Spring New Releases Prize Fighter | Future D Fidel | $29.99 | Hachette It is the simplicity with which this is written that makes Prize Fighter a knockout! After losing his parents and becoming a boy soldier in the Republic of Congo, Isa is granted refugee status in Australia. He boxes at a Westend gym to feel closer to his missing brother. As he touches on becoming a champion prize fighter he also gains some clarity with the horrors of his past. An emotionally charged novel based on Fidel’s critically acclaimed play.
Hey Brother | Jarrah Dundler | $29.99 | Allen & Unwin A powerful coming-of-age tale told by Trystan, a young boy living in rural Australia. Trystan looks up to his brother Shaun, a soldier fighting in Afghanistan, and tries to live as his brother has instructed, staying out of trouble. Sounds easy enough but with his mother’s drinking and his wayward father, Trystan finds himself fighting at both school and home. When Shaun returns from war a different man, Trystan has another task on his hands: keeping Shaun out of trouble.
AUSTRALIAN FICTION
Father’s Day Reading Guide
A Superior Spectre | Angela Meyer | $29.99 | Simon & Schuster This debut follows Jeff who, upon news of his imminent death, runs away to Scotland with an experimental device that gives him access into the minds of people from the past. It is dangerous, but he has nothing to lose. And so we meet Leonora, living a somewhat normal life in the Scottish Highlands in the 1860s until strange visions begin to disturb her... A haunting tale which blends sci-fi and historical fiction and transcends temporal and geographical borders.
Dinner with the Dissidents | John Tesarsch | $29.99 | Affirm Press Leonid works for the Australian government but becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the new metadata laws. Memories of another life in Russia, where surveillance and betrayal were part of the norm, haunt Leonid as he approaches retirement in his adopted country. But can he make up for the past? Leonid’s former life – ‘employed’ by the KGB to infiltrate Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s inner circle – is utterly fascinating (and a surprising mirror to the politics of today). In addition, Tersarsch’s achingly beautiful language and strong characterisations are exceptional.
The Wounded Sinner | Gus Henderson | $19.95 | Magabala Books A mesmerising debut from a talented first-time author. Shifting in setting between the quiet outskirts of Perth and sleepy Leonora (a rural mining town on the goldfields of WA), Henderson’s novel is at once intimate and panoramic. It distills the universal and the philosophical out of the more quotidian domestic dramas of Archie, Matthew, and Jeanie. The Wounded Sinner tackles what it means to grow old, to live with fidelity and integrity; and indeed, to be mortal and fallible. Fascinating, gritty, and deeply human.
2028 l Ken Saunders | $29.99 | Allen & Unwin All we can say is… Ken Saunders for Prime Minister! In this hilarious and outrageous book, Saunders takes the very worst of today’s society and lets it fester for 10 years. The result is his debut novel, a political satire that’s sure to get you laughing… and worrying deeply about the future of Australia!
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