Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton ($33, PB)
Brisbane, 1983: A lost father, a mute brother, a mum in jail, a heroin dealer for a stepfather & a notorious crim for a babysitter. It’s not as if Eli’s life isn’t complicated enough already. He’s just trying to follow his heart, learning what it takes to be a good man, but life just keeps throwing obstacles in the way—not least of which is Tytus Broz, legendary Brisbane drug dealer. But Eli’s life is about to get a whole lot more serious. He’s about to fall in love. And, oh yeah, he has to break into Boggo Road Gaol on Christmas Day, to save his mum. A story of brotherhood, true love & the most unlikely of friendships, this is a heartbreaking, joyous and exhilarating novel. ‘Enthralling—a moving account of sibling solidarity and the dogged pursuit of love.’—Geoffrey Robertson QC
Gleebooks’ special price $29.99
HIVE A. J. Betts From the award-winning, bestselling author of Zac & Mia. ‘Betts has created a unique closed world and an appealingly stubborn protagonist.’ Books+Publishing
LONELY GIRL Lynne Vincent McCarthy She knows he’s a killer. He swears he’s innocent. ‘Dark, disturbing and utterly compelling.’ Emma Viskic
THE 104-STOREY TREEHOUSE Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton From Australia’s most popular children’s storytellers, 13 new levels in the bestselling, recordbreaking Treehouse series. What are you waiting for? Come on up! Available 10 July
THE PEOPLE IN THE TREES Hanya Yanagihara An astonishing story from the international bestselling author of A Little Life. ‘An absorbing, intelligent and uncompromising novel which beguiles and unnerves.’ The Independent
When Elephants Fight by Majok Tulba ($30, PB) In the South Sudanese village of Pacong, Juba is young & old at the same time. Forced to grow up quickly in the civil war, he is nonetheless fun-loving as well as smart. But his little world cannot deflect the conflict raging around it & soon he must flee the life he loves & embark on an arduous & fraught trek to a refugee camp—where he comes to wonder if there’s any such thing as safe haven in his country. Yet life in the camp is not all bad. There can be intense joy amid the deprivation, there are angels as well as demons. Poised part way between heaven & hell, Majok Tulba draws a horrifying picture of what humanity can do to itself, but Juba’s is a story of transcendence & resilience, even exultation. Majok Tulba’s debut novel, Beneath the Darkening Sky, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize—When Elephants Fight is an important testimony of the harrowing lives of refugees. We See the Stars by Kate van Hooft ($30, PB)
‘Is that the Big Dipper?’ Mum asked. Her eyes were bright from the light in them, and they shone in the darkness more than any of the stars in the sky. Simon is an 11 year-old boy who lives in a world of silence, lists & numbers. He hasn’t spoken for years & he doesn’t know why. Everyone at school thinks he’s weird & his only friends in the world are his brother Davey & Superman—who’s always there when he needs him. One day Simon shares his VitaWeats with Cassie, the scary girl from his class, and a friendship starts to form. The new teacher Ms Hilcombe takes an interest in him, and suddenly he has another friend as well. When Ms Hilcombe goes missing, only Simon knows where she is. But he has made a promise to never tell, and promises can never be broken. So now Simon is the only one who can save her. A haunting novel in the tradition of The Eye of the Sheep and Jasper Jones.
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Over the previous two months I’ve got you up to speed on what is forthcoming over the next few months. Now I can report on books I’ve actually read. I mentioned the crime novel Scrublands by journo Chris Hammer last month, and recently spent an entire day on the couch engrossed in this small-town crime story. (I know, after The Dry they’re all the rage). I really liked Hammer’s journalist character Martin who is suffering PTSD after having spent a harrowing time in the Gaza strip a year before. A labyrinthine plot involves Martin arriving in a town on the Murray River to cover the aftermath of a mass shooting by a priest the year before. Throw in discovery of two murdered backpackers, a fire, a bikie gang, a drug ring, false identities and, of course, a beautiful young woman—and you’ve got a complicated situation which twists and turns right to the end. Most satisfying and really well-written. My favourite book of the year so far is White Houses by the incomparable Amy Bloom. Bloom was to come out for the Sydney Writers’ Festival but cancelled—which is sad because many more readers would have discovered her wonderful writing. White Houses tells the now reasonably wellknown story of Eleanor Roosevelt’s long love affair with the writer and journalist Lorena Hickock (Hick), who for some time actually lived in the White House with Eleanor and President Franklin DR—who, by all accounts, was having affairs of his own. Bloom writes the book in the voice of Hick—intelligent, funny, loving, eccentric. Although it’s always been thus, it seems that in this post samesex marriage world, more than ever it matters not what sexual preference the characters in books and films have. All we care about is a good story told well. (Witness the success of Call Me By Your Name which also sold well as a film Tie-in.) Hallelujah! A novel I read some months ago now, and which I’ve recommended to many, is a debut by the American Lisa Halliday called Asymmetry. In seemingly disconnected sections, Halliday riffs on writing, identity, fame and power. In the first section a young would-be writer has an affair with a very famous older writer—Phillip Roth proudly claimed to be the writer Halliday based her character on. This first section is really very funny New York style humour. When the young woman first sees the heart operation scar on the older man she asks ‘who did that to you?’ he replies smartly ‘Norman Mailer’! I laughed like a drain. The next section then seems completely unrelated until you read the third section and it all falls into place. Marvellous. Lastly as it’s finally winter I must recommend a new cookbook, imaginatively titled Winter by Louise Franc. Still, the title says it all and it’s stacked full of delicious wintery recipes that don’t have too many ingredients and don’t look too hard. How about spicy roasted chicken with blue cheese sauce, whole stuffed pumpkin or coconut fish curry followed by slow baked quinces. Yum! See you on D’Hill, Morgan Now in B Format First Person by Richard Flanagan, $23 New Text Classic Honour & Other People’s Children by Helen Garner intr. by Michael Sala, $12.95
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