THE WHITE GIRL

TONY BIRCH

AUSTRALIAN FICTION

$29.99

Tony Birch has written some incredible books – Common People, Blood and Ghost River – but The White Girl is my favourite and definitely one of the best Australian books of last year. The White Girl is about the devastating 1960s policy of taking Indigenous children from their families. Odette is raising her granddaughter Sissy on the fringe of a small country town, when a new sergeant arrives, resolved to "protect" and "uplift" Sissy. The importance of these kind of narratives cannot be overstated and, as always, Tony Birch is insightful and intelligent in his critiques of Australian society and history. However, it’s clear that not just his politics and his knowledge, but his heart and his grief are all over these pages. This is a story of love, family, women, protection and terrible wrong-doing: it is brilliantly told and completely unforgettable.

— REVIEWED BY EMMA CO —

ROOM FOR A STRANGER

MELANIE CHENG

AUSTRALIAN FICTION

$29.99

Room for a Stranger follows a houseshare arrangement between Meg, an Australian woman in her 70s, and Andy, a biomedicine student from Hong Kong. The quiet beauty of this book crept up on me and I was sad to reach the end. Cheng writes, with tenderness and sincerity, about two lonely people who find some connection despite their backgrounds, cultures and histories. Andy is struggling with academic and financial pressure and the estrangement of living in a foreign, sometimes racist country. Meg, anxious after her house is broken into, has been alone since the death of her paraplegic sister. Room for a Stranger reveals the complicated, beautiful mess of the interior lives of every person (no matter how ordinary) – and how our inability to really comprehend each other should never stop us trying.

— REVIEWED BY EMMA CO —

EXPLODED VIEW

CARRIE TIFFANY

AUSTRALIAN FICTION

$22.99

An enigmatic marvel. Like the parts of a car engine in an ‘exploded view’ diagram, a girl at risk finds herself ‘separated’, fumbling with the pieces of her broken life. How might they fit together? And the road is a character itself, calling to her, offering both freedom and danger. Reminiscent of Eimear McBride’s stunning A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, Tiffany’s novel is both very Australian and universal, as mesmerising as the black tarmac that rolls under the wheels of the darkest road trip. A must read.

— REVIEWED BY JOHN —

THE WEEKEND

CHARLOTTE WOOD

AUSTRALIAN FICTION

$29.99

Compared to The Natural Way of Things the premise of The Weekend sounds very tame, but this book really made me laugh and cry and proves what a talented, versatile writer Charlotte Wood is. A dark comedy about three women in their 70s, trapped together over Christmas, after the death of their friend, The Weekend is clever, well-executed and deserving of all the accolades it has received. Poor anxious Finn the dog is the real star of this story of friendship, aging and womanhood. Cinematic!

— REVIEWED BY EMMA CO —

THE YIELD

TARA JUNE WINCH

AUSTRALIAN FICTION

$32.99

This novel is a chance to listen. A moving and evocative story of Aboriginal Australia. With hope shining through its pages, it details a dispossessed culture and the importance of preserving language. Albert Gondiwindi knows he is dying and his 99-year land lease is about to expire. He starts compiling a dictionary of his old language when his grandaughter, August, returns to begin the fight to save their land, stories and the secrets of the Murrumby river. Her story is intersected by Albert's Wiradjuri dictionary in the most wonderful parts of this story, complete with Wiradjuri words and English translations. The Yield is timely and a must-read for all Australians.

— REVIEWED BY DEAN —

ACT OF GRACE

ANNA KRIEN

AUSTRALIAN FICTION

$32.99

It is impossible to forget Night Games by Anna Krien: a work of narrative journalism and courtroom drama that rivals Helen Garner's non-fiction. It follows the rape trial of an Australian Rules footballer – and examines toxic masculinity in Australian sport and popular culture. Act of Grace is a novel that takes these themes to new places; it is ambitious, confronting and visceral. Anna Krien captures Australian men as convincingly as Tim Winton – but this is only a fraction what this book has to offer. Tying the Iraq war to the sorry rocks of Uluru, to the Standing Rock protests, to Saddam Hussein, Act of Grace is a bold and compelling novel with some powerful narrative strands.

— REVIEWED BY EMMA CO —

EROTIC STORIES FOR PUNJABI WIDOWS

BALLI KAUR JASWAL

CONTEMPORARY FICTION

$19.99

At first a riotous and heart-warming story of community, writing, female friendship (and a side of romance), Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows is a layered story which develops into a deeper exploration of a traditional Sikh community in London and the patriarchal forces which govern the moral lives of women. Nikki, who has spent much of her twenties distancing herself from her community, finds herself teaching a creative writing, turned English basics, turned erotic story writing class at the local community centre. Here she meets an utterly unique cast of local women who, ​beneath their respectable exteriors, have a wealth of fantasies, desires and memories. The novel is interspersed with, just as the title suggests, a plethora of erotic short stories written by... you guessed it; Punjabi widows. I cannot wait to read Balli Kaur Jaswal​'s other three novels.

— REVIEWED BY STEPH —

THE TRUANTS

KATE WEINBERG

CONTEMPORARY FICTION

$29.99

Calling all fans of Donna Tartt's The Secret History, Sally Rooney's Normal People or anyone who loves a juicy campus novel teeming with romance, murder and Agatha Christie references.

The Truants could be loosely called a literary-thriller, unfurling at an East Anglian university campus, taking a shocking twist in South Africa and ending on an idyllic Mediterranean Island. However, it also takes the form of a bildungsroman, detailing the story of Jess Walker and her infatuation with both Alec – a journalist in exile, and Lorna – her charismatic English professor. With clever parallels to the works and life of Agatha Christie and a messy love triangle (as if there is any other way to describe a love triangle), this is a gripping read that will leave you questioning the motives, actions and recounts of the entire cast.

— REVIEWED BY STEPH —

ENFOLDED IN THE WINGS OF A GREAT DARKNESS

PETER BOYLE

POETRY

$25.00

Enfolded in the Wings of a Great Darkness is a work of great tenderness and generosity. It brims with insight into the phenomenal experience of being alive in the face of catastrophe, and provides us with a language that can hold life’s beauty, as well as its terror, with clarity and grace.

The spirit of his late partner, the extraordinary environmental anthropologist Deborah Bird Rose, is sung up with every breath, and I can’t think of a more fitting tribute to a figure who lived her life in the service of life itself.

— REVIEWED BY ZAK —

HOMIE

DANEZ SMITH

POETRY

$24.99

The inimitable Danez Smith – a black, queer, poz poet from Minnesota who made waves with 2016’s extraordinary collection Don’t Call Us Dead – has returned with a searing, incandescent anthem to the power of love and friendship. This is a deep, rich, nuanced collection; it contains “multitudes multitudes multitudes”, diving deep into the pleasures of connection, the pains of separation, and the lifeline that friendship and community provide in the face of racism, violence, and xenophobia. The explosive sense of aliveness that permeates these pages, his language, is startling and vital. I feel so fortunate to have encountered his work; I’m certain you will too.

— REVIEWED BY ZAK —

ASHLEY KALAGIAN BLUNT

HOW TO BE AUSTRALIAN

ONLINE LAUNCH

WITH R.W.R. MCDONALD

Ashley Kalagian Blunt's How To Be Australian is a funny and heartfelt memoir that explores Australian identity and culture through the eyes of a slightly anxious Canadian. A book for everybody, it traverses the realities of adulthood, marriage and how we find our place in the world.

Where: Online via Zoom

When: Mon 1st June at 6:30pm

LUCY PEACH

PERIOD QUEEN

ONLINE LAUNCH

WITH SPECIAL GUEST

Period Queen takes the worst thing about being a woman and turns it into the best thing. The truth is the menstrual cycle has benefits — big, fantastic, daily, monthly, even lifelong, benefits. Author and period preacher Lucy Peach chats with a special guest to be announced soon.

Where: Online via Zoom

When: Thurs 18th June at 6:30pm