The Independent Bookseller’s
AUTUMN
READING GUIDE Seductive novels Gorgeous gifts Great reads
Over 120 books inside
Poster image from the cover of Flock by Lyn Hughes (Harper Collins)
Autumn Reading Guide elcome to our Autumn Reading Guide. You will find a great selection of fiction, non-fiction, children’s and Mother’s Day gift titles, hand-picked for you by our professional staff. We are proud to be your local independent bookseller, staffed by people who care about their customers, books and the art of bookselling. We are in bookselling because we, too, love to read and recognise the unique pleasure to be found in a good book. This devotion to our trade also means our staff can give you well-informed, personalized reading advice. We have a wide range of good quality publications and invite you to come in and browse. If you can’t find what you are looking for on the pages of this guide or in our store, we’d be happy to place a special order on your behalf.
WIN
THE ULTIMATE GIFT PACK 1 of 5 gift packs to be won each containing copies of 15 bestselling titles and valued over $900. Quay by Peter Gilmore RRP$95.00 Rural Australian Gardens by Myles Baldwin RRP $89.95 Still Life by Jane Ussher and Nigel Watson RRP $79.95 Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden Companion RRP $125.00 The Country Cookbook by Belinda Jeffreys RRP $59.95 Music by Andrew Zuckerman RRP $70.00 Life by Keith Richards RRP $49.99
Notebooks Betty Churcher Paperback RRP $44.99 For lovers of art, history and travel, Betty Churcher’s Notebooks is an intimate guide through some of the great art galleries of London, Paris, Madrid and Rome. From Goya to Gauguin and Rembrandt to Manet, Churcher reveals the secrets behind the artworks that have inspired her, both as a young painter and as the much lauded Director of the National Gallery of Australia. Through her sketches and lively commentary, Notebooks arouses a fresh curiosity about the masterpieces we think we know well.
Love, Wisdom. Motherhood: Conversations with inspiring women Jessica Rowe Paperback RRP $ 29.99 Jessica Rowe had a rocky journey through early motherhood, suffering from post-natal depression after the birth of her daughter and then being infamously fired by Eddie McGuire while on maternity leave. In Love, Wisdom Motherhood Jessica brings us some heartwarming, inspirational, funny and insightful glimpses into the motherhood journey, from some of Australia’s most famous mothers – ranging from Quentin Bryce to Lisa McCune.
Shannon Bennett’s New York Shannon Bennett Hardback RRP $44.99 Acclaimed Chef Shannon Bennett takes you on a culinary adventure to the most exciting city in the world. From street food to fine dining, we are given tips on finding the very best New York has to offer. From restaurants, bistros and cafes to hotels and markets, this is so much more than a guide book! Special offer: Purchase Shannon Bennett’s New York and you can also buy his bestselling book Shannon Bennett’s Paris for only $29.99. *While stocks last
Blossoms and Shadows by Lian Hearn, HB signed copy RRP $49.95 Lilian’s Story, 20th birthday edition, by Kate Granville RRP $65.00 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, HB gift edition, RRP $35.00 The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard Morais RRP $27.95 Fast, Fresh, Simple by Donna Hay RRP$39.95 Dreaming of Chanel by Charlotte Smith RRP $35.00 Aphrodite’s Hat by Salley Vickers RRP $29.99 Batavia by Peter Fitzsimons, HB signed copies RRP $49.95 For your chance to WIN 1 of 5 gift packs, simply purchase a book from this catalogue, go to the competition page at www.indies.com.au to view full terms and conditions and enter your details. Competition closes at midnight on 30 May 2011.
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Mezza Italiana Zoe Boccabella Paperback RRP $ 29.99 Zoe Boccabella spent her childhood trying to deny her Italian heritage. As an adult, she travelled to her family’s ancestral village and discovered a place that is the stuff of fairytales – medieval castles, mystics, dark forests, serpent charmers and witches. Beautifully written, sprinkled with recipes and laced with love, Mezza Italiana is a heartwarming journey into the soul of Italy, and into a family you’ll never forget.
Mother ’s Day Gif t Ideas Autumn Reading Guide
Kitchen Gardens of Australia Kate Herd Hardback RRP $49.95 The subtitle of this beautiful book says it all. You need look no further for inspiration and motivation for a new vegetable garden, with an emphasis on sustainability. With the help of detailed garden plans and the stunning photographs of Simon Griffiths, you can see what can be accomplished in your own backyard.
My Grandma’s Kitchen Louise Fulton-Keats Hardback RRP $ 29.95 Fussy and reluctant eaters and budding cooks between the ages of 2 and 9 will enjoy this beautifully illustrated book. It encourages them and their parents and grandparents to enjoy the preparation of meals that are fresh, simple and yummy. This book combines a fun, rhyming story with 30 recipes from Australia’s best loved foodie, Margaret Fulton. A delight for all ages.
The Best Australian Essays: A Ten-Year Collection and The Best Australian Stories: A TenYear Collection Paperbacks RRP $ 34.95 each Each year, The Best Australian Stories and The Best Australian Essays anthologies showcase the country’s most exciting short fiction and essay writing. These two collections bring together the best stories and essays of the last ten years. Stories’ contributors include: Tim Winton, Murray Bail, Nam Le, Amanda Lohrey, Robert Drewe, Cate Kennedy, Delia Falconer, Eva Hornung and many more. Essays’ contributors include: David Malouf, John Birmingham, Helen Garner, Inga Clendinnen, David Marr, Clive James, J.M. Coetzee, Noel Pearson and others.
Great Gardens of Italy Monty Don Hardback RRP $49.95 This outstanding book not only explores the landscaping of great gardens in Italy, but also the area, local food, politics and climate of each region. A ‘must have’ for any gardener or armchair traveller. Stunning photography by Derry Moore leads the reader through a magnificent tour of more than thirty famous gardens.
Mother’s Day Gift Ideas
Love in the Years of Lunacy Mandy Sayer Paperback RRP $ 32.99 It’s Sydney, 1942, and jazz saxophonist Pearl falls in love with James, a black American GI and fellow musician. Racism and the White Australia Policy are rife and their love is doomed. When James is shipped out to fight in New Guinea, Pearl hatches a plan to follow him. Mandy Sayers paints a startling and vivid picture of war-time Sydney and the horrors of New Guinea interwoven with a compelling passion and a jazz soundtrack full of triplets, paradiddles and shuffles.
The Summer Without Men is a gloriously vivacious tragi-comedy about women and girls, love and marriage, and the age-old war between the sexes. After 30 years of marriage Boris leaves Mia so he can indulge his infatuation with a young Frenchwoman. Mia flees to her home town in Minnesota to recover. It is the wonderful cast of support characters, funny, wise and foolish, that give the novel its heart. There is no doubt that Siri Hustvedt is an extremely gifted writer.
The Secret Fate of Mary Watson Judy Johnson Paperback RRP $ 32.99 A gripping novel filled with Australian history. Based on a real historical case from the 1870s, Judy Johnson brings us the tale of Mary Watson as she imagines it could have been. There are spies, brothels, a vicious husband and a desolate island – making this a riveting story full of the spirit of lawless North Queensland.
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Paula McLain beautifully captures the doomed relationship between Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson, in early 20th century Paris. In a story line that closely follows the events and characters of one of Hemingway’s most-loved books, A Movable Feast, and a language as spare, rich and evocative as Hemingway’s own, The Paris Wife is an engrossing and heart-wrenching love story in the tradition of one of the greatest 20th century writers.
The Summer Without Men Siri Hustvedt Paperback RRP $ 25.00
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The Paris Wife Paula McLain Paperback RRP $ 29.99
Flock Lyn Hughes Paperback RRP $32.99 In 1950 a chance encounter between Francis Sprigge and Lilian Powys leads them to fall in love, marry and move to the Blue Mountains to pursue a creative life. But as Francis immerses himself in his newfound passion for designing exquisite wallpaper, Lilian struggles to find creative output. It seems that, despite her loving husband and their daughter Addie, happiness is beyond her reach. Thirty years later, Addie leads a group of international experts in the restoration of a 19th century house in the Blue Mountains. As they peel back the layers of wallpaper, they find the house and their own pasts resurfacing in unexpected ways. Addie slowly learns more about Francis, Lilian and herself than she ever could have anticipated. Flock is an exquisite story of family secrets and the ephemeral nature of wallpaper – and love. Exclusive offer: Receive FREE gift wrapping paper with every copy. *While stocks last.
MAY 11
Sing You Home Jodi Picoult Paperback RRP $ 32.99 What constitutes a ‘traditional family’ in today’s day and age? This question including gay rights, reproductive science, Christian principles and other issues are all explored from both sides in this controversial novel. This is sure to be yet another hit with Jodi’s fans and bookclubs will be unable to resist. Exclusive offer: Purchase a copy of Sing You Home and receive a FREE Sing You Home CD. *While stocks last.
Too Close to Home Georgia Blain Paperback RRP $ 32.95 Freya writes uncomfortable domestic dramas. Her friends work in the arts, talk politics and are having children with friends, while praising their diversity. When Shane, an Aboriginal man who was once a friend of Freya’s partner Matt, moves up the road, he not only brings with him a different approach to life, he also has news of a boy who might be Matt’s son. Despite wanting to embrace all that Shane represents and the possibility of another child in their life, Freya and Matt stumble.
The Moment Douglas Kennedy Paperback RRP $ 32.95 From the bestselling author of Pursuit of Happiness comes a love story set in Cold War Berlin. Thomas Nesbitt is forced to grapple with his past when he receives a package from a woman with whom he had an intense love affair twentysix years ago in Berlin _ at a time when the city was cleaved in two, and personal and political allegiances were haunted by the deep shadows of the Cold War. The Moment is a love story as morally complex as it is tragic and deeply reflective.
After the tragic death of Rachel, her closest friends Sarah, Kate and Jo each receive a letter from her requesting a favour and challenging their lives as they know them. This is a rich story of love, friendship and the power of hope to enrich our lives again after loss.
The Precipice Virginia Duigan Paperback RRP $ 32.95
Left Neglected Lisa Genova Paperback RRP $ 32.99 A wonderful new book from the author of Still Alice. One morning Sarah Nickerson, a woman in her mid-thirties, races to work in her car after dropping her kids off at school and daycare. She takes her eye off the road for a second too long, and in that blink of an eye, her life changes... Suddenly the left side of her world has gone... As she wills to recover, Sarah must learn that happiness is greater than all the success in the world if she only slows down enough to notice. Special offer: Win a $500 Red Balloon voucher. For details go to the competition page at www.indies.com.au.
Australian author
The Proper Care and Maintenance OF Friendship Lisa Verge Higgins Paperback RRP $ 27.99
After losing her savings in the financial crash, Thea Farmer, a reclusive, retired school principal is forced to sell her dream home and live in the dilapidated cottage opposite. Initially hostile towards Frank and Ellice, the young couple who buy her home, Thea develops a friendship with Frank, and then an unexpected bond with Frank’s half-Vietnamese niece Kim. Her growing friendship with Kim propels Thea into a psychological minefield, and she becomes convinced that all is not well in the house. Unsettling suspicions begin to dominate her life and build towards a catastrophic climax. A compulsive read by the author of The Biographer.
Titles marked with this symbol are available in Bolinda audio format
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FICTION Bright and Distant Shores Dominic Smith Paperback RRP $ 29.99
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The Tiger’s Wife Téa Obreht Paperback RRP $29.99 May release, advance orders welcome The Tiger’s Wife is a well of stories into which you fall from the very first page. It is set in an unnamed Balkan country still recovering from the after-effects of war. Natalia is a young doctor who has just learnt of her grandfather’s untimely and unexpected death. Whilst trying to reconcile the fact that he is gone she recalls the stories he used to tell her. Weaving a brilliant latticework of family legend, loss, and love, Téa Obreht, the youngest of The New Yorker’s twenty best American fiction writers under forty, has spun a timeless novel that will establish her as one of the most vibrant, original authors of her generation. The Last Werewolf Glen Duncan Paperback RRP $ 32.95 A veil of melancholy has fallen over Jacob Marlowe. He’s the last of his kind. Hunted by his enemies and haunted by his past, he is worn out by centuries of decadence and debauchery. He decides to submit to the authorities at the next full moon. However, as Jacob counts down to suicide, a violent murder and an extraordinary meeting plunge him straight back into the desperate pursuit of life. ‘A magnificent novel. A brutal, indignant, lunatic howl. A sexy, blood-spattered page-turner, beautifully crafted and full of genuine suspense…’ Nick Cave. To read a Q&A with Glen Duncan go to www.indies.com.au
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A brilliant work of historical fiction, Bright and Distant Shores is set in late 19th century Chicago and the islands of the South Pacific. Owen Graves, a man determined to establish a name and fortune for himself, travels across the Pacific to collect artefacts and bring back ‘natives’ for an ambitious exhibition to be opened on the roof of Chicago’s tallest building. This is an epic, beautifully crafted story with richly drawn characters.
When God was a Rabbit Sarah Winman Paperback RRP $ 29.99 With such an unlikely title, this book will take you totally by surprise. Quirky, funny, sad and a joy to read, this will be a favourite for reading groups. Eleanor Maud, a young girl, has an eccentric life with her brother, parents, her rabbit “God” and her troubled friend, Jenny Penny. This is a moving story of family, friendship, grief and love, written in the most captivating and powerful style.
The Pale King David Foster Wallace Hardback RRP $ 39.95 The agents at the tax office in Peoria, Illinois, appear ordinary enough to trainee David Foster Wallace. But as he immerses himself in a routine so tedious and repetitive that new employees receive boredomsurvival training, he learns of the extraordinary variety of personalities drawn to this strange calling. The Pale King is David Foster Wallace’s final and most ambitious undertaking. Wallace grapples directly with the ultimate questions – the meaning of life, and the value of work and family – through characters imagined with the interior force and generosity that were Wallace’s unique gifts.
Fiction Autumn Reading Guide
The Forgotten Waltz Anne Enright Paperback RRP $ 32.95 May release, advance orders welcome In The Forgotten Waltz, the Booker-prize winning author of The Gathering turns her attention to love, as she follows an unforgettable heroine Gina Moynihan on a journey of the heart. Gina recalls the trail of lust and happenstance that brought her to fall for ‘the love of her life’, Seán Vallely. As the city outside comes to a halt in a snowstorm, Gina remembers the days of their affair in one hotel room or another, as she awaits the arrival of Seán’s fragile, twelve-year-old daughter, Evie.
The Butterfly Cabinet Bernie McGill Paperback RRP $ 29.99 May release, advance orders welcome A superb work of fiction, inspired by real events which occurred at Gromore House in Ireland in 1892. An unforgettable story of Harriet and Maddie – whose lives are linked by a secret surrounding the death of Harriet’s daughter, Charlotte. A remarkable literary debut.
The Final Testament of the Holy Bible James Frey Paperback RRP $ 32.99 What would you do if you discovered the Messiah were alive living in New York today? This is the story – written in the manner of the Gospels and told by those around him – of a man who may be the Messiah or may be the second coming of Christ. In a career filled with controversy and bestseller lists, this promises to be Frey’s most controversial and most commercial work! Exclusive offer: WIN a hardback slipcased copy, valued at over $100. For details go to the competition page at www.indies.com.au.
Q&A with Geraldine Brooks Our Pick ks we se
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Caleb’s Crossing Geraldine Brooks Paperback RRP $32.99 Geraldine Brooks’ strong and vibrant characters transport us to 1660 Martha’s Vineyard, where Bethia, the daughter of a Calvinist minister, befriends a young Native American man named Caleb. Bethia craves the learning denied to women in her time, while Caleb laps up education as a way of understanding the changes facing his tribe. The tale of their unlikely friendship across two very different cultures at a time of great flux makes compelling and evocative reading. Brooks handles the intricacies of contrasting ideologies with great sensitivity and insight, and in the process highlights the sacrifices made for family and a disappearing way of life. MAY 11
Desert Fish Cherise Saywell Paperback RRP $ 32.95
Warm, poignant and told with intricacy, Watercolours is an intriguing exploration of the collective perception. Ferreira’s debut tells the tale of a budding artist, capturing his surrounding community with child-like honesty. The plot is unexpected, with delicious twists and turns, made all the more evocative in its portrayal of communal history, landscape and relationships and how they render individuals in their search for self worth. MAY 11
Those Who Come After Elisabeth Holdsworth Hardback RRP $ 29.99 As she contemplates drought and a failing marriage, Juliana looks back on a life that began in the Netherlands during the war and culminated in a normadic life as a diplomat. Those Who Come After recounts postwar years and stories and introduces a mesmerising new voice to Australian literature.
I Hate Martin Amis ET AL. Peter Barry Paperback RRP $ 29.95 It is 1995. Milan Zorec, an aspiring yet rejected novelist, travels from England to Bosnia to join the Serbian forces as a sniper in Sarajevo. He’s determined to find a story that no publisher will be able to damn with the words, ‘I feel I’ve seen this before.’ In doing so Milan journeys from innocence into the slow burning grip of darkness. I Hate Martin Amis et al. is a chilling, blackly humorous novel.
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Past the Shallows Favel Parrett Paperback RRP $ 26.99 Set in Tasmania in the 1980s, this is the story of three brothers: Joe, Miles and Harry. Their mother was killed in a car accident when they were young, and their belligerent father takes his hard life out on his kids. The three brothers all try to help each other cope, but when the oldest brother Joe leaves town everything becomes untethered. Parrett deftly captures the harshness and beauty of life at the edge of Australia. A remarkable debut and a powerful new voice in Australian writing.
Australian Debut Authors
Watercolours Adrienne Ferreira Paperback RRP $ 29.99
What was new to me was diving into indigenous Estern woodland Indian material culture and beliefs. Luckily the Wampanoag here on the island are steeped in their culture – there has been a really inspiring effort here to reclaim language, music and traditional skills and integrate this culture into modern life. Q. You capture Bethia’s language and thought very well. How easily did you identify with Bethia? A. Not so easily, in some ways, because her world view is shaped so strongly by Puritan beliefs. So to put my head into that mindset required effort. I did relate strongly to her connection with, and curiosity to know the natural world and to explore the island and its indigenous culture. Q. Bethia is instrumental in helping Caleb’s crossing both spiritually and physically and is the narrator. Would it be true that Bethia’s journey is just as important as Caleb’s? A. I think so. She has to journey out of rigidity and intolerance, which is a journey we all have to undertaken to one degree or another...
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Gilly lives in small-town 1970s Australia. She has no job and life seems pointless – until the arrival of Pete. Gilly immediately falls in love and one steamy night her dream comes true. When Pete mysteriously disappears, Gilly discovers she is pregnant. She must find him, whatever the cost...
Q. Please tell us about how you discovered the facts of this amazing story and how you came to write it? A. When we came to live on the Vineyard in 2006 I was fascinated by the uninterrupted native American community on the island and how the history of colonial relations here had gone differently to the violence and bloodshed on the mainland. I was looking at a map of the island noting sites of significance to the Wampanoag and came across a notation saying that the first Native American grad of Harvard was from our town. I fantasized about running into him at the veggie market – thinking, maybe, that he’d graduated during the 1960s civil rights era. When I learned he’d actually graduated in 1665 my imagination went into overdrive. Q. You recreate the period in amazing detail and with amazing skill. What research helped you do that? A. I had some familarity with the period from my first novel, Year of Wonders, which also takes place in 1665, albeit in a long settled English village, not a remote colonial outpost. But I had the feel of the mentality – the medieval mind giving way to the modern mind, the persistence of superstitions, the dominance of religion and the conflict over religion and religious reforms.
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Autumn Reading Guide Fiction
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Crime & ThrillerS Satori Don Winslow Paperback RRP $ 32.99 Born to Russian parents, raised in Shanghai and steeped in Japanese culture, Nicholai Hel is coerced by the Americans to assassinate a Russian diplomat in Beijing. But it is not clear who is working for whom, and Nicholai soon becomes tangled in drug and arms deals. Satori is the book Winslow fans have all been waiting for, and the book non-fans need to read to become one!
Drawing Conclusions Donna Leon Paperback RRP $ 29.95 Despite a coroner’s ruling that an old widow was killed by nothing more sinister than a heart attack, Commissario Brunetti’s suspicions prompt him to investigate further. In doing so, he uncovers several possible motives for murder. This is an insightful and compelling offering from a master of crime fiction.
The Fifth Witness Michael Connelly Paperback RRP $ 32.99 Defense attorney Mickey Haller is back, and the most significant part of his business is not about keeping clients out of jail – but keeping a roof over their heads. Representing a woman facing foreclosure from a fraudulent bank, who is about to be indicted for the murder of the bank’s CEO, Mickey’s whole world is about to be turned upside down. Exclusive offer: Purchase a copy of The Fifth Witness and receive a FREE copy of Trust Me by Peter Leonard. *While stocks last.
A woman wakes in a room she does not recognise, next to a man she cannot remember. Yet he is her husband. As the day progresses she learns that an accident has deprived her of all memory – and that her husband may not be as innocent as he seems. Graceful writing and a story that is compulsive reading.
The Troubled Man Henning Mankell Paperback RRP $ 32.95
The Wreckage Michael Robotham Paperback RRP $ 32.99 Set in the turbulent aftermath of the GFC, The Wreckage roams from London to Baghdad. Ex-cop Vincent Ruiz is determined to find the perpetrator of a brutal crime and the whereabouts of missing billions, all in the face of powerful agents who will stop at nothing to bury secrets. Another gripping thriller by the master crime writer.
The Hypnotist Lars Kepler Paperback RRP $ 29.99 Hypnotist Erik Bark is enticed to assist detective Joona Linna to investigate the murder of a family in Stockholm. The involvement of Dr. Bark’s current patients and a connection to his own family combine to make this another first class Scandinavian mystery, which will definitely raise the hairs on the back of the neck!
Before I Go To Sleep S. J. Watson Paperback RRP $ 29.95
The wait is over. The Troubled Man is the bittersweet final volume of the Kurt Wallander Mysteries from the king of Scandinavian crime writing. The murder of Kurt’s son’s fiancee’s father reveals a dark secret Kurt is compelled to uncover. Special offer: WIN two 8-copy Mankell backlist packs. For details go to the competition page at www.indies.com.au.
Next of Kin Elsebeth Egholm Paperback RRP $ 29.99 Late one evening, journalist Dicte Svendsen receives a movie in the mail, sent anonymously and addressed to her personally. From the moment the images scroll across the screen her world is no longer the same... Next of Kin is the first English language translation of Elsebeth Egholm, a Danish bestselling crime author.
The Terror Of Living Urban Waite Paperback RRP $ 32.99 Phil Hunt and Bobby Drake are good men who live on opposite sides of the law. The two men’s paths cross in the mountains north of Seattle, when Drake notices a horse trailer parked in an odd location and ends up disrupting a shipment… A drug deal gone wrong leads to an inhuman killer, a heroic cop, and a three-way chase through back roads and cheap motels. Relentless and gorgeously written.
Highly Recommended
Paperback RRP $ 24.99
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Paperback RRP $ 26.95
Paperback RRP $ 22.99
Paperbacks RRP $ 24.95 each
Crime & Thrillers Autumn Reading Guide
Paperback RRP $ 29.95
Paperback RRP $ 22.99
GREAT NEW Fiction Natasha Solomons writes...
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The Land of Painted Caves Jean M Auel Hardback RRP $ 49.99 The Land of Painted Caves is the highly anticipated sixth and final book of the Earth’s Children series which concludes the story of Ayla, Jondalar and their little daughter, Jonayla. Ayla struggles to find a balance between her duties as a new mother and her training to become a Zelandoni – a spiritual leader and healer. Once again, Jean Auel combines her brilliant narrative skills with a remarkable re-creation of the way life was lived thousands of years ago, rendering the habitat and daily lives of Ice Age Europeans as real to the reader as life today. Exclusive offer: WIN a Special Leather Bound Limited Edition signed copy, valued at $250 . For details go the competition page at www.indies.com.au.
The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party and The Dog Who Came In From the Cold Alexander McCall Smith Hardback/Paperback RRP $ 34.99/22.99 A double dose of delightful fiction for fans of Alexander McCall Smith. In the 12th instalment of the ever popular The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, the day of Mma Makutsi’s long-awaited wedding is finally approaching. The Dog Who Came in from the Cold is the second novel in McCall’s new London-based Corduroy Mansions series bearing all the humour and warmth of his other work. Look out for Book 3 in the Corduroy Mansions series – A Conspiracy of Friends – out in May.
The Weird Sisters Eleanor Brown Paperback RRP $ 27.99 The ‘unlucky in work/life/love’ Andreas sisters return home to care for their ailing mother. Living in the home of their eccentric upbringing, with their mother and Shakespearean Professor father, the girls struggle to adapt to their family and to each other. A quirky, funny tale.
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pieces, while giving the music a more modern twist. I sent him a detailed description of how the concerto sounded, as well as how Elise felt as she listened to it. He sent through a musical sketch, performed on a synthesised viola. While I liked the melody and the mood, I wanted it to be even more romantic. I wanted the tune to be so haunting and melancholy that it would remain with the listener for time to come. We agreed that it had be composed in the key of D minor to give it a really sweet and sad sound, and in waltz time to evoke the sound of a Vienna ballroom from long ago. A few weeks later a file arrived in my inbox called The Novel in the Viola Concerto. I pressed play and when the music finished, I realised that I was crying. In L.A. last October I sat in the studio while Jeff recorded the piece with live musicians. I still can’t believe that one of my favourite pieces of music was written for me and is in my novel. As the reader turns the last few pages, she discovers that the book is not just The Novel in the Viola but also has a viola concerto inside the novel. To listen to the special concerto written for The Novel in the Viola go to www.indies.com.au.
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Natasha Solomons writes on how The Novel in the Viola got its concerto. Not many novels contain a symphony but over Christmas and several glasses of wine, I told my friend Jeff Rona, a composer, about my new book The Novel in the Viola. I explained that, in the story, a writer conceals his last manuscript inside a viola and asks his daughter to take it with her when she flees Vienna. At the end of the book a concerto is written for this unique-sounding viola. Jeff was feeling magnanimous and at peace with the world (having just proposed to his girlfriend in our sitting-room, a few hours before) and declared ‘well, of course I must write you the concerto’. Jeff usually composes film scores rather than novel ones, and this marked the beginning of an intriguing journey for both of us. It started with my sending him an early draft of the book. He was captivated by the romance, and intrigued that the novel already had a musical soundtrack: Elise’s mother Anna is an opera singer and a beauty with a voice like cherries and chocolate. Elise herself falls in love to Strauss (during Tales of the Vienna Woods to be precise) and, as a true Viennese girl, is unable to resist dancing when she hears it, despite the outrage this causes. Jeff wanted to reference some of these late Romantic musical
The Novel in the Viola Natasha Solomons Hardback RRP $29.99 From the bestselling author of Mr Rosenblum’s List, The Novel in the Viola is a sweeping story of love and loss set during WWII. Elise Landau has grown up in the comfortable life of her bourgeois Jewish family in Vienna. Her father is a well-known author and her mother an opera singer. But when their lives are threatened by the Nazis, Elise is forced to apply for a parlour-maid position at Tyneford, a country house on the Dorset coast of England. Unaccustomed to her new position in life, Elise struggles to adapt, but the world is changing and Elise must change with it.
The Registrar’s Manual for detecting forced marriages Sophie Hardach Paperback RRP $ 29.99 Swimming for his life towards traffickers on the Italian shore, Selim enters a world where Kurdish refugees disguise themselves as tomatoes, dates of birth are a matter of opinion, and a residency permit is a ticket to paradise. Selim realises there is only one way to avoid deportation, if he dares try... Fifteen years later, in a town hall in Paris, a Registrar receives an unsettling book in the post and embarks on an investigation that brings her uncomfortably close to an old acquaintance: Selim. A brilliant literary debut.
A Discovery of Witches Deborah Harkness Paperback RRP $ 29.99 After discovering an ancient manuscript Diana meets Matthew, a vampire. As they try to discover the secrets of the manuscript they journey into a new world of witches, demons and vampires. A gripping, magical read! Readers of Anne Rice, Stephenie Meyer – don’t miss this!
Autumn Reading Guide Great New Fiction
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Picture books and young readers Alison Jay Nursery Collection Alison Jay Boardbooks RRP $ 34.95 Three of Alison Jay’s mostloved books for the very young in a gorgeous free tote bag. A gentle introduction to words, numbers and classic fairy tales all presented in beautiful, colourful illustrations to keep young children enthralled. 2+
My First Animal Cloth Book Alison Jay Cloth book RRP $14.95 This soft pillowy cloth book is perfect for babies and toddlers. Do you know which animals go moo, baa, squeak or ROAR? Have fun with creature names and noises in this cuddly cloth book from much-loved children’s author, Alison Jay. 2+
The Dream of the Thylacine Margret Wild Hardback RRP $ 29.99 This is a lament for Australia’s lost species, the Thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger. The poetic text is beautifully balanced by arresting images that will haunt you long after reading this book. Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks have once again created a classic - a must for picture book collectors! 8+
The Game of Mix & Match, THE Game of Mixup Art and THE Game of Patterns Herve Tullet Boardbooks RRP $ 9.95 each A set of three lovely board books. The Game of Mix and Match board book is a hands-on game of mix and match with more than 50 different pictures. Inside The Game of Mix-up Art are beautiful paintings, ready for you to mix up. Turn the flaps to create a whole new work of art – with squiggles, spots, squares and shapes of all kinds! Study the lines, shapes and colours of the patterns in The Game of Patterns board book. They may look the same... but they’re not! 4+
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Rhinos Don’t Eat Pancakes Anna Kemp Hardback RRP $ 24.99 Daisy’s mum and dad are always too busy to listen to a word that she says. One day she tells them that a big purple rhino has just walked into the house and taken a chomp of her pancake, and guess what? That’s right – nobody listens! But there’s a surprise in store for Mum and Dad. 3+ Exclusive offer: Purchase a copy of Rhinos Don’t Eat Pancakes and you can win a pancake maker and a family zoo pass. For details go to the competition page at www.indies.com.au.
The Aunties Three Nick Bland Hardback RRP $ 24.99 Pack up your games, dismantle your toys, practise your manners and muffle your noise. Straighten your face, where your smile used to be, for coming this way are The Aunties Three! Watch the mayhem unfold as three bold aunts enter the house of three unruly children who try their very best to welcome the guests for tea. A wonderfully whimsical romp by bestselling picture book creator Nick Bland. 4+ Exclusive offer: Purchase a copy of The Aunties Three and receive a FREE copy of Donald Loves Drumming *While stocks last.
Aesop’s Fables Bruce Whatley Hardback RRP $ 35.00 With eye-catching illustrations by our own Bruce Whatley and Chris Beatrice, these timeless tales come to life in this engaging pop-up version of the classic. Favourite stories include The Tortoise and the Hare, The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg, The Lion and the Mouse and seven others. 5+
The Little Dragon Mem Fox and Roland Harvey Hardback RRP $ 24.95 From the fabulous team of Mem Fox and Roland Harvey comes a delightful rhyming picture book that follows the “Here is the church and here is the steeple” rhyme. This book follows a charming little dragon and his one small mistake - one that sets his whole world on fire! 3+ Special offer: WIN 1 of 6 Mem Fox backlist packs. For details go to the competition page at www.indies.com.au *While stocks last.
My Mum’s the Best Rosie Smith Hardback RRP $16.99 Beautifully illustrated with delightful animals, My Mum’s the Best captures the funloving bond between mother and child – from big, cosy bear hugs to bathing elephants. Whether big or small, feathered or furry, mums always know how to make us feel special! 4+
The Audrey of the Outback Collection Christine Harris and Ann James Hardback RRP $ 24.95 Audrey is Australia’s response to Pippi Longsticking. She is determined, mischievous, imaginative and inquisitive, and this collection will have every girl wishing she lived in the outback! This special gift edition comprises all three popular Audrey stories – Audrey of the Outback, Audrey Goes to Town and Audrey’s Big Secret – in one beautiful hardback cloth bound volume. 6+ EXCLUSIVE library bag offer with every book purchased! *While stocks last.
Simpson’s Donkey Peter Stanley Paperback RRP $14.99 Based on the most famous animal in Australian history, Simpson’s Donkey tells the story of his service during the Gallipoli campaign. He was one of several donkeys that Simpson used to carry wounded men down to Anzac Cove over a three week period. The donkey’s story is an adventurous journey on which he meets courage and cruelty, and experiences comradeship between human and donkey alike. 8+
Charlie Burr #1: Charlie Burr and the Three Stolen Dollars Sally Morgan, Ambelin, Blaze and Ezekiel Kwaymullina Paperback RRP $14.95 The first book in a fantastic new Australian kids’ series. Charlie has ‘borrowed’ three dollars from his mum to buy an icy pole, and Charlie’s dad has brought home a dingo pup. So Mum isn’t happy with either Dad or Charlie! To get back in her good books Charlie has to quickly find a way to recoup the three dollars and work out how to keep the pup. 7+
Pict ure Books and Young Readers Autumn Reading Guide
Children’s TOO SMALL TO FAIL Morris Gleitzman Paperback RRP $16.95 May release, advance orders welcome
The Golden Day Ursula Dubosarsky Paperback RRP $19.99 In The Golden Day, author Ursula Dubosarsky draws experiences from her own childhood and intertwines them with themes of friendship, tragedy, mystery and innocence – to create a beautiful, chilling novel that is sure to haunt you for days to come. 12+
Award-winning author Morris Gleitzman uses his trademark skill and charm to tackle some big issues in his latest book for children. The local impact of the global financial crisis is seen here through the eyes of tenyear-old Oliver. 10+ MAY 11
What Body Part is That? Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton Paperback RRP $14.99 Never again will you be stuck for an answer when somebody comes up to you, points to a part of your body and demands to know: What Body Part is That? Packed with incredible information on the brain, the bum, the spleen and so much more – this is one anatomical journey you don’t want to miss. 7+ Special offer: To WIN 3 Andy Griffiths prize packs enter the colour-in competition at www.indies.com.au
The Friendship Matchmaker Randa Adbel-Fattah Paperback RRP $15.99 Lara Zany is Potts Court Primary School’s official Friendship Matchmaker. She is certain her Friendship Rules work. She can take the Loneliest Loser (LL) and help them make a best friend ... until Emily Wong shows up and breaks all the Rules. An original and fresh take on the agony of making friends and avoiding bullies from award-winning author Randa Abdel-Fattah. 10+
Extinction #1 Lizzie Wilcock Paperback RRP $15.99 The world is going to end on the 21st of September. We know this because we’ve seen it. We were there. Mac and Annie Sword are the only survivors when humanity is wiped out – or so they think. A mysterious website reveals they are not alone and that they have the ability to undo the mass extinction ... but there is someone who will do anything to stop them. A thrilling new series from acclaimed author Lizzie Wilcock. 10+
Specky Magee & the Best of Oz Felice Arena and Garry Lyon Paperback RRP $16.95 Specky has been selected to represent Australia in International Rules, taking on the Irish in a two-test competition. Can the boys learn to play with a new set of rules and perfect their skills with the round ball before the Irish team wipes the field with them? And is someone trying to sabotage the Aussie team’s chances of winning? 10+ JULY 11
Q&A with Garth Nix
Age guides are approximate. Ask for more personalised advice in-store.
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who instantly added in some more ideas, and then we added in a lot more, and from there went on to actually develop those basic ideas into a story. Q. Have you and Sean mapped out the complete Troubletwisters series, or are some things left to chance? A. We’ve outlined five books in some detail, but as always, when you come to write them, things change, new and better ideas come along, characters turn out differently than they were originally envisaged and so on. That’s part of the fun of writing. Q. Your fantasy books for children have now been translated into 38 languages and inspired children the world over. What books inspired you when you were young? A. I was inspired by a great many books, too many to list. Some of the authors who both inspired me and influenced me would include Alan Garner, Robert Heinlein, Rosemary Sutcliff, P.G. Wodehouse, J.R.R. Tolkien, John Le Carre, Andre Norton, Diana Wynne Jones, Robert Graves, John Masefield, Ursula Le Guin, Susan Cooper... that’s a minor sampling of people who immediately come to mind. Q. Is Garth Nix your real name? A. Yes! But I understand why people ask me this question all the time, because it does sound like the perfect pseudonym for a writer of fantasy.
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Q. You have co-written your new series, Troubletwisters, with your friend Sean Williams. Is it hard to write a book with someone else when you are used to working on your own? How does co-writing a book work? A. It’s actually been a lot of fun working on the book with Sean. While there are many different ways to co-write books, we have developed a process which basically starts with the two of us working out the story in some detail, accompanied by a white board and numerous cups of tea (me), soy hot chocolate (Sean) and possibly Guinness (both of us). After that we work up a chapter outline in even more detail, sending it back and forth until we’re both happy with it. Then, I write the first chapter and send it to Sean, who very speedily writes the first draft of the rest of the book. That comes back to me, and I revise and expand upon it, adding in detail and so on. Then I send that back to Sean, who does another revision and then we kick it backwards and forwards for more revisions until it’s done. At the end, it is very difficult for either of us to identify even a single sentence that we individually wrote, which is good. It makes it a real co-operative work. Q. Where did the idea for Troubletwisters come from? A. I had a very basic idea that I described to Sean,
Trouble twisters: Book 1 Garth Nix and Sean Williams Paperback RRP $15.99 May release, advance orders welcome In the first book in the new series, twins Jaide and Jack Shield move to a small coastal town to live with their eccentric grandmother. Soon they are drawn into an age-old struggle against an ancient entity called The Evil, and in the process discover their own magical gifts and heritage. This story has magical antiques, difficult cats, hordes of rats and a lighthouse! 9+
Autumn Reading Guide Children’s Books
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Older Readers & Teens Ballad Maggie Stiefvater Paperback RRP $19.99 May release, advance orders welcome
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Paperback RRP $18.95 May release, advance orders welcome On Damon Styles’ eighteenth birthday he is expelled from school. He has destroyed school property, threatened a teacher and now the Principal wants him off the campus. But it’s that morning when Damon leaves school that everything changes... A confronting and powerful story from CBCA Award-winning author of The Story of Tom Brennan, J.C. Burke. 14+
Saving June Hannah Harrington Paperback RRP $19.99 May release, advance orders welcome Harper Scott’s perfect sister June commits suicide. To prevent her divorcing parents from splitting June’s ashes between them, Harper decides to take her ashes on a road-trip to June’s dream destination – California. Enter rock obsessed Jake, who holds a secret connection with June that threatens to turn Harper’s world upside-down! 13+
Chaos Walking, A TRILOGY Patrick Ness Slipcase RRP $ 54.95 An exclusive slipcase of Patrick Ness’s multi-awardwinning Chaos Walking trilogy, available for the first time in this stunning boxed set. This ground-breaking trilogy is an electrifying and heart-stopping story of survival, tyranny and war. Book One, The Knife of Never Letting Go won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the BookTrust Teenage Prize, as well as being shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. The Ask and the Answer won the 2009 Costa Children’s Book Award. 12+
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In the future, there are those who live inside the walled Enclave and those, like sixteen-year-old Gaia Stone, who live outside it. Gaia’s role is to deliver babies in the outside world, and then hand them over to the privileged society of the Enclave. A stunning adventure brought to life by a memorable heroine, this dystopian debut will have you racing to the dramatic finish. 14+
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Pig Boy
When his best friend, Dee, fell in love with a faerie, James realised she’d never feel the same way about him. The only way he could survive the hurt was to throw himself into music. The gripping sequel to Lament, from the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Shiver. 14+
Birthmarked Caragh M O’Brien Paperback RRP $16.99 May release, advance orders welcome
Alex Rider Book 9: Scorpia Rising Anthony Horowitz Paperback RRP $18.95 A dark and shocking conclusion to the bestselling Alex Rider missions. This gripping final mission brings together Alex Rider’s old enemies, to frame the teenage superspy in an unstoppable plot of revenge. Pursued from Europe to North Africa and Cairo’s city of the dead – this is the twistiest and most deadly plot of any Alex Rider mission yet. 10+
Yellowcake Margo Lanagan Paperback RRP $19.99 Yellowcake is an extraordinary collection of short stories from an extraordinary imagination. In one of the stories a gifted child channels the smells, the textures and the invested emotion of beloved objects so they literally surround his playmates. These beautifully written stories are grounded in the relationships of everyday life. 15+
The Wilful Eye Isobelle Carmody Ed. Paperback RRP $ 27.99 The Wilful Eye boasts a collection of short stories that are always witty and never predictable. Teens and adults will find delight in each twist and turn of the wonderfully creative and juicy tales. The first story, Isobell Carmody’s Moth’s Tale, truly sets the pace for a breathtaking read. 16+
Older Readers & Teens Autumn Reading Guide
The Phoenix Files, Book 4: Underground Chris Morphew Paperback RRP $16.95 May release, advance orders welcome In the fourth instalment in this exciting 6-book series the end is coming – and Luke is running out of hiding places. He and his friends are trapped, paralysed and lost to the outside world. The only escape is at the hands of Calvin and his men. But the worst is yet to come… and there are 49 days until the end of the world. 12+
gone, book 4: plague Michael Grant Paperbacks RRP $19.95 It’s been eight months since all the adults disappeared. Gone. Now the stakes are rising, and the dystopian horror keeps building. Despite the simmering unrest left behind by so many battles, there is a momentary calm in Perdido Beach. Plague is the fourth instalment in the bestselling Gone series. 13+
The Mortal Instruments Book 4: City of Fallen Angels Cassandra Clare Paperback RRP $ 27.95 Love, blood betrayal and revenge – the stakes are higher than ever in the bestselling Mortal Instruments sequence. Make sure you read the other books in the sequence: City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass. Cassandra Clare is touring Australia and New Zealand in May. 12+
Age guides are approximate. Ask for more personalised advice in-store.
Biographies
Not Dark Yet David Walker Paperback RRP $ 32.95 David Walker is a distinguished Australian social historian, whose eyesight deteriorated suddenly at the end of 2004 as a result of macular degeneration. His blindness caused him to reconsider his own relation to the past, and that of his family. This is a new way of writing Australian history – one which is personal, intimate, funny and scholarly at the same time.
An Unquenchable Thirst Mary Johnson Paperback RRP $ 35.00 May release, advance orders welcome The true story of Mary Johnson – a nun at 19, one of Mother Teresa’s inner circle, and finally an atheist twenty years later. This book is a fascinating depiction of the daily struggle to live a life of religious service. It speaks to atheists and Christians alike, as well as anyone who has ever grappled with the mysteries and wonders of faith.
When Horse Became Saw Anthony Macris Paperback RRP $ 32.95 This honest and moving account of a father coping with his two-year-old son’s severe autistic regression is challenging to read, yet impossible to put down. Anthony Macris negotiates his way through difficult, life-changing decisions and complicated bureaucracy in his efforts to secure a future for his son. Macris’ unflinching voice explores the stark medical realities of autism, while living the everyday side of this condition alongside his son.
From any vantage point – intellectual, literary, political – Manning Clark’s impact on Australia’s culture is profound. Clark was the first to give Australia a history of tragedy, drama, emotion and depth of feeling. More than any other historian in the twentieth century, Manning Clark inspired the love and loathing of political parties, professional colleagues and the general public. If you read just one biography of Manning Clark, this should be it!
The Hare With Amber Eyes Edmund de Waal Paperback RRP $ 24.95 Edmund de Waal was entranced by a collection of 264 wood and ivory carvings he first encountered in the Tokyo apartment of his great uncle Iggie. And later, when he inherited the ‘netsuke’, they unlocked a story far larger than he could ever have imagined... In this stunningly original memoir, Edmund de Waal tells the story of a unique collection which finally found its way back home to Japan.
Reading My Father Alexandra Styron Hardback RRP $ 35.00 May release, advance orders welcome The author’s father, William Styron, was the Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Sophie’s Choice. He helped define the concept of The Big Male Writer that gave twentieth-century American fiction a muscular, glamorous aura. From Styron’s precocious literary debut to the triumphs of his best-known books, Reading My Father portrays the epic sweep of an American artist’s life. It is also a tale of filial love, beautifully written, with humour, compassion, and grace.
One Hundred Names for Love Diane Ackerman Hardback RRP $ 34.95 May release, advance orders welcome One day Diane Ackerman’s husband, Paul West, an exceptionally gifted wordsmith and intellectual, suffered a terrible stroke. When he regained awareness he was afflicted with aphasia – loss of language – and could utter only a single syllable: ‘mem’. This triumphant book, by the author of The Zookeeper’s Wife, details Diane and Paul’s journey to find language again and is both ground-breaking for sufferers of stroke and aphasia, as well as a powerful love story.
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This book captures the lives of extraordinary Australian women, who have been pioneers and inspiring role models of their time. Included are chapters on Caroline Chisholm who changed the history of female migration to Australia; pioneer Eliza Hawkins who blazed a trail across the Blue Mountains; Enid Lyons, a widowed mother of twelve, who was made Australia’s first Cabinet Minister. Her struggles to hold office are compared with the career of Julia Gillard, our first female Prime Minister, and Quentin Bryce, mother of five and our first female Governor-General.
An Eye for Eternity Mark McKenna Hardback RRP $ 54.99 May release, advance orders welcome
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TRAILBLAZERS Suzanna De Vries Paperback RRP $ 39.95
Good Living Street Tim Bonyhady Paperback RRP $35.00 May release, advance orders welcome Good Living Street tells the story of Tim Bonyhady’s family who fled Vienna in 1938 to escape the Nazis. It follows the lives of three generations of women, from early 1900 when Vienna was Europe’s leading cultural centre until the late 1930s. Arriving in Sydney, the family brought with them the best private collection of art and design to escape the Nazis. This is an extraordinary family story interwoven with social, political and art history. Bird Cloud Annie Proulx Paperback RRP $ 27.99 Annie’s memoir tells her family history and the story of the houses she has lived in and her search for the “perfect” abode. With her purchase of 640 acres of wilderness in Wyoming she set about building a house that would be in tune with her life, her work and her character. While all did not go as smoothly as hoped, Annie has also given us the fascinating natural history of her environment, the archaeology, the flora and fauna and the indigenous inhabitants.
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan Robert Shelton Hardback RRP $ 39.95 Re-released to coincide with Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday and his April 2011 Australian tour, this is the most comprehensive biography ever written about Bob Dylan – and just the book his fans will love. It includes original parts of the manuscript not included in the 1986 publication, an updated discography, bibliography and new footnotes.
Autumn Reading Guide Biographies
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History Jerusalem Simon Sebag Montefiore Hardback RRP $ 50.00
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Batavia Peter FitzSimons Hardback RRP $49.95 This stunning story of shipwreck, mutiny, madness, courage and bloodshed begins nearly 400 years ago, at the very beginning of European contact with Australia. On a few specks of desolate rock the Dutch East India Company’s flag ship founders and sinks, beginning one of the most memorable tales in Australian history. Exclusive offer: Receive a gift box with purchase. *While stocks last
Extract from Batavia The Predikant is thrilled with the invitation to dine with the Kapitein-Generaal in his daughter Judick’s and van Huyssen’s quarters. At last, he tells his wife, Maria Schepens, the Good Lord has heard their prayers and things will improve on Batavia’s Graveyard. As their gaggle of offspring gathers round, he tells them all he is confident that if he can just have a strong conversation with Jeronimus, man to man, preacher to sinner, he will be able to convince him that the killings must stop. He will suggest to him – of course, with all due respect – that it is possible to protect the property of the Company and have them all survive without resorting to such violence. Maria, a generally sullen if notably dutiful woman, agrees that it is good news, as she stirs the pot of stewing seal meat over the fire. The children who are old enough to follow the conversation nod enthusiastically. If Pappie can just talk to the Kapitein-Generaal, then surely he will understand that he must follow the ways of the Lord. Once apprised of the invitation, Judick is similarly pleased and comes to collect her father from their family’s tent just before sunset, as has been agreed. Embracing her mother and her brothers and sisters, she and her father then traipse off to the tent she now shares with van Huyssen, as happy as either of them have been since the shipwreck. So happy in fact that, as they depart, they neglect to hear the curious sound of digging, disembodied from any visible diggers. In fact, within the bounds of a large and mysterious tent that has recently been erected just 50 yards away – around which many Mutineers appear to be insolently lolling, meaning that no unauthorised person goes remotely near it – two of Jeronimus’s men are digging a largish pit...
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The story of Jerusalem is nothing less than the history of the world – from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the British Empire and the creation of Israel. Drawing on new archives, latest historical research and his own family papers, prize-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore creates a compelling chronicle of the Holy City and 3000 years of faith, slaughter and fanaticism in the city at the centre of the world.
Crack Hardy Stephen Dando-Collins Paperback RRP $ 34.95 The Australian experience of the First World War told through the lives of the Searle brothers. A poignant, deeply personal story revolving around several pivotal battles. We see their reactions in the wider context of each campaign in which they fought. A story of three individuals whose experiences were typical of many at that time.
The Book of Books Melvyn Bragg Paperback RRP $ 35.00 May release, advance orders welcome 2011 celebrates the 400th anniversary of The King James Bible, which has been the standard scriptural text and most-sold book in the English-speaking world for centuries. Melvyn Braggs reveals The Bible’s political, linguistic, and religious influences and its impact on culture and above all on the English language.
All Day Long the Noise of Battle Gerard Windsor Paperback RRP $ 29.99 In 1968, in a three-day battle, an Australian Infantry Company assaulted a Vietnamese bunker complex. It passed unacknowledged in Australia and the men who took part in it were insulted by command’s failure to recognise their courage. This book looks at men’s strengths and weaknesses, alliances and tensions, morale and reactions to combat. It is an essay on man’s memory of the battle and is Gerard Windsor’s first non-fiction work.
Wolfram Giles Milton Paperback RRP $ 35.00
The Churchills Mary Lovell Paperback RRP $ 35.00
Wolfram is a powerful story of life for the ordinary German citizens under the Nazi regime told through the experience of Wolfram Aichele, a young man conscripted into Hitler’s army, and his family. Wolfram was nine years old when Hitler came to power. He and his parents - free-thinking artists - were to have first-hand experience of living under one of the most brutal regimes in history.
From the First Duke of Marlborough onwards, the Churchills have been politicians, gamblers and profligates, heroes and womanisers. From the author of the bestselling The Mitford Girls, The Churchills is a richly layered portrait of an extraordinary set of men and women - grandly ambitious, impulsive, arrogant and brave. And towering above the Churchill clan is the figure of Winston - his failures and his triumphs shown in a new and revealing context.
In Bligh’s Hand: Surviving the Mutiny on the Bounty Jenny Gall Paperback RRP $ 34.95 After the mutiny on the Bounty on 28 April 1789, Captain William Bligh and 18 others were forced onto a 7-metre-long open boat and cast adrift. It was the beginning of a 47-day, 6700-kilometre journey back to safe land. In Bligh’s Hand gives an insight into the character of William Bligh, the man who saved his men’s lives through his iron will and stubborn adherence to a relentless regime of rationing and navigational calculations. Beautifully illustrated in full colour with a foreword by Peter Cochrane.
Histor y Autumn Reading Guide
Hell’s Only Half Full Kerry Clarke Hardback May release, advance orders welcome This is a biography of a remarkable Australian woman. Born in 1893, Lucy Little’s life spanned three centuries, two world wars and the Great Depression. She lived to just short of 107. Lucy was a pioneer woman in north east Victoria. She went on to have nine children, and worked every day of her life. Her granddaughter began recording Lucy’s history from photographs and memories when Lucy was 98 years old. Special price: $19.95 (RRP $24.95). *While stocks last.
NON-FICTION
Caught In THE CrossFire Matina Jewell Paperback RRP $ 29.99 May release, advance orders welcome Matina Jewell is the very epitome of a modern female Army Officer; a star graduate from Duntroon and one of few women to have ever qualified as a military diver. This is the story of her service as a peace-keeper in the Middle East – of terrifying drama and inspirational recovery.
The Corpse Walker Liao Yiwu Paperback RRP $ 34.95 May release, advance orders welcome This is a collection of 27 interviews that opens a window into the lives of ordinary, often outcast, Chinese men and women. Liao Yiwu reconstructs conversations he had with a range of remarkable people. The result is a powerful and dignified portrait of a people, a time and a place we might otherwise have never known. Exclusive offer: Purchase a copy of The Corpse Walker and receive a FREE copy of Serve the People. *While stocks last
May release, advance orders welcome When Lindsay Tanner resigned in 2010 as the ALP’s federal Minister for Finance and Member for Melbourne, he left with his reputation for integrity intact. In Sideshow, he lays bare the relentless decline of political reporting and political behaviour that occurred during his career. Part memoir, part analysis, and part critique, Sideshow is a unique book that exposes the rot which has set in at the heart of Australian public life.
Who Am I? AND If So, How Many? Richard Precht Paperback RRP $ 26.95 Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, history, and even pop culture, Richard David Precht deftly discusses the questions at the heart of human existence: What is truth? Does life have meaning? Why should I be good? Precht presents these questions in concise, witty, and engaging prose. The result is an exhilarating journey through the history of philosophy and a wonderfully accessible introduction to current research on the brain.
Civilization Niall Ferguson Hardback RRP $49.95 Civilization takes the readers on an extraordinary journey around the world – from the Grand Canal at Nanjing to the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul; from the proud towers of Prague to the secret churches of Wenzhou. It is the story of sailboats, missiles, land deeds, vaccines, blue jeans and Chinese Bibles; a story of how since the early 15th century the civilization of Western Europe has come to dominate the world, and how we may be living through the end of Western ascendancy.
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This book argues that our wealth and isolation have made us insular and introspective, a nation of people oblivious to the political and economic upheaval that is going on beyond our borders. Wesley points to the key economic and political issues that we need to be considering right now, as a western country geographically and economically tied to Asia, and urgently calls for a renewed public debate.
Sideshow: Dumbing Down Democracy Lindsay Tanner Paperback RRP $ 32.95
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THere Goes the Neigbourhood: Australia and the Rise of Asia Michael Wesley Paperback RRP $ 32.95
The Happy Life: Quarterly Essay 41 David Malouf Paperback RRP $19.95 In the first Quarterly Essay for 2011, David Malouf returns to one of the most fundamental questions and gives it a modern twist: what is it to live a happy life? In an age of environmental peril, and in the wake of the global financial crisis, such questions have returned with new force. In considering the good life, David Malouf returns to the classics, looks to Australian traditions and examines the idea of the global citizen. This is an essay to savour and reflect upon by one of Australia’s greatest novelists. Wilful Blindness Margaret Heffernan Paperback RRP $ 35.00 An engaging and anecdotal examination of how and why individuals and societies turn a blind eye to uncomfortable truths. Ranging through history, business, science, government and family, it explains the dangers of this phenomenon in the globalised, interconnected world in which we live. It also suggests ways in which institutions and individuals can address wilful blindness. In the tradition of Malcolm Gladwell, Margaret Heffernan’s thoughtprovoking book will open your eyes.
Inspired Living On Rare Birds Anita Albus Hardback RRP $ $44.95 This visually stunning, beautifully illustrated book includes the author’s own artwork as well as that of other well-known artists and will appeal to lovers of both art and nature. It combines natural, cultural and mythological history in a riveting narrative that tells the story of birds from all over the world. It includes an exquisite section on the kingfisher, which features the most iconic of Australian birds, the laughing Kookaburra.
Between thE Leaves: stories of australian women, writing and gardens Katie Holmes Paperback RRP $ 34.95 An intimate exploration into the lives of nine 20th century women – including Judith Wright, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Winifred Stephensen and Jean Galbraith – who wrote about their gardens in their letters and diaries. The book provides a moving insight into these women’s lives, and seeks to understand the ways women were involved in transforming the Australian landscape.
The Business of Nature and a brilliant touch Roslyn Russell; Christobel Mattingley Hardbacks RRP $49.95/$ 29.95 Two exquisitely-produced books by the National Library of Australia. The Business of Nature: John Gould and Australia recounts Gould’s 1838 travels around mainland Australia to observe its native fauna. 130 exquisite lithographs feature in this beautiful book. A Brilliant Touch: Adam Forster’s Wildflower Paintings presents a short biography accompanied by a portfolio section of more than 90 full colour stunning images of wildflowers. The perfect Mother’s Day gifts!
Autumn Reading Guide Non-Fiction
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FOOD & GARDENING Two Greedy Italians A. Carluccio and G. Contaldo Hardback RRP $ 39.95 Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo, the quintessential Italian cooks reveal the very soul of traditional and modern Italian cooking in this mouth-watering book. Written as a companion to the BBC series, Carluccio and Contaldo’s wisdom and passion for food will truly satisfy those intrigued by all things Italian.
The Urban Cook Mark Jenson Hardback RRP $49.99 Mark Jensen is the head chef at Sydney’s Red Lantern Restaurant. Mark is a busy family man who is passionate about sustainable, great tasting food. The Urban Cook contains many delicious reasons to start incorporating some simple practices into our busy lifestyles, to help us achieve the best results in the kitchen and for the planet.
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Turkey: A Food Lover’s Journey and WHispers from a Lebanese Kitchen Leanne Kitchen; Nouha Taouk Hardbacks RRP $ 69.99/RRP $ 59.99 Discover the diverse cuisines and culinary customs of Middle Eastern cuisine. In Turkey: A Food Lover’s Journey food and travel writer Leanne Kitchen unveils authentic and contemporary recipes and the very essence of Turkish hospitality – from spicy red lentil kofte and slowroasted lamb with pomegranate juice to rose cream meringues and Turkish coffee custard. In Whispers from a Lebanese Kitchen, Nouha Taouk tells the stories of her grandmother, family matriarch Citi Leila, and the unique bond between the women in her family, created through cooking together. Culinary secrets and childhood memories are shared over the kneading of bread, pickling of vegetables and hand-moulding of falafel.
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Guillaume: Food for Friends Guillaume Brahimi Hardback RRP $79.95 In his long-awaited debut cookbook, celebrated chef Guillaume Brahimi creates exceptional food for friends in some of Australia’s most beautiful houses. Join Guillaume as he opens the doors of seven private homes and his own internationally acclaimed restaurants, Guillaume at Bennelong at the Sydney Opera House and Bistro Guillaume in Melbourne. Proceeds of the book will support the late Professor Chris O’Brien’s Lifehouse at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney.
My Gardening Year Shirley Stackhouse Paperback RRP $45.00 Combining beauty with practicality, and written by one of Australia’s leading horticultural authorities, My Gardening Year will appeal to novices and old gardening hands alike. Full of solid and reliable advice to help the gardener get the most from their plants and gardens, this information-packed book has been updated for modern conditions, taking into account concerns about water, climate change and sustainability. Special offer: Receive a free pair of gardening gloves with every purchase. *While stocks last.
The AWW Cooking School For Kids and AWW THE cake stall Hardbacks RRP $ 39.95 each Two books by the trusted brand of the AWW: The AWW Cooking School for Kids is the ultimate guide for learning to cook for children. Every recipe has a photograph of the finished dish, step-by-step pictures and easy-to-follow instructions. Complete with a glossary of cooking terms, techniques and ingredients. AWW The Cake Stall showcases traditional cakes and preserves that are everyone’s favourite – cakes and biscuits from grandma’s kitchen, kid’s treats such as toffee apples, Christmas puddings and cakes, and lots of preserves - jams, pickles and chutneys. The perfect Mother’s Day gift.
Australia’s Best Winery Experiences Gary Takle Paperback RRP $ 39.95 A comprehensive approach to visiting wineries in Australia looking at the location, architecture, food and even the views – all just as important as the wine. This book provides all the important details for Australian wineries including opening times, contact details, vineyard sizes and web addresses, along with detailed illustrations, descriptions and maps on each.
Food & Gardening Autumn Reading Guide
Manu’s French Kitchen Manu Feildel Hardback RRP $49.95 This is a book for lovers of French food and for every home cook who has ever dreamed of creating the perfect niçoise, bavarois, beef bourguignon or tarte tatin. French-Australian chef and television star Manu Feildel introduces you to the absolute classics of the French kitchen and to the home-style fare of his childhood in Brittany. Clear, easy instructions and standout food photography mean you don’t have to be a trained cook, French or Julia Child to achieve delicious results every time.
HOW TO GROW MICROGREENS: Nature’s own superfood Fionna Hill Paperback RRP $ 29.95 Microgreens – the tiny seedlings of herbs and vegetables – are today’s hottest gourmet garnish, offering a multitude of colours, textures and distinct flavours, ranging from spicy, mild and subtle to hot or nutty. Microgreens are fantastic for those with limited garden space as they are great to grow in containers on a terrace or windowsill. Immediate and practical, most varieties are ready in a week or so, and you can grow them in winter.
Tuscany and Vegetables from an Italian Garden Hardbacks RRP $49.95 each A duo of two beautifully produced cookbooks by the creators of Silver Spoon. Tuscany features 50 recipes from the finest gastronomic region of Italy and birthplace of modern Italian cuisine. It contains specially-commissioned photography of landscapes and products, and all-new and easy-to-follow recipes. Vegetables from an Italian Garden is a season-by-season guide to cooking vegetables the Italian way. Special offer: WIN two Silver Spoon packs containing: Silver Spoon, Silver Spoon Kids, Pasta and Italian Summer each valued at $220. For details go to the competition page at www.indies.com.au
Mangia! Mangia! Teresa Oates and Angela Villella Hardback RRP $ 39.95 Beautifully photographed, Mangia! Mangia! is not only a wonderful cooking reference, it is also a heartwarming account of the sharing of wisdom, the creation of community and the preservation of rituals that keep us close to those we love. Full of authentic Italian food rituals and family recipes.
MORE GIFT IDEAS
Un Amico Italiano: Eat Pray Love in Rome Luca Spaghetti Paperback RRP $ 29.95 May release, advance orders welcome When Luca Spaghetti (yes, that’s really his name) was asked to show a writer named Elizabeth Gilbert around Rome, he had no idea how his life was about to change. Filled with colourful anecdotes about food, language, soccer, daily life in Rome, and Luca’s own fish-out-ofwater moments when he visits the United States – Un Amico Italiano is a book that no fan of Eat, Pray, Love will want to miss.
My Heart Wanders Pia Jane Bijkerk Hardback RRP $ 59.99 May release, advance orders welcome My Heart Wanders is a reflective, inspirational memoir by author, designer, stylist and photographer Pia Jane Bijkerk – who leaves behind her home in Sydney to follow her dreams: first by setting up a home in Paris, then on a houseboat in Amsterdam. Full of beautiful evocative photographs of the great cities, this tender memoir speaks to ‘the wandering heart’ in all of us.
Spilling the Beans on the Cat’s Pyjamas Judy Parkinson Hardback RRP $ 24.99 This is a fun and engaging reference guide to English phrases and their origins. It provides us with the meaning to these well-worn and muchloved phrases - from ‘beat around the bush’ to ‘fit as a fiddle’. It puts these linguistic quirks in context and explains how and why they were first used. Absorbing, diverting and fascinating – Spilling the Beans really is the bee’s knees!
The Taste of River Water brings together new and selected poems by Cate Kennedy. Disarming, warm and always accessible, Cate Kennedy’s poems make ordinary experiences glow. Everything that suffuses her prose, and has made it so well loved, is here. Exclusive offer: Purchase a copy of The Taste of River Water and receive a FREE copy of The World Beneath. * While stocks last.
Wine Makes Mummy Clever Andy Riley Hardback RRP $14.99 The perfect gift for Mother’s Day – 60 brilliant ALL NEW cartoons from Andy Riley celebrating the special one. Affectionate, witty and endearing – just like Mum; and it’s the gift that keeps on giving – just like Mum. Every day should be Mother’s Day.
FlORence Broadhurst Helen O’Neill Hardback RRP $ 69.95 A deluxe edition of Helen O’Neill’s award-winning book, Florence Broadhust is a musthave for lovers of design. With stunning full-page prints of Broadhurst’s distinctive fabric and wallpaper designs, together with gorgeous photographs of interiors from around the world, this beautiful book traces the life of an extraordinary and eccentric woman and it will make the perfect present for biography and art lovers.
A Guide to Australian Etiquette Ita Buttrose Hardback RRP $ 29.95 A new edition of Ita Buttrose’s guide to modern Australian manners. Buttrose touches on behaviour surrounding occasions such as weddings and funerals, and deals with detailed yet baffling questions such as how to set the table and how to carve meat for a dinner party. Written in a personal style, A Guide to Australian Etiquette is a reliable and authoritative guide for anyone wanting to possess good manners.
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When Australian Jane Paech moved to Paris, her visions of afternoons in bijou bistros and bookshops on the Left Bank were kept in check by the needs of her young family. A Family in Paris conveys the joys and difficulties of living in this most famous of cities. It introduces us to the Parisians and their eccentricities, explores the intricate rituals of daily life, and takes us beyond the well-trodden tourist sites to the best eating spots, boutiques, museums and markets that only a local could know about.
The Taste of River Water Cate Kennedy Paperback RRP $ 24.95 May release, advance orders welcome
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A Family in Paris Jane Paech Hardback RRP $49.95
The Armchair Book of Gardens Jane Billinghurst Hardback RRP $34.99 This gorgeous book will make a special gift for many people in your life. Beautifully presented with inspired writing from not only the author, but also included are pieces from Charles Dickens, A A Milne, Thomas Hardy and many others which reflect their philosophical musings on their own gardens and the part they play in their lives. This book is perfect for the gardeners in your life, as well as lovers of history and art, and lovers of elegant books in general. A beautiful gift as well as a stunning package.
Coming Soon
Pre-order your copy in-store now! THE LIFE Malcolm Knox A story about fame and ambition, surfing and pine-lime Splices... a superbly written and ambitious novel by one of Australia’s rising stars.
river of smoke Amitav Ghosh The sequel to the bestselling, Booker-shortlisted, Sea of Poppies – a sweeping historical saga River of Smokes follows characters both old and new as they journey by boat to China at the time of the Opium Wars.
FORGOTTEN Cat Patrick An extraordinary debut novel for young adults, this is a pageturning mystery and a heartwrenching story of love, loss and... memories of the future.
This catalogue is printed on paper which is fully PEFC Certified (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification scheme), a program which promotes the sustainable management of forests. In addition, the paper is Australian Made with 92% of the energy used coming from renewable sources providing an environmentally friendly paper with a low carbon footprint. The pulp was bleached using totally Chlorine Free (TCF) process. This Catalogue is produced in accordance with the environment ISO 14001 Standard
Environment ISO 14001 Certification applies to Offset Alpine Printing
15
WINNER
THE INDIE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2011 Category Winner – NON FICTION
The Indie Awards 2011 For the best Australian writing of 2010
as selected by Australian independent booksellers
THE HAPPIEST REFUGEE by Anh Do
Judges’ Comments: Anh Do’s journey from the privations of Vietnam immediately following the Vietnam War through a perilous journey to Malaysia and on to Australia is inspirational and heart-warming. The writing is fluid and satisfying, mixing seriousness, pathos and humour in equal amounts and is ultimately a tale of redemption and achievement through generosity of spirit and persistence of endeavour.
Australia’s independent booksellers chose The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do as their Indie Book of the Year for 2011. This is the first time a non-fiction book has won this prestigious award. One indie booksellers described The Happiest Refugee this way: “Anh’s story will reach into every heart of every reader who is fortunate enough to be absorbed from page one. The story of the family, their hardship and the love and humor that gets them through put this book on a par with A. B. Facey’s A Fortunate Life. I hope lots of Australians get to read his book and appreciate Australia through Anh’s eyes.” Winning the award, Anh Do says, is probably the greatest achievement of his life. “In my childhood when things weren’t going so well, books had the power to make me happy and I am so delighted that The Happiest Refugee is now bringing joy to others”. Anh Do.
CATEGORY WINNERS DEBUT FICTION
FICTION BEREFT by Chris Womersley Judges’ Comments: Bereft by Chris Womersley is a book about hard-won redemption, loss and the changing face of a nation forever altered by world events. Sadness, in its varying guises – guilt, loss, betrayal and misunderstanding – is the emotion that drives the relationships and events of this quietly compelling book and Womersley explores the destructive MAY 11 and regenerating aspects of this with great intuitiveness.
CHILDREN’S
ROCKS IN THE BELLY by Jon Bauer Judges’ Comments: Rocks in the Belly is a powerful and disturbing novel about the relationship between a mother and son. Bauer does a remarkable job of gradually revealing the events which tear this family apart. Because it rings so true, the family’s pain is engaging and ultimately very moving. This book will make you JULY 11 laugh, think and probably cry as well.
MIRROR by Jeannie Baker Judges’ Comments: The old adage ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ rings very true for the latest Jeannie Baker. The attention to detail and visual contrasts and parallels between the two boys’ worlds give Mirror such depth and meaning. Ultimately it is a layered and compelling book that excludes none but invites all in.
Recent Indie Bestsellers Fiction
Non-Fiction
Children’s
1 Five Bells by Gail Jonesl
1 Jamie’s 30-minute Meals by Jamie Oliver
1 Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney
2 Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
2 Bird Cloud by Annie Proulx
2 Lost Thing by Shaun Tan
3 The Summer without Men by Siri Hustvedt
3 Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage by Hazel Rowley
3 The Great Big Enormous Book of Tashi by Anna & Barbara Fienberg
4 The Leopard by Jo Nesbo
4 The King’s Speech by Mark Logue & Peter Conradi
5 The Wise Man’s Fear: Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss
5 The Happiest Refugee: A Memoir by Anh Do
6 The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez
6 The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund De Waal
7 The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith 8 The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson 9 Room by Emma Donoghue 10 Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
4 Specky Magee and the Best of Oz: Specky Magee by Felice Arena & Garry Lyon 5 The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith
7 The Happy Life: The Search for Contentment in the Modern World by David Malouf
6 Grey Wolves: Henderson’s Boys by Robert Muchamore
8 Batavia by Peter FitzSimons
8 Alice-Miranda Takes the Lead by Jacqueline Harvey
7 Meet Grace: Our Australian Girl by Sofie Laguna
9 The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge
9 The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
10 The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey
10 Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
Source: Nielsen BookScan
Prices listed in this catalogue as RRP refer to the publisher’s recommended retail prices. While every attempt has been made to ensure the accuracy of price and availability, these may be subject to change without notice by publishers. In most cases, any title not currently in stock can easily be ordered in at your request. All special prices and offers are valid from 18/4/11 to 31/5/11 unless otherwise stated or stock has sold out.