From the Heathens

Greetings from the top of the mountain! Thanks to all of our lovely and incredibly discerning customers for all of your support, brilliant conversation and passion for great books.

We also wanted to give a shoutout to the organisers of The Blackheath History Forum, who have put together such a wonderful program for 2023. Blue Mountains author Peter Doyle was recently in conversation with Nancy Cushing about his fascinating book Suburban Noir: Crime and Mishap in 1950s and 1960s Sydney. On 13th May, Wendy Whiteley and Ashleigh Wilson are talking about all things art, life, gardening and Ashleigh’s book A Year with Wendy Whiteley. See the complete program and book tickets online at: blackheathhistoryforum.org.au

Victoria is currently raving about Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry and has declared it her favourite book of the year! A bit early? It will be hard to beat, she reckons. We are back in Ireland with this latest book with the story of a retired policeman, Tom Kettle, who is settling into his new life when two former colleagues turn up with questions about an old case that drags him back to his past. Sebastian Barry is a master at storytelling and seems to be able to wrap sadness up in so much compassion and empathy that somehow makes it easier to read—a sad, beautiful, and memorable book.

Tiff has just finished Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith, where you’ll be transported to an almost abandoned, crumbling village in Umbria, and you won’t want to leave! A son, (Hugh) returns to his mother’s childhood home to take up residence in a small cottage she has bequeathed to him. He arrives to find that a stranger has taken up residence, claiming that Hugh’s long-missing grandfather had left it to her (Elisa) family on his deathbed, and she has absolutely no intention of leaving. So begins the discovery and unravelling of a buried family secret. Atmospheric, propulsive, compassionate and utterly enthralling. This is pure, unadulterated reading pleasure and Dominic Smith at his finest. Tiff also loved Weasels in the Attic, a delightful novella by Japanese author Hiroko Oyamada. Strange and wonderfully enigmatic, it explores friendship, fatherhood and yes -- weasels!

Ava read Little Plum by Laura McPhee-Brown. The book is a gritty paean to the lives of young people living in Sydney today: terrace houses, bad hookups, cheap meals with work colleagues. “Plum” hooked Ava immediately with its poetic approach to the grimier elements of the city, but somewhere about thirty per cent in, Ava found herself wishing the book had a bit more backbone. Still -- beautiful language that will appeal to anyone who loved Cold Enough for Snow.

Ava is also halfway through Southland by Nina Revoyr. It perfectly encapsulates the lives of immigrants in Los Angeles and those who attempt to lead normal lives in a city that constantly suppresses people of colour. Stunning descriptions of lesser-known Los Angeles history and family conflicts make this book a real page-turner.

And from our newest recruit at the Blackheath store - Jane - has just finished If in A Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. Italian Postmodernism at its very finest, and one of her most beloved books of all time. This is about the process of reading itself, and every chapter throws you into a brand new scenario without ever quite being able to locate yourself, while you, the reader, are the hero. How meta is that?! This is a book that explores the relationship between author and reader; all wrapped up in a beautiful, romantic, whimsical riddle.

See you in the mountains, The Blackheath Team

Twelve years ago budding journalist Geneva Leighton received a phone call that stopped her life in its tracks. Her terrified sister, Amber, was locked in the boot of a moving car and begging Geneva for help. Amber was never heard from again. But when Sergeant Jesse Johns turns up with shocking new evidence about Amber, Geneva’s world is thrown into chaos again. As she edges closer and closer to the truth, she uncovers dangerous secrets that have the power to destroy everyone she loves.

Sydney, 1965- After a chance encounter with a stranger, tea ladies Hazel, Betty and Irene become accidental sleuths, stumbling into a world of ruthless crooks and racketeers in search of a young woman believed to be in danger. When there is a murder in the building, the tea ladies draw on their wider network and put themselves in danger as they piece together clues that connect the murder to a nearby arson and a kidnapping. But if there’s one thing the tea ladies can handle, it’s hot water.

The Consultant is very good at his job. He creates simple, elegant, effective solutions for - restructuring. Certainly nothing anyone would ever suspect as murder. And it’s not as though he know these people. Until his next ‘customer’ turns out to be someone he not only knows but cares about. For the first time, he begins to question the role he plays in the vast, anonymous Company. But how far will he go to escape The Company? And how far will they go to stop him?

When a dead man is found locked in the basement of an abandoned house, the police find no evidence of what happened beyond his name scratched into the wall. They can’t find any information about who he is or who knew him. But no-one knows the locals like Detective Eira Sjoden. When her expert knowledge of her home town is again called in, she knows one of them must have seen something. Before she can uncover the truth, someone shockingly close to her disappears.

Wealthy and privileged, Alex has an easy path to success in the Parisian elite his father mingles with. But the two have never seen eye to eye. Alex’s desperation to seek freedom lands him amidst chaos when his father is found dead and he is sent to jail. Seven years later Alex is released from prison with a single purpose: to discover who really killed his father. But as he searches for answers, Alex uncovers a disturbing truth with far-reaching consequences.

1950s Dublin, in a lock-up garage in the city the body of a young woman is discovered, an apparent suicide. But pathologist Dr Quirke and Detective Inspector Strafford soon suspect foul play. As they explore her links to a wealthy German family in County Wicklow, and to investigative work she may have been doing in Israel, they are confronted with an ever-deepening mystery. With relations between the two men increasingly strained, they begin to question if they can ever find the pieces of a hidden puzzle.

Bernie Moon has given her life to other people. At nineteen she was full of dreams and ambitions; now almost fifty, and going through the menopause, she’s fading, fast. But when a young woman is murdered in a local park, it sparks a series of childhood memories in Bernie and with them, a talent that has lain dormant most of her adult life. When she was a teenager, it almost destroyed her. But now she’s older, could it be the power she’s been missing?

Roach - bookseller, loner and true crime obsessive - is not interested in making friends. She has all the company she needs in her serial killer books, murder podcasts and her pet snail, Bleep. That is, until Laura joins the bookshop, soon becoming everyone’s favourite bookseller. But beneath the shiny veneer, Roach senses a darkness within Laura, the same darkness Roach possesses. As Roach’s curiosity blooms into morbid obsession, it becomes clear that she is prepared to infiltrate Laura’s life at any cost.