most exciting new writers. Now alsoavailable in a gorgeous gift edition, RRP$39.99*.*while stocks last.The TestamentsMargaret AtwoodCHATTO & WINDUS | HB $42.99Girl, Woman, OtherBernardine EvaristoHAMISH HAMILTON | HB $35.00Winners of the Booker Prize 2019. Margaret Atwood’sThe Testaments, the sequel to the dystopian The Handmaid’sTale which brings the story of Gilead to its dramatic conclusion,and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other – a love song toblack Britain told by twelve very different women – have sharedthis year’s most prestigious international literary prize.2019 Award WinnersThe ErraticsVicki Laveau-Harvie4th Estate Aus | PB $22.99Winner of the 2019 StellaPrize. When her elderly mother ishospitalised unexpectedly, Vickitravels to her parents’ isolated ranchhome in Alberta, Canada, to helpher father. She has been estrangedfrom her parents for many years andis horrified by what she discovers onher arrival.Too Much LipMelissa LucashenkoUQP | PB $29.95Winner of the 2019 MilesFranklin Literary Award.Wise-cracking Kerry Salter hasspent a lifetime avoiding two things– her hometown and prison. Butnow her Pop is dying and she’s aninch away from the lockup, so sheheads south on a stolen Harley.03
No information found