ARAB, AUSTRALIAN, OTHER Edited by award-winning author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah, and activist and poet Sara Saleh, this collection explores the experience of living as a member of the Arab diaspora in Australia.
FROM HERE ON, MONSTERS ‘Traverses the chasm between truth and history . . . It’s a modern Australian novel about modern Australia that, refreshingly, doesn’t read at all like a modern Australian novel.’ Shaun Prescott
THE GOOD FAT GUIDE In this fully revised and updated edition of his 2013 bestseller Toxic Oil, David Gillespie reviews the latest research from this rapidly evolving field linking seed oils to a host of diseases.
THE 117-STOREY TREEHOUSE From Australia’s bestselling author and illustrator, a brand new wonderfully wild and wacky treehouse adventure. Well, what are you waiting for? Come on up!
Snake Island by Ben Hobson ($30, PB) Vernon & Penelope Moore never want to see their son Caleb again. Not after he hit his wife & ended up in gaol. A lifetime of careful parental love wiped out in a moment. But when retired teacher Vernon hears that Caleb is being regularly visited & savagely bashed by a local criminal as the police stand by, he knows he has to act. What has his life been as a father if he turns his back on his son in his hour of desperate need? He realises with shame that he has failed Caleb. But no longer. The father of the man bashing Caleb is head of a violent crime family. The town lives in fear of him but Vernon is determined to fix things in a civilised way, father to father. If he shows respect, he reasons, it will be reciprocated. But how wrong he is. And what hell has he brought down on his family? The Trespassers by Meg Mundell ($29.95, PB)
Fleeing their pandemic-stricken homelands, a shipload of migrant workers departs the UK, dreaming of a fresh start in prosperous Australia. For 9-year-old Cleary Sullivan, deaf for 3 years, the journey promises adventure & new friendships; for Glaswegian songstress Billie Galloway, it’s a chance to put a shameful mistake firmly behind her; while broke English schoolteacher Tom Garnett hopes to set his future on a brighter path. But when a crew member is found murdered & passengers start falling gravely ill, the Steadfast is plunged into chaos.
Taking Tom Murray Home by Tim Slee ($33, PB) Bankrupt dairy farmer Tom Murray decides he’d rather sell off his herd & burn down his own house than hand them over to the bank. But something goes tragically wrong, and Tom dies in the blaze. His wife, Dawn, doesn’t want him to have died for nothing & decides to hold a funeral procession for Tom as a protest, driving 350 kilometres from Yardley in country Victoria to bury him in Melbourne where he was born. To make a bigger impact she agrees with some neighbours to put his coffin on a horse & cart & take it slow—real slow. But on the night of their departure, someone burns down the local bank. And as the motley funeral procession passes through Victoria, there are more mysterious arson attacks. Dawn has five days to get to Melbourne. Winner of the inaugural Banjo Prize.
Dolores by Lauren Aimee Curtis ($25, PB) On a hot day in late June, a young girl kneels outside a convent, then falls on her face. When the nuns take her in, they name her Dolores. Dolores adjusts to the rhythm of her new life - to the nuns with wild hairs curling from their chins, the soup chewed as if it were meat, the bells that ring throughout the day. But in the dark, private theatre of her mind are memories - of love motels lit by neon red hearts, discos in abandoned hospitals and a boy called Angelo. And inside her, a baby is growing. An ambitious debut novel— short, lyrical and intense
On D’Hill
Believe it or not, I actually have exciting news about a big event coming up at Dulwich Hill. In the past, I think we can all agree, that Dulwich Hill Fair Day has been less than rivetting. As with so many other suburban Fair Days it was mainly professional stall holders selling cheap stuff from Asia, and apart from performances by the local school kids, there was very little that was community based. Well, this year—it’s a whole new ballgame. An energetic new team of events people at Inner West Council have asked gleebooks at Dulwich Hill to curate a day of local children’s authors. They are supplying a gorgeous tent which will be in the car-park in Seaview Street, and I’ve got together a terrific program of very local authors. Ursula Dubosarsky lives in Marrickville and will talk about her new children’s picture book Ask Hercules Quick. Singer/songwriter Josh Pyke (lives on D’Hill) will present his first children’s book Lights Out, Leonard. Local debut author Lisa Siberry will do a workshop for middle graders around her charming, science-based book The Brilliant Ideas of Lily Green in which Lily makes cosmetics using local plants and flowers. Then the lovely Norton Lodge sisters, Zoe and Georgia will entertain with their books about the redoubtable Elizabella. Finishing off the day will be a wonderful event with the makers of the fabulous locally produced book The Hollow Tree. Put together by Addison Road Community Centre and written by long-time gleebooks customer, journalist & author Mark Mordue, the book tells the story of a hollow tree in a park in Marrickville which was retained & made into a habitat for animals. Many of the local children joined in doing the drawings for this informative & beautiful book. There’ll be lots of other excellent things happening on Dulwich Hill Fair Day—Sunday, September 15th and I’m confident it will have quite a different feel than in the past—less commercial, more community. I am so looking forward to it. What I’ve been reading: Three Women by Lisa Taddeo is an astounding work of narrative non-fiction in which she analyses the hopes and desires of three ordinary American women. Taddeo researched the book over eight years during which she even moved to the same towns as her subjects—so the book reads like a novel of intense intimacy, she describes their sexual encounters as if she was witness to them. All three women have very troubled relationships with the men in their lives and they tallk about it with amazing honesty. It beggars belief how they are treated so appallingly in this day and age. But maybe not! I’ve also loved another American debut—The Travelers by Regina Porter. This is a big sprawling novel that follows a white and a black family from the mid 20th century to the election of Obama. Characters come and go, they meet and intersect in unusual and interesting ways creating a kind of patchwork of modern America. Beautifully written and very compelling. the book is dotted with black and white photographs which is odd but endearing. See you on D’Hill, Morgan
Undara by Annie Seaton ($30, PB)
When entomologist Emlyn Rees arrives at Hidden Valley she wants nothing more than to escape her marriage breakdown by burying herself in the research team’s hunt for new species of insects in the depths of the dramatic Undara lava tubes—little does she suspect she will be the key to solving a mystery that’s more than one hundred years old. Travis Carlyle is initially resistant to letting some city folks tramp over his cattle station, but soon the researchers’ findings and a growing friendship with Emlyn bring opportunities to turn around his struggling farm. With a broken marriage behind him and children to care for, he needs to plan for the future and this could be his family’s best chance. But when things start going wrong for the farm and around the dig site, Emlyn and Travis are at a loss to understand why. Are they cursed with bad luck, or is there a more sinister force at play? Are the tall tales of enigmatic stockman Bluey turning true? As the unseen saboteur grows bolder, Emlyn and Travis are caught in a race against time to save the station ... and their lives..
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