Gleaner August/September 2020

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Vol. 27 No. 5 August/September 2020

out in August The Last Migration

by Charlotte McConaghy

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Books to look out for

Well, these are still extraordinary times and likely to stay so for some time yet. By this time of the year our focus would be on a an exceptional array of Spring author events (there are plenty, by the way, it’s just that they’re online, until we can open our upstairs space again), and on the bumper crop of Christmas and holiday reading (about which more to come next issue) However, we find ourselves still very preoccupied with matters COVID, whether it’s disruptions to publishing schedules, shipping delays and warehouse health and safety impacts, or how we manage the ethics and practicalities of working and providing a service in our shops, while paying due attention to hand sanitising, face masking, social distancing etc.

It’s tricky, and stressful, and I thank you all for your understanding and support for our staff at this difficult time.

In the meantime, there are books that deserve our attention, and I’ve a few that I’d like to mention, from last month’s reading. I have absolutely loved Richard Fidler’s homage to the history and culture of Prague The Golden Maze: A Biography of Prague. It’s immensely engaging, with Fidler occupying the roles of both tour guide and historian. Erudition, an inquisitive intelligence, and a sure grasp of subject and audience (hallmarks of his splendid ABC Conversations series) combine to make this a very approachable and rewarding history.

Also non-fiction and concerning the history of Europe is a very different work of history: Philippe Sands’ The Ratline, the subtitle of which, Love, Lies and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive, points to the essence of the book. Sands’ East-West Street was an exceptional piece of writing from one of the world’s most eminent jurists. Ratline is a compelling, and compellingly told, story. Not surprising, really, considering the eloquence and intelligence of the writer. And all the more intriguing as it embroils in one of the most widely known stories in our history— told from a unique perspective, that of the author’s involvement in the life of the son of a Nazi war criminal. The narrative purpose hangs on the relationship between that man (Horst), and the author, and Sands’ self-interrogation about Horst’s fidelity to an appalling, false memory he needs to create about his father. It’s exceptionally documented and footnoted, and scrupulously researched.

Fiction-wise, there are two new Australian books I’ve read—both first novels—that merit serious mention. At the outset I found Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams underwhelming—but I’m sure that was because an essential ingredient of its subject, the history of the making of the first Oxford English Dictionary, had been covered so brilliantly in Simon Winchester’s The Surgeon of Crowthorne. But Williams’ narrative evolves strongly through the personal story of the childhood of Esme—daughter of one of the editors. Her growth to self-awareness in adulthood, combined with the story of the women’s suffrage movement, enriched and added layers of complexity that made for a very satisfying read. Meanwhile, The Last Migration has lots of people excited, and it’s easy to see why. This is Charlotte McConaghy’s literary fiction debut, and it’s very, very good. Set against a background of disastrous climate change and species loss, the novel traces the perilous journey of Franny Lynch as she follows the last of the Arctic terns, on what may well be the eponymous ‘Last Migration’ to Antarctica. Brilliant flashbacks flesh out the dark and haunting past of Franny’s life. The triumph of the book is to marry the personal to the epic, challenging and confronting the reader on multiple levels. A brave and beautiful book, as timely as it is engrossing and un-put-downable.

David Gaunt

The Mother Fault by Kate Mildenhall ($33, PB)

Mim’s husband Ben is missing. Everyone wants to find him— especially The Department. This all-seeing government body has fitted the entire population with a universal tracking chip to keep them ‘safe’. Mim is questioned, made to surrender her passport & threatened with her two children being taken into care at the notorious BestLife. She risks everything to go on the run to find her husband—and the part of herself that is brave enough to tackle the journey ahead. From the stark backroads of the Australian outback to a terrifying sea voyage, Mim is forced to shuck off who she was—mother, daughter, wife, sister—and become the woman she needs to be to save her family and herself.

The Morbids by Ewa Ramsey ($30, PB)

Caitlin is convinced she’s going to die. 2 years ago she was a normal 20-something with a blossoming career & a plan to go travelling with her best friend, until a car accident left her with a deep, unshakable understanding that she’s only alive by mistake. Caitlin deals with these thoughts by throwing herself into work, self-medicating with alcohol & attending a support group for people with death-related anxiety, informally known as the Morbids. But when her best friend announces she’s getting married in Bali, and she meets a handsome doctor named Tom, Caitlin must overcome her fear of death & learn to start living again.

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Australian Literature Literature The Last Migration by Charlotte McConaghy ($33, PB)

Franny Stone is determined to go to the end of the earth, following the last of the Arctic terns on what may be their final migration to Antarctica. As animal populations plummet & commercial fishing faces prohibition, Franny talks her way onto one of the few remaining boats heading south. But as she & the eccentric crew travel further from shore & safety, the dark secrets of Franny’s life begin to unspool. A daughter’s yearning search for her mother. An impulsive, passionate marriage. A shocking crime. Franny must confront what she is really running towards—and from. From the west coast of Ireland to Australia & remote Greenland, this is an ode to the wild places & creatures now threatened, and an epic story of the possibility of hope against all odds.

The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey ($30, PB)

Erica Marsden’s son, an artist, has been imprisoned for homicidal negligence. In a state of grief, Erica cuts off all ties to family & friends, and retreats to a quiet hamlet on the south-east coast near the prison where he is serving his sentence. There, in a rundown shack, she obsesses over creating a labyrinth by the ocean. To build it—to find a way out of her quandary—Erica will need the help of strangers. And that will require her to trust, and to reckon with her past. Lohrey’s new novel is a hypnotic story of guilt and denial, of the fraught relationship between parents & children, and a meditation on how art can both be ruthlessly destructive & restore sanity.

The Wreck by Meg Keneally ($30, PB)

In 1820 Sarah McCaffrey, fleeing arrest for her part in a failed rebellion, thinks she has escaped when she finds herself aboard the Serpent, bound from London to the colony of New South Wales. But when the mercurial captain’s actions drive the ship into a cliff, Sarah is the only survivor. Adopting a false identity, she becomes the right-hand woman of Molly Thistle, who has grown her late husband’s business interests into a sprawling real estate and trade empire. As time passes, Sarah begins to believe she might have found a home - until her past follows her across the seas.

The Mystery Woman by Belinda Alexandra ($33, PB)

Rebecca Wood took the role as postmistress in the sleepy seaside town of Shipwreck Bay seeking for anonymity after a scandal in Sydney. But Shipwreck Bay’s virtuous facade hide something dark & sinister, and Wood is confronted almost at once by the disturbing discovery that her predecessor committed suicide. To add to her worries, her hopes for a quiet life are soon threatened by the attentions of the dashing local doctor, the unsettling presence of a violent whaling captain & a corrupt shire secretary, as well as the watchful eyes of the town’s gossips.

She finds herself drawn to the enigmatic resident of the house on the cliff top, rumoured to have been a Nazi spy, and is soon caught up in the dangerous mysteries that lie behind Shipwreck Bay’s respectable net curtains.

Empty Sky: UTS Anthology 2020 ($27, PB)

Our world is tumultuous—from political upheaval to environmental decay, the Earth is in the process of shifting & reforming in every possible way. Technology surrounds us, encroaching. Society both evolves & regresses. It can seem as if everything is on fire. This collection, which draws its title from Sylvia Plath’s I talk to God but the sky is empty, features the top emerging writers from UTS’ creative writing program.

This edition is introduced by writer, editor and activist Bri Lee, the award-winning author of Eggshell Skull.

Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings ($25, PB)

Bettina Scott lives a tidy, quiet life in Runagate, tending to her delicate mother and their well-kept garden after her father and brothers disappear—until a note arrives that sends Bettina into the scrublands beyond, searching for answers about what really happened to this town, and to her family. For this is a land where superstitions hunt and folk tales dream—and power is there for the taking, for those willing to look. ‘A superbly told tale of folklore-infused fantasy, full of rising dread, set in a sharply observed Australian outback town.’ Garth Nix

I Give My Marriage A Year by Holly Wainwright

Lou & Josh have been together for 14 years. They share two kids, a mortgage, careers & plenty of history. After a particularly fraught Christmas, Lou is asking herself whether this marriage worth hanging on to? Every month for a year, she sets a different test for their relationship—from daily sex to brutal honesty—to help her decide. Wainwright’s book paints an accurate & often hilarious picture of a modern Australian marriage. Lou & Josh’s efforts to bring their relationship back from the brink will resonate with anyone who has ever asked themselves: is this enough? ($33, PB)

Now in B Format Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic, $20 The Zookeeper’s War by Steven Conte, $20 The White Girl by Tony Birch, $25

The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte ($33, PB)

In the first year of the doomed German invasion of Russia in WWII, a German military doctor, Paul Bauer, is assigned to establish a field hospital at Yasnaya Polyana—the former grand estate of Count Leo Tolstoy, the author of the classic War and Peace.

There he encounters a hostile aristocratic Russian woman, Katerina Trubetzkaya, a writer who has been left in charge of the estate.

But even as a tentative friendship develops between them, Bauer’s hostile & arrogant commanding officer, Julius Metz, becomes erratic & unhinged as the war turns against the Germans. Over the course of six weeks, in the terrible winter of 1941, everything starts to unravel.

The Burning Island by Jock Serong ($33, PB)

Eliza Grayling, born in Sydney when the colony itself was still an infant, has lived there all her 32 years. Too tall, too stern—too old, now—for marriage, she lives by herself, looking in on her reclusive father in case he has injured himself while drunk. There is a shadow in his past, she knows. Something obsessive. Something to do with a man who bested him thirty-three years ago. Then Srinivas, another figure from that dark past, offers Joshua Grayling the chance for a reckoning with his nemesis. Eliza is horrified. The plan entails a sea voyage far to the south & an uncertain, possibly violent, outcome. Out of the question for an elderly man—insanity for a helpless drunkard who also happens to be blind. Unable to dissuade her father from his mad quest, Eliza must go with him, and the voyage of the Moonbird becomes her mission too.

Revenge: murder in three parts by S.L. Lim

On D’Hill

I have been reading the extraordinary and prolific Rebecca Solnit for the first time. Her memoir Recollections of My Non-Existence follows many wideranging books including Men Explain Things to Me and Hope in the Dark.

In the memoir Solnit writes about herself in her twenties, finding herself as a woman and as a writer, and in so doing makes much of the lack of agency so common to young women, both then and now. ‘All the worst things that happened to women could happen to you because you were a woman...You could be erased a little so that there was less of you, less confidence, less freedom... your body invaded so it was less and less yours...’.

These themes are echoed and explored by Australian writer, Kathryn Heyman in her memoir Fury, about how she was raped by a taxi driver on the way home from a party when she was 20—and the inevitably terrible court case that followed, resulting in the man being acquitted. But like Solnit, as the years unfold, Heyman creates her own agency and regains her sense of self.

This idea that young women are not important and have no voice is also at the heart of the astonishing debut A Burning by Indian writer Megha Majumdar in which a young woman is wrongly accused of terrorism and those who could help prove her innocence and choose not to—revealing again, how little young women can matter.

Favoured son Shan attends university before making his fortune in Australia while his sister Yannie must find menial employment & care for her ageing parents. After her mother’s death, Yannie travels to Sydney to become enmeshed in her psychopathic brother’s new life, which she seeks to undermine from within. S L Lim’s new novel rages against capitalism, hetero-supremacy, mothers, fathers, families, what happens when you want to make art but are born in the wrong time & place. S L Lim brings to vivid life the frustrations of a talented daughter and vengeful sister in a nuanced and riveting novel. ($30, PB)

No more cheerful is the wonderful novel by Australian Steven Conti (The Zookeeper’s Wife) whose new novel The Tolstoy Estate follows Paul Bauer, a young German Doctor at the Russian Front in WWII. Tolstoy’s Estate has been seconded as a base hospital and it is here Paul meets and falls in love with a passionate Russian communist, the keeper of Tolstoy’s memory. This is a marvellously old-fashioned war novel destined (like his previous book) for the big screen. Another stunning book which looks at WWII from the German perspective is The Vanishing Sky—about a German family during the dying days of the war. The eldest son is sent home irrevocably damaged while his younger brother absconds from the Hitler Youth. In beautiful prose L. Annette Binder brings home to the reader the futility of war and the humanity in us all.

After launching a great rebellion to destroy her husband Henry II’s reign, it seems Eleanor of Aquitaine has abandoned her sons in the struggle against their formidable father. Richard, the mightiest of the English princes, is determined to find his mother & avenge her. But Henry is cunning, and the fates of Eleanor, her sons, and France itself, are in jeopardy. The final book in the D’Alpuget’s Birth of the Plantagenets series, The Cubs Roar, illuminates the tumultuous end of Henry II.

Lastly, I am loving The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey. I’ve always loved her books (Camille’s Bread a fave) and this new novel does not disappoint. It’s a sparse but richly written story about a woman who moves to a seaside town to be close to her son who is serving a life-sentence in a nearby gaol. But of course, that’s not all it’s about and the metaphor of the labyrinth is still playing on my mind. I must-read for lovers of Australian literature.

The Cubs Roar by Blanche d’Alpuget ($30, PB)

Broken Rules and Other Stories

by Barry Lee Thompson ($30, PB)

An adolescent son & his parents on their annual holiday at a Bournemouth guest house become intrigued with the glamour & otherness of an American family from Boston. An adult son & his mother navigate an unnerving relationship based on dependence & ritual. A woman transgresses her husband’s rules & his distaste for parties. A sex-worker empathises with the life of an elderly client. From derelict industrial districts, to a lonely highway diner, to the faded charm of a British seaside resort, these interlinked stories are of growing up marginalised & living in working-class England and Australia.

There is no Dulwich Hill Fair this year but I will try to do some Saturday morning events – Rosa Cienfuegos from the very popular Tamaleria and Mexican Deli over the road has a book (Comida Mexicana) coming out and we’ll organise something with her to celebrate. Will keep you posted!

See you on D’Hill, Morgan

Bluebird by Malcolm Knox (33, PB)

A house perched impossibly on a cliff overlooking the stunning, iconic Bluebird Beach. Prime real estate, yet somehow not real estate at all, The Lodge is, like those who live in it, falling apart.

Gordon Grimes has become the accidental keeper of this last relic of an endangered world. He lives in The Lodge with his wife Kelly who is trying to leave him, their son Ben who will do anything to save him, his goddaughter Lou who is hiding from her own troubles, and Leonie, the family matriarch who has trapped them here for their own good.

But Gordon has no money and is running out of time to conserve his homeland. His love for this way of life will drive him, and everyone around him, to increasingly desperate risks. In the end, what will it cost them to hang onto their past?

Ordinary Matter by Laura Elvery ($30, PB)

In 1895 Alfred Nobel rewrote his will & left his fortune made in dynamite & munitions to generations of thinkers. Since 1901 women have been honoured with Nobel Prizes for their scientific research 20 times, including Marie Curie twice. Spanning more than a century & ranging across the world, this inventive story collection is inspired by these women whose work has altered history & saved millions of lives. From a transformative visit to the Grand Canyon to a baby washing up on a Queensland beach, a climate protest during a Paris heat wave to Stockholm on the eve of the 1977 Nobel Prize ceremony, Laura Elvery’s stories interrogate the nature of inspiration & discovery, motherhood & sacrifice, illness & legacy.

New Australian Fiction 2020 (ed) Rebecca Starford ($24.95, PB)

These are stories collected from Kill Your Darlings—contributors include: Maame Blue, Claire G. Coleman, Elizabeth Flux, Katerina Gibson, Jack Kirne, Daria Lebedyeva, Donna Mazza, Laura McPhee-Browne, Sophie Overett, Ka Rees, Mirandi Riwoe, Mykaela Saunders,Laura Stortenbeker, Jessie Tu, Jack Vening & Madeleine Watts.

Poly: A novel by Paul Dalgarno ($33, PB)

Chris Flood—a married father of 2 with plummeting selfesteem & questionable guitar skills—suddenly finds himself in the depths of polyamory after years of a near-sexless marriage. His wife, Sarah wants to rediscover her sexuality after years of deadening domesticity. Their new life of polyamory features late nights, love affairs & rotating childcare duties.

While Sarah enjoys flings with handsome men, Chris, much to his astonishment, falls for a polydactylous actor & musician, Biddy. Then there’s Zac Batista. When Chris & Sarah welcome the Uruguayan child prodigy and successful 22-year-old into their lives they gratefully hand over school pick-up & babysitting duties. But as tensions grow between family & lovers, Chris begins to wonder if it’s just jealousy, or something more sinister brewing. A raw & hilarious look at modern relationships.

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International Inte rnational Literature

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue ($33, PB)

Author to Author Project plan your manuscript with one-on-one consultations with a leading writer

In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war & disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city centre, where expectant mothers who have come down with an unfamiliar Flu are quarantined together.

Into Julia’s regimented world step two outsiders: Dr Kathleen Lynn, on the run from the police, and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney.

In the darkness & intensity of this tiny ward, over 3 days, these women change each other’s lives in unexpected ways. They lose patients to this baffling pandemic, but they also shepherd new life into a fearful world.

With tireless tenderness & humanity, carers & mothers alike somehow do their impossible work.

Meanwhile in Dopamine City by DBC Pierre ($30, PB)

This is an opportunity to forge ahead with your work in progress. You will be paired with a leading author for a series of fortnightly one-on-one consultation sessions to discuss your work, and help you negotiate the roadblocks and challenges you might be facing.

For more information: Talk to us: (02) 8425 0171 Email us: faberwritingacademy@allenandunwin.com Visit us: www.faberwritingacademy.com.au

The Mission House by Carys Davies ($30, PB)

Fleeing the dark undercurrents of contemporary life in Britain, Hilary Byrd takes refuge in Ooty, a hill station in South India. There he finds solace in life’s simple pleasures, travelling by rickshaw around the small town with his driver Jamshed & staying in a mission house beside the local presbytery where the Padre & his adoptive daughter Priscilla have taken Hilary under their wing. The Padre is concerned for Priscilla’s future, and as Hilary’s friendship with the young woman grows, he begins to wonder whether his purpose lies in this new relationship. But religious tensions are brewing & the mission house may not be the safe haven it seems.

The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult

Lonny Cush, sanitation worker & single parent, is trying his best to protect his kids from the hysterical hyper-reality of 21st century life. A manual worker Lonny is out of sync with the changes in his hometown & his century, without the means to give his quiet teenage son Egan & his precocious, ultra-demanding 9-year-old daughter Shelby what they need, or say they need. But with his mother-in-law circling for custody, he splashes out on the thing Shelby wants more than anything else: her first smartphone. And so begins the silken silence as she drifts off to her room & down the rabbit hole of memes, trolls, hysteria & peer-pressure, and the true, vertiginous terrors of 21st-century life start flooding into the Cush household. Should Lonny rescue her or follow her?

Granta 152: Still Life (ed) Sigrid Rausing ($25, PB)

This issue of Granta features John Ryle on the worldwide conservationist struggles over white rhinos, Lynda Schuster on Pittsburgh in the wake of a synagogue shooting, Ariel Saramandi on everyday racism in Mauritius, and Joe Dunthorne, author of Submarine, on his grandmother’s escape from Berlin during the 1936 Olympics. Plus fiction

by Jason Ockert, Mahreen Sohail & Ann Beattie, as well as photography

by Diana Matar in Naples

Nothing Can Hurt You by Nicola M Goldberg ($30, PB)

On a cold day in 1997, student Sara Morgan was killed in the woods surrounding her liberal arts college in upstate NY. Her boyfriend, Blake Campbell, confessed, only to be acquitted following a plea of temporary insanity. In the wake of this senseless act of violence, the case comes to haunt a strange & surprising network of community members, from the young woman who discovers Sara’s body to the junior reporter who senses its connection to convicted local serial killer John Logan. As the years pass, others search for retribution or explanation, including Sara’s half-sister who, stifled by her family’s silence about Blake, poses as a babysitter & seeks out her own form of justice, and the teenager Sara used to babysit, who begins writing to Logan as part of a class project.

No Presents, Please: Mumbai stories

by Jayant Kaikini ($28, PB)

A bus driver who, denied vacation time, steals the bus to travel home; a slum dweller who catches cats & sells them for pharmaceutical testing; a father at his wits end who takes his mischievous son to a reform institution. In the metropolis of Mumbai, those who seek find epiphanies in dark movie theatres, the jostle of local trains, and even in roadside key chains & lost thermos flasks. In the shade of an unfinished overpass, a factory-worker & her boyfriend browse wedding invitations bearing wealthy couples’ affectations—‘no presents please’—and look once more at what they own.

Dawn Edelstein knows specialises in helping her dying clients make peace with the end of their lives. But as she’s flying home from her latest case, she is forced to confront her D (A Tale of Two Worlds) by Michel Faber ($33, PB) own mortality for the first time. Instead of seeing her hus12-year-old Dhikilo was born in a faraway country, though she’s doband & daughter flash before her eyes in what she assumes ing her best to feel at home with her new parents in the crumbly seaare her last moments, she sees only Wyatt Armstrong. Safely side town of Cawber-on-Sands. Until one day, the letter D disappears on the ground, she now faces a desperate decision. Should from the language, and Dhikilo is the only person who notices it’s she return to Boston & her family, or journey back to an gone. You’d think the loss of one little letter wouldn’t make much of Egyptian archaeological site she left over a decade earlier, reconnect with Wyatt, a ifference to aily life. But it actually makes things very ifficult and, and finally finish her abandoned magnum opus, The Book of Two Ways? ($33, PB) eventually, quite esperate. Determined to rescue the D, Dhikilo teams Daddy by Emma Cline ($28, PB) up with her old history teacher, Professor Dodderfield. In moments, A man travels to his son’s school to deal with the fallout of she is in the wintery land of Liminus where she meets the Magwitcha violent attack and to make sure his son will not lose his es, the Quilps, the Spottletoes, and other strange tribes. Can she escape from the terrifying college place. But what exactly has his son done? A young Bleak House? Can she stop the D from disappearing for ever? And can Dhikilo—a girl with woman trying to make it in LA, working in a clothes shop no past & no country—discover who she is & where she really belongs? while taking acting classes, turns to a riskier way of making The Abstainer by Ian Mcguire ($33, PB) money & is forced to confront the danger of the game she’s Manchester, 1867 Two men, haunted by their pasts. Driven by the need playing. A family coming together for Christmas struggle to for justice. Blood begets blood. In a fight for life and legacy. Stephen skate over the lingering darkness caused by the very ordiDoyle arrives in Manchester from New York. He is an Irish-American nary brutality of a troubled husband & father. Emma Cline’s veteran of the Civil War and a member of the Fenians, a secret society stories explore masculinity, male power & broken relationintent on ending British rule in Ireland, by any means necessary. Now ships, revealing those moments of misunderstanding that can have life-changing he has come to seek vengeance. James O’Connor has fled grief and consequences. drink in Dublin for a sober start in Manchester as Head Constable. His mission is to discover and thwart the Fenians’ plans. When his longlost nephew arrives on his doorstep, he never could have foreseen Now in B format how this would imperil his fragile new life—or how his and Doyle’s fates would come The Testaments by Margaret Atwood, $20 to be intertwined. The rebels will be hanged at dawn, and their brotherhood is already On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, $20 plotting revenge.

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The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett

In the prequel to The Pillars of the Earth it is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages, and England faces attacks from the Welsh in the west & the Vikings in the east. Life is hard, and those with power wield it harshly, bending justice according to their will—often in conflict with the king. Into this uncertain world 3 people come to the fore: a young boatbuilder, who dreams of a better future when a devastating Viking raid shatters the life that he & the woman he loves hoped for; a Norman noblewoman, who follows her beloved husband across the sea to a new land only to find her life there shockingly different; and a capable monk at Shiring Abbey, who dreams of transforming his humble abbey into a centre of learning admired throughout Europe. With England at the dawn of the Middle Ages, these 3 people will each come into dangerous conflict with a ruthless bishop, who will do anything to increase his wealth & power, in an epic tale of ambition & rivalry, death & birth, and love & hate. ($45, HB)

BOOKS

IN

FOCUS

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide — an electrifying, heartpounding, truly unputdownable thriller.

From the winner of the inaugural Prime Minister’s Literary Award, Steven Conte, comes a powerful, densely rich and deeply affecting novel of love, war and literature

‘This is a romance, true, but a real one ... as devastating and sharply witty as Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag.’

Gleebooks’ special price $39.99 What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez

A woman visits a friend with terminal cancer. Brilliant, strong-willed & alone, the friend, facing death, makes a momentous request. Will she accompany her on a holiday where she will, without warning one day, take a lethal pill to end her life on her own terms? Shaken & grieving, she finds the strength to agree. What follows is an extraordinary story of a lifelong friendship given the ultimate challenge; to witness its end. ($30, PB)

Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez ($33, PB) This debut novel follows 19 year-old Jesse McCarthy as he grapples with his racial & sexual identities against the backdrop of a Jehovah’s Witness upbringing & the legacies of the Windrush generation. In the Black Country in the 1950s, determined ex-boxer Norman Alonso has moved from Jamaica to Britain with his wife to secure a brighter future for themselves & their children. At the turn of the millennium, Jesse seeks a fresh start in London—escaping from a broken immediate family, a repressive religious community and the desolate, disempowered Black Country—but finds himself at a loss for a new centre of gravity, and turns to sex work to create new notions of love, fatherhood & spirituality. An Observer top ten debut novel.

Just Like You by Nick Hornby ($33, PB)

The person you are with is just like you—same background, same age, same interests. The perfect match. And it is an unmitigated disaster. Then, when you least expect it, you meet someone new. You seem to have nothing in common and yet, somehow, it feels totally right.

Nick Hornby’s tender but also brutally funny new novel gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly & headlong in love with the best possible person—someone who is not just like you at all.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke ($28, HB)

Author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke, is back—‘What a world Susanna Clarke conjures into being, what a tick-tock-tick-tock of reveals, what a pure protagonist, what a morally squalid supporting cast, what beauty, tension and restraint, and what a pitch-perfect ending. Piranesi is an exquisite puzzle-box far, far bigger on the inside than it is on the outside’—David Mitchell

Monogamy by Sue Miller ($30, PB)

Here is Graham, and here is Annie; here they are in marriage, in late middle age, in comfort. Mismatched, and yet so well matched—the bookseller with his appetite, his conviviality, his bigness; the photographer with her delicacy, her astuteness, her reserve. The children are offstage, grown up & scattered on either coast; Graham’s first wife, Frieda, is peaceably in their lives, but not between them. Annie is not the first love of Graham’s life but she is, he thinks, his last & greatest. Very recently, he has faltered; but he means to put it right.

Then the unthinkable happens. Now Annie stumbles in the dark—did she know all there was to know about the man who loved her? If no marriage is without its small indiscretions, how great does a betrayal have to be to be to break it?

Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain ($33, PB)

In the city of Bath, in the year 1865, an extraordinary young woman renowned for her nursing skills is convinced that some other destiny will one day show itself to her. But when she finds herself torn between a dangerous affair with a female lover & the promise of a conventional marriage to an apparently respectable doctor, her desires begin to lead her towards a future she had never imagined. Meanwhile, on the wild island of Borneo, an eccentric British ‘rajah’, Sir Ralph Savage, overflowing with philanthropy but compromised by his passions, sees his schemes relentlessly undermined by his own fragility, by man’s innate greed & by the invasive power of the forest itself. Jane’s quest for an altered life & Sir Ralph’s endeavours become locked together as Tremain journeys across the globe—from the confines of an English tearoom to the rainforests of a tropical island via the slums of Dublin & the transgressive fancy-dress boutiques of Paris.

Bookseller+Publisher

Why Visit America by Matthew Baker ($30, PB)

Welcome, dear visitor, to a proud and storied nation. When you put down this guidebook, look around you. A nation isn’t land.

A nation is people. Equal parts speculative and satirical, the stories in Matthew Baker’s collection portray a world within touching distance of our own. This is an America riven by dilemmas confronting so many of us, turned on its head by one of the most innovative voices of the moment. Read together, these parallel-universe stories create a composite portrait of our true nature and a dark reflection of the world we live in.

To Cook a Bear by Mikael Niemi ($33, PB)

Summer of 1852 in the Kengis village of Sweden’s far north.

Jussi has fled from a cruel home plagued by abuse, starvation, & alcoholism. Jussi becomes revivalist preacher Lars Levi Laestadius’ faithful disciple. Laestadius is an avid botanist, and with Jussi in tow he sets out on long botanical treks to teach him all about plants & nature; but also how to read, write & not least to love and fear God. One day a maid goes missing in the deep forest, and soon thereafter another disappears. One of them is found dead, the other badly wounded, and the locals suspect a predatory bear is at large—but Laestadius sees other traces that point to a far worse killer on the loose. Along with Jussi, he reinvents himself as a forensic expert, unaware of the evil that is closing in on him.

The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams ($33, HB)

In the final year of the 19th century, Peter Winceworth has reached the letter ‘S’ in multi-volume Swansby’s New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Increasingly uneasy that his colleagues are attempting to corral language & regiment facts, Winceworth begins inserting unauthorised, fictitious entries into the dictionary. In the present day, young intern Mallory is tasked with uncovering these mountweazels as the text of the dictionary is digitised for modern readers—and also field daily threatening anonymous phone calls. Is a suggested change to the dictionary’s definition of marriage (n.) really that controversial? Does the caller really intend for the Swansby’s staff to ‘burn in hell’?

The Stray Cats of Homs by Eva Nour ($30, PB)

Sami’s childhood is an innocent blend of family & school, of friends & relations & pets (including stray cats & dogs, and the turtle he keeps on the roof). But growing up in one of the largest cities in Syria, means that nothing is really normal. And Sami’s hopes for a better future are ripped away when he is conscripted into the military & forced to train as a map maker.

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Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi ($33, PB)

All murder mysteries follow a simple set of rules. Mathematician Grant McAllister, once worked them all out—wrote a set of 7 stories to demonstrate, and then disappeared to an isolated Mediterranean island. 30 years later, young editor, Julia Hart, visits—Grant’s work is being republished. But as Julia reads the sharp, twisting tales, she finds things that don’t make sense—deliberate inconsistencies which Grant can’t or won’t explain. She must tread carefully—she knows there’s a mystery, but she doesn’t yet realise there’s already been a murder.

The Dead Line by Holly Watt ($30, PB)

Investigative journalist Casey Benedict’s take her from the bottom to the top of society—and her latest case is no different. A frantic message is found hidden in clothes manufactured for the British high street. They take the girls. Casey & her team at the Post are on the brink of a major exposé, but identifying the factories in which the clothes have been made is one challenge, following the trail of those taken is another. The attempt to find the girls takes Casey from her London newsroom across the world and into the very heart of families who will be destroyed if what she uncovers is ever revealed.

How to Raise an Elephant

by Alexander McCall Smith ($30, PB)

The twenty-first book in the series sees Precious Ramotswe calling upon all her maternal instincts when she’s faced with a two-ton case . . .

House of Correction by Nicci French ($33, PB)

‘So,’ said Mora Piozzi, her lawyer, looking down at her laptop.

‘In brief: you are charged with the murder of Stuart Robert Rees, on December 21st, between the hours of ten-forty in the morning and half-past three o’clock in the afternoon.’ Tabitha is accused of murder. She is in prison awaiting trial. There is a strong case against her, and she can’t remember what happened on December 21st. She is alone, frightened and confused. But somehow, from the confines of her cell, she needs to prove everyone wrong.

The Summer of Kim Novak by Håkan Nesser

Sweden in the ‘60s. Erik’s mother is dying of cancer, his grieving father sends the boy to the family’s ramshackle lake cabin with fellow student Edmund & Erik’s older brother, a reporter who intends to write the Great Swedish Novel that summer.

Erik & Edmund spend their vacation by a forest lake daydreaming about Ewa, a young substitute teacher with an uncanny resemblance to the actress Kim Novak. Then handball champion Berra Albertsson is found dead in a gravel parking spot near where the boys are staying, his skull caved in—his fiancée, Ewa, the object of their dreams, is a suspect. 25 years later, Erik comes across a newspaper article about unsolved crimes & is overwhelmed by memories & questions from that long ago summer. ($30, PB)

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman ($33, PB)

Small town in Sweden—a mysterious masked figure approaches a bank. 2 hours later, a bungled attempted robbery has developed into a hostage situation—and the offender is refusing to communicate their demands to the police. Inside, fear quickly turns to irritation for the 7 hostages. Shouldn’t their last day on earth be a bit more dramatic? But as the minutes tick by, they begin to suspect that the criminal mastermind holding them hostage might be more in need of rescuing than they are.

A Little London Scandal

by Miranda Emmerson ($30, PB)

1967. Rent boy Nik Christou knows the ins and outs of Piccadilly Circus—how to spot a pretty policeman & interpret a fleeting glance. Then his life is turned upside down, by violence & an accusation of murder. Anna Treadway, works as a dresser in Soho’s Galaxy theatre—she is convinced Nik is innocent & determines to find him an alibi. Merrian Wallis, devoted wife to a scandal-tarnished MP wants proof that her husband couldn’t have been involved. Anna searches for clues amongst a cast of MPs, actors, members of gentlemen’s clubs—will anyone be willing to come forward & save Nik from his fate?

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Crime Fiction

The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleeves ($33, PB)

Driving home during a swirling blizzard Vera Stanhope loses her way, and sees a car slewed off the road ahead of her. The driver’s door open, and Vera is shocked to find a young toddler strapped in the back seat.

Afraid they will freeze, Vera takes the child & drives on, arriving at Brockburn, a run-down stately home she immediately recognizes as the house her father Hector grew up in. Inside Brockburn a party is in full swing, with music & laughter to herald the coming Christmas. But outside in the snow, a young woman lies dead & Vera has a new case.

Still Life by Val McDermid ($33, PB)

On a freezing winter morning, fishermen pull a body from the sea. The dead man was the prime suspect in a decade-old investigation, when a prominent civil servant disappeared without trace. DCI Karen Pirie was the last detective to review the file—but she is already grappling with another case, one with even more questions & fewer answers. A skeleton has been discovered in an abandoned campervan & all clues point to a killer who has never faced justice. In her search for the truth, Karen uncovers a network of lies that has gone unchallenged for years.

Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen ($33, PB)

It’s the height of the Palm Beach charity ball season: for every good cause, there’s a reason for the local luminaries to eat (minimally), drink (maximally), and be seen. Prominent high-society dowager Kiki Pew vanishes during one of these swanky galas & is later found dead, panic and chaos erupt. Kiki was a founding member of the POTUSSIES, a group of women dedicated to supporting their President—who immediately declares that Kiki was the victim of rampaging immigrant hordes. However, the truth might just lie in the bizarre discovery brings the First Lady’s motorcade to a grinding halt. Enter Angie Armstrong, wildlife wrangler extraordinaire, who is summoned to the posh island to deal with a mysterious & impolite influx of huge, hungry pythons

Atomic Love by Jennie Fields ($33, PB)

Chicago, 1950. Rosalind Porter has always defied expectations—in her work as a physicist on the Manhattan Project to design the atomic bomb, and in her passionate love affair with coworker Thomas Wheeler. 5 years after the end of both, her guilt over the results of her work & her heartbreak over Wheeler are intertwined. She has almost succeeded in resigning herself to a more conventional life when Wheeler turns up—as does the FBI. Agent Charlie Szydlo wants Rosalind to spy on Wheeler, whom the FBI suspects of selling nuclear secrets to Russia.

She sets out on a mission to find the truth—no matter where it leads.

Either Side of Midnight by Benjamin Stevenson

At 9.01 pm, TV presenter Sam Midford delivers the monologue for his popular current affairs show Midnight Tonight. He’s nervous, the crew think he’s about to propose to his girlfriend live on air. Instead, he pulls out a gun & shoots himself in the head. Sam’s grief-stricken twin Harry is convinced his brother was murdered. But one million viewers witnessed Sam pull the trigger? Only Jack Quick, a disgraced television producer in the last days of a prison sentence, is desperate enough to take Harry’s reward money to investigate. As Jack starts digging, he finds out there’s more than one way to kill someone. ($33, PB)

The Part-Time Job by P. D. James ($10, PB)

I wasn’t in any particular hurry to kill him. What was important was to make sure that the deed was done without suspicion settling on me.

Follow P D James, ‘Queen of Crime’, as she takes us into the mind of a man who has waited decades to enact his patient, ingenious revenge on a school bully. A small, dark, treat, The Part-Time Job is published in this special edition—for the first time in book form—in celebration of what would have been P D James’ 100th birthday.

The Kingdom by Jo Nesbo ($33, PB)

In the far north of Norway a man lives a peaceful existence. However one day his younger brother, always the more successful and charming of the two, turns up to visit. He’s accompanied by his new wife. A bond develops between the woman and her host, with violent consequences.

It turns out that the little brother is not quite as angelic as he seems.

Blunt Force by Lynda La Plante ($33, PB)

Unceremoniously kicked off the adrenaline-fuelled Flying Squad, Jane Tennison now plies her trade in Gerald Road, a small & sleepy police station in the heart of London’s affluent Knightsbridge—with only petty crime to sink her teeth into. Then big-time theatrical agent, Charlie Foxley, is found viciously beaten to death with a cricket bat— The Killings At Kingfisher Hill his body dismembered & disembowelled. Foxley had a lot of powerby Sophie Hannah ($33, PB) ful friends—but just as many enemies. And alongside her old friend Hercule Poirot is travelling by luxury passenger coach from DS Spencer Gibbs, Tennison must journey into the salacious world London to the exclusive Kingfisher Hill estate. Richard Devon- of show business to find out which one is the killer, before they strike port wants Poirot to prove that his fiancée, Helen, is innocent again. of the murder of his brother, Frank. The coach is forced to stop when a distressed woman demands to get off, insisting that if Now in B Format she stays in her seat, she will be murdered. Curiosity aroused, Peace by Garry Disher, $20 Poirot’s fears are later confirmed when a body is discovered Where the Dead Go by Sarah Bailey, $17 with a macabre note attached—are the 2 deaths connected?

The Night Fire by Michael Connelly, $20

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend. But it’s a lot of work & Susan is missing her literary life in London—even though her publishing career once entangled her in a lethal literary murder plot. So when an English couple come to visit with tales of a murder that took place in a hotel the same day their daughter Cecily was married there, Susan is intrigued—especially when she finds out that Cecily has gone missing after reading a crime novel Susan once edited. A perfect excuse to return to London & investigate—the clues to the murder & the disappearance must are in the pages of this novel. ($33, PB)

Across the Water by Ingrid Alexandra ($25, PB)

In a remote, boat-access only house, Liz Dawson’s watches the people who live in the 3 identical houses that sit side by side across the creek. She’s drawn to the middle house—the beautiful young mother, Delilah Waters & her baby. When they go missing, everyone suspects murder-suicide. It’s no secret that Dee Waters never wanted children & wasn’t coping with the baby. Wrestling with her own demons, Liz risks everything to uncover a truth that becomes more complex with every twist. Liz knows that just because someone is a reluctant mother, it doesn’t mean they’re capable of murder, does it?

The Night Whistler by Greg Woodland ($33, PB) It’s 1966. Hal & his little brother, newly arrived in Moorabool with their parents, are exploring the creek near their new home when they find the body of a dog—recently killed, and mutilated. Constable Mick Goodenough, recently demoted from his city job as a detective, is also new in town—and one of his dogs has gone missing.

He’s knows what it means when someone tortures an animal to death. So when Hal’s mother starts getting anonymous calls—a man whistling, then hanging up—Goodenough, alone among the Moorabool cops, takes her seriously.

Hermit by S. R. White ($33, PB)

After the puzzling death of a shopkeeper in rural Australia, troubled detective Dana Russo has just 12 hours to interrogate the prime suspect—a silent, inscrutable man found at the scene of the crime, who simply vanished 15 years earlier. Where has he been? And just how dangerous is he? Without conclusive evidence linking him to the killing, Dana must race against time to persuade him to speak. But over a series of increasingly intense interviews, Dana is forced to confront her own past if she wants him to reveal the shocking truth.

All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny ($33, PB)

The Gamaches are in Paris, and having a family dinner with Armand’s godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. But when Stephen is knocked down & critically injured Armand is convinced it was no accident. A strange key is found in Stephen’s possession & Armand embarks on a desperate search for the truth that will take him from the top of the Tour Eiffel, to the bowels of the Paris Archives. As he uncovers secrets his godfather has kept hidden for decades, he finds himself ensnared in a web of lies & deceit that threatens to destroy all he holds dear. For even the City of Light casts long shadows. And in that darkness devils hide.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

In a peaceful retirement village off the A21 in Kent, 4 unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved killings. But when a local property developer shows up dead, ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim & Ron might be octogenarians, but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late? ($33, PB)

V2 by Robert Harris ($33, PB)

On the brink of defeat, Hitler commissioned 10,000 V2 rockets that carried a one-ton warhead at 3 times the speed of sound, which he believed would win the war. Dr Rudi Graf who, along with his friend Werner von Braun, had once dreamt of sending a rocket to the moon, now finds himself in November 1944 in a bleak seaside town in Occupied Holland, launching V2s against London—but his disillusionment with the war leads to him being investigated for sabotage.

WAAF officer Kay Caton-Walsh has been sent to newly-liberated Belgium in the hope of discovering the location of the launch sites.

But not all the Germans have left and Kay finds herself in mortal danger. As the war reaches its desperate end, their twin stories play out, until their destinies are finally forced together.

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin ($33, PB)

The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student—beloved granddaughter of the police chief. True crime podcaster Rachel Krall is drawn into the investigating the crime by mysterious letters that want her to find out what happened to the writer’s sister 25 years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered. When Rachel starts asking questions she uncovers connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial.

True Crime

The Rodchenkov Affair

by Grigory Rodchenkov ($35, PB)

In 2015, Russia’s Anti-Doping Centre was suspended following revelations of an elaborate state-sponsored doping programme at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, which involved a nearly undetectable steroid delivery system known as ‘Duchesse cocktail’, tampering & switching of urine samples, and a complex state-sanctioned cover-up. The programme was masterminded

by Grigory Rodchenkov, whose fascinatingly candid story reveals his career working for the Soviet Olympic Committee—a rigged system of flawed individuals, brazen deceit & impossible moral choices.

True Crimes and Misdemeanors

by Jeffrey Toobin ($35, PB) Donald Trump’s campaign chairman went to jail. So did his personal lawyer. His long-time political consigliere was convicted of serious federal crimes, and his National Security Advisor pleaded guilty to several more. Multiple Russian spies were indicted in absentia. Career intelligence agents and military officers were alarmed enough by his actions as President that they alerted senior government officials and ignited the impeachment process. Yet somehow Trump is running for presidency again. Jeffrey Toobin’s account of the Mueller investigation & the impeachment of Tump takes readers behind the scenes of the epic legal & political struggle to call him to account for his misdeeds.

Reasonable Doubt by Xanthé Mallett ($33, PB)

Henry Keogh spent almost 20 years locked away for a murder that never even happened. Khalid Baker was imprisoned for the death of a man his best friend has openly admitted to causing.

And the exposure of ‘Lawyer X’ Nicola Gobbo’s double-dealing could lead to some of Australia’s most notorious convictions being overturned. Forensic scientist Xanthé Mallett looks at miscarriages of justice & cases of Australians who have been wrongfully convicted. Shes exposes false confessions, police biases, misplaced evidence & dodgy science in an account of the murky underbelly of Australia’s justice system.

The Case of the Vanishing Blonde

by Mark Bowden ($30, PB)

Six true-crime stories from a story of a campus rape in 1983, to three cold cases solved by the inimitable private detective Ken Brennan, an LAPD investigation that unearths a murderer within its own ranks and the darkest corners of internet chat rooms, veteran journalist Mark Bowden revisits some of his most riveting stories and examines the effects of modern technology on the journalistic process.

Public Enemies by Mark Dapin ($33, PB)

Russell ‘Mad Dog’ Cox & Ray Denning were once Australian Public Enemies Number One & Two. Handsome, charismatic bandits who refused to bow to authority, they were classified as ‘intractable’ in prison. Cox was the only man to ever escape from ‘escape proof’ Katingal—and he even tried to break in again to rescue his mates. Their story is also about the unimaginable horrors that young boys faced when condemned to ‘institutions’ in the 1960s, and the terrible conditions in Australian jails in the 70s & 80s. These were the hells where a whole generation of armed robbers was forged. Mark Dapin explores the life of these infamous men & the criminal world they inhabited—from armed robberies, shootings & bashings to prison floggings & jail breaks, this is the gritty, page-turning reality behind the headlines.

Electric Blue by Paul F. Verhoeven ($35, PB)

In the follow up to Loose Units Paul Verhoeven continues a conversation with his ex-cop father. Electric Blue spans the final years of John Verhoeven’s stint in the NSW Police Force, when he took up an offer to move into the world of forensics with Paul unpicking his father’s most terrible cases. But what’s it actually like to have a heroic ex-cop as a dad? Paul & John delve into their unique father-son relationship & how they ended up so different to each other. They figure out how to deal with the choices they’ve made—or wish they’d made. And Paul’s mum, Christine, reveals what it was like to be a pioneering female cop in the 80s, when misogyny was rife in the force.

I Catch Killers by Gary Jubelin ($35, PB)

Gary Jubelin was one of Australia’s most celebrated homicide detectives, leading investigations into the disappearance of William Tyrrell, the serial killing of 3 Aboriginal children in Bowraville & the brutal gangland murder of Terry Falconer. During his 34-year career, former DCI Jubelin also ran the crime scene following the Lindt Café siege, investigated the death of Caroline Byrne and recovered the body of Matthew Leveson—and in 2020, he was found guilty of illicitly recording conversations during the Tyrrell investigation. Now he tells it all.

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Other Side of Absence: Discovering My Father’s Secrets by Betty O’Neill ($33, PB)

Betty O’Neill grew up knowing very little about her father, Antoni. She knew that he had fled Poland after WW2, that he had disappeared overnight when she was just an infant, and that his brief reappearance when she was a young adult had been a harrowing, painful ordeal. 55 years after he deserted her family, O’Neill is determined to find out who Antoni Jagielski was? Her search takes her to Poland, where she unexpectedly inherits a family apartment from the half sister she never knew—a time capsule of her father’s life.

Sifting through photos & letters she begins to piece together a picture of her father as a Polish resistance fighter, a survivor of Auschwitz & Gusen concentration camps, an exile in post-war England, and a migrant to Australia. But the deeper she searches, the darker the revelations about her father become, as O’Neill is faced with disturbing truths buried within her family.

The Happiest Man on Earth

by Eddie Jaku ($33, HB)

Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But in November 1938 he was beaten, arrested & taken to a concentration camp. Over the next 7 years, Jaku faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on a Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country.

Because he survived, Jaku made the vow to smile every day.

He pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom & living his best possible life. Published as Jaku turns 100, this is a powerful & ultimately hopeful memoir of how happiness can be found even in the darkest of times.

Beyond the Sky by James Vicars ($34.95, PB)

In Australia in the mid 1920s aviators were all men, until a petite, quietly-spoken 49 year-old mother of 3, Millicent Bryant, took her first flight, igniting a passion that led her to become the first woman in the Commonwealth outside Britain to gain a pilot’s licence. Were it not for an ironic stroke of fate, her name may have become as familiar as other pioneers of the air such as Smithy, Hinkler or Nancy Bird Walton. Working from Bryant’s rediscovered letters & writings James Vicars tells of a flyer who was also a businesswoman, small-scale property developer, golfer, student of Japanese at Sydney University & early motorist who had driven over 35,000 miles around NSW up to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko—and who could fix her own car to boot—a life that represents the spirit of change in the social, political & marital conventions of 20th century Australia.

Stalin’s Wine Cellar by John Baker ($35, PB)

In the late 1990s, John Baker, purveyor of quality rare & old wines, was presented with a mysterious wine list that was foreign to anything he, or his second-in-command, Kevin Hopko, had ever come across. This list turned out to be a comprehensive catalogue of the wine collection of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia. The wine had become the property of the state after the Russian Revolution of 1918.

Now owned by Stalin, the wine was discreetly removed to a remote Georgian winery during WW2 to protect it from Nazi invaders. Half a century later, the wine was rumoured to be hidden underground & off any known map. Baker & Hopko embarked on a journey to Georgia to discover if the wines actually existed—if they were authentic, and up for sale. From Double Bay Sydney to Tbilisi Georgia, via the streets of Paris, the vineyards of Bordeaux & iconic Château d’Yquem—the elusive treasure a multimillion dollar cellar, a breathtaking collection of wine (and one very expensive broken bottle).

The Hungover Games by Sophie Heawood

Biography

Russian Roulette: The Life and Times of Graham Greene by Richard Greene ($35, PB)

A restless traveller, Graham Greene was a witness to many of the key events of modern history—including the origins of the Vietnam War, the Mau Mau Rebellion, the betrayal of the double-agent Kim Philby, the rise of Fidel Castro, and the guerrilla wars of Central America. Traumatized as a boy & thought a Judas among his schoolmates, Greene tried Russian Roulette & attempted suicide. He suffered from bipolar illness, which caused havoc in his private life as his marriage failed, and one great love after another suffered shipwreck, until in his later years he found constancy in a decidedly unconventional relationship. His works came to explore the no man’s land between belief & unbelief. A journalist, an MI6 officer, and an unfailing advocate for human rights, he sought out the inner narratives of war and politics in dozens of troubled places, and yet he distrusted nations & armies, believing that true loyalty was a matter between individuals. This new biography responds to the many thousands of pages of lost letters that have recently come to light & to new memoirs by those who knew him best.

Vida: A woman for our time by Jacqueline Kent

Vida Goldstein first came to national prominence as the first woman in the Western world to stand for a national Parliament—in Victoria, for the Senate, in 1903. As a fighter for equal rights for women, and as a champion of social justice, she established a pattern of working quietly against men’s control of Australian society. Her work for the peace movement & against conscription during the heightened emotions of WW1 showed her determination to defy governments in the name of fairness & equity. Goldstein came to adulthood when Australia was in the process of inventing itself as a new nation, one in which women might have opportunities equal to those of men. Her life as a campaigner for the suffrage in Australia, Britain & America, an advocate for peace, a fighter for social equality & a shrewd political commentator—marks her as one of Australia’s foremost women of courage & principle. ($35, PB)

Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre ($35, PB)

In the quiet Cotswolds village of Great Rollright in 1945, an elegant housewife emerged from her cottage to go on her usual bike ride. A devoted wife & mother-of-three, Mrs Burton seemed to epitomise rural British domesticity. However, rather than pedalling towards the shops with her ration book, she was racing through the Oxfordshire countryside to gather scientific intelligence from one of the country’s most brilliant nuclear physicists—secrets that she would transmit to Soviet intelligence headquarters via the radio transmitter she was hiding in her outdoor privy. From planning an assassination attempt on Hitler in Switzerland, to spying on the Japanese in Manchuria, and helping the Soviet Union build the atom bomb, German born Ursula Kuczynski (codename ‘Sonya’) conducted some of the most dangerous espionage operations of the 20th century. This is a life that encompasses the rise & fall of communism itself, and altered the course of history.

No Matter Our Wreckage by Gemma Carey ($30, PB)

When Gemma Carey was 12 years old, a man twice her age would sneak into her bedroom on a weekly basis & sexually assault her. When she was 17, Carey took the perpetrator to court by herself & had him placed on the child sex offenders register. When she was 33, her mother died of cancer. For 20 years, her mother had known about this man.

But why had she not acted to protect her daughter? Could the genesis of this betrayal be found in her own family history? This memoir is the story of past & present colliding. It seeks to capture the complexity of forces which lead to abuse; to understand the intertwined narratives of mothers & daughters and how trauma becomes encoded in our DNA through generations.

The Miracle Typist by Leon Silver ($33, PB)

Conscripted into the Polish army as Hitler’s forces draw closer, Jewish soldier Tolek Klings vows to return to his wife, Klara, and son, Juliusz.

The army is rife with anti-Semitism and as the Germans invade Poland, Tolek is faced with a terrible dilemma: flee home to protect his family, and risk being shot as a deserter—or hope reports that women & children being spared by the occupying forces are true. Via a daring escape from a Hungarian internment camp to Palestine, where his ability to type earns him the title of ‘The Miracle Typist’, then on to fight in Egypt, Tobruk & Italy, Tolek remains determined to find his way home to his family—brought vividly to life by Tolek’s son-in-law, Melbourne writer Leon Silver.

I had no idea how to commit to another human being. I could barely commit to reading a magazine, and I wrote for magazines for a living. My specialist subject was celebrities, and my own relationships made their marriages look eternal. I’d never paid a household bill that didn’t mention bailiffs, and my idea of exercise was to go and stand outside a famous person’s house and stare until I’d convinced myself that I lived in it. But my life in LA was happy; free Into the Suburbs: A Migrant’s Story of care and consequence. That was, until I came down to by Christopher Raja ($30, PB) earth—with a bump. So this is the story of how I staggered ‘In Calcutta we were crammed in among crowds, traffic and pollution. from partying in Hollywood to bringing up a baby in Piss Alley, Dalston; and We had visions of breathing fresh, clean air and living in a classless why paternity testing is not a good topic for a first-date conversation. ($35, PB) society where everyone was your mate.’ Christopher Raja was 11 years old when his father, David, decided to move the family to Australia in Now in B Format pursuit of the idyllic lifestyle. They brought their hopes and aspirations to a bungalow in Melbourne’s outer suburbs. On the surface, the Rajas Tell Me Why: The Story of My Life and My Music appeared to be living a ‘normal’ Australian life. Throughout his teenage

by Archie Roach, $33 years, Raja embraced the freedoms of his adopted country, while his Jack Charles: Born-again Blakfella, $23 father became more & more disenchanted. Just as Raja was settling into university, the family Before I Forget by Geoffrey Blainey, $23 is rocked by a tragic & unexpected loss. By exploring the issues of race, class & migration, Welcome Home: A Memoir with Selected Photographs Raja offers an affecting portrait of one family’s search for home.

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and Letters by Lucia Berlin, $20

Travel Writing The Golden Maze: A biography of Prague

by Richard Fidler ($40, HB)

In 1989, Richard Fidler was living in London when revolution broke out across Europe. Excited by this galvanising historic, human, moment, he travelled to Prague, where a decrepit police state was being overthrown by crowds of ecstatic citizens. 30 years later Fidler returns to Prague to uncover the glorious & grotesque history of Europe’s most instagrammed & uncanny city: a jumble of gothic towers, baroque palaces & zig-zag lanes that has survived plagues, pogroms, Nazi terror & Soviet tanks. He explores the Black Palace, the wartime headquarters of the Nazi SS, and he meets victims of the communist secret police. Following the story of Prague from its origins in medieval darkness to its uncertain present Fidler curates an engaging & compelling history.

Gleebooks’ special price $34.99

Wild Nature: Walking Australia’s South East Forests

by John Blay ($40, PB)

John Blay goes bush to explore Australia’s south east forests—stretching from Canberra to the coast & on to Wilsons Promontory—in a great circle from his one-time home near Bermagui. He charts the forests’ shared history, their natural history, the forest wars, the establishment of the South East Forests National Park & the threats that continue to dog their existence, including bushfires. Along the way Blay asks: What do we really know about these wild forests? How did the forests come to be the way they are? What is the importance of wild nature to our civilisation? ‘...As well as being a story of ‘spiritual regeneration’, it’s also very much about the decades long ‘war’ between the forest industry & Aboriginal custodians & environmentalists, and about the history of this region.

The Museum of Whales You Will Never See: Travels Among the Collectors of Iceland by Kendra Greene

Iceland has a large number (265) of (mostly) very small museums. Founded in the backyards of houses, begun as jokes or bets or memorials to lost friends, these museums tell the story of an enchanted island where bridges arrived only at the beginning of the 20th century. A nation where, in the remote & wild places, you might encounter still a shore laddie, a sorcerer or a ghost. From Reykjavik’s renowned Phallological Museum to a house of stones on the eastern coast; from the curious monsters which roam the remote shores of Bildudalur to a museum of whales which proves impossible to find,Kendra Greene explores an enchanted story of obsession, curation & the peculiar magic of this isolated island. ($33, HB)

Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town

by Barbara Demick ($35, PB)

Barbara Demick journeys to Aba—a small town high on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. The residents of Aba have been in an uneasy compromise with the Chinese for decades, living nomadically on the plateau in the summer & moving to concrete housing in the winter, sending their children to monasteries to be educated, practising polyandry as is their custom. Travelling in disguise to evade the Chinese authorities, Demick interviewed Tibetans over 3 years—among them a novice monk contemplating protest suicide, the last princess of the region exiled during the Cultural Revolution & a young woman trapped in a bigamous marriage. Weaving together their stories with the history of China’s dominance over Tibet, she creates a portrait of the lives of a people locked in a struggle for identity & independence.

From Snow to Ash by Anthony Sharwood ($33, PB)

At the start of the hellish, fiery Australian summer of 2019/20, Walkley Award-winning journalist Anthony Sharwood abandoned his post on a busy news website to solo-trek the Australian Alps Walking Track, Australia’s most gruelling mainland hiking trail—traversing the entirety of the High Country from Gippsland in Victoria to the outskirts of Canberra. His journey started in a blizzard & ended in a blaze. Along the way, Sharwood came to realise that nothing would ever be the same—either for him or for the imperilled Australian Alps, a landscape as fragile & sensitive to the changing climate as the Great Barrier Reef.

Without Ever Reaching the Summit: A Himalayan Journey

by Paolo Cognetti ($25, HB) Paolo Cognetti marked his 40th birthday with a journey he had always wanted to make—to Dolpo, a remote Himalayan region where Nepal meets Tibet. He took with him two friends, a notebook, mules & guides, and a well-worn copy of The Snow Leopard. Written in 1978, Matthiessen’s classic was also turning forty, and Cognetti set out to walk in the footsteps of the great adventurer.

Beyond Possible by Nirmal Purja ($33, PB)

Fourteen mountains on Earth tower over 8,000 metres above sea level, an altitude where the brain and body withers and dies. Until recently, the world record for climbing them all stood at nearly eight years. So I announced I was summiting them in under seven months. People laughed. They told me I was crazy, even though I’d sharpened my climbing skills on the brutal Himalayan peaks of Everest and Dhaulagiri. But I possessed more than enough belief, strength and resilience to nail the job, having taken down enemy gunmen and terrorist bomb makers while serving with the Gurkhas and the UK Special Forces. Throughout 2019, I came alive in the death zone.

THE WILDER AISLES

A Shooting at Chateau Rock is Martin Walker’s new Dordogne Mystery, featuring Bruno, chief of police & his Basset Hound Balzac. A lot of the regular characters appear in this latest venture, and being a fan of the series, I feel like I know them all, along with Bruno’s home, his horse and the countryside round about. Set in the Dordogne Perigord region, the action takes place in and around the fictitious village of St Denis. A local farmer dies and his son visits Bruno—suspicious about his father’s death, as he had signed over his property to an insurance company in return for a subscription to a luxury retirement home. Sceptical at first, Bruno decides to look into it, and finds that both the retirement home and the insurance company are scams linked to a Russian oligarch, already of interest of the French police. Meanwhile, an old friend of Bruno’s—ageing British rock star, Rod Macrae—has decided to sell his home, Chateau Rock. His younger wife wants a new life The sale of the chateau prompts a family reunion. Of the various visitors an older man called Sasha causes Bruno some concern, especially after he secretly checks his documents. Another of the visitors is Galina, who turns out to be the daughter of the previously mentioned oligarch, and the scams reach all the way to the Kremlin. Of course, being a Bruno book, you can’t escape all the wonderful food and wine of the region. Bruno’s recipes are great and you get enough detail to follow along at home. I continue to find Bruno such an engaging character, and Walker’s description of the life that he leads is very attractive—I can feel the sun, see the river, and hear the noise of the market, selling all the wonderful cheese and bread. Great.

Jean-luc Bannalec’s The Missing Corpse is set in Brittany—technically France, however the locals don’t consider themselves French but rather Celtic, with ties to Scottish & welsh mythologies. It’s a very different France to Bruno’s—this the home of the Belon river, the famous oyster beds, and the Atlantic ocean, wild country with craggy cliffs and dark forests. The fifth book by Bannalec set in this area of France, the missing corpse of the title, was seen on the beach front by a stubborn, older famous film actress, who insists in no uncertain terms on its existence despite the police being unable to find it. Georges Dupin, the commissaire, later receives a phone call from the mystical hills Mount D’Arrée, where legends of Fairies and the devil abound. The caller tells him that an unidentified body has been found. Is this the same body. The mystery deepens, when corrupt lawyers and accountants enter, along with druids holding secret meetings in the forest. Plus—someone is selling substandard oysters and making a lot of money. Of course, Dupin manages to figure it all out and bring those people responsible to justice. And of course, being set in France, there is plenty to eat and drink, especially oysters. Much to his partner and friends’ disbelief, Dupin has never partaken of the local delicacy. During the novel, this reticence is put to the test. I love oysters, so I found his unwillingness hard to understand. I have read the others in the series, and enjoyed them all.

My next book is something different, although there is a bit of detecting involved. The Funny Thing about Norman Foreman by Julietta Henderson, is one of those books that get you in, almost in spite of yourself. The unfortunately named Norman Foreman has one great desire, or as we find later on he actually has two, to be a stand-up comedian. Norman is shy, bullied at school, and a loner. If things couldn’t be any worse, he also suffers from Psoriasis, with its itching and scales falling from his body. His life changes, when he meets Jax. Jax is Norman’s opposite—rather too much for some people, always in some kind of trouble. Together they develop comedy routines, Jax doing the funny lines, Norman the straight man. Their ultimate aim is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. When tragedy strikes and Jax is no longer around, Norman is devastated, unable to deal with his loss. Norman’s mother Sadie is unable to comfort him. Enter Leonard Cobroft, the over-seventy -year old cleaner at the car sales business where Sadie works. Leonard is abused by Dennis the boss, who only hired him to get a bonus for hiring older people. When Leonard is fired Sadie makes sure that Leonard gets all his entitlements, including two weeks leave. Sadie decides to join Leonard and takes her two weeks at the same time. Here we come Norman’s second wish, that’s when the fun begins. Sadie is surprised and concerned to learn that Norman’s other wish is to find his father—she has no idea who Norman’s father was. At a loose end, Leonard takes up the challenge, finding Norman’s father and getting him to the Fringe, as a stand-up comedian.

They set off on an awfully big adventure, in Leonard’s Austin Maxi. One of the funniest scenes that follows is when Norman rescues a maybe father from a clothes dryer, helps find money owed to him in the office of a major crime boss, and then makes their escape on a moped. I could go on, but I must leave the riches in this wonderful book for you to discover for yourselves. A book to read when you are a bit down and needing your spirits lifted and the world restored to a good place.

Janice Wilder

9

books for kids to young adults Finding Francois by Gus Gordon ($25, HB)

Alice wishes she had someone her own size to talk to. Then one day her wish comes true. Through hope and chance, love and loss, two little ones who need each other find each other. Gus Gordon’s first picture book, Wendy, was a Notable Book in the 2010 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Picture Book of the Year Awards. His second picture book, Herman and Rosie, is now published in twelve countries—internationally acclaimed and awarded.

Family by Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson ($25, HB)

Family/ Heart and home/ Yarning old people/ Endless sky. Family is a thoughtful contemplation for all to learn the different ways that family makes us whole. This beautifully illustrated children’s picture book shows everyone that ‘family’ can be about heart and home; an endless sky; stories and songs. It ‘learns’ us how to be with each other and with Country. Age range 3 to 9

picture books

Paolo, Emperor of Rome by Mac Barnett (ill) Claire Keane ($25, HB)

Paolo the dachshund lives in Rome, a city filled with history and adventure—but he is confined to a hair salon. Paolo dreams of a dolce vita-in the Eternal City. And then, one day, he escapes—throwing himself into the city, finding adventure at every turn—discovering the wonders of Rome: the ruins, the food, the art, the opera, and-of course-the cats.

Found by Bruce Pascoe ($25, HB)

A small calf who becomes separated from his family—all alone in the rugged Australian bush he simply wants his mother, sisters and brothers. He can see other animals, and after running to the river, manages to ask some horses if they are his family. The calf’s family have been taken away in the back of a noisy truck. So begins the little calf’s journey to find his family. Share the calf’s point of view in his journey home, accompanied by Charmaine Ledden Lewis’ beautiful illustrations.

Oxford Roald Dahl Thesaurus

non fiction

This is a real thesaurus for all chiddlers and even some adult human beans. It features hundreds of spliffling words used and created by the world’s best storyteller, Roald Dahl, together with useful synonyms, related words and phrases, idioms and word origins. Cleverly organised into phizz-whizzing themes, from vegitibbles to outer space, it is easy to find new and interesting words while you are writing. This mischievous thesaurus captures Oxford University Press’s language expertise and mixes it with the magic of Roald Dahl. ($30.95, HB)

fiction

Little Lon by Andrew Kelly ($25, HB)

Behind the grand buildings of the big streets in a post-settlement Australia city was Little Lon. A working-class district of little houses and narrow lanes, bursting with life and the stories of the people who lived there. In traditional histories the poor of the time are not often celebrated, but Little Lon Little Lon scrapes back the layers of history to show how people lived and worked.

Philosophy for Beginners Jordan Akpojaro et al Ill Nick Radford ($20, HB)

Philosophy is a way of thinking about just about anything. It asks big questions from nature of reality to what beauty is. Using lively examples and thought experiments, this book provides an accessible introduction to a wide range of philosophical questions and invites the reader think about things in ways they may not have done before.

Lift-the-Flap Atlas Lonely Planet

This interactive and colourful atlas takes young readers on a hands-on journey all around the world. Each page turned brings a new continent to life with a total of more than 100 flaps to lift, beautifully detailed illustrations, and fun facts about different cultures, species of wildlife and places to visit along the way. ($25, HB)

Rocky Lobstar #2: Time Travel Tangle! by Rove McManus ($15, PB)

‘Hi! I’m Rocky Lobstar. I’m part-boy, part-lobster!’ Rocky and his best mate, Goober, accidentally break Mr Felidi’s prized tea set. But as luck would have it, a visiting professor has brought her time machine along to Felidi’s Fabulous Sideshow Carnival. Can Rocky and Goober turn back time? Or will they cause an epic time travel catastrophe?

6 to 8

Hodgepodge: How to Make a Pet Monster 1 by Lili Wilkinson ($15, PB)

I’m Artie. I’m eleven years old. I do not believe in ghosts, or monsters. I do believe in science. I also believe that my step-sister Willow is kinda terrifying. Willow and I found a weird old book in the attic of our new house. It’s called the Big Boke of Fetching Monsters.And it tells you how to make your own monster. But that’s impossible. You DEFINITELY can’t make a monster, because MONSTERS DO NOT EXIST—and my step-sister Willow is kinda terrifying ...

League of Llamas 3: Undercover Llamas by Aleesah Darlison ($10, PB)

After failing to apprehend some dangerously peck-happy hens, the League of Llamas are going undercover! But these aren’t any ordinary secret identities—Phillipe, Lloyd and Elloise are joining Bruno Llamars (and his grumpy manager, Wally Chimpopo) as band members on the pop star’s next tour — to Chickenlovakia. Will the LOL agents’ cover be blown before they can track down their feathery foes? Only time and some rather alarming discoveries will tell!

Ninja Kid #6 Ninja Giants by Anh Do ($10, PB)

The fair is in town! Nelson and Kenny want to go on ALL the rides! But after testing Grandmas new invention, they’re suddenly TOO SMALL to go anywhere! Luckily, Nelson and Kenny have a plan to get TALLER again... way, WAAAAY TALLER!

Storm by Nicola Skinner ($17, PB)

‘You were born raging, Frances Frida Ripley. That’s what happens when you’re born in a storm.’ Frances’s parents were not prepared for her birth: they had a blanket and an easel and some paint, but not anything useful, like a car or a phone. So it’s no wonder Frankie has always had a temper. She was born on a BEACH, in a STORM. What she was not prepared for was dying in a freak natural disaster that wiped out her whole town. Waking up 100 years later, Frances finds a whole load of new things to be angry about. And that’s before the visitors start turning up, treating her home like it’s a tourist attraction. Which it is. Only there are worse people out there than tourists—and they’re coming for Frankie.

The Water’s Daughter by Michelle Lovric ($16, PB) Twelve-year-old Aurelia Bon can see what happened in a place by merely pressing her fingertips up against the walls. So when young boys start disappearing around an old palace, Aurelia must use her ability to find out what has happened, before the boys of Venice disappear forever. This is an exquisitely imagined fantasy novel about a girl who can see history with her touch. Set on the canals of Venice, this is a perfect book for fans of Frances Hardinge (Deep Light, Face Like Glass) and Jennifer Bell (Frozen Telescope, Smoking Hourglass) for 9+ readers.

The Line Tender by Kate Allen ($16, PB) Wherever the sharks led, Lucy Everhart’s marine-biologist mother was sure to follow. In fact, she was on a boat far off the coast of Massachusetts, collecting shark data when she died suddenly. Lucy was seven. Since then Lucy and her father have kept their heads above water—thanks in large part to a few close friends and neighbours. But June of her 12th summer brings more than the end of school and a heat wave to sleepy Rockport. On one steamy day, the tide brings a great white—and then another tragedy. To survive the fresh wave of grief, Lucy must grab the line that connects her depressed father, a stubborn fisherman, and a curious old widower to her mother’s unfinished research on the Great White’s return to Cape Cod. If Lucy can find a way to help this unlikely quartet follow the sharks her mother loved, she’ll finally be able to look beyond what she’s lost and toward what’s left to be discovered.

10

fiction 8 to 12

book club, rhyme time and storytime

We have some new staff in the Childrens’ Dept at Gleebooks in Glebe .... introducing Rachel Robson: I’ve been a children’s specialist bookseller for fifteen years, and been running kid’s book clubs for 10 years at both Berkelouw and Shearers. I’ve found that it is a wonderful way to get kids excited about reading—meeting fellow readers, and even opening up to a new appreciation of reading through getting to chat to authors and illustrators in a fun and relaxed environment ... we also get up to lots of bookish mischief too.

We are going to start the clubs at Gleebooks by celebrating local children’s book illustrators. We’ll feature them in the window each month as our Illustrator-in-residence. Often kids know who the author is, but not who illustrated their favourite book, and quite often it is the illustrator who prompted them to pick the book up. Our plan is to have the illustrator draw directly onto our Glebe Point Road window, and we will feature their books for the month—and also hope to have an event to further celebrate them.

Our first featured illustrator will be Georgia Norton Lodge who has recently done the cover art for local authors Kate and Jol Temple’s younger fiction series Jimmy Cook and Alice Toolie. (Kate and Jol will also be the first guests at our new kid’s bookclubs starting in September). Georgia also has a successful middle grade fiction series with her sister Zoe Norton Lodge. The window art will be a fun and fabulous way to promote local illustrators and engage with the public.

Our kid’s book clubs will run each Saturday at 3:30pm for an hour upstairs. We will eat popcorn and talk about books and because we have so many amazing authors and illustrators living locally, they will sometimes join us too. Each age group will have a different week starting with year 3–4, 5–6,7–8 and finishing the month with year 9–10.

We are super lucky to have Kate and Jol Temple joining us on the 5th of September at 3:30pm to talk about their hilarious new book, The Battle Of Book Week.

We also have Sue Whiting joining our year 5/6 group on the 12th of September at half 3 to talk about her new book— The Book Of Chance. Book club is free, for more info contact Rachel Robson at rachel@gleebooks.com.au.

We are also looking at doing a little rhyme time in the shop at 10am on a Monday and a storytime on a Friday, both at 10am and both starting in September...provided Sydney behaves itself & avoids another lockdown.

teen fiction

The Lost Soul Atlas by Zana Fraillon

Twig is all alone after his dad goes missing. But when he meets Flea, a cheerful pickpocket, the pair become fast friends. Together, Twig and Flea raise themselves on the crime-ridden streets, taking what they need and giving the rest to the even-poorer.

Life is good, as long as they have each other. But then Twig wakes up in the Afterlife. With just a handful of vague memories, a key, a raven & a mysterious atlas to guide him, he tries to piece together what happened, and to find his way home ($20, PB)

This Light Between Us by Andrew Fukuda

activities

TRUEL1f 3 by Jay Kristoff

For Eve and Lemon, discovering the truth about themselves— and each other—was too much for their friendship to take. But with the country on the brink of a new world war—this time between the BioMaas swarm at CityHive and Daedalus’s army at Megopolis—loyalties will be pushed to the brink, unlikely alliances will form and with them, betrayals. But the threat doesn’t stop there, because the lifelikes are determined to access the program that will set every robot free, a task requiring both Eve and Ana, the girl she was created to replace. In the end, violent clashes and heartbreaking choices reveal the true heroes—and they may not be who you think they are. ($20, PB)

In 1935, 10-year-old Alex Maki, from Bainbridge Island, Washington, is disgusted when he’s forced to become pen pals with Charlie Lévy of Paris, France—a girl. But in spite of Alex’s reluctance, their letters continue to fly across the Atlantic, along with the shared hopes and dreams of friendship. Until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the growing Nazi persecution of Jews force both young people to confront the darkest aspects of human nature. From the desolation of an internment camp on the plains of Manzanar to the horrors of Auschwitz and the devastation of European battlefields, the only thing they can hold onto are the memories of their letters. But nothing can dispel the light between them. ($20, PB)

Secret Message Origami (ill) Jane Cide ($17, PB)

Write a phrase (or more!) on an origami sheet from the book, fold it using the super-secret technique, and pass it on to someone close to you! If they know your secret folds, they’ll be able to see what you wrote. But for those who don’t know the folds, they’ll never guess what you’re passing along!

Art at Home: 200 activities for kids

by Lorna Scobie ($20, PB)

Australia’s Deadly Animals Bingo: And Other Dangerous Creatures from Down Under by Chris Humfrey (ill) Marcel George ($35, BX)

Boasting 64 of Australia’s most deadly, beautiful and just downright surprising species. Filled with fun facts and glorious illustrations that are guaranteed to delight kids and adults alike.

Mark each species off on your card as it’s called and be the first to shout BINGO!

Lorna Scobie grew up in the depths of the English countryside, climbing trees and taking her rabbit for walks in the fields. She is an illustrator and designer, now based in south London. This creative ideas book features carefully adapted activities from her 365 series, in a larger format, perfect for kids aged 5-10.

Activities vary from relaxing colouring & pattern-drawing tasks, to thoughtprovoking challenges such as designing a superhero or sketching a self-portrait.

With no rules, and plenty of encouragement to explore, play & develop artistic skills, kids will end up with a book they feel proud of, as well as plenty of inspiration for further artistic projects.

I Saw It First: Jungle A Family Spotting Game ($30, BX)

300 jungle animals populate the board of this game—some are familiar, others less so, like the eyelash viper or the giraffe weevil. Pull a counter from the box and be the first to spot that animal on the hexagonal double-sided board!

This game features charming illustrations

by Caroline Selmes. Simple to understand but addictive to play, is great for kids and adults alike will delight adults and children alike.

11

Food, Health & Garden

Show Me Where it Hurts: Living with Invisible Illness by Kylie Maslen ($35, PB)

Kylie Maslen has been living with invisible illness for twenty yearsmore than half her life. Its impact is felt in every aspect of her day-today existence- from work to dating; from her fears for what the future holds to her struggles to get out of bed some mornings. This collection of essays speaks to those who have encountered the brush-off from doctors, faced endless tests & treatments, and endured chronic pain & suffering. It is also a bridge reaching out to partners, families, friends, colleagues & doctors who want to better understand what life looks like when you cannot simply show others where it hurts.

How to Survive a Pandemic by Dr Michael Greger

Dr Michael Greger delves into the origins of some of the deadliest pathogens the world has ever seen. Tracing their evolution from the past until today, he spotlights emerging flu & coronaviruses as he examines where these pathogens originated, as well as the underlying conditions & significant human role that have exacerbated their lethal influence to large & global levels. As the world grapples with the devastating impact of the novel coronavirus 2019, Greger reveals not only what we can do to protect ourselves & our loved ones during a pandemic, but also what human society must rectify to reduce the likelihood of even worse catastrophes in the future. ($35, PB)

On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss ($30, PB)

When Eula Biss became a mother, she stepped into a new world of fear—fear of the government, the medical establishment, the contents of her child’s air, food, mattress—and vaccines. Biss investigates the metaphors & myths surrounding our conception of immunity, and its implications for the individual & the social body. In a moving account of how we are all interconnected—our bodies & our fates Biss weaves her personal experiences with an exploration of classical & contemporary literature, to considers what vaccines, and the debate around them, mean for her own child, her immediate community & the wider world.

Splitting: The Inside Story on Headaches

by Amanda Ellison ($30, PB)

Neuroscientist, Amanda Ellison tells the fascinating true story about headaches, and the secrets they reveal about your brain & overall health. Did you know: chocolate doesn’t give you a headache & may in fact prevent one happening? 30% of us sneeze at sunlight? you can see off a headache with an orgasm? that you shouldn’t wear a striped top if your spouse gets migraines? From migraines to sinus pain to tension headaches to Ellison separates fact from fiction helping you practise habits that will protect you from headache.

The Vagina Book by Thinx & Dr Jenn Conti

This essential guide has sections on anatomy, periods, hormones, sex, contraception, fertility, hair care & more—it dispenses with taboos & misinformation, providing the latest health research in easyto-digest entries so that readers can make healthy decisions for their bodies. Personal essays from a diverse group of luminary figures— including Margaret Cho, Roxane Gay & Blair Imani—are sprinkled throughout. ($45, HB)

Indoor Kitchen Gardening Handbook

by Elizabeth Millard ($30, HB)

Imagine serving a home-cooked meal highlighted with beet, arugula & broccoli microgreens grown right in your kitchen, accompanied by sautéed winecap mushrooms grown in a box of sawdust in your basement. With easy growing projects, and a few challenging ones tossed into the mix, Elizabeth Millard teaches you how to grow microgreens, sprouts, herbs, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers & more—all inside your own home, where you won’t have to worry about seasonal changes or weather conditions.

High Tea: Cannabis cakes, tarts & bakes

by Diana Isaiou ($30, HB)

Eating cannabis gives you a different high than smoking it, plus it’s fun & easy to bake with, and the therapeutic benefits are much more effective. Recipes include Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies, S’mokey S’Mores Bars, Gooey Brownies, Proper Scones & centrepiece-worthy creations like the Banana Toffee Cake. Isaiou also explains the basics to making herb butters, oils & other essential cannabinoid baking bases. Plus the mind-melting component of each recipe can be cranked up, dialed down or removed completely

Ikaria by Meni Valle ($45, HB)

Meni Valle collects traditional recipes from across the island of Ikaria that encapsulate the best of Mediterranean food: vegetables, beans, whole grains, small amounts of meat and fish, a couple of glasses of wine, and plenty of olive oil. But she also tells the stories that make up Ikaria, where life is all about taking time: time to cook, to eat, to nap, to spend with family and friends, to enjoy and to appreciate.

12

Ottolenghi FLAVOUR

by Ixta Belfrage & Yotam Ottolenghi ($55, HB)

In Flavour Yotam Ottolenghi is joined by chef Ixta Belfrage as he breaks down the three factors that create flavour: Process, Pairing & Produce. With surefire hits, such as Aubergine Dumplings alla Parmigiana, Hasselback Beetroot with Lime Leaf Butter, Miso Butter Onions, Spicy Mushroom Lasagne & Romano Pepper Schnitzels, with photographs of nearly every one of the more than 100 recipes, this is the impactful, nextlevel approach to vegetable cooking.

Gleebooks’ special price $45

The Ethical Omnivore: A practical guide and 60 nose-to-tail recipes for sustainable meat eating

by Laura Dalrymple & Grant Hilliard

The Ethical Omnivore explores the solution: living with a conscience; asking the right questions of whomever sells you meat or of the labels you read; and learning how to respect the animal so much that you’re willing to cook something other than chicken breast. Dalrymple & Hilliard trace how animals can be raised ethically, and demonstrate some ways regenerative farmers are outstanding in how they care for their animals. They offer recipes from the Feather & Bone community, from simple & easy weeknight meals to slow roasts for special occasions—showing how to live with less impact on the animals & environment that support us. ($40, HB)

7 Ways: Easy Ideas for Every Day of the Week

by Jamie Oliver ($50, HB)

Jamie Oliver takes meal staples we all pick up on autopilot— like chicken breasts, salmon fillets, mince, eggs, potatoes, broccoli, to name a few—to give everyone brand new inspiration for their favourite ingredients. He shares 7 achievable, exciting & tasty ways to cook 19 hero ingredients—each recipe with no more than 8 ingredients. At least 5 recipes from each of the 7 ways are everyday options from both an ease & nutritional point of view, keeping you covered for every day of the week.

Gardening with Drought-Friendly Plants

by Tony Hall ($60, HB)

With over 20 years’ experience of working with droughtfriendly & Mediterranean plants, Tony Hall profiles more than 200 plant species & cultivars suitable for all types of gardens & garden situations, large & small. He offers tips & advice on maintenance & pruning, and shows the ideal plants to leave whilst you go on holiday. The book is arranged by plant type & includes annuals & biennials, bulbs, climbers, perennials, shrubs, succulents & trees. There are also quick-reference guides to plant colours, fragrant plants & plants for attracting wildlife to the garden.

Simply by Sabrina Ghayour ($40, HB)

Sabrina Ghayour’s new book is full of delicious food that can be enjoyed with a minimum of fuss. From Effortless Eating to Traditions With a Twist—Spiced carrot & tamarind soup; Date & ginger chicken wings; Steak tartines with tarragon & paprika butter; Chilled pistachio & cucumber soup; Spiced pork wraps with green apple salsa; Firecracker prawns; Green & blackeyed bean baklava; Mushroom dumplings; Lime & black pepper frozen yogurt; Tahini, almond & orange brownies. Yum!

Vegan One-Pot Wonders by Jessica Prescott

Jessica Prescott’s favourite way to cook is to throw ingredients into a pot or roasting tin & let the cooking process do the work. These easy-going vegan recipes focus on ease, affordability & of course, flavour. With recipes for brekkie & brunch, light & hearty stove-stop suppers, simple bakes & sweet treats, as well as ideas for no-cook meals, easy dressings & ways to upscale your one pot meals into feastworthy celebrations ($30, HB)

A Year of Simple Family Food

by Julia Busuttil Nishimura ($40, PB)

Eating simply and seasonally is at the core of Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s recipes. The 100 recipes include: Summer—Crêpes with whipped ricotta, Slow-roasted tomatoes with mint & mozzarella, Apricot and berry galette. Autumn—Granola with poached plums,Miso roast chicken - Blackberry & apple pudding. Winter—Congee, Japanese braised pork, Dark chocolate, walnut and oat cookies. Spring—Silverbeet & ricotta malfatti with brown butter sauce, Lamb & green bean stew, Simple butter cake with raspberries

Out this month Halliday Wine Companion 2021 ($40, PB) Hugh Johnson Pocket Wine 2021 ($28, PB)

Psychology / Personal Development The Inner Self: The joy of discovering who we really are by Hugh Mackay ($35, PB)

Hugh Mackay explores the ‘top 20’ hiding places we use to hide from ourselves—from addiction to materialism, nostalgia to victimhood. He explains how it is our fear of love’s demands that drive us into hiding—arguing that love is our highest ideal, the richest source of life’s meaning & purpose, and the key to our emotional security, personal serenity & confidence. Yet Mackay exposes the great paradox of human nature, that while love brings out our best, we don’t always want our best brought forward.

Black & White Thinking: The burden of a binary brain in a complex world by Kevin Dutton ($35, PB)

It is human instinct to sort, categorize & frame everything in binary black & white. It’s how our brains work. Migrant or refugee? Muslim or Christian? Them or us? Rather than reaching out to those who are different, we bond with those who are just like us, which means the difference between polarized beliefs becomes ever greater. Through persistent binary thinking our capacity for rational thought—seeing the grey—begins to erode. Amidst a rising tide of religious intolerance & political extremism, Kevin Dutton argues that by understanding the evolutionary programming of our binary brains we can overcome it, make sense of the world & in future make much subtler—and far better—decisions.

And Now, For The Good News... To the Future with Love by Ruby Wax ($33, PB)

Ruby Wax teaches essential tools for making the most out of our relationships and protect our hearts and mind amidst the madness of hashtags and 24-hour news cycles. Introducing a new mindfulness practice (tuning into the body), Wax creates a call to arms to living more intuitive lives. Drawing on how education, businesses, technology can use kindness to reform—and better—themselves as well as the purpose of kindness, this book will investigate why greater compassion is our one-way ticket to a better future.

The Power of Discord

by Ed Tronick & Claudia M. Gold ($33, PB)

You might think that perfect harmony is the defining characteristic of healthy relationships, but the truth is that human interactions are messy, complicated & confusing. And according to psychologist Ed Tronick & paediatrician Claudia Gold, that is not only okay, but crucial to our social & emotional development. Working through the volley of mismatch and repair in everyday life helps us form deep, lasting, trusting relationships, and resilience in times of stress & trauma, and a solid sense of self in the world.

The Music Advantage by Anita Collins ($33, PB)

Learning music & listening to music can grow & repair our brains at any age. Simply clapping in time can assist a young child who is struggling with reading. Learning an instrument can help children of all ages dramatically improve their ability to focus on school work, enhance their memory & improve behaviour. Playing in an orchestra develops children’s social skills. Anita Collins has visited the labs of leading neuromusical researchers around the world and trialled their techniques herself. With real examples from home & school along with practical strategies, she shows how parents & teachers can support children’s development with music from birth to the teenage years.

Happy (and other ridiculous aspirations)

by Turia Pitt ($28, PB)

Turia Pitt goes on a quest to answer the question, Is it possible to be happier? And finds that it entails, among other things, practising gratitude, working on kindness, self-love, strengthening your relationships & accepting the hard times & bad days. Pitt unpacks all the above with easy-to-implement tips & strategies, hilarious insights into her own life & relationships, and introduces us to some of the world’s most fabulous people along the way, including Leigh Sales, Scott Pape, Zoe Foster Blake, Maria Forleo & Mick Fanning.

My Year of Living Mindfully by Shannon Harvey

Overwhelmed with insomnia & an incurable autoimmune disease, Shannon Harvey found plenty of recommendations on diet, sleep & exercise, but when she looked for the equivalent of a 30-minute workout for her mental wellbeing, there was nothing. Also worried for the future mental health of her kids, who were growing up amidst critical levels of stress, anxiety, depression and addiction, Harvey enlisted a team of scientists to put meditation to the test. Could learning to quiet our busy minds be the simple solution the world so desperately needs?

During her year of living mindfully Harvey is poked, prodded, scanned & screened. After a 30,000 kilometre journey from Australia to the bright lights of Manhattan and the dusty refugee camps of the Middle East—interviewing the world’s leading mindfulness experts along the way—what begins as a quest for answers transforms into a life-changing experience. ($33, PB)

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What the bloom is to the peach

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The Jenolan Caves: An Excursion in Australian Wonderland by Samuel Cook (Eyre & Spottiswoode, London. 1889). Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket.

First Edition. Large Octavo. Bound in blue cloth with a gilt device of Australian Arms on the front board. xi, 190pp., frontispiece, b/w plates, map. Inscribed and Signed by the Author on the Half title page. Age toned text block with moderate spotting. Foxed preliminaries and terminals and some minor spotting throughout.

Lightly soiled and scraped boards. Some cracking at the front hinge. Frayed and chipped spine edges. Scraping to the corners. $150.00.

The first intriguing thing to notice about this handsomely produced volume is the version of the pre-1901 Arms on the front board. The Emu and Kangaroo are reversed. The motto ‘Advance Australia’ is inscribed at the base. This motto was used on the first version of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, granted by King Edward VII in 1908. Our national symbols were switched over. The rising sun emblem on the crest was replaced by the seven-pointed gold star of Federation.

This 1889 version includes a shield depicting the various state emblems. This was not included in the 1908 version. It featured a simple shield of white and blue.

This lack of reference to the states saw the arms redesigned—with the shield now depicting the state symbols. The current Commonwealth Arms were granted by King George V in 1912. As well, a completely different, smaller coat of arms is also displayed on the verso of the Title Page!

The book’s author, Samuel Cook (1829–1910) was a renowned Journalist of The Sydney Mail and later Journalist, Editor and Managing Director of The Sydney Morning Herald. His descriptive account of the Jenolan Caves begins with the (expected?) apology ‘that neither tongue, nor pen, nor pictorial art can convey an adequate idea of the magnificence and exquisite beauty of these caves.’ Mr Cook then attempts to do so with a detailed, often entertaining, descriptive, purple prose narrative of the cave system and its history. The journey to the caves themselves sees his train pass through the ‘sweet-scented orange groves’ of Parramatta, ‘the little homesteads’ of Penrith ‘where peace and contentment seem to reign’ and the Blue Mountains with ‘the azure haze which covers them as with a bridal veil and is to the everlasting hills what the bloom is to the peach.’

Here is an extract of his description of journeying into The Lucas Cave, discovered in 1860: The immediate entrance to this cave is begrimed with dust. A few yards onward is an iron gate. The guide opens it and carefully locks in his visitors, who light their candles and proceed by a downward path…There is a marked difference in the temperature, which is many degrees higher than that of the outward air…Small flies surprise the excursionist by the suddenness of their appearance. In the region of perpetual night, the only signs of animated nature are clusters of bats…The only sounds audible, are the quickened respiration and the throbbing of the heart. Darkness and silence dwell together. After spending a few seconds—or minutes—in their company, the curator lights his magnesium lamp and the visitor finds himself in the precincts of ‘The Cathedral’…The roof rises to a height of 300 feet…loftier than Canterbury Cathedral or Notre Dame…

Here on one side are numerous stalactites, white as virgin snow, and on the other similarly shaped formations tinged with oxide of iron—some of them so deeply as to present the colour of a boiled lobster crust.

To compliment such descriptive passages are 24 striking beautifully detailed black and white photographic plates.

Some curiosities and collectables

History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London, 1946 First Edition $120 For someone who spent most of two world wars incarcerated for his pacifist views it is deeply ironic that Russell’s best known book should be published wrapped in an ex-army map.

Paper restrictions in Britain following the Second World War meant publishers had to make do, and each copy of this important book became a unique object boasting a different recycled cover (in this instance a map of rural Czechoslovakia). That it has suffered some paper loss and been repaired with tape to the back only adds to its charm.

Equally, some light age toning, minor foxing and the occasional page affected by moisture does not detract but rather complements this unique and highly collectable book.

Puckoon by Spike Milligan 1st edition 1963 $20, HC Several and a half metric miles North East of Sligo, split by a cascading stream, her body on earth, her feet in water, dwells the microcephalic community of Puckoon—a one-donkey Irish town on the borders of the Republic and the North, of sanity and its opposite, of comedy & disaster. ‘The Milligan’ is the central character in a motley of decent people like priests, publicans, liars, police and drunks. In remarkable condition for a 50plus year old book!

Kim’s Bedroom by Kim Gordon ?????,HC This ‘Purple Book’ was published for the exhibition Kim’s Bedroom—curated by the ‘Girl in the Band’ Kim Gordon—which took place between March 17 and April 24, 2000 at Mu-De Witte Dame in Eindhover, Netherlands

Signed Copies The Stunned Mullet by John Forbes $50, PB & down below Captain Nemo, a fussy, European judge of a good cigar nurses the elaborate grudge that brought him here, a picture of Wendy Hughes taped beside the art-nouveau controls while above you Alan Bond’s belly coloured airship inspects Sydney like a stupid beach.

Along the Faultline by James Gleeson $????

Readers, listeners, watchers be warned, the news is bad. The Resurrection scheduled for this evening has failed. There was no life-off. Repeat. No lift-off. All options have been cancelled. The Pontiff has put on black and all places of congregation have been closed. Do no gather or loiter, but stay in your houses. Go to the fuse box and disconnect the power. There will be no further announcements.

For the Public Good: Crimes, Follies and Misfortunes Demolished Houses of NSW, $25 Nobody, except perhaps a few romantics in their most melancholy moments of despair, would wish to turn back the clock. This catalogue & the exhibition for which it was prepared intend to be reflective, not nostalgic.

We hope that presenting a tiny portion of the houses we have built, then destroyed, in the past 200 years will cause us to reflect on our past technological, artistic, architectural, horticultural & social accomplishments & the subsequent forces that have whittled them away. Published by The Historic The Works of Aristotle The Famous Philosopher, Containing His Complete Masterpiece, and Family Houses Trust of NSW in 1988.

Physician; His Experienced Midwife, His Book of Problems. And His Remarks on Physiognomy.

Young Chemists and Great Discoveries

By Aristotle [Erroneously attributed] c1930 —London—The Camden Publishing Co. $40, HC

by James Kendall, FRS, $15 This charming little curiosity contains not just The works of Aristotle the famous philosopher as above, G.Bell & Sons, 1939. An antique popular science book for but also: The midwife’s vade-mecum containing particular directions for midwives, nurses, etc; Some the aspiring chemist about the youthful discoveries and early genuine receipts for causing speedy delivery; approved directions for nurses. Complete with colour work of Michael Faraday, Sir Humphry Davy, Louis Pasteur, plates! Not as claimed, a work by Aristotle, this volume of unknown authorship is a sex manual and Le Bel, Arrhenius, Curie etc. Black and a midwifery book popular in England from the early modern period through to the 19th century. First white photographs, illustrations & diapublished in 1684, the book was banned in Britain until the 1960s. Pages all present, but a bit of a resgrams throughout. Complete with booktoration project—some rebinding perhaps. plate from Homebush Boys’ Jr High— awarded to Ian Somerville, 2nd place in Third Year. One can’t help but wonder whether this award inspired young Ian to pursue a career in chemistry.

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Events r Calenda

Hi everyone,

events

I’ve recently come across some e-mails I sent at the start of the pandemic. Oh, what a sweet summer child I was. It has been a very good reminder to keep everything in perspective, and to make plans flexible, because I was suggesting a resumption of normal events way earlier than hindsight shows was feasible.

(June, at the time, seemed very far away!)

Of course with everything that is happening in Victoria, it seems reasonable to suggest that we won’t be holding in-shop events for a while. The silver lining to all this is that we’re able to host authors that we might not have been able to see in the shop otherwise!

Coming up in September, we’ll be very lucky to hear from Melbourne-based Melissa Davey, who will be in conversation with David Marr about her new book The Case of George Pell.

Walkley award-winning Marian Wilkinson brings her exposé of the network of influential climate sceptics controlling Australia’s response to the climate crisis—The Carbon Club—to the virtual Gleebooks stage, and she’ll be joined by the excellent Sarah Ferguson. And Canadian economist Jeff Rubin will be talking across time zones about The Expendables: How the Middle Class Got Screwed by Globalisation.

Later on we’ll also hear from Robert Dessaix on ageing gracefully for The Time of Our Lives, political junky Chris Wallace on How to Win an Election, Jacqueline Kent discussing Australia’s most famous suffragist Vida Goldstein, and Kate Grenville will also be on the virtual stage talking about her wildly popular new book A Room Made of Leaves.

I look forward to seeing you all online soon. James Ross

S S

to watch out for

September 5 Kate Grenville—A Room Made of Leaves (date to TBC) September 16 Marian Wilkinson with Sarah Ferguson— The Carbon Club September 19 Jeffrey Rubin—The Expendables: How the Middle Class Got Screwed by Globalisation September 22 Chris Wallace—How to Win an Election September 24 Melissa Davey with David Marr— The Case of George Pell

Performing Arts

A Light in the Dark: A History of Movie Directors

by David Thomson ($33, PB)

A director was once a functionary; then an important but not decisive part of an industrial process; then accepted as the person who was and should be in charge, because he was an artist and a hero.

But the world has changed. In a nutshell, the change takes the form of a question: Who directed The Sopranos or Homeland? Hardly anyone knows, because we don’t tend to read TV credits and the director has returned to a more subservient and anonymous role.

David Thomson’s A Light in the Dark personalises each chapter through an individual: Jean Renoir, Howard Hawks, Jean-Luc Godard, Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Bunuel, Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, Jane Campion, Stephen Frears & Quentin Tarantino. Through these characters (and other directors), Thomson relates an imaginative new history of a medium that has changed the world.

New in the 33 1/3 Series $20 each I’m Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen by Ray Padgett Janet Jackson’s The Velvet Rope by Ayanna Dozier Suicide’s Suicide by Andi Coulter

Munkey Diaries by Jane Birkin ($33, PB)

‘I’ve been keeping a journal since I was eleven, writing it to my confidante, the stuffed monkey won in a tombola: Munkey. He has slept by my side, shared my life with John, Serge, Jacques, and been witness to every joy and sadness. Before my children arrived wreaking havoc on my life, I left Munkey in Serge’s arms, in the casket where he lay, like a pharaoh. My monkey, protecting him in the after-life. As I re-read my journals, it seems obvious to me that we don’t change. What I was twelve years old, I am today.

Newspapers are obviously unfair, giving different versions of everything, but here, there is only my version. On principle, I haven’t changed anything, and believe me, looking back, I would have preferred to have wiser reactions than I did.’ Actor, singer, songwriter & model, Jane Birkin’s book not only re-creates the flamboyant era of Swinging London & Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the 1970s, it also lets us into the everyday life of an exceptional woman.

Cinematography for Directors: A Guide for Creative Collaboration by Jacqueline B. Frost

This 2nd edition of Cinematography for Directors is the essential handbook for directors and aspiring filmmakers who want to establish a collaborative relationship with their cinematographer. Through interviews with current ASC cinematographers, and a balance between technical, aesthetic & historical content, this book guides the director into a powerful collaboration with their closest on-set ally. Topics include selecting a cinematographer, collectively discussing the script, choosing an appropriate visual style for a film, colour palette, film & digital formats, lenses, camera movement, genres & postproduction processes—including the digital intermediate (DI)—interwoven with quotes from working ASC cinematographers. ($65, PB)

How I Clawed My Way to the Middle

by John Wood ($35, PB)

John Wood grew up in working-class Melbourne; when he failed out of high school, an employment officer told him, ‘You have the mind of an artist & the body of a labourer.’ So John continued to pursue his acting dreams in amateur theatre, sustaining himself by working jobs as a bricklayer, a railway clerk & in the same abattoir as his father. When he won a scholarship to NIDA, in Sydney, it moved John into a new & at times baffling world, full of extraordinary characters. It was the start of a decades-long acting career, most famously on shows such as Rafferty’s Rules and Blue Heelers, culminating in a Gold Logie win in 2006. Woods tale tells of the ephemeral nature of theatre, the personalities he encountered along the way, and the perilous reality of life as a professional actor in Australia.

October 28: Robert Dessaix— The Time of Our Lives

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Ecofeminism as Politics: Nature, Marx and the Postmodern by Ariel Salleh ($50, PB)

‘Brilliant!’

Mike Cannon-Brookes

Ariel Salleh offers a joined-up frameswork for green, socialist, feminist & postcolonial thinking, showing how these have been held back by conceptual confusions over gender. She argues that ecofeminism reaches beyond contemporary social movement ideologies & practices,by prefiguiring a political synthesis of fourrevolutions-in-one: ecology is feminism is socialism is postcolonial struggle. Salleh addresses discourses on class, science, the bbody, culture & nature—her reading of Marx converging the philosophy of internal relations with the organic materiality of everyday life. This new edition features forewords by Indian ecofeminist Vandana Shiva, US philosopher John Clark, a new introduction & a recent conversation between Salleh & younger scholar activists.

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

Some Americans insist they’re living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive ^ well in America—it is more sophisticated & more insidious than ever. Ibram X. Kendi argues that racist ideas have a long & lingering history, one in which nearly every great American thinker is complicit. To chronicle the entire story of anti-black racist ideas & their power over the course of American history, Kendi uses the life stories of 5 major American intellectuals: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois & activist Angela Davis.

Racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. They were created to justify & rationalize deeply entrenched discriminatory policies & the nation’s racial inequities. A national book award winner. ($40, PB)

Hunger: A Manifesto by MartÍn CaparrÓs

‘A timely and exciting work’

There are now over 800 million starving people in the world. An average of 25,000 men & women & children, perish from hunger every day. Yet we produce enough food to feed the entire human population one-and-a-half times over. So why is it that world hunger remains such a deadly problem? MartÍn CaparrÓs travels the globe in search of an answer. His investigation brings him to Africa & the Indian subcontinent where he witnesses starvation first-hand; to Chicago where he documents the greed of corporate food distributors; and to Buenos Aires where he accompanies trash scavengers in search of something to eat. CaparrÓs has created a powerful & empathic work that remains committed to ending humankind’s longest ongoing crisis. ($53, HB)

Fiona Wright

The Debt Delusion by John F. Weeks ($31.95, HB)

‘Moving and vividly told’ Mark McKenna

‘Governments should spend no more than their tax income.’ This statement resonates with the deeply engrained economic metaphors that dominate public discourse, from ‘living within your means’ to ‘balancing the budget’. John Weeks shows how these homely metaphors constitute the ‘debt delusion’: a set of plausiblesounding yet false ideas that have been used to justify damaging austerity policies. Weeks debunks these myths, explaining the true story behind public spending, taxation & debt, and their real function in the management of our economies. He demonstrates that disputes about public finances are not primarily technical matters best left to specialists & experts, as many politicians would have us believe, but rather fundamentally questions about our true political priorities. Requiring no prior economic knowledge, this is an ideal primer for anyone wishing to cut through the rhetoric & misinformation that dominate political debates on economics.

The End of Policing by Alex Vitale ($36, HB)

‘Extraordinary storytelling’

War for Eternity by Benjamin Teitelbaum ($40, HB)

Tom Griffiths

A N I M P R I N T O F U N SW P R E SS

16

Recent years have seen an explosion of protest & concern about police brutality & repression. Much of the conversation has focused on calls for enhancing police accountability, increasing police diversity, improving police training & emphasizing community policing. Unfortunately these efforts fail to get at the core of the problem—which is the dramatic expansion of the police role over the last 40 years. Alex Vitale looks at the tainted origins of modern policing as a tool of social control & shows how the expanded role of the police is inconsistent with community empowerment, social justice—even public safety. Drawing on first-hand research from across the globe, Vitale shows how the implementation of alternatives to policing, like drug legalization, regulation & harm reduction instead of the policing of drugs, has led to reductions in crime, spending & injustice.

Since the early 20th century, Traditionalism has defined itself against modernity & Enlightenment values. Traditionalist thinkers such as Rene Guenon & Julius Evola celebrated hierarchy, denounced the idea of progress & regarded liberal secularism, capitalism & communism as aligned forces working to replace social, cultural & political norms. Ethnographer Benjamin Teitelbaum had been studying Traditionalism for years as a sort of novelty, associated with a restless subsection of the right—too antisocial for activism & largely without influence. And yet when Steve Bannon entered the White House in 2017, reports suggested he was an avid reader of Traditionalist teachings. In a fast-paced, gripping narrative Teitelbaum reveals the radical worldview infusing the thinking of powerful actors & inspiring a renegade reinterpretation of humanity, geopolitics & history. Fast-paced and gripping.

A YEAR OF SIMPLE FAMILY FOOD JULIA BUSUTTIL NISHIMURA From the bestselling author of Ostro.

Family food is generous, unfussy and demonstrates love and care. No matter what busyness the day brings, the act of setting the table and enjoying a simple meal together is comforting and ever-reassuring.

Politics

Play by the Rules: The Short Story of America’s Leadership: From Hiroshima to COVID-19

by Michael Pembroke ($30, PB)

In the heady days after 1945, the authority of the US was unrivalled. But 75 years later, its influence has already diminished.

The world has now entered a post-American era defined by the rise of Asia & the return of China, as much as by the decline of the US. Michael Pembroke’s book is a short history of that decline; how high standards & treasured principles were ignored; how idealism was replaced by hubris & moral compromise; and how adherence to the rule of law became selective. It is also a look into the future—a future dominated by greater Asia & China in particular.

Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen ($28, PB)

Drawing on her Soviet childhood & 2 decades covering the resurgence of totalitarianism in Russia, Masha Gessen links together seemingly disparate elements of Trump’s regime to offer a road map for understanding Trump’s approach, policies & ultimate aims. Highlighting an inventory of ravages to liberal democracy, including the corrosion of the media, the justice system & cultural norms, she posits that America is in the throws of an autocratic attempt. Manifesto-like, Gessen’s book is threaded with solutions to the current situation, such as developing a political language that encompasses autocratic impulses, a more agile & honest media, and a visionary moral politics to counter Trump’s extraordinary ongoing assault.

Rising Heart A M I N ATA C O N T E H - B I G E R ‘Aminata knocked me out at our first meeting...courage shining through as she spoke of some of her experiences in Sierra Leone. Her story will never leave you; searing, powerful, disturbing, hopeful.’

The Rare Metals War by Guillaume Pitron

The Hon. Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO

Love talking about books?

Find us online at Pan Macmillan Australia

LEWSER! A Doonesbury Trump Collection

by G.B. Trudeau ($30, PB)

The green-tech revolution has been lauded as the silver bullet to a new world. One that is at last free of oil, pollution, shortages, & cross-border tensions. But the dark side of green technology is that by breaking free of fossil fuels, we are in fact setting ourselves up for a new dependence—on rare metals such as cobalt, gold & palladium. They are essential to electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels, our smartphones, computers, tablets & other everyday connected objects. China has captured the lion’s share of the rare metals industry, but consumers know very little about how they are mined & traded, or their environmental, economic & geopolitical costs. ($35, PB)

What Can I Do? by Jane Fonda ($35, PB)

In the autumn of 2019, frustrated with the obvious inaction of politicians & inspired by contemporary activists, Jane Fonda moved to Washington, DC to lead weekly climate change demonstrations on Capitol Hill. On October 11, she launched Fire Drill Fridays, and has since led 1000s of people in non-violent civil disobedience, risking arrest to protest for action. Fonda’s journey as an activist is woven alongside interviews with leadLess is More: How Degrowth Will Save the ing climate scientists, discussions about water, migration & human rights, and concrete solutions & actions to take in order to World by Jason Hickel ($30, PB) To have a shot at surviving the Anthropocene, we need to restore combat the climate crisis in your community. the balance. We need to change how we see the world & our place Bland Fanatics by Pankaj Mishra ($35, PB) within it, shifting from a philosophy of domination & extraction Decades of violence & chaos have generated a political & intelto one that’s rooted in reciprocity with our planet’s ecology. We lectual hysteria ranging from imperial atavism to paranoia about need to evolve beyond the dusty dogmas of capitalism to a new invading or hectically breeding Muslim hordes that has affected system that’s fit for the 21st century. But what about jobs? What even the most intelligent in Anglo-America. Pankaj Mishra exabout health? What about progress? Economic anthropologist, Ja- amines this hysteria & its fantasists, in essays that grapple with son Hickel, tackles these questions & offers an inspiring vision for colonialism, human rights & the doubling down of liberalism what a post-capitalist economy could look like. An economy that’s against a background of faltering economies & weakening Anmore just, more caring—an economy that enables human flourish- glo-American hegemony—confronting writers from Jordan Peing while reversing ecological breakdown. terson & Niall Ferguson to Salman Rushdie & Ayaan Hirsi Ali. G.B. Trudeau’s third (and fingers crossed final?) collection of Doonesbury Trump cartoons takes readers through the dark heart of Trump’s presidency and into 2020 election mania. Including two years’ worth of original Doonesbury Sundays, fullcolour spreads, and 18 previously unpublished strips.

Glimpses of Utopia: Real Ideas for a Fairer World Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the

by Jess Scully ($33, PB) struggle to remake Indonesia by Ben Bland

All over the world, people are refusing the business-as-usual mindset & putting humans back into the civic equation, reimagining work & care, finance & government, urban planning & communication. Meet the care workers reclaiming control in India & Lebanon, the people turning slums into safe havens in Kenya & Bangladesh, and champions of people-powered digital democracy in Iceland & Taiwan. Radical bankers are funding renewable energy in the USA & architects are redesigning real estate in Australia, new payment systems in Italy & the Philippines keep money in local communities, and innovators are redesigning taxation to cut pollution & incentivise creative solutions.

We can reshape our world to be fair and sustainable. This book shows how.

The Velvet Rope Economy by Nelson Schwartz

Nathan Schwartz shows how business innovators exploit the gap between the rich and everyone else, shifting services away from the masses and finding new ways to profit by serving the privileged. The frictionless world of VIP experiences seems like good business, but as this model expands, the costs are mounting.

Schwartz’s gripping account takes us on a glittering, behind-thescenes tour of this new reality—and shows the toll the velvet rope divide is taking on society. ($30, PB)

From a riverside shack to the presidential palace, Joko Widodo surged to the top of Indonesian politics on a wave of hope for change. However, 6 years into his presidency, the former furniture maker is struggling to deliver the reforms that Indonesia desperately needs. Despite promising to build Indonesia into an Asian powerhouse, he has faltered in the face of crises, from COVID-19 to an Islamist mass movement. Ben argues that the president embodies the fundamental contradictions of modern Indonesia—caught between democracy & authoritarianism, openness & protectionism, Islam & pluralism. Jokowi’s story shows what is possible in Indonesia, and its limits. ($13, PB)

The Light that Failed by Krastev & Holmes

In the early 1990s, hopes for the eastward spread of liberal democracy were high. Ivan Krastev & Stephen Holmes argue that the supposed end of history turned out to be only the beginning of an Age of Imitation. Reckoning with the history of the last 30 years, they show that the most powerful force behind the wave of populist xenophobia that began in Eastern Europe stems from resentment at the post-1989 imperative to become Westernized—and in a strange twist, Trump has elevated Putin’s Russia & Orbán’s Hungary into models for the United States. ($23, PB) 17

Australian Studies

Granny’s Good Reads

with Sonia Lee

How to Sell a Massacre by Peter Charley ($35, PB)

David Dufty’s Radio Girl is a biography of Violet McKenzie—a.k.a. Mrs Mac— Australia’s first woman electrical engineer. Mrs Mac had many projects and interests, including corresponding with Albert Einstein, running a wireless radio pioneer business and founding the Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps (‘Sigs’), which trained hundreds of women in Morse Code and Semaphore using her unique system of musical mnemonics. By the end of WW2 the women of Sigs had trained twelve thousand Australian and other allied servicemen in signalling. Mrs Mac did all of this gratis and, though she was a living legend to the troops, she was soon forgotten in peacetime. She was, above all else, a firm feminist and when, as a prime mover in the formation of the WRANS, she was asked in an interview with a gaggle of admirals ‘What about sex?’ she assured her questioner that ‘There have never been any goings-on’. Dufty thinks it is time that Australian feminists reclaimed this trailblazer who, though tiny in stature, always stood her ground against bullies in the armed forces and elsewhere.

Before she died at the age of 91 she said ‘I have proved to them all that women can be as good as, or even better, than men.’ Dufty’s 2017 book, The Secret Code Breakers of Central Bureau, about the clever women and men who deciphered Japanese wartime codes, included a chapter on Mrs Mac. This was so popular with his readers that he followed up with Radio Girl. Inspiring.

David Campbell (1915–1979) was one of the great fellowship of Australian poets which emerged after WW2 and included A.D. Hope, Douglas Stewart, Judith Wright, James McAuley, Gwen Harwood and Rosemary Dobson. In David Campbell: A Life of the Poet, Jonathan Persse has given us an impressive biography of Campbell which illustrates his life with a generous selection of his poems. Persse tells us that he was ‘handsome, warm, personable, confident, charming, gregarious and easy-going in his manner’. Born into a pastoral family, Campbell was educated at The King’s School, where Persse himself later taught, and at Cambridge University. While he excelled there at rugby, his professors noted his gift for lyric poetry with its obvious allusions to Elizabethan love poetry. After serving notably well in the RAAF during the war, he returned to the land in NSW, not far from Canberra—an excellent place for meeting other poets.

Both Jonathan Persse’s book and David Campbell’s poems are highly recommended: if you acquire this book you’ll have both.

Much to my surprise, I greatly enjoyed Malcolm Turnbull’s A Bigger Picture— even the political bits. The man is a born writer. I opened his book to catch up on the more intimate details of our most recent coup and three hours later I was still engrossed. Above all, I finished it! Malcolm loved his mother Coral Lansbury, but it was his father who took him walking on the sand at Bondi, curing his pigeon toes and helping him cope with his asthma. After the break-up of his parents’ marriage his father and he were, he says, like brothers. His lowest point was when he was sent to a boarding school at the age of eight after his mother had gone away. His highest is surely his defence in the NSW Supreme Court of the publisher of Peter Wright’s MI5 memoir Spycatcher, when at the age of 32 he interrogated one of Mrs Thatcher’s senior civil servants, making him look like a ‘wally among the wallabies’. In his chapter Defending the Goanna, he gives a sparkling account of his 1980s skirmish with the Costigan Royal Commission in defence of the good reputation of the late Kerry Packer. Mr Turnbull has been barrister, solicitor, journalist, businessman, investment banker, and one of the leading advocates for an Australian republic, but, in the opinion even of some well-wishers, he should not have entered politics. However, he himself considers that he achieved much as PM and, as one would expect, argues his case pellucidly. Even if you’re a leftie like me, don’t let Mr Turnbull’s politics put you off.

Every chapter of his book is action-packed. In particular, his version of his negotiations with President Trump over iron ore tariffs borders on the hilarious. But for me, the best thing he did was to invite The Guardian newspaper to Australia.

The Convict Valley by Mark Dunn is well researched and beautifully written.

Dunn was born in Singleton, of convict forebears, and his love for the Hunter Valley, with its natural beauty, Aboriginal heritage and settler history, is evident from his text. The first European contact with the area occurred in 1790, when five convicts stole a boat, sailed to what is now Port Stephens, were taken in by aborigines, begot children and lived happily until discovered in 1795 and returned to Sydney. Lieutenant Shortland is credited with the 1797 discovery of the Hunter River with its capacious harbour, as well as coal, cedar trees and shell middens. The place became a convict outpost after the Irish Castle Cove rebellion of 1804, and for a time the most troublesome convicts were sent there.

The story from then on is one of exploitation of the coal, the cedar and the native inhabitants. Dunn’s epilogue mentions the death in 1902 of 85-year-old Phillip Kelly, a well-respected citizen and local historian. Dunn’s grandmother, who was Kelly’s daughter, remembered seeing on his back the scars from his floggings—he had been transported at the age of 15 in 1834.

Sonia

18

The ABC investigative documentary How to Sell a Massacre was the result of an audacious 3 year infiltration of the US NRA. It revealed how One Nation solicited donations of up to $20 million from the NRA, promising in return to use the balance of power to soften gun laws in Australia. Masterminded by veteran Australian journalist Peter Charley, the elaborate sting saw Australian businessman Rodger Muller go undercover as the head of a fake Australian pro-gun advocacy group. These tactics drew criticism from some, and in this book Charley gives an inside account of the sting, drawing on more than 40 years’ reporting to explore how journalism has changed and to make sense of why, in a post-truth environment, he felt it necessary to set a trap to catch the truth.

QE 79: Katharine Murphy on the Morrison government and conservatism today ($25, PB) How does Scott Morrison’s office and government operate? What does Morrison’s approach owe to John Howard—and what to Donald Trump? After seven years of Coalition government, and two years of Morrison as PM, Katherine Murphy takes stock in this urgent, grounded essay.

People of the River: Lost worlds of early Australia by Grace Karskens ($40, PB)

Shellam Dyarubbin, the Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is where the two early Australias—ancient & modern—first collided. Grace Karskens journeys into the lost worlds of the Aboriginal people & the settlers of Dyarubbin. It was the seedbed for settler expansion & invasion of Aboriginal lands to the north, south & west—the crucible of the colony, and the nation that followed. Grace Karskens journeys into the world of the first successful white farming frontier, a community that nurtured the earliest expressions of patriotism & became the last bastion of 18th century ways of life, and that of the Aboriginal people who had occupied Dyarubbin for at least 50,000 years. Colonisation kicked off a slow & cumulative process of violence, theft of Aboriginal children & ongoing annexation of the river lands. Yet despite that history, Dyarubbin’s Aboriginal people managed to remain on their Country, and they still live on the river today.

Traitors and Spies by John Fahey ($35, PB)

Dozens of Russian anarchists, socialists and communists arrived in Australia from 1905, fleeing repression in their homeland. Finding work in the Queensland cane fields, Russian activists recruited in working men’s groups for their revolutionary cause, laying the foundations for infiltration by Soviet intelligence services of the unions and Communist Party of Australia decades later. Internal security work is dirty work, and never more so than when ruthless politicians & police use intelligence services for their own ends. John Fahey discovers that old boys’ networks at the highest levels enabled security agencies to mislead judicial inquiries, spy on members of parliament & other bureaucrats, and persecute innocent citizens in the interwar years. Using archives of Australia, MI5 and the CIA, Fahey tells the story of Australia’s intelligence operations before ASIO was established, revealing the dark side of Australian politics in the first half of the 20th century.

The Case of George Pell by Melissa Davey ($35, PB)

Guardian Australia’s Melbourne bureau chief, Melissa Davey covered Cardinal George Pell’s evidence at the royal commission into child sexual abuses, and attended each of his trials for his alleged historic sexual offences against children—his committal hearing, mistrial, retrial & appeals. This is a authoritative account of those trials, of the basis for the verdicts, and of the backlash to the verdicts. It is inevitably not only about Cardinal Pell, but about justice in the age of conservative media, about culture wars, and about the broader context of clergy abuse. Despite a 5-year-long sexual-abuse inquiry, 3 trials of one of the most senior Catholics in the world & saturation coverage of the issue, it became evident to Davey that many myths about the nature of child sexual abuse persist—and that, for some people, the evidence of victims can never be allowed to tarnish the reputation of the church & its practitioners.

Just Money: Misadventures in the Great Australian Debt Trap by Royce Kurmelovs ($33, PB)

The debt business is booming. Millions of Australians grapple with credit cards, mortgages & student debt repayments each day. As the result of a car crash without insurance, investigative journalist Royce Kurmelovs finds himself among them. When a debt collector knocks on his door, he embarks on a journey through the underbelly of the Australian financial system. Though friends tell him not to worry, that it’s ‘just money’, he learns the opposite is true—our relationship with debt is a convergence of class & power, making it an urgent social justice issue for a growing number of people. Just Money reveals how years of political opportunism & rapacious business practices in the ‘Lucky Country’ have forged a nation that is leaving the next generation to pick up the tab.

Delayed from May, now available: Body Count: How climate change is killing us by Paddy Manning ($33, PB)

Spinning the Secrets of State: Politics and Intelligence in Australia by Justin T. McPhee ($34.95, PB)

What is the purpose of an intelligence organisation? The short answer is to transform disparate and ambiguous information into a product that clarifies national security decision-making. Ideally, that process ought to be politically neutral and detached from the policy objectives of the government it serves. But what happens when intelligence ceases to be impartial and is used as a political means to support a policy preference? More significantly, what happens when intelligence is distorted, twisted or manipulated to achieve this aim? Justin McPhee addresses these questions by investigating historical case studies developed from assiduous research into previously classified archival documents, political papers, private correspondence and diaries to show how the secrets of state can be spun into a potent political weapon.

How to Win an Election by Chris Wallace ($30, PB)

Labor’s surprise loss in 2019, like the Liberal & National parties’ defeat in the so-called ‘unloseable’ 1993 election, showed how careful attention to basic political craft can yield big dividends— and how inattention to it can turn apparently certain favourites into losers. With the vast challenges of climate change & social & economic equity in the post-pandemic world ahead of us, Australia cannot afford any more costly election accidents. Chris Wallace spells out the ten things a political leader & their party must excel at to maximise the chance of success, and against which they should be accountable between & during elections. Better performance in even a few of the areas he canvasses can change an election outcome.

Peace Crimes: Pine Gap, National Security and Dissent by Kieran Finnane ($33, PB)

At the closely guarded & secretive military facility, Pine Gap in Australia’s NT police arrest six nonviolent activists for stepping through a fence, lamenting & praying for the dead of war. They call themselves Peace Pilgrims. The Crown calls them a threat to national security & demands gaol time. Their political trials, under harsh Cold War legislation, tell a story of obsessive Australian secrecy about the American military presence on our soil & the state’s hard-line response to dissent. Kieran Finnane gives a gripping account of what prompts the Pilgrims to risk so much, interweaving local events & their legal aftermath with this century’s disturbing themes of international conflict & high-tech war. She asks, what responsibilities do we have as Australians for the covert military operations of Pine Gap & what are we going to do about them?

A Question of Colour: my journey to belonging

by Pattie Lees with Adam Lees ($23, PB)

Pattie Lees was just ten-years-old when she and her four siblings were separated from their mother on the grounds of neglect and placed into State care. Believing she was being shipped and exiled to Africa, Pattie was ultimately fated to spend the rest of her childhood on the island once dubbed ‘Australia’s Alcatraz’—Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement, off the coast of Queensland. A Question of Colour provides a first-hand account of Pattie’s experiences as a ‘fair-skinned Aboriginal’ during Australia’s assimilationist policy era and recounts her survival following a decade of sexual, physical and emotional abuse as a Ward of the State.

Windfall: Unlocking a fossil-free future

by Ketan Joshi ($30, PB)

Renewable energy can become a key player in the effort to upgrade our species from one on a path to self-destruction to a path of sustainability and fairness. With the knowledge of how the last decade was lost, the next decade can work the way it’s meant to. Ketan Joshi examines how wind power inspired the creation of a weird, fabricated disease, and why the speed with which emissions could have been reduced — like putting a price on carbon — was hampered by a flurry of policy disasters. He then plots a way forward to a future where communities champion equitable new clean tech projects, where Australia grows past a reliance on toxic fuels, and where the power of people is used to rattle fossil fuel advocates from their complacency.

Redfern: Aboriginal activism in the 1970s

by Johanna Perheentupa ($39.95, PB)

In the 1970s the run-down inner-city suburb of Redfern was a gathering place for Aboriginal intellectuals & ambitious young radicals. Having fled poverty & segregation in rural Australia in the 1950s & 60s, they set about fulfilling their vision—a new way of living, where Aboriginal people could control their own lives—politically, economically & culturally. Redfern: This book tells the story of how they set about fulfilling their dreams. In a fast-paced burst of creativity and hard work, in just 3 years an Aboriginal health service, a housing cooperative, a legal service, a child care centre & a black theatre in Redfern were established. They had some support, and the promise of self-determination under the newly elected Whitlam Labor government, but there was also abuse and discrimination. This is the story of how, with hard work, humour and vision, they prevailed to build organisations that have served as models for similar organisations all over Australia.

Griffith Review 69: The European Exchange eds Ashley Hay & Natasha Cica ($28, PB)

A year ago French president Emmanuel Macron declared that Europe must be understood as a project—a vision of the best sort of global community. Although the COVID-19 crisis has profoundly challenged the idea of Europe as interconnected, and as accessible to Australia, the rich exchange between peoples and continents will eventually resume. Griffith Review 69 explores the deep and complex relationships between Europe and Australia, with contributions from Christos Tsiolkas, Robyn Archer, Julienne van Loon, Mat Schulz, Sanja Grozdanic, John Armstrong, Gabriella Coslovich, Christian Thompson, Hans van Leeuwen, Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung, Stuart Ward, Susan Varga, George Megalogenis & many others.

3 for the price of one SPECIAL OFFER!!!

Buy Griffith Review 69 and get GR64: The New Disrupters & GR66: The Light Ascending for free.

The Awful Truth: My adventures with Australia’s most notorious tabloid by Adrian Tame Before Fake News, there was Truth. Hailed as ‘a fearless exposer of folly, vice & crime’ when it first hit the streets in the 1890s, Truth was later condemned by a High Court Judge as ‘a wretched little paper, reeking of filth, injurious to the health of house servants & young girls’. Much later it earned the nickname ‘The Old Whore of La Trobe Street’. Adrian Tame worked for Truth for more than a decade as a reporter & news editor. In the years it was owned by the Murdoch family he worked alongside young Rupert as he cut his teeth on the shock horror scandals that graced the pages of Truth when it was selling a whopping 400,000 copies a week. ($33, PB)

My Tidda, My Sister by Marlee Silva ($30, PB)

Marlee Silva shares the experiences of the many Indigenous women & girls, featured on her podcast Tiddas 4 Tiddas. The voices of First Nations’ women that Marlee weaves through the book provide a rebuttal to the idea that ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’. For non-Indigenous women, it demonstrates the diversity of what success can look like & offers an insight into the lives of their Indigenous sisters and peers. Featuring colourful artwork by artist Rachael Sarra—some stories are heart-warming, while others shine a light on the terrible realities for many Australian Indigenous women, both in the past and in the present. But what they all share is the ability to inspire and empower, creating a sisterhood for all Australian women.

Dunera Lives: Profiles by Ken Inglis, Bill Gammage, Seumas Spark & Jay Winter

The story of the ‘Dunera Boys’ is an intrinsic part of the history of Australia in WW2 and in its aftermath. The injustice these 2000 men suffered through British internment in camps at Hay, Tatura & Orange is well known. Less familiar is the tale of what happened to them afterwards. Following on from volume one Dunera Lives: A Visual History (2018), Dunera Lives: Profiles continues the saga in life stories. This second volume of Dunera Lives presents the voices, faces & lives of 20 people, who, together with nearly 3000 other internees from Britain & Singapore, landed in Australia in 1940. ($39.95, PB)

The Fountain of Public Prosperity: Evangelical Christians in Australian History 1740–1914

by Stuart Piggin & Robert D Linder ($39.95, PB)

The official religion brought to Australia with the First Fleet was Evangelical Christianity, the ‘vital religion’ then shaping public policy through William Wilberforce and his fellow evangelicals. That it has shaped Australian history ever since, making a substantial contribution to the public prosperity of the nation, is an untold story. Piggin & Linder ‘have written one of the great works of Australian history, not to mention one of the great studies of evangelicalism globally.’ — Dr Meredith Lake, author of The Bible in Australia

On Our Doorstep by Craig Collie ($33, PB)

By March 1942, the Japanese had steamrolled through Malaya, laid siege to Singapore, and bombed Darwin with the same ferocity they had dealt Pearl Harbour. Their next step was inevitable, surely: the invasion & occupation of Australia. Meanwhile, as Australian prime minister John Curtin was battling with Winston Churchill to get troops back from overseas to defend their homeland, he was also positioning to ensure the US would be there with us to fend off the approaching enemy. And at home, people pitched in as best they could and in any way to frustrate the invader. Craig Collie tells the story of how the government, the military & the Australian people prepared to face this calamity, and the events that persuaded them of its probability. In the end, Japan found it had stretched itself beyond the reliability of its supply line, but had it ever intended to invade Australia?

19

History

Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent by Priyamvada Gopal ($30, PB)

Colonial subjects did take up British & European ideas & turn them against empire when making claims to freedom & selfdetermination, but the possibility of reverse influence has been largely overlooked. Priyamvada Gopal shows how Britain’s enslaved & colonial subjects were not merely victims of empire & subsequent beneficiaries of its crises of conscience but also agents whose resistance both contributed to their own liberation & shaped British ideas about freedom & who could be free. He examines dissent over the question of empire in Britain & shows how it was influenced by rebellions & resistance in the colonies from the West Indies & East Africa to Egypt & India— and also shows how a pivotal role in fomenting dissent was played by anti-colonial campaigners based in London at the heart of the empire.

Fallout: The Hiroshima cover-up & the reporter who revealed it to the world by Lesley Blume

The Japanese surrendered unconditionally in the days following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki, but even before the surrender, the US had begun a secret propaganda campaign to celebrate these weapons as the ultimate peacekeepers—hiding the true extent & nature of their devastation. The cities were closed to allied reporters to prevent information from leaking about the horrific & lasting effects of radiation—until New Yorker journalist John Hersey got into Hiroshima & reported the truth to the world. When the magazine published ‘Hiroshima’ in August 1946, it became an instant global sensation, and inspired pervasive horror about nuclear weapons—and this knowledge has remained among the greatest deterrents to using them since the end of WWII. This is an engrossing detective story, as well as an important piece of hidden history. ($35, PB)

The World Aflame: The Long War, 1914–1945

by Marina Amaral & Dan Jones ($50, HB)

This book covers not only the total conflagrations of 1914–18 & 1939–45 & the international tensions, conflicting ideologies & malign economic forces that set them in train, but also the civil wars of the interwar period in Ireland & Spain, wars in Latin America, Britain’s imperial travails in such places as Ireland, Somalia & Palestine, and events on the domestic ‘fronts’ of the belligerent nations. Marina Amaral has created 200 fullcolour digital renditions of contemporary photographs, and historian Dan Jones’ accompanying narrative anchors each image in its context, weaving them into a vivid account of 4 decades of conflict that shaped the world we live in today.

The Good Germans: Resisting the Nazis, 1933– 1945 by Catrine Clay ($33, PB)

After 1933, as the brutal terror regime took hold, most of the 2-thirds of Germans who had never voted for the Nazis—some 20 million people—tried to keep their heads down & protect their families. Many ordinary Germans found the courage to resist, in the full knowledge that they could be sentenced to indefinite incarceration, torture or outright execution. Catrine Clay focuses on 6 individuals: Irma, daughter of Ernst Thalmann, leader of the German Communists; Fritzi von der Schulenburg, a Prussian aristocrat; Rudolf Ditzen—author Hans Fallada; Bernt Engelmann, a schoolboy living in the suburbs of Dusseldorf; Julius Leber, leader of the Social Democrats in the Reichstag; and Fabian von Schlabrendorff, a law student in Berlin.

Along with their familes, each experiences the momentous events of Nazi history as they unfold in their own small lives—Good Germans all.

When America Stopped Being Great: A history of the present by Nick Bryant ($35, PB)

The presidency of Donald Trump is commonly seen as an historical accident. Nick Bryant argues that by 2016 it had become almost historically inescapable. He draws on decades of covering Washington for the BBC, to show how the billionaire capitalised on the mistakes of his 5 predecessors—Reagan, Bush Snr, Clinton, Bush Jr & Barack Obama—and how also he became a beneficiary of a broken politics, an iniquitous economy, an ailing media, a facile culture, disruptive new technology & the creation of a modern-day presidency that elevated showmanship over statesmanship. Not only are we starting to see the emergence of a post-American world, Bryant fears we are seeing the emergence of a post-American America.

Reprehensible by Mikey Robins ($33, PB)

Catherine the Great’s extensive collection of pornographic furniture, Hans Christian Andersen’s too-much-information diary & Karl Marx’s epic pub crawls. Hall-of-fame huckster William McCloundy, who ‘sold’ the Brooklyn Bridge to an unsuspecting tourist. The pharaoh who covered his slaves in honey to keep flies off his meal? And the bizarre coronation rituals of early Irish kings?—Let’s just say that eating a white horse wasn’t the weirdest part of the ceremony. Mikey Robins offers host of scoundrels, bounders & reprobates, tales of lust & power aplenty from that sweet spot where history meets outrage.

20

Science & Nature

Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald ($35, HB)

In a book about observation, fascination, time, memory, love & loss & how we make the world around us, author of H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald, brings together a collection of her best-loved writing along with new pieces covering a range of subjects—headaches, on catching swans, on hunting mushrooms, on 20th century spies, on numinous experiences & high-rise buildings; on nests & wild pigs & the tribulations of farming ostriches. Moving & frank, personal & political—the perfect book for lockdown 2020.

Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium

by Lucy Jane Santos ($35, PB)

Lucy Santos delves into tells the curious & sometimes macabre story of Radium through its ascendance as a desirable item—a present for a queen, a prize in a treasure hunt, a glow-in-the-dark dance costume, a boon to the housewife—to its role as a cure-all in everyday 20th century life. She also details the gradual downfall & discredit of the radium industry through the eyes of the people who bought, sold & eventually came to fear it. This is an enjoyable journey into the odd areas where science & consumerism meet, telling the tale of the entrepreneurs & consumers in radium’s history who have until now been considered quacks, or fools, or both.

Meteorite: The Stones From Outer Space That Made Our World by Tim Gregory ($35, PB)

Meteorites reveal a story much bigger than ourselves or our planet— an epic beyond compare. Originating in the Asteroid Belt between Mars & Jupiter, these rocky fragments offer clues not just to the earliest origins of the Solar System but also to Earth’s very survival into the future. Tim Gregory takes a journey through the very earliest days of our Solar System to the spectacular meteorite falls that produced ‘fiery rain’ in 1792, to the pre-solar grains (literally stardust) that were blown in from other solar systems & are the oldest solid objects ever discovered on earth.

The Genes That Make Us: Human stories from a revolution in medicine by Edwin Kirk ($33, PB)

Whether directly inherited or modified by our environment, genes control or significantly influence almost every aspect of our lives, from the success of our conception & the development of our sexual characteristics, to the colour of our skin, hair & eyes; our height & weight; our health; and an untold number of diseases. From the first laborious survey of the human genome 20 years ago to the commercial machines that now sequence 6,000 genomes per year, a revolution is taking place in medicine. Navigating this world of heartbreaking uncertainties, tantalising possibilities & thorny questions of morality, Professor Edwin Kirk, a doctor who works both in the lab & with patients, and who has over 2 decades of experience explains everything you need to know with clarity & great humanity.

x+y: A Mathematician’s Manifesto for Rethinking Gender by Eugenia Cheng ($35, PB)

From imaginary numbers to the 4th dimension & beyond, mathematics has always been about imagining impossible things. In x+y, Eugenia Cheng draws on the insights of higher-dimensional mathematics to reveal a transformative new way of talking about the patriarchy, mansplaining & sexism. Using mathematical reasoning to uncover everything from the sexist assumptions that make society a harder place for women to live to the limitations of science & statistics in helping us understand the link between gender & society, Cheng’s analysis brings original thinking to well worn arguments—providing a radical, illuminating & liberating new way of thinking about the world & women’s place in it.

Space 2069: After Apollo: Back to the Moon, to Mars, and Beyond by David Whitehouse ($35, HB)

Half a century after Apollo 11 we have still not returned to the Moon, but that is about to change. The 13th person to walk on the Moon could soon be part of a crew establishing a base on the lip of a crater at the lunar south pole. The discovery of ice in the eternal shadows of the polar regions transforms our ability to live on the Moon. From bases on the Moon we can make the long, lonely & dangerous voyage to Mars, where there is also ice. The obstacles are many, not least the fragilities of the human body. And what type of world would the first Mars explorers find? David Whitehouse presents a mind-expanding tour of humanity’s future in space over the next 50 years, up to the 100th anniversary of the moon landing.

Now in B Format Among the Wolves of Court: The Untold Story of Thomas and George Boleyn by Lauren Mackay, $20 The End Is Always Near: Apocalyptic Moments from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses by Dan Carlin, $25 The Anarchy by William Dalrymple, $23

It starts with science.

Philosophy & Religion Disobey! A Guide to Ethical Resistance

by Frédéric Gros ($30, HB)

The world is out of joint, so much so that disobeying should be an urgent act for everyone. Frédéric Gros explores the roots of political obedience, social conformity, economic subjection, respect for authorities, constitutional consensus. Examining the various styles of obedience provides tools to study, invent & induce new forms of civic disobedience & lyrical protest. Nothing can be taken for granted—neither supposed certainties nor social conventions, economic injustice or moral conviction. Thinking philosophically requires us to never accept truths & generalities that seem obvious—it restores a sense of political responsibility. At a time when the decisions of experts are presented as the result of icy statistics and anonymous calculations, disobeying becomes an assertion of humanity.

To philosophise is to disobey. This book is a call for critical democracy & ethical resistance.

Making Sense: Conversations on Consciousness, Morality and the Future of Humanity

by Sam Harris ($33, PB)

Neuroscientist, philosopher, podcaster & author Sam Harris’ search for deeper understanding of how we think has led him to engage & exchange with thinkers like Daniel Kahneman, Robert Sapolsky, Anil Seth & Max Tegmark in order to unpack & understand ideas of consciousness, free will, extremism & ethical living. For Harris, honest conversation, no matter how difficult or contentious, represents the only path to moral and intellectual progress. This book features twelve conversations from Harris’ podcast.

Veritas: A Harvard professor, a con man, and the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife by Ariel Sabar ($40, PB)

Visit the CSIRO Publishing website for more quality science books, journals and magazines

publish.csiro.au Out in August/September: 2021 Australasian Sky Guide by Dr Nick Lomb, $16.95 2021 Guide to the Night Sky Southern Hemisphere: A MonthBy-Month Guide to Exploring the Skies above Australia, New Zealand and South Africa by Storm Dunlop, $20 Terra Incognita: 100 Maps to Survive the Next 100 Years by Ian Goldin & Robert Muggah ($50, HB)

Albert Einstein once said, ‘you can’t use old maps to explore a new world.’ When the world is changing faster than ever before, the old maps are no longer fit for purpose. Welcome to Terra Incognita. Using decades of research, state-of-the-art satellite maps & passionately argued analysis, Ian Goldin & Robert Muggah chart humanity’s impact on the planet, and the ways in which we can make a real impact to save it, and to thrive as a species. The book traces the paths of peoples, cities, wars, climates and technologies, all on a global scale. Confounding, informative & ultimately empowering, Goldin & Muggah’s maps guide you to a new place of understanding, rather than to a physical location.

Written In Bone: Hidden stories in what we leave behind by Sue Black ($33, PB)

Forensic anthropologist Dame Sue Black takes a journey of revelation—from skull to feet, via the face, spine, chest, arms, hands, pelvis & legs—showing that each part of us has a tale to tell. What we eat, where we go—everything we do leaves a trace, a message that waits patiently for months, years, sometimes centuries, until a forensic anthropologist is called upon to decipher it. Some of this information is easily understood, some holds its secrets tight & needs scientific cajoling to be released. But by carefully piecing together the evidence, the facts of a life can be rebuilt. Limb by limb, case by case—some criminal, some historical, some unaccountably bizarre—Black reconstructs with intimate sensitivity and compassion the hidden stories in what we leave behind.

The Last Lions of Africa by Anthony Ham ($33, PB)

Haunted by the idea that lions might disappear from the planet in our lifetime, Anthony Ham ventured deep into the African wilderness, speaking to local tribespeople & activists as well as to rangers, scientists & conservationists about why lions are close to extinction & what can be done to save them. He reveals the latest extraordinary science surrounding the earth’s dwindling lion populations & their often surprising relationship to mankind. As he uncovers heartbreaking & astonishing accounts of individual lions, prides & habitats, each chapter unfolds as both gripping campfire story & deeply researched exploration of larger mysteries in the natural world.

In 2012, Dr Karen King, a professor at Harvard Divinity School, announced that she had found an ancient fragment of papyrus in which Jesus calls Mary Magdalene ‘my wife’. The tattered manuscript made international headlines. If early Christians believed Jesus was married, it would upend Christianity’s 2,000 year history—threatening not just the celibate, all-male priesthood but sacred teachings on marriage, sex, & women’s leadership. As debates over the manuscript’s authenticity raged, journalist Ariel Sabar set out to investigate where this tiny scrap of papyrus came from—leading him from the factory districts of Berlin to the former headquarters of the East German Stasi, before winding up in rural Florida, where he discovered an internet pornographer with a prophetess wife, a fascination with the Pharaohs, and a tortured relationship with the Catholic Church. A tale of fierce intellectual rivalries and a tragedy about a brilliant scholar handed an ancient papyrus that appealed to her greatest hopes for Christianity—but forced a reckoning with fundamental questions about the nature of truth and the line between faith & reason.

Stories We Tell Ourselves by Richard Holloway

Throughout history human beings have told stories to try and make sense of what it all means: our place in a small corner of one of billions of galaxies, at the end of billions of years of existence. Richard Holloway takes a scientific & philosophical journey to explore what he believes the answers to the biggest of questions are. He examines what we know about the universe into which—without any choice—we are propelled at birth & from which we are expelled at death, the stories we have told about where we come from & the stories we tell to get through this muddling experience of life. ($30, PB)

Pandemic! COVID-19 Shakes the World

by Slavoj ŽiŽek ($24.95, PB)

We live in a moment when the greatest act of love is to stay distant from the object of your affection. When governments renowned for ruthless cuts in public spending can suddenly conjure up trillions. When toilet paper becomes a commodity as precious as diamonds. And when, according to Slavoj ŽiŽek, a new form of communism—the outlines of which can already be seen in the very heartlands of neoliberalism—may be the only way of averting a descent into global barbarism. Written with his customary brio & love of analogies in popular culture (Quentin Tarantino & H. G. Wells sit next to Hegel & Marx), ŽiŽek provides a concise and provocative snapshot of the crisis as it widens, engulfing us all.

After God by Peter Sloterdijk ($37.95, PB)

Since the early 20th century we have seen how the metaphysical twilight of the gods, which has preoccupied philosophers & theologians, has been accompanied by an earthly twilight of the souls. The emergence of psychoanalysis, and more recently the development of the neuro-cognitive sciences, have secularized the old Indo-European concept of the soul & transferred many accomplishments of the human mind to computerized machines. What remains of the eternal light of the soul after the artificial lights have been turned on? Peter Sloterdijk’s After God is dedicated to the theological enlightenment of theology.

It ranges from the period when gods reigned, through the rule of the world-creator god to reveries about the godlike power of artificial intelligence.

21

Cooking, building, rocking

Every night for the last few months I’ve been perusing the most extraordinary book, Lateral Cooking by Niki Segnit. Despite it being a fairly large size for bedtime reading, I’ve been riveted by it—I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve laughed a lot, not something I’d expect from a cookery book. The book is divided into 12 sections, each covering a basic area—bread, sauces, chocolate etc, with each recipe leading into another. For example she writes the basic shortbread recipe, and then subtracts and adds ingredients for many variations—lavender shortbread, lemon sherbet shortbread etc. The book looks brilliant too, orange and bright blue, opposite colours in fact, with lovely simple illustrations that are far more evocative than the usual glossy hero photographic shots. Niki Segnit is also extremely amusing, I rarely laugh about anything these days, but this book makes me guffaw.

Less of a laugh, but equally entrancing is Deborah Bibby’s book about seven original Australian beach houses in The Originals: Beach Houses to Fall in Love With. Despite being a beachy book, it’s strangely monochromatic, with a sort of blackish filter used for the photographs. An usual approach for a book about beach houses, but it works well, adding a sort of mystery to many of the pictures. Humble cottages these may have once been, but not any more—they are all very desirable residences, full of delightful objects, artfully curated. Considering the trend to raze many of these old houses into the ground, it’s very encouraging that there are still some of them left, and that there are people who still want to restore them. The Originals is a fashionable, aspirational book, but still an engaging one.

I’ve also been greatly engaged by David Mitchell’s new book, Utopia Avenue. Set in the 1960s in Swinging London, the title’s Utopia Avenue is rock group with folk overtones. Four fairly disparate musicians are put together by a benign manager, and make their way in the reasonably new world of rock and roll. The book starts out in a fairly bubbly way, but the plot thickens, and each of the characters become more real as the story proceeds. What is notable about the book is the cameo appearances by many real musicians, David Bowie, Brian Jones et al, and rather more interestingly for me, visual artists as well—Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud for example. A slightly tricky device, using real people, but it’s fun, and I think it works. Having never read a David Mitchell book before I don’t recognised characters from his other books, but I believe there are quite a few that pop up in the narrative, a fact that makes me want to start reading his many other books.

Louise

Macquarie Dictionary Eighth Edition

The 8th Edition of the Macquarie Dictionary features: a comprehensive record of English as it is used in Australia today; more than 3500 new entries such as algorithmic bias, cancel culture, deepfake, eco-anxiety, hygge, influencer, Me Too, ngangkari, single-use, social distancing; thousands of updated entries to reflect changing perspectives relating to the environment, politics, technology & the internet; illustrative phrases showing how a word is used in context; words & phrases from regional Australia; etymologies of words & phrases; extensive usage notes; foreword by author Kim Scott. ($120, HB)

STET! Dreyer’s English: A Game for Language Lovers, Grammar Geeks & Bibliophiles by Benjamin Dreyer Based on the NYT bestseller by Random House’s copy chief Benjamin Dreyer, STET! will help you sharpen those language skills or give you a reason to show them off. There are 100 entertaining sentences waiting for you, the copyeditor, to correct—or, alternatively, to STET (a copyeditor’s term that means ‘let it stand’) if there is no error, gets the card. Compete for points in a straightforward grammar game, or play with style & syntax & whip the author’s sentences into splendid shape. ($33, BX)

Delayed in previous Gleaner now available: Fake Law: The Truth About Justice in an Age of Lies by The Secret Barrister ($35, PB) The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Andrew Wakefield’s War on Vaccines

by Brian Deer ($35, PB) 18 22

Cultural Studies & Criticism Having and Being Had by Eula Biss ($35, PB)

‘My adult life can be divided into two distinct parts,’ Eula Biss writes, ‘the time before I owned a washing machine and the time after.’ Having just purchased her first home, she now embarks on a roguish and risky self-audit of the value system she has bought into. The result is a radical interrogation of work, leisure and capitalism. Described by the New York Times as a writer who ‘advances from all sides, like a chess player’, Biss brings her approach to the lived experience of capitalism.

Another Now by Yanis Varoufakis ($30, PB)

Imagine it is now 2025 and that years earlier, in the wake of the world financial crisis of 2008, a new post-Capitalist society had been born.

Yanis Varoufakis draws on the greatest thinkers in European culture from Plato to Marx, as well as the great thought-experiments of science fiction, to offer a tantalising glimpse of a brave new world where the principles of democracy, equality & justice are truly embedded in our economy. Through the eyes of 3 characters—a liberal economist, a radical feminist & a left-wing technologist he shows what would be needed to forge such a world, and at what cost. This transformative vision confronts the profound questions & trade-offs that underpin all societies—how to balance freedom with fairness? How to unleash the best that humanity has to offer without opening the door to the worst?

Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time

by James Suzman ($30, PB)

The work we do brings us meaning, moulds our values, determines our social status & dictates how we spend most of our time. But this wasn’t always the case—for 95% of our species’ history, work held a radically different importance. How, then, did work become the central organisational principle of our societies? How did it transform our bodies, our environments, our views on equality & our sense of time? And why, in a time of material abundance, are we working more than ever before? Anthropologist James Suzman charts a new history of humankind through the prism of work, from the origins of life on Earth to our ever-more automated present, challenging some of our deepest assumptions about who we are.

The Wolf Hall Companion by Lauren MacKay

Dr Lauren Mackay is an historian of Early Modern Europe, specialising in Tudor history—she spent over 5 years researching the life of Imperial Ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, about whom she wrote in Inside the Tudor Court: Henry VIII and his Six Wives through the eyes of the Spanish Ambassador. Her second book, Among The Wolves of Court: the Untold Story of Thomas and George Boleyn is released in B format in October. This volume is an authoritative companion to Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy. MacKay gives the ‘real’ story of Thomas Cromwell, covers key court & political characters from the books, the important places in the court of Henry VIII, as well as various aspects of Tudor life, from the court scene, the structure of government, royal hunting & hawking, rules of courtly love, Renaissance influences, Tudor executions—revealing not only the full history of these people & places but also Hilary Mantel’s interpretation. ($30, HB)

Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack by Richard Ovenden ($33, PB)

Director of the Bodleian Library, Richard Ovenden, explains how attacks on libraries & archives have been a feature of history since ancient times but have increased in frequency & intensity during the modern era. Libraries are far more than stores of literature, through preserving the legal documents such as Magna Carta & records of citizenship, they also support the rule of law & the rights of citizens. Ovenden explores everything from what really happened to the Great Library of Alexandria to the Windrush papers, from Donald Trump’s deleting embarrassing tweets to John Murray’s burning of Byron’s memoirs in the name of censorship. A manifesto for the vital importance of physical libraries in our increasingly digital age, Ovenden’s book is also animated by an unlikely cast of adventurers, self-taught archaeologists, poets, freedom-fighters & librarians & the heroic lengths they will go to preserve & rescue knowledge, ensuring that civilisation survives.

The Organ Thieves by Chip Jones ($36, PB)

In 1968, Bruce Tucker, a black man, went into Virginia’s top research hospital with a head injury, only to have his heart stolen out of his body & put into the chest of a white businessman. Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Chip Jones exposes the horrifying inequality surrounding Tucker’s death & how he was used as a human guinea pig without his family’s permission or knowledge. The circumstances surrounding his death reflect the long legacy of mistreating African Americans that began more than a century before with cadaver harvesting & worse— culminating in efforts to win the heart transplant race in the 1960s.

The Secret GP ($30, PB) Dr Max Skittle is a practising GP—his job requires him to be a detective, relationship counsellor, social worker, friend, sex therapist, parent-figure and sometimes, just sometimes, a doctor. Find out why you only get ten minutes with a GP, why you can never see the same doctor, why doctors are ALWAYS running late and why, despite a struggling system and an almost omnipresent sense of impending doom, Max Skittle really loves his job.

Cadaver Dog by Luke Best ($25, PB)

Poetry

When an inland tsunami floods the foothills of a mountain city, a woman survives the inundation of her home, alone. This edgy, verse novel circles the scene like the cadaver dog whose work it is to search for those who are missing. Reimagining traditions of bush gothic & outback horror, Luke Best crafts a terrifying psychological portrait of grief & guilt. Loss, cowardice & trauma pulse through this singular & uncompromising narrative of ecological & personal disaster.

Winner of the 2019 Thomas Shapcott Prize for Poetry.

Guwayu, for all times: A Collection of First Nations poems (ed) Jeanine Leane ($25, PB)

Edited by Wiradjuri poet, Dr Jeanine Leane this collection is a radical literary intervention for its breadth of representation, temporal depth and diversity of language. Journey through a range of poetic forms from lyric, confessional, protest, narrative & song, showcasing new voices & established poets—a fiercely uncensored collection featuring 61 poems from First Nations poets in 12 First Nations languages, together they are an exquisite expression of living First Nations culture.

No Authority: Writings from the Laureate for Irish Fiction by Anne Enright ($51, HB) In three urgent pieces of non-fiction Anne Enright explores speech & silence in the lives of Irish women: the long silence surrounding the Mother and Baby home in Tuam which was broken by the voice of Catherine Corless, the silence of Irish literary critics in response to work by women, and the reclaimed voice of the Irish writer Maeve Brennan. The short story form is celebrated with two new pieces of writing, and a biographical piece looks at the role of Canadian fiction in her reading life.

Austen Years: A Memoir in Five Novels

by Rachel Cohen ($56, HB)

Reconnected: A community Builders Handbook by Andrew Leigh & Nick Terrell ($33, PB)

Friends are good for your health. Strong social connections also make communities more resilient, efficient & satisfying.

But today Australians have fewer close friends & local connections than in the past, and more of us say we have no-one to turn to in tough times. Organisations such as parkrun & Greening Australia are mobilising thousands of people to stay fit & improve their local neighbourhoods. Technology is providing new ways to raise funds & to volunteer. And from the popular ‘No Lights No Lycra’ dance nights to the atheist ‘Sunday Assembly’ movement, Australians are finding new ways to connect in the 21st century.

Leigh & Terrell show what works & what doesn’t when it comes to communitybuilding, introducing some remarkable & inspirational people in an essential guide to for anyone interested in strengthening social ties.

What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About #MeToo: Sex and the Mess of Life

by Joann Wypijewski ($35, HB)

What if we took sex out of the box marked ‘special’, either the worst or best thing that a human person can experience, and considered it within the complexity of reality? Despite longstanding tabloid-style sexual preoccupations with villains & victims, shame & virtue, JoAnn Wypijewski does exactly that.

From the HIV crisis to the paedophile priest panic, Woody Allen to Brett Kavanaugh, child pornography to Abu Ghraib, Wypijewski takes the most famous sex panics of the last decades & turns them inside out, weaving what together becomes a searing indictment of modern sexual politics—examining the multiple ways in which the ever-expanding default language of monsters & victims has contributed to the repressive power of the state. Politics exists in the mess of life. Sex does too, Wypijewski insists & so must sexual politics, to make any sense at all.

The Unreality of Memory: Essays

by Elisa Gabbert ($33, HB)

In this series of lyrical meditations on what our culture of catastrophe has done to public discourse & our own inner lives Elisa Gabbert focuses in on our daily preoccupation & favourite pastime: desperate distraction from disaster by way of a desperate obsession with the disastrous. Moving from public trauma to personal tragedy, from the Titanic & Chernobyl to illness & loss, she alternately rips away the facade of our fascination with destruction & gently identifies itself with the age of rubbernecking. A balm, not a burr, Gabbert’s essays are a hauntingly perceptive analysis of the anxiety intrinsic in our new, digital ways of being, and also a means of reconciling ourselves to this new world..

In the turbulent period around the birth of her first child & the death of her father, Rachel Cohen turned to Jane Austen to make sense of her new reality. For Cohen, simultaneously griefstricken & buoyed by the birth of her daughter, reading Austen became her refuge & her ballast. She was able to reckon with difficult questions about mourning, memorializing, living in a household, paying attention to the world, reading, writing, and imagining through Austen’s novels. This is a deeply felt & sensitive examination of a writer’s relationship to reading, and to her own family, winding together memoir, criticism & biographical & historical material about Austen herself.

The Inner Coast: Essays by Donovan Hohn

Writing in the grand American tradition of Annie Dillard and Barry Lopez, Donovan Hohn has been widely hailed for his prize-winning essays on the borderlands between the natural & the human. The Inner Coast collects ten of his best—featuring his physical, historical & emotional journeys through the American landscape. By turns meditative and comic, adventurous and metaphysical, Hohn writes about the appeal of old tools, the dance between ecology & engineering, the lost art of ice canoeing & Americans’ complicated love/hate relationship with Thoreau. ($27.95, PB)

The Bad Boy of Athens: Classics from the Greeks to Game of Thrones by Daniel Mendelsohn

In this collection classicist Daniel Mendelsohn invokes the automatons featured in Homer’s epics to help explain the AI films Ex Machina and Her, and perceives how Ted Hughes sought redemption by translating a play of Euripides (the ‘bad boy of Athens’) about a wayward husband whose wife returns from the dead. There are essays on Sappho’s sexuality and the feminism of Game of Thrones; on how Virgil’s Aeneid prefigures postWorld War II history and why we are still obsessed with the Titanic; on Patrick Leigh Fermor’s final journey, Karl Ove Knausgaard’s autofiction and the plays of Tom Stoppard, Tennessee Williams and Noël Coward. The collection ends with a poignant account of the Mendelsohn’s boyhood correspondence with the historical novelist Mary Renault, which inspired his ambition to become a writer. ($25, PB)

Afropessimism by Frank Wilderson ($46.95, HB)

In a book that combines groundbreaking philosophy with searing flights of memoir, Wilderson Wilderson juxtaposes his seemingly idyllic upbringing in halcyon midcentury Minneapolis with the harshness that he would later encounter, whether in radicalized, late-1960s Berkeley or in the slums of Soweto. Rather than interpreting slavery through a Marxist framework of class oppression, Wilderson demonstrates that the social construct of slavery, as seen through pervasive, anti-black subjugation & violence, is hardly a relic of the past but an almost necessary force in our civilization that flourishes today, and that Black struggles cannot be conflated with the experiences of any other oppressed group.

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Endings

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I have been dipping into biographies these last few weeks. Re-reading some of my favourites from over the years—not simply for the subject—but also because the authors have mastered the most difficult of literary arts with memorable writing.

This is how some of them end: From J. E. Neale’s Queen Elizabeth I ($36, PB) Life as Gloriana valued it, was past and nothing remained but the melancholy memory of its splendours and sorrows and tragedies. She wanted to die and the last service that she could render her beloved country was to die quickly... Having performed her last royal duty by nominating James as her successor, she centred her mind on Heavenly things, rejoicing in the ministrations of her spiritual physician, her ‘black husband’, Archbishop Whitgift. And then she turned her face to the wall, sank into a stupor, and between the hours of two and three in the morning of 24 March 1603 passed quietly away, ‘as the most resplendent sun setteth at last in a western cloud.’

From Antonia Fraser’s Cromwell: Our Chief of Men (1973) ($32, PB) A cooler age might deny Cromwell the epithet of Hero. But it cannot deny him his greatness, the one quality which no man who knew him, friend or foe, tried to wrest from him. With all Cromwell’s faults, his passions and his plans, it was John Maidston, his own servant, from a traditionally unheroic vantage point, who spoke the final epitaph on the Protector: ‘A larger soul hath seldom dwelt in a house of clay.’

Linda Lear’s Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature (1997) ($52, PB) In what was her last letter to Rachel, written on the morning of April 14, Dorothy told her, ‘Dearest, I want you to know that yesterday I realized I had come home with a great sense of peace about you.’ Remembering their ‘oasis’ of precious time in the New Year, Dorothy wrote, ‘Although my visit to you just now could not have been the same tranquillity, nevertheless there were very special moments when I felt we were in a ‘quiet bower.’ …Late in the afternoon, on Tuesday April 14, Rachel Carson suffered a coronary heart attack. She died just before sunset. It was as she had written: ‘For all at last return to the sea—to Oceanus, the ocean river, like the ever-flowing stream of time, the beginning and the end.

Jules Witcover’s 85 Days: The Last Campaign of Robert Kennedy ($44, PB) Edward Kennedy: ‘When I think of Bobby, I see Cape Cod on a sunny August day.

The wind is coming from the southwest, the whitecaps are rising, and the full tide is sweeping through the gaps in the breakwater. It is after lunch, Bobby is stripped to the waist and is saying, ‘Come on Kathleen, Joe, Bobby, David, Courtney, Kerry, come on Michael, Chris and Max—call your Mother and come for a sail’ …We push off from the landing. The sail of the Resolute catches the wind, the boat begins to heel and there are squeals of delight. Bobby says, ‘I think this is the day we’ll tip over’, and the squeals turn to terror as the Resolute rounds the end of the breakwater. Beyond, the bow rises and falls with the rhythm of the sea, and the children are covered with salt spray; Bobby dives overboard and catches the line that trails behind, calling to the children to join him. Child after child, jumps into the water, grabbing for the line, and those that miss are pulled to it by his strong and suntanned arms. He is the catcher in the sea. The boat heads into Nantucket Sound. The tide is gentle, the gulls are watching from above, the breeze is warm, and there is the happiness and love of being together again.’

Dava Sobel’s Longitude ($20, PB) John Harrison (1693–1776) was English carpenter, and a self-taught clock maker who spent 40 years developing a marine chronometer which enabled mariners to determine longitude at sea: (By) 1860, when the Royal Navy counted fewer than 200 ships on all seven seas, it owned close to 800 chronometers…Having established itself on board the chronometer was soon taken for granted, like any other essential thing and the whole question of its contentious history along with the name of the original inventor, dropped from the consciousness of the seamen who used it every day… With his marine clocks, John Harrison tested the waters of space-time. He succeeded against all odds in using the fourth—temporal—dimension to link points on a three-dimensional globe. He wrested the world’s whereabouts from the stars, and locked the secret in a pocket watch.

Gerald Durrells’s My Family & Other Animals ($13, PB) The Durrells (and menagerie) reluctantly return to England from their Greek island idyll: As the ship drew across the sea a black depression settled on us, which lasted all the way back to England. Our grimy train scuttled its way up from Brindisi to Switzerland. The finches sang in their cages, the Magenpies chuckled and Alecko gave a mournful yarp at intervals. Around our feet the dogs lay snoring. At the Swiss frontier our passports were examined by a disgracefully efficient official, he handed them back to Mother with a small slip of paper and left us to our gloom. ‘Just look what he’s written. Impertinent man!’ On the little card in the column headed Description of Passengers, had been written in neat capitals: One travelling Circus and Staff…The train rattled towards England.

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The Lost Book of Moses: The Hunt for the World’s Oldest Bible Chanan Tigay, HB

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How to Write Like Tolstoy: A Journey Into the Minds of Our Greatest Writers— Richard Cohen, HB

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The Written World: How Literature Shaped History Martin Puchner, HB

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A Writer’s Britain Margaret Drabble, HB

Aeneid Book VI: A New Verse Translation Seamus Heaney, HB

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The Most Dangerous Man in America: Timothy Leary & Richard Nixon, HB

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Paradise in Chains: The Bounty Mutiny & the Founding of Australia Diana Preston, HB

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Cuckoo: Cheating by Nature Nick Davies, HB

Queen Victoria: 24 Days That Changed Her Life Lucy Worsley, HB

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Epic Continent: Adventures in the Great Stories of Europe Nicholas Jubber, HB

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His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae—Graeme Burnet, PB

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Mind of an Outlaw: Selected Essays Norman Mailer, HB

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If Not Now, When?

Primo Levi, PB

The Hollow of the Hand P. J. Harvey & Seamus Murphy, PB

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Palimpsest: A History of the Written Word Matthew Battles, HB

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The Story of English: How an Obscure Dialect Became the World’s Most-Spoken Language Joseph Piercy, PB

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The Amorous Heart: Labyrinths: Emma Jung, Her Mar- An Unconventional History of Love riage to Carl, and the Early Years of Marilyn Yalom, HB Psychoanalysis— Catrine Clay, HB

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty, PB

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Friendship A. C. Grayling, PB

A History of Children’s Books in 100 Books Cave & Ayad, HB

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The Mind Club: Who Thinks, What Feels & Why it Matters Wegner & Gray, HB

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Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve Tom Bissell, HB

Rome: A History in Seven Sackings Matthew Kneale, HB

Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, Russia, 1917 Helen Rappaport, HB

Victoria: The Queen Julia Baird, HB

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Istanbul: The Illustrated Edition Orhan Pamuk , HB

Charlotte Bronte: A Fiery Heart Claire Harman, HB

Dylan Goes Electric!

Elijah Wald, HB

The Grammar Of Rock: Art and Artlessness Theroux & Crumb, HB

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The Arts

What Comes After Farce by Hal Foster ($30, HB)

If farce follows tragedy, what follows farce? Where does the double predicament of a post-truth & post-shame politics leave artists & critics on the left? How to demystify an hegemonic order that dismisses its own contradictions? How to belittle a political elite that cannot be embarrassed, or to mock party leaders who thrive on the absurd? How to out-dada President Ubu? And, in any event, why add outrage to a media economy that thrives on the same? Hal Foster comments on shifts in art, criticism & fiction in the face of the current regime of war, surveillance, extreme inequality & media disruption. A first section focuses on the cultural politics of emergency since 9/11; A second reviews the neoliberal makeover of art institutions during the same period; a final third section surveys transformations in media as reflected in recent art, film & fiction.

Show Me the Monet: A Card Game for Wheelers and (Art) Dealers by Thomas W. Cushing Build the most valuable art collection by trading & collecting famous works by 14 of the greatest artists of all time, from Leonardo da Vinci & Rembrandt to Vermeer & Frida Kahlo. This card-based party game combines masterpieces & money—sure to be a hit at any game night, family gathering, or even as an ice breaker for your new book club. After all the cards are drawn, the player with the highest-value collections takes the prize.

May the canniest—and luckiest—dealer win! ($33, BX)

Flower: Exploring the World in Bloom Phaidon editors ($79.95, HB)

This book takes a journey across continents & cultures to discover the endless ways artists & image-makers have employed floral motifs throughout history. Showcasing the diversity of blooms from all over the world, Flower spans a wide range of styles & media—from art, botanical illustrations & sculptures to floral arrangements, film stills & textiles.

Rinus Van de Veldes ($125, HB)

Rinus Van de Veldes is best known for his monumental works in charcoal, but at the beginning of his career he also created small drawings in colour pencil, a technique he reintroduced into his work in 2018. With these drawings, Van de Velde returns to a very classical & direct style of draughtsmanship with colour pencil on paper, and the work is often characterised by a high degree of realism. He chooses his visual material from a variety of sources—images from books, film stills and his own photographic material, home-made staged scenes & characters that are reduced to a single image. In the process he explores the meaning of an image and how the existing meaning can evolve within an alternative narrative.

Degas at the Opera by Henri Loyrette ($90, HB)

Throughout his entire career, from his debut in the 1860s up to his final works post 1900, the Opera formed the focal point of Degas’s output. It was his own ‘front room’. He explored the theatre’s various spaces—auditorium & stage, boxes, foyers & dance studios—and followed those who frequented them: dancers, singers, orchestral musicians, audience members & black-attired patrons lurking in the wings. This closed world presented a microcosm of infinite possibilities, allowing all manner of experimentations: multiple points of view, contrasts of lighting, the study of motion & the precision of movement. This book examines not only Degas’ passionate relationship with the House & his musical tastes, but also the limitless resources of this marvellous ‘toolbox’.

Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine ($90, HB)

This study examines the intersection of modernist photography & American commercial graphic design between 1930 & 1960.

Avant-garde strategies in photography & design reached the United States via European emigrés, including Bauhaus artists forced out of Nazi Germany. The unmistakable aesthetic made popular by such magazines as Harper’s Bazaar & Vogue— whose art directors, Alexey Brodovitch & Alexander Liberman, were both immigrants & accomplished photographers—emerged from a distinctly American combination of innovation, inclusiveness & pragmatism. Beautifully illustrated with more than 150 revolutionary photographs, layouts & cover designs.

Peter Saul by Gary Carrion-Murayari & Massimiliano Gioni ($89.95, HB)

Peter Saul is known for his vivid, cartoon-like paintings that satirize American culture. Influenced by the Chilean surrealist painter Roberto Matta & by MAD magazine, Saul developed his unique neo-surrealist style in contrast to the abstract expressionist aesthetic that prevailed at the time. Through wide-ranging imagery, Saul’s darkly humorous works deliver a sharp comment on contemporary politics & culture.

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Renaissance Watercolours: From Durer to Van Dyck by Elania Pieragostini ($80, HB)

Many of the most beautiful Renaissance portraits, botanical illustrations & landscape paintings are watercolours. The Renaissance watercolour was a major art form that reached as far afield as the New World & the court of the Mughal emperor—spanning the period 1450–1640, this book considers these diverse artworks together, combining 150 paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein, Nicholas Hilliard & Anthony Van Dyck, as well as exquisite works by less well-known figures such as Giulio Clovio, Joris Hoefnagel, Jacopo Ligozzi & Jacques le Moyne.

The Honest Art Dictionary: A Jovial Trip through Art Jargon by The Art History Babes ($30, PB)

Art speak is infamously alienating, strange & confusing as hell.

Think stereotypical, stylish art dealers who describe art as derivative & dynamic—or stuffy auction houses filled with portraits of dead white people called Old Masters. What do these words mean?

Where did they come from? And how can you actually use them?

From avant-garde to oeuvre, the Harlem Renaissance to New Objectivity, museum fatigue to memento mori—with whip-smart humour, on-point knowledge & a heavy dose of candour, the Art History Babes introduce all the art terms you need to know.

Tjalf Sparnaay: Delicious Paintings ($60, PB)

Tjalf Sparnaay builds on the Dutch tradition of realistically painted foods from the Golden Age—amazing his audience with his hyper-realistic paintings of extremely enlarged foods, baffling in their extreme precision & mastery. Text in English & Dutch, with 70 colour images.

Derek Jarman: Protest! ($100, HB) Derek Jarman was a very English rebel, a maverick & radical artist whose unique & distinctive voice was honed protesting against the strictures of life in post-war Britain. In an innovative practice that roamed freely across all varieties of media, Jarman refused to live & die quietly. He defined bohemian London life in the 1960s, exploded into queer punk in the 70s and triumphed over an atmosphere of fear & ignorance in the age of AIDS to produce eloquent works of art which resonate still more strongly today. This book offers a definitive overview of Derek Jarman’s life & work—from his features to his Super-8 films, his painting, design for theatre, poetry, gardening, memoir & political activism. It contains excerpts from Jarman’s own writings, short interviews with friends & collaborators & newly commissioned texts from contributors including John Maybury, Peter Tatchell, Philip Hoare, Sir Norman Rosenthal & Olivia Laing.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer

Reproduced in exquisite black & white, the images in this book range from Henri Cartier-Bresson’s earliest work in France, Spain & Mexico through his postwar travels in Asia, the US & Russia, including landscapes from the 1970s, when he retired his camera to pursue drawing.

While his instinct for capturing what he called the decisive moment was unparalleled, as a photojournalist CartierBresson was uniquely concerned with the human impact of historic events. In his photographs of the liberation of France from the Nazis, the death of Ghandi, and the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Cartier-Bresson focused on the reactions of the crowds rather than the subjects of the events. And while his portraits of Sartre, Giacometti, Faulkner, Capote & other artists are iconic, he gave equal attention to those forgotten by history: a dead resistance fighter lying on the bank of the Rhine, children playing alongside the Berlin Wall, and a eunuch in Peking’s Imperial Court.. ($145, HB)

Robert Irwin Getty Garden ($44, HB)

This book is comprised of a series of discussions between author Lawrence Weschler & Robert Irwin, providing a lively account of what Irwin has playfully termed ‘a sculpture in the form of a garden aspiring to be art.’ The text revolves around 4 garden walks: extended conversations in which the artist explains the critical choices he made—from plant materials to steel—in the creation of a living work of art that has helped to redefine what a modern garden can be. This updated edition features new photography of the Getty’s Central Garden.

35 Knitted Baby Blankets: For the nursery, stroller, and playtime by Laura Strutt ($33, PB)

A teddy bear travel blanket that cleverly folds away into a pillow & a hooded wrap for keeping cosy in a sling. For the nursery there is a soft cot cover & a dungaree-style sleeping bag in breathable merino wool—perfect for a peaceful night’s rest. For playtime, there’s a cotton-backed blanket that can double up as a rug to take out & about & a tiny comforter blanket guaranteed to become a baby’s close companion. With beautiful yarns, simple techniques & stunning designs, there is a blanket here ready for you to make and for the new arrival to treasure for years to come.

James: Intimations: Six Essays by Zadie Smith—is full of the things that I love about Zadie Smith. Compassion, cleverness, and a wry sense of humour about the idiosyncrasies of modern life. As she turns her pen to the pandemic, her sly wit oscillates between suggesting that ‘there is no great difference between writing a novel and [baking] banana bread’, and reminding us of what we all need to hear right now; There is no substitute for love. I can’t recommend it enough for turbulent times.

Andrew: I’ve just finished Mayflies, the new novel by Andrew O’Hagan (of Be Near Me fame) and I can hand-on-heart report it is profoundly—staggeringly— good. It is a kind-of diptych of a novel with two very elegantly, equally weighted, halves. A group of young Scottish men, positively bursting out of the blocks of their teens and into manhood set off for a big, boozy, hedonistic weekend in Manchester—it is the 1980s and the music scene centred around Factory Records is similarly firing on all cylinders.The second half of the novel is set in a fundamentally more sombre brexit-hued present day. I will admit to starting Mayflies with several preconceptions and a good deal of scepticism. I was confident I did not need yet another novel of testosterone fuelled, rampantly heterosexual men, learning the bitter truths of life and the wisdom of age, or whatever it was going to be about. All I want to say, to avoid spoilers, is I was wrong, and this is easily one of my favourite books of recent years. It is profoundly, ineffably, moving.

O’Hagan’s writing has a simple and beautiful cadence to it, at turns transcendent.

Stef: One of the best things about reading is how a whole new world can be opened up to your imagination—and this is exactly what Polly Samson has done in her novel A Theatre for Dreamers. She is like a magician conjuring up the Greek island of Hydra before your eyes—along with its inhabitants, Charmian Clift and George Johnston, a young Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne, along with a cohort of bohemian writers and poets and artists all there to make their mark and create the work that will bring them fame and fortune. Erica, deep in grief after the death of her mother, comes to Hydra in the hope that her mother’s old friend Charmian can help her find the answers to her mother’s past. Erica, her boyfriend Jimmy and brother Bobby step into the heady and intoxicating world of Charmian, full of writers, lovers, booze and drugs—and as summer moves into winter relationships unravel and friendships are tested. This is a gloriously evocative read and has whetted my appetite to learn more of the life of Charmian Clift.

what we're reading

David G: The Last Migration is Charlotte McConaghy’s literary fiction debut, and it’s very, very good. Set against a background of disastrous climate change and species loss, the novel traces the perilous journey of Franny Lynch as she follows the last of the Arctic terns, on what may well be the ‘Last Migration’ to Antarctica.

Brilliant flashbacks flesh out the dark and haunting past of Franny’s life.

The triumph of the book is to marry the personal to the epic, challenging and confronting the reader on multiple levels. A brave and beautiful book.

Jonathon: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman—Is this a story about witches? I think it’s a story about witches… Or perhaps just beings from some primordial moment of creation, tearing and suturing reality as they go. Well, it’s really about belonging and finding your place in the world… being a child, becoming an adult, looking back at being a child… or of discovering that the way that you see the world isn’t necessarily the way that others do. And a wormy thing in a kid’s foot. It’s about that too.

Victoria: We know everything about Hillary Rodham Clinton already don’t we? Well, I was pleasantly surprised at what a well-written and great pageturner this was! Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld had me captivated from the minute I started reading. Sittenfeld is well known for re-writing history and she doesn’t disappoint with this one. She had Hillary’s voice to a tee.

Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore is a powerful book about women in a male dominated part of America and how they deal with it. It is about justice, survival, friendship and more. This book will make you angry, sad and proud.

Outstanding.

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers is a delightful read. Set in London in the 50s—Jean, a journalist with a local paper, is approached by Gretchen with a story that seems so mysterious, Jean simply has to investigate. I warmed to all the characters and really felt Jean’s longings and desires, and the story took me on twists and turns right to the end.

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Bestsellers—Non-Fiction 1. Women & Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons

Julia Gillard & Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

2. Too Much and Never Enough

Mary Trump

3. Dark Emu

Bruce Pascoe

4. QE78: Australia’s Coal Addiction

Judith Brett

5. Humankind: A Hopeful History

Rutger Bregman

6. The Happiest Man on Earth

Eddie Jaku

7. Me and White Supremacy

Layla Saad

8. Intimations

Zadie Smith

9. The Hidden Hand: Exposing how the Chinese

Communist Party is Reshaping the World

Clive Hamilton & Mareike Ohlberg

10. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race

Reni Eddo-Lodge

Bestsellers—Fiction 1. The Yield

Tara June Winch

2. A Room Made of Leaves 3. Girl, Woman, Other

Kate Grenville Bernardine Evaristo

4. The Dictionary of Lost Words 5. Rodham: A Novel

Pip Williams Curtis Sittenfeld

6. Where the Crawdads Sing

Delia Owens

7. Normal People

Sally Rooney

8. The Vanishing Half

Britt Bennett

9. A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing 10. Utopia Avenue

28

Jessie Tu David Mitchell

and another thing.....

I apologise again for the double issue, but it looks like the publishers have caught up for October, November and Christmas—so I hearby promise to deliver a single issue magazine in October and in November, swiftly followed by The Summer Reading Guide in mid November. Glancing through the publisher subscriber sheets I see a lot of big names in the offing—new fiction from Richard Flanagan, Martin Amis, Marilyn Robinson, Louis de Bernières, Craig Silvey, Chris Hammer and Jane Harper, poetry from Margaret Atwood and Barbara Kingsolver, plenty of COVID catch-up non-fiction, and new cookbooks for the house-bound from Bill Granger, the gang at Cornersmith, and a new Hetty Mckinnon I’m eager to get my hands on—just the tip of the iceberg. But, the one I’m really excited about is Jane Smiley’s new novel. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, for a Pulitzer Prize Winner (A Thousand Acres—a fantastic book if you’ve never read it)—I don’t understand why Smiley has never really been a contender in the Australian market. She is a marvellous writer, a comfortable yet erudite realism I think of as the best sort of American writing. Her lazily designed UK covers mostly push her into the (should not be derogatory) categories of ‘chiclit’ or ‘bookclub’: a bland 3/4 profile of a woman looking wistfully into some distance or other for no particular reason—nothing to do with the book if you read it. Which is why I’ll be getting the US hardcover edition of the new book, Perestroika in Paris—due in December. It sports a great cover that harks back to Horse Heaven, equal favourite with Thousand Acres. Another thing people seem to hold against Smiley is that she is horse mad (she has written a heap of horse series for kids, and a collection of equine-themed non-fiction, A Year at the Races). It looks like with Perestroika she is indulging this passion again: Paras, short for ‘Perestroika’, is a spirited racehorse at a racetrack west of Paris. One afternoon at dusk, she finds the door of her stall open and, curious filly that she is, she wanders all the way to the City of Light—accompanied by a German shorthaired pointer named Frida, two irrepressible ducks, an opinionated raven and eventually Étienne and his one-hundred-year-old grandmother. This may sound a tad whimsical but in Smiley’s hands I know it will be a perfect journey through Paris in this internationally travel-restricted era. Meanwhile I’m re-reading Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising series—they may be classified as childrens’ literature, but like all good childrens’ books they’re great at any age. I’d forgotten how genuinely eerie they can be—Cooper knows how to get you looking over your shoulder for the rising dark. Mask up and keep well! See you in October. Viki

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