Gleaner April/May 2025

Gleaner

April-May 2025

Our expert booksellers choose their must-see events: Jeanette Winterson, Colm Tóibín, Yael van der Wouden, Alan Hollinghurst, Charlotte Wood ... and many more

Sydney Writers’ Festival special

From David’s desk

Welcome to our April-May Gleaner. We’re strongly focused on the Sydney Writers’ Festival (May 19-27) this issue – no surprise given our longstanding role as official bookseller. In our 50th year, we are celebrating our 20th anniversary as SWF booksellers.

I have often been asked about writers’ festivals in general, and SWF particularly, with regard to their extraordinary popularity. Many years ago, as a member of the inaugural SWF board in the 1990s I was struck by a conversation with one of Australia’s most eminent writers, during which he lamented the rapid expansion of the festival phenomenon, and the apparent necessity to spruik what he’d written, when surely the act of writing and publishing ought to be enough. “Dear reader, I wrote it, now the world can make of it what it likes.” An entirely reasonable position, especially for those authors of retiring disposition.

But writers’ festivals in general continue to proliferate, and Sydney’s is extraordinarily popular, with 2024 attendance nudging six figures, and hundreds of writers lined up to share the fruits of their writing with avid listeners. And I believe that there’s a level of expectation that those writers will be just as eloquent and generous in their personal appearances as they are in print. So it seems that all contemporary writers need to take advantage of every festival opportunity, and to learn to love appearing in public as much as they (hopefully) love writing. When it comes down to it, festivals can be as rewarding and exciting for writers, as it is for their audiences.

As I’ve said in previous festival Gleaner columns, I see nobody, just my hard-working and brilliant colleagues. I can guarantee that as soon as I do, the computers will lose connection, or we’ll

be frantically trying to locate 100 copies of a sought-after book, or a van will break down (one did, at the lights behind the Town Hall, two years ago, on a stressful Saturday night).

But if I could break away to see a handful of sessions, who would I see? Internationals Alan Hollinghurst (Our Evenings), Yael van der Wouden (The Safekeep) and local Dylin Hardcastle (The Language of Limbs) have written brilliant new books, and their panel will be great. There are authors that I want to see any time, every time, like Colm Tóibín, Helen Garner, Jeanette Winterson

To slake my thirst for history, Ben MacIntyre (The Siege) and Philippe Sands (38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia). I wouldn’t miss Stories from Palestine with Sara Haddad, Hasib Hourani, Samah Sabawi, hosted by Micaela Sahhar. I’d see both of the brilliant Charlottes, Wood (Stone Yard Devotional) and McConaghy (Wild Dark Shore) and Emily Maguire (Rapture). I could go on, but I can’t go. If you can, you should, it’s great.

Closer to home, Gleebooks Dulwich Hill has been shortlisted for the prestigious Australian Book Industry Bookshop of the Year awards. Congratulations to Letitia and the hard-working and imaginative team.

And I’ll sign off with a recommendation for a couple of books I’ve just read: Curtis Sittenfeld’s new story collection Show Don’t Tell is wise and witty and subversive. And Geraldine Brooks’ Memorial Days is a must-read. It’s a deeply moving, heartfelt and at once raw and gentle reflection on the experience of grief, and how to live life, following the sudden death of her husband, the writer Tony Horwitz.

David, director

Bookworms peruse the stands at last year’s SWF (left) and Charlotte Wood – a festival must-see. Pictures: Gabriel Wilder and Carly Earl

AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE

The Montegiallo School of Swearing

Andrew H.C. McDonald

Accidentally buying a Sicilian villa for just one euro is not the great Eat, Pray, Love game changer that Brian Chapman hopes it would be. Instead, tumbledown buildings, a shortage of plumbers, and resentful locals make Brian’s drunken whim look like the biggest mistake of his chequered career so far. Who could believe that an outbreak of swearing would lead not only to cultural reconciliation but to this very Australian fish out of water finding true love in Italy?

$35, Fremantle. Out April

I Ate the Whole World to Find You

Rachel Ang

I Ate the Whole World to Find You maps the topography of trauma, treasures, and loss imposed onto the body of Jenny, a twentysomething-going-on-thirty-something partial hot mess who’s making her way more firmly into adulthood. As she navigates friendship, family, and romantic relationships, will her inability to communicate destroy her, or ultimately be her rebirth? Sprinkled with speculative fiction and fantasy, this radiant debut collection establishes Ang as a storyteller of range and power.

$40, Scribe. Out April

The Sun Was Electric Light

Rachel Morton

Ruth, disillusioned with her New York life, returns to a Guatemalan lake town where she finds work and befriends two contrasting women: Emilie and Carmen. As Ruth’s infatuation with Carmen grows, she neglects Emilie’s stable friendship. When Carmen’s life unravels, Ruth confronts the difference between visiting and belonging, forcing her to act. A beautifully told story about a disillusioned woman searching for love and belonging from the winner of the 2024 VPLA Unpublished Manuscript Award.

$35, UQP. Out April

Lonely Mouth

Jacqueline Maley

Matilda and Lara are half-sisters with an unreliable mother and a chaotic past. Lara is a carefree model in Paris, while Matilda leads a solitary life in Sydney, working in a restaurant and harboring a crush on her boss. When their father, Angus Dante, returns to make amends, Matilda’s ordered life unravels, forcing her to confront her true self and desires. explores women’s complex relationships with their bodies, appetites, and self-worth, highlighting the loneliness and struggles for love experienced by girls and women. Hear Jacqueline Maley discuss the conflict between how women think about themselves and their desires.

Friday 23 May, 10.30am, Woollahra Library, $10. Jacqueline also appears at What Women Want, a panel discussion with Debra Oswald, Holly Wainwright and Nicole Abadee, Friday 23 May, 3pm, Carriageworks, $20-$30

Rytual

Chloe Elisabeth Wilson

Marnie Sellick is adrift when she lands a job at the coveted, mysterious beauty brand Rytuał cosmetica. The enigmatic founder and CEO, Luna Peters, takes a liking to Marnie, and as the two grow closer Marnie becomes intoxicated by the life that Luna, and Rytuał, can offer her. But Luna has a cult-like hold over the all-female staff, and that’s not to mention what happens at their weekly Friday night drinks. Both a darkly funny deconstruction of the beauty industry and a gripping examination of identity, beauty and desire, Rytual asks the question: what if your favourite cult beauty brand ... was actually a cult?

$35, Penguin. Out May

Three Juliets

Minnie Darke

In 1980, designer Claudie Miller is a household name. Girls are begging their mothers to make them her famous dress, the “Juliet”. But there’s a big hole in Claudie’s life: 16 years ago she was forced to give up her baby for adoption. In 1980, Roisin, Miranda and Bindi are turning 16 on the same day. Raised in different families, in different parts of the country, they know nothing about each other … or their connection to the dress. But the Juliet was designed with one of them in mind – and its threads are slowly pulling them closer to the truth. An intricately woven love story about mothers and daughters, and the ties that can never be broken.

$35, Penguin. Out April

ALSO OUT

The Mademoiselle Alliance

Natasha Lester

The true story of the only woman to lead a resistance network in WWII France.

$35, Hachette. Out March

The Butterfly Women

Madeleine Cleary

An unforgettable tale of two women in 1863 Melbourne.

$35, Affirm. Out April

AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE

The Bearcat

Georgia Rose Phillips

1987. Family is everything to Anne. Our Messiah. And Anne demands everything from The Family; their loyalty, their money, even their children. In return, she promises existential comfort to lost and weary women. 1921. A child is born on a sticky summer evening. Our Anne. Her mother, Florence, is trapped at home with an indifferent husband and a relentlessly demanding newborn. For both women, the past is for escaping, and love is impossible to trust. All they can hope for is that their family will save them. The Bearcat is an intimate psychological portrait inspired by the true story of a notorious cult leader.

$35, Picador. Out April

Little World

Josephine Rowe

In the north-western corner of 1950s

Australia, a saint arrives at the home of a retired engineer, who unwittingly becomes her custodian. A girl of indeterminate age, her body remains as it was when she died, incorruptible. And though no one knows it, she is conscious, reflecting on past and present. Little World stretches across continents and eras, from the Canal Zone in Panama to the onset of Covid in contemporary Victoria. Beautiful, rich and strange, it weaves a tale of interconnected fates as characters grapple with the unknowable, and come face to face with their deepest needs.

$28, Black Inc. Out April

He Would Never

Holly Wainwright

Welcome to Green River. Five families on an annual camping trip, a mothers’ group of 14 years, children starting to look like adults, a father with his own mysterious agenda ... He Would Never is a searing page-turner about the bonds we forge in the furnace of early motherhood, the trust we place in other adults, and the chaos that erupts when one man refuses to play by the rules.

$35, Macmillan. Out April

Consider Yourself Kissed

Jessica Stanley

Coralie grew up in Australia but needed to escape some ghosts. Adrift in London, she meets witty, sexy, generous Adam and his charming four-year-old daughter. Falling in love is fun. But Coralie yearns for children of her own, and to become a writer. But her trips back to Australia change her perspective and 10 years on, she finds something is missing. In this unforgettable story about what “happily ever after” might truly mean, Jessica Stanley writes about life as we live it, and reveals how our intimate dramas can get tangled up with the public events of our times.

$35, Text. Out April

Cli-fi: Fiction’s New Frontier

When did the environment emerge from the background of our stories to become the focus? And is it possible to write fiction today that ignores the elephant in the room – the climate crisis?

James Bradley (Landfall), Jane Caro (Lyrebird) and Inga Simpson (The Thinning) are three Australian writers who intertwine themes of climate change in their latest novels. Hear these writers reflect on climate’s role in fiction and the changing literary landscape.

Thursday, 22 May, 3pm, Carriageworks, $15-$25

$35, Allen & Unwin. Out April $35, Penguin. Out April

The Opposite of Lonely

Hilde Hinton

Rose has a thoughtful son, a kind boss and a dream box full of savings for a rainy day. But sometimes the brick in her chest gets so heavy that all she can do is watch the minutes tick by on the oven clock. Things change when a stranger arrives. Rose can’t believe that someone like Ellie would want to be her friend. With Ellie by her side, things feel possible again, and Rose starts to remember who she is. The Opposite of Lonely is a novel about discovering that what you need is often right in front of you. And that friendship can hide many truths.

$33, Hachette. Out April

ALSO OUT

Mother Tongue

Naima Brown

When Brynn awakes from a coma speaking fluent French, she seizes the opportunity to start a new life in Paris, a seismic personal transformation that leaves a slew of shattered lives in its wake. Darkly funny and profoundly insightful, Mother Tongue challenges our expectations of motherhood and our beliefs about women’s lives. It is at once an exhilarating tale of escape and a warning about the cost of renewal.

$35, Macmillan. Out March

The Sex Lives of Married Women

Saman Shad

A sexy, funny, surprising tale of female friendship, bedrooms and marriage.

$35, Penguin. Out April

I Want Everything

Dominic Amerena

A dazzling novel of desire and deception, authorship and authenticity, and the costs of creative ambition.

$35, S&S/Summit. Out April

Best of the fest

Gleebooks is thrilled to be a partner of the Sydney Writers’ Festival once again. This year, the festival features a feast of international and local talent in more than 200 events across the city, including talks, discussion panels and interactive events. Here, Gleebooks’s staff choose the authors they long to see IRL and their must-see events. And don’t forget to visit our pop-up store at Carriageworks and say hi!

David Nicholls: You Are Here

Thursday 22 May, 2pm, Carriageworks, $35-$45

A beautiful follow-up from his hit book One Day, You Are Here showcases Nicholls’ adoration of the English countryside and the clear appreciation he has for human connection. The bestselling novelist and screenwriter maps out the budding relationship of two people as they wind down country roads, and I’m anxiously waiting to hear he and Jennifer Byrne’s perspectives on love, life, and chance. – Luci, Glebe

Torrey Peters: Stag Dance

Saturday 24 May 5.30pm, Carriageworks, $20-$30

In a world where rainbow capitalism is “out” and anti-LGBT bills are “in”, a new book by Torrey Peters is a breath of fresh air. Her work is unapologetically for the Queer community – I heard her at SWF 2022 describe Detransition, Baby as something she wrote with the enjoyment of her friends in mind. I’m looking forward to reading the Waters-esque romp that is Stag Dance, and even more to hearing her speak again. – August, Glebe

Making a Writer

Sunday 2pm, Carriageworks, $35-$45

Alan Hollinghurst: Our Evenings

Friday 23 May, 2pm, Carriageworks, $35-$45

I feel that listening to an afternoon session about Alan Hollinghurst’s Our Evenings would be as welcome as my experience of his classically structured and profound bildungsroman. Our Evenings was that magical beast, a fully realised world on a page that made me reconsider the textures possible in private histories. I imagine he will speak about sexuality, class and race over time in England with sensitive composure. – Jennifer, Glebe

The F Word

Sunday 25 May, 11am, Carriageworks, $35-$40

An absolutely stellar lineup coming together to discuss what is often still considered to be a controversial topic nationally –feminism. This is wild to me because, for one, family, domestic and sexual violence is a major health and welfare issue in Australia, and predominantly affects women and children. Feminism is an important tool that can be used in addressing

I will be asking the boss if I can knock off work early on Sunday so I can see my beloved Colm Tóibín (pictured) and Charlotte Wood discuss what Ireland does (and Australia could do better) to nurture a national literature. Um, David, if you are reading this, re my festival roster … – Andrew, Glebe

Making a Writer brings together my favourite Australian author, Charlotte Wood, and the author of one of my top five books of 2024, Colm Tóibín. Fun facts: Charlotte lives in my inner west suburb, and the opening chapters of Long Island take place in my hometown of Lindenhurst, New York. I’m intrigued by this unexpected pairing and by the event’s subtitle: Where Ireland succeeds and – Renee, Dulwich Hill

I will be front and centre to hear Colm Tóibín and Charlotte Wood on the subject of literary inheritances and the creative process followed by Ben Macintyre and discussing all things espionage (Sunday 25 May, 3.30pm, $35-$45). Both Tóibín and Macintyre have earlier events (on the 23 May and 24 May respectively) where I hope to get answers to two pressing questions: 1/ Will Eilis Lacey and Jim Farrell ever find happiness together? 2/ Is it possible for Ben Macintyre to write a boring book?

– Scott D,

Glebe

Colm Tóibín: From Brooklyn to Long Island

Friday 23 May, 4pm, Carriageworks, $35-$45

I did gasp when I saw that Colm Tóibín was speaking. I have read and loved every book this fabulous storyteller has written. – Victoria, Blackheath

Picture: Reynaldo Rivera

Yael van der Wouden: The Safekeep

Saturday 24 May, 11am, Carriageworks, $35-$40

Lech

Blain: Australian Gospel

Friday 23 May, 1pm, Carriageworks, $20-$30

There is a sentence in Yael van der Wouden’s (pictured) brilliant novel, The Safekeep, I can’t stop thinking about: “There isn’t a version of me that could have looked away from you.” So, that’s where I’ll be on 24 May at 11am – not looking away! – Jack, Glebe

I spent most of late 2024 raving about Australian Gospel and I suspect I’ll spend most of 2025 raving about The Safekeep. Both Van Der Wouden and Blaine are spectacular storytellers, and when I heard that they were on the program I was delighted! Now I’ll just need to work out how to sneak away from the Gleebooks stall… – Imogen, Glebe

such issues. I will be over the moon to hear what Hannah Ferguson (I devoured Hannah’s first book and am currently empathising with her new nonfiction work Taboo), Jess Hill (See What You Made Me Do) and Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts (First Nations lawyer and human rights advocate) have to say about possible solutions feminism can offer to a range of social issues facing modern Australia. The wonderful Sisonke Msimang will chair the session. – Isabel, Glebe

Marian Keyes: My Favourite Mistake

Wednesday 21 May, 8pm, Sydney Town Hall, $35-$65

Irish writers are having an unprecedented moment (which is saying something). But before there was Rooney and Keegan and Nolan there was Marian Keyes. And boy, does she know how to give an interview. Warm, witty, self-deprecating and deeply human – these qualities not only underpin her remarkable skill as a writer but make her a generous, insightful interview subject. I’m giddy just thinking that we’ll be breathing the same air for an hour. – Maeve, Glebe

Bringing the Past Back to Life

Thursday 22 May, 2pm, Carriageworks, $35-$40

Jock Serong’s Cherrywood (brilliant, beautiful and a tiny bit bonkers, but in the most life-affirming way) and Emily Maguire’s Rapture (a dazzling story of faith, sacrifice and desire) were among my favourites of 2024, so to see Jock and Emily together will be a joy. I’ll be fascinated to hear how Jock built such a richly imaginative and magical world, and the mythology around Pope Joan that inspired Emily to create the mesmerising character of Agnes. – Tiff, Blackheath

The Moriarty Sisters

Friday 23 May, 10am, Carriageworks, $35-$45

Talent is a family trait, apparently. Join three published sisters as they discuss their career trajectories, the ups and downs of navigating the writing, execution and negotiation of established and successful novels. – Jane, Glebe

State of the Art: The Novel

Thursday 22 May 22, 8pm, Carriageworks, $35-$45

If I had only one session to go to this one would be it. Imagine being in the room with four novelists at the height of their powers. Ruman Alam (Entitlement) eviscerating class and wealth in America; Robbie Arnott (Dusk), supernaturally reinventing the

Western in Tasmania; Samantha Harvey (Orbital) luminously and lyrically lighting the path back to Earth; and Torrey Peters (Stag Dance) brilliantly laying bare the complicated messiness of gender. The novel is in bloody good hands. – Jody, Blackheath

Catherine Chidgey: The Book of Guilt

Friday May 23, 3pm, Carriageworks, $20-$30

Last year I discovered NZ’s award-winning writer, Catherine Chidgey for the first time thanks to The Axeman’s Carnival – a book that tackles some tough social issues with the most stunning prose and charming narrator – Tama the magpie. I finished it determined to read everything that Chidgey has ever written, so I was delighted to learn that she has a new book, The Book of

Picture: Roosmarijn Broersen

Jeanette Winterson: 40 Years of Orange Is Not the Only Fruit

Thursday 22 May, 6pm, Sydney Town Hall, $35-$65

I’m looking forward to hearing Jeanette Winterson talk: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit was a revelation to all who read it (especially we heteros) 40 years ago, and I imagine to all who have read it in the intervening decades. No one my age could have dreamt that 40 years hence, there would be same-sex marriage and same-sex relationships depicted in mainstream advertising, in TV soaps, movies, books and art. – Morgan, bookseller at large

Guilt. I am VERY tempted to make the trek down the mountain to hear about her foray into dystopian fiction à la Kazuo Ishiguro and Shirley Jackson. – Bronwyn, Blackheath

SWF Family Day Program

Sunday 25 May

All

Day YA

Saturday, 24 May

Carriageworks, various prices

Look, I am going to cheat here and declare the entire Family Day Program as the festival highlight for kids of all ages (grown-ups too!). The illustrator battle is always a favourite, there will be an epic and extremely hilarious deep dive into Greek History and even a whole load of real life animals from Taronga Zoo. But my must-see event is Nat Amoore and Mick Ellliott’s The Movies that Made Us ... Write! at 2pm, which is a joyful celebration of storytelling in all forms! And for the teens, All Day YA is a must, with awesome panel discussions covering lots of different genres and interests. – Rachel, children’s books

Your Favourites’ Favourites: Benjamin Law and Melanie Cheng

Thursday May 22, 11am, Carriageworks, $20-$30

You could throw a dart at this year’s program and surely not be disappointed with anything. But I’m hanging out for this conversation. Melanie Cheng’s The Burrow was one of

my favourite Australian novels of late 2024 – a beautifully constructed and sensitively told story of grief, love and fractured family. Such empathetic characters, such a heartbreaking premise. I want to know how she did it, and Benjamin Law is just the interviewer to find out. – Lachlan, Dulwich Hill

Mariana Enriquez: Mastering the Macabre

Saturday 24 May, 3pm, Carriageworks, $20-$30

I might have gasped when I saw Mariana Enriquez was on the program this year: the session Mastering the Macabre promises to be just as weird and wonderful as Enriquez’s stories. If you don’t see me there, assume something is seriously wrong. –Amelia, Glebe

Drag Queens Down Under

Friday 23 May, 6.30pm, Carriageworks, $15-$25

I’ll be putting on my silver foil jeans and pink satin shirt and getting down to Carriageworks for a sparkling evening of adult storytelling by some of the country’s loudest and proudest drag queens. Drag Queens Down Under author and RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under runner-up Art Simone will be joined by glamour pusses Etcetera Etcetera, Space Horse, Coco Jumbo and Maxi Shields. Why should kids have all the fun? – Gabriel, Gleaner editor

ƒ For more information, see swf.org.au

Picture: Sam Churchill

INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE

The Cat Who Saved the Library

Sosuke Natsukawa

Thirteen-year-old Nanami Kosaki loves reading. When she notices books disappearing from the library shelves, she’s particularly curious about a suspicious man in a grey suit. Should she follow him to see what he’s up to? A talking tabby cat called Tiger helps her follow the frightening trail to find out where all the books have gone. Warm, wonderful and wise, Sosuke Natsukawa’s The Cat Who Saved the Library is a powerful lesson in the value of great literature, and a reminder to always think for ourselves.

$20, Picador. Out April

Idle Grounds

Krystelle Bamford

As always with these things it started with a birthday party. On a bright summer day in 1989 New England, Abi, three years old, vanishes from her aunt’s secluded home. The adults don’t seem to notice that the youngest of the group has disappeared, leaving her cousins with no choice but to get Abi back themselves. As the cousins embark on a quest through their grandmother’s sprawling estate, buried family secrets come to light. Idle Grounds is a chilling, evocative and darkly comic debut about childhood, legacy, and the burdens and privileges we carry with us.

$35, Hutchinson Heinemann. Out May

1985

Dominic Hoey

It’s 1985 and Obi is on the cusp of teenagehood, after a childhood marked by poverty, dysfunctional family dynamics, (dis) organised crime and violence. His dad is delusional, his mum is real sick, the Rainbow Warrior just exploded, and it’s time for Obi to grow up. When he and his best mate Al discover a map leading to unknown riches, Obi wonders if this windfall could be the thing that turns his family’s fortunes around. Instead, he’s thrown into a high-stakes adventure. 1985 is a coming-of-age story for the underdogs, the disenfranchised and the dreamers.

$35, Penguin. Out May

The Emperor of Gladness

Ocean Vuong

One late summer evening in East Gladness, Connecticut, 19-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. The unlikely pair develop a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak. Vuong’s unique voice evokes the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life.

$35, Jonathan Cape. Out May

Good Girl

Aria Aber

In Berlin’s underground, 19-year-old Nila finds her tribe. They offer an escape from the shadow of her dead mother; her catatonic father; and the cab-driver uncles who seem to idle on every corner. Then Nila meets Marlowe Woods, whose literary celebrity, though fading, opens her eyes to a world of patrons and festivals. But soon, submerged tensions begin to roil and claw beneath the city’s cosmopolitan veneer. An electric debut novel about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of nightclubs, bad romance, and self-discovery.

$33, Bloomsbury. Out April

The Eights

Joanna Miller

Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1,000-year history, the world’s most famous university has admitted female students. Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms on Corridor Eight. But in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, the ghosts of the Great War are still very real, and their friendship will become more important than ever. A captivating debut novel about sisterhood, self-determination, courage, and what it means to come of age in a world that has changed forever.

$35, Fig Tree. Out April

‘I

read this pure, pained, beautiful book in a single burst, and emerged from it with heart and nerves rinsed clean.’

HELEN GARNER

A luminous tale of faith and love, bravery and care, and the vitality of women’s work. ‘Brilliant.’ GAIL JONES

Twelve Post-War Tales

Graham Swift

A young Jewish soldier seeks the truth about lost family members; a father focuses on his daughter’s wedding amid the Cuban Missile Crisis; a maid wonders if her birth on the day of the Kennedy assassination shaped her life; and a retired specialist in respiratory disease returns to work during the pandemic. These are just a few of the challenged characters we meet in Graham Swift’s tender and funny Twelve Post-war Tales

$35, Scribner. Out April

ALSO OUT

The Boyhood of Cain

Michael

Amherst

A poignant debut about a boy on the precipice of adulthood, struggling to understand how he might give and deserve love.

$35, Faber. Out May

The Sunshine Man

Emma Stonex

In January of 1989, mother-of-two Birdie Keller wakes to the news she has been waiting 17 years to hear: the man who destroyed her life has been freed from jail. Birdie leaves for London with a gun and a plan: to find him and make him pay. But Birdie is about to enter a world she knows nothing about. In hunting down justice, she herself becomes hunted – and must ultimately face the echoes of a past she never left behind.

$35, Picador. Out April

The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran

Shida Bazyar

A captivating, polyphonic novel of one family’s flight from and return to Iran.

$30, Scribe. Out April

Bookseller at large Shop Talk

In keeping with this special SWF edition of the Gleaner, I thought to reflect on writers’ festivals in general. My first awareness that any such thing existed was the 1962 Adelaide Writers’ Week. My father was an Adelaide journalist and little-known novelist (pseudonym Edward Lindall) and our house was full of writers that week – Olaf Ruhen, Alan Marshall, Douglas Stewart and Bill Harney, to name a few. As a child, I seem to remember non-stop talk and laughter – they were probably all drinking a lot – so I tend to associate writers’ festivals with fun and excitement –and drinking a lot.

Festivals don’t seem as, um, “convivial” as they once were when it seemed to be a party every day (people thought it perfectly normal to start drinking at 11am), with novelists, poets, historians journalists and publishers gathering at the Festival Bar, talking books, books, books. Nowadays, as soon as the writers’ book signing is over, they’re often ushered straight back to their hotels and/or the airport. Understandably, publishers can’t afford for authors to hang around for days just to enjoy the ambience.

Looking back at the 1962 Adelaide program it’s amazing to see how few events there were compared to the crammed programs we have now – the busiest days had three sessions and others, only one, often a big poetry reading. There was very little Australian fiction published back then and the Ozlit world was small, but impressive for it. The opening address by T.A.G.

You Dreamed of Empires

Álvaro Enrigue

An electric novel that brings to life Mexico City at its height –and reimagines its destiny.

$23, Vintage. Out April

Hungerford was titled “The infiltration of canned overseas culture and its calamitous effect on Australian writers”.

While we have certainly been infiltrated by “overseas” (read USA) culture in the intervening years, those writers in 1962 might not have imagined how strong and healthy and muchloved Ozlit would become.

Nor could they have foreseen how many writers’ festivals would spring up, with every major city as well as country towns from Bellingen to Dubbo, to Mildura to Margaret River and the Tamar Valley hosting festivals and workshops. They’re all well attended which goes to show how much we love our homegrown storytellers. With all the invitations, it’s a wonder the writers get any time to actually write!

Which leads us to the fabulous Sydney Writers’ Festival here now in May. Expect discussion, disagreement, passion, intellectual curiosity as well as a celebration of writing, literature and books because that’s what writers’ festivals are all about – and more than that, they’re about the authors meeting and engaging with you, their readers, and the insights both can glean from each other.

So enjoy this Sydney Writers’ Festival and drink in all the stimulation you can from the myriad conversations taking place. And what the hell, have a wine with your morning tea.

Morgan Smith

Looking after the signing table at the festival in 2005.

INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE

Audition

Katie Kitamura

Two people meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. She’s an accomplished actress in rehearsals for an upcoming premiere. He’s attractive, troubling, young – young enough to be her son. Who is he to her, and who is she to him? In this compulsively readable, brilliantly constructed novel, two competing narratives unspool, rewriting our understanding of the roles we play every day – partner, parent, creator, muse – and the truths every performance masks, especially from those who think they know us most intimately. A mesmerising new novel from the author of Intimacies

$35, Fern. Out April

When the Cranes Fly South

Lisa Ridzén

Bo lives a quiet existence in his small rural village in the north of Sweden. He is elderly and his days are punctuated by visits from his care team and his son. Fortunately, he still has his memories, phone calls with his best friend Ture, and his beloved dog Sixten for company. Only now his son is insisting the dog must be taken away. When the Cranes Fly South is a profoundly moving novel about one man’s desire to preserve his autonomy, and the multitude of stories contained within a life.

$35, Doubleday. Out May

Spent

Alison Bechdel

Her first graphic memoir about growing up with her taxidermist father has been adapted into a highly successful TV series, Death and Taxidermy. It’s a phenomenon that makes Alison, formerly on the cultural margins, the envy of her friend group. As the TV show racks up Emmy after Emmy, Alison’s own envy spirals. Why couldn’t she be the writer for a wildly popular reality TV series which shows people how to free themselves from consumer capitalism and live a more ethical life?! Spent is a laugh-out-loud and passionately political work of autofiction.

$45, Jonathan Cape. Out June

Favourite Daughter

Morgan Dick

After he left them for his new family, Mickey resolved never to think of her father again. She’s fine without him; yes, she drinks, but only sometimes and, really, she can’t not. But with only $181 to her name, she’s not above attending some mandated therapy to access her inheritance. Meanwhile, Arlo has more issues than most of her clients. Being a therapist has not prepared her for grief. Then the two sisters are unknowingly thrown together for the first time. It’s crazy. It’s unethical. It’s perfect.

$35, Viking. Out May

My Name Is Emilia del Valle

Isabel Allende

Another masterclass in historical storytelling from Isabel Allende, My Name is Emilia del Valle is a powerful tale of love and war, discovery and redemption, told by a valiant young woman who confronts monumental challenges, survives, and reinvents herself along the way.

$33, Bloomsbury. Out April

Universality

Natasha Brown

Universality is a twisty, slippery descent into the rhetoric of truth and power. Through a voyeuristic lens, it focuses on words: what we say, how we say it, and what we really mean. The follow-up novel to Natasha Brown’s Assembly is a compellingly nasty celebration of the spectacular force of language. It dares you to look away.

$30, Faber. Out April

ALSO OUT

The Midnight Carousel

Fiza Saeed McLynn

Water for Elephants meets Moulin Rouge in this spellbinding tale.

$35, Michael Joseph. Out May

I Leave It Up to You

Jinwoo Chong

A heartwarming rom-com that proves that sometimes home is exactly where you belong.

$35, Scribe. Out April

The Homemade God

Rachel Joyce

What holds a family together and what might tear it apart amid an intense heatwave.

$35, Doubleday. Out April

Cloudless

Rupert Dastur

A powerful debut charting the faultlines in a Welsh farming family as they wait for their son to return from the Iraq War.

$35, Fig Tree. Out May

Nightingale

Laura Elvery

Mayfair, 1910. At the age of 90, Florence Nightingale is frail and no longer of sound mind. After a storied career as a nurse, writer and statistician, she now leads a reclusive existence. One summer evening she is astonished to receive a visitor – a young man who claims to have met her during the Crimean War 55 years ago. But how can this be? And how does the elusive Jean Frawley connect their two lives? Nightingale is part historical fiction, part ghost story, and utterly original.

$33, UQP. Out April

Air

John Boyne

Unsettled by his past, and anxious for his future, Aaron is at a crossroads in life. The damage inflicted upon him during his youth has made him the man he is, but now threatens to widen the growing fissures between him and his only child. In this penetrating examination of action and consequence, fault and attribution, acceptance and resolution, John Boyne gives us a redemptive story of a father and a son on a moving journey to mend their troubled lives.

$30, Doubleday. Out May

On the Calculation of Volume I & II

Solvej Balle

Tara Selter has slipped out of time. A year has passed, but she still wakes up to the same newspapers, and the same blank faces when she explains that she has seen this all before. Until one morning, she boards a train and finds herself in a new day. It is still the 18th of November, but the faces are different, the weather is colder. She realises she has found a way out of her endless autumn. By moving across Europe rather than through time, she can collect the ingredients for the seasons: the thin film of ice on puddles, the fresh spring breeze, the blazing summer sun – and she begins to hope for a new future.

$27 each, Faber. Out June

Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon

Mizuki Tsujimura

Is there anyone you wish to see? So asks the smart young man, Ayumi, to his clients who have come to him for a reunion with the person who once changed their life. But it is no ordinary reunion. The people they ask to see have passed away. Calling himself the go-between, Ayumi lays down strict rules around the meetings between the living and the dead. Tsujimura scatters clues for readers to help them piece together the emotional truth of the go-between in this mesmeric and unputdownable tale of kindness, compassion and connection.

$35, Doubleday. Out April

Asako Yuzuki: Butter

“There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.” The gourmet cook turned serial killer at the centre of Asako Yuzuki’s international sensation Butter these memorable words to a journalist who is intent on cracking the case that put her behind bars. Join Asako as she discusses the runaway success of her novel and the transgressive pleasures of food, in a live translated event with Carody Culver. Saturday 24 May, 7.30pm, Carriageworks, $35-$45

CRIME

The Bookshop Detectives 2: Tea and Cake and Death

Gareth and Louise Ward

In this rollicking new adventure, Garth and Eloise (and Stevie) must sniff out a prolific poisoner ahead of a vital fundraising event, the Battle of the Book Clubs. As time runs out and the body count rises, it seems the bad actors are circling closer to the people and places they care about. Could Pinter, the infamous serial killer from Eloise’s past, somehow be involved?

And when anyone could be a suspect, how can Garth and Eloise keep their customers, their small town and their beloved bookshop safe?

$35, Penguin. Out April

Untrue Crime

Miles Franklin Literary Award winner Shankari Chandran, whose newest novel is a gritty thriller set in Colombo, 10-time Walkley Award-winning investigative journalist Kate McClymont and international bestseller and Diamond Dagger Award winner Ian Rankin (pictured) each have a lifetime of mysteries under their belt. Join them to question the line between truth and fiction and interrogate the ethics of telling crime stories and exploring the search for justice.

Friday, 23 May, 6pm, Carriageworks, $35-$45. Ian Rankin will also appear in conversation with Michael Williams, Saturday 24 May, 4pm, Carriageworks, $35-$45

Vanish

Shelley Burr

Lane Holland’s crimesolving career ended the day he went to prison. Yet one unsolved case continues to haunt him: the disappearance of Matilda Carver two decades ago. Against the odds, Lane finds a lead – a mysterious farm community where Matilda lived briefly, led by the enigmatic Samuel Karpathy. The farm attracts lost souls. People looking for answers. People hiding from their pasts. People who have nowhere else to go. But some of those who go to the farm seem to vanish without a trace. Vanish is a chilling thriller inspired by a real-life criminal case.

$35, Hachette. Out April

The Deadly Dispute: A Tea Ladies Mystery

Amanda Hampson

Murder and mystery, nostalgia and history, and plenty of tea and biscuits.

$35, Penguin. Out April

The Unquiet Grave

Dervla McTiernan

For years the boglands of Northern Europe have given up bodies of the long-deceased. When a corpse is found in a bog in Galway, Cormac Reilly assumes the find is historical. But the boy belongs to local man Thaddeus Grey, who disappeared two years before. There’s nothing in Grey’s past that would explain why he was murdered, or why his body was mutilated in a ritual manner. Within hours of an arrest, another mutilated body is found. Two days later, a third is discovered. Has Cormac been on the wrong trail? And if so, can he find the murderer before they strike again?

$35, HarperCollins. Out April

No One Was Supposed to Die at this Wedding

Catherine Mack

Eleanor Dash must solve a murder at the destination wedding to die for.

$35, Macmillan. Out May

Marble Hall Murders

Anthony Horowitz

Susan Ryeland has had enough of murder. She’s edited two novels about the famous detective, Atticus Pünd, and both times she’s come close to being killed. Now she’s been persuaded to work on a third. The new “continuation” novel is by Eliot Crace, grandson of children’s author Miriam Crace. Eliot believes Miriam was deliberately poisoned and tells Susan he has hidden the killer’s identity inside his book. As she works on the novel she uncovers more and more parallels between the past and the present – until suddenly she finds that she has become a target herself.

$35, Century. Out Now

Murder at Mount Fuji

Shizuko Natsuki

When American student Jane Prescott is invited to spend the holidays with her classmate Chiyo, she jumps at the chance to see in the new year at a luxurious mansion at the foot of Mount Fuji. With Chiyo’s whole Wada family gathered and snow falling outside, the festivities are in full swing. That is, until Chiyo bursts into the room – covered in blood, holding a knife, and screaming that she has stabbed her grandfather to death. A rediscovered classic mystery from Japan’s queen of crime.

$35, Hutchinson Heinemann. Out May

Burning Mountain

Darcy Tindale

In 2006, 15-year-old Oliver vanished while hiking Burning Mountain with four friends. Twenty years later, Detective Rebecca Giles is called to nearby Mount Wingen where a skull has been discovered, reigniting the mystery. Giles believes they’ve found Oliver and that his friends have concealed information, but when she discusses the case with her father, retired Superintendent Benjamin Giles, another suspect is thrown into the mix. One that for Giles is uncomfortably close to home. $35, Penguin. Out April

Death At The White Hart

Chris Chibnall

When Detective Nicola Bridge moves back to Dorset from the big city, the last thing she expects is for the picturesque village of Fleetcombe to become a grisly crime scene. Jim Tiernan, pub landlord, is dead, the body staged with macabre relish on an isolated country road. Nicola soon realises everyone in the village has something to hide. And somewhere among them, a killer hiding in plain sight. Because sometimes the smallest villages hide the darkest secrets. The gripping debut crime novel from the creator of TV series Broadchurch

$35, Michael Joseph. Out April

Murder in the Dressing Room

Holly Stars

By day, shy accountant Joe hides behind their desk and plays by the rules. By night, Joe takes to the stage as Misty Divine, a star of the London drag scene. But when Misty’s mentor, Lady Lady, is found dead in her dressing room, Misty finds herself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Because Lady Lady was murdered – and Misty and her fellow performers quickly become prime suspects. Heartbroken by the loss, and frustrated by the biases of the police, Joe is determined to uncover the killer in their midst. But what can they, a mere accountant, possibly do?

$35, Michael Joseph. Out April

This Is Not a Game

Kelly Mullen

Two unlikely detectives. A killer cocktail of suspects.

$35, Century. Out June

Our Last Wild Days

Anna Bailey

A stunning, evocative novel set against the haunting beauty of southern Louisiana.

$35, Doubleday. Out April

We’re Not Us Without You

Christine Keighery

High school friends Lani, Tinker, Maya and Stig were inseparable until an unthinkable act shook the group. Now in their 30s, three of the friends are still close while Stig has disappeared completely, unable to face what happened in high school. As her wedding approaches, Lani is determined to bring the group back together. This leads them to a spiritual retreat where Stig has been living off-the-grid, and to Stig’s enigmatic partner – or leader – Acharya. Is it too late to save Stig from himself? And will bringing him back into the fold threaten the silence that has been keeping them safe all these years?

$35, Ultimo. Out April

Silver Elite

Dani Francis

Wren Darlington is a 20-year-old Mod with extraordinary powers. On the Continent, Mods are hunted by Primes – those immune to the biotoxin that gave Mods their abilities. Wren has always kept a low profile, but a mistake forces her to join the military’s elite Silver Block program. This gives her a chance to fight the Primes from within. Wren must conceal her powers and survive training under Cross Redden, her attractive commanding officer. As war rages, Wren must decide how far she’ll go to protect herself and the Continent.

$35, Del Rey. Out May

Luminous

Silvia Park

Siblings Jun and Morgan Cho haven’t spoken to each other in several years. The children of a celebrated robot designer, both are still grieving the loss of their brother Yoyo, the earliest prototype for what humanoid robots have now become – nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. When a strange disappearance thrusts the siblings back together, neither of them realises that the investigation will not only force them to confront their fractured family’s past, but will also bring them back to Yoyo himself. A thrilling page-turner and a heartfelt story of the ties between siblings.

$33, Oneworld. Out April

The Morrigan

Kim Curran

From an ancient, stormtossed sea, a tribe of gods reaches the rocky shores of Ireland. Among them, a strange, hungry, red-haired girl. A girl who can change shape, from bird to beast to goddess. A girl who dreams of battle, of blood, of death and power. She does not know yet that her journey will take a thousand years. That her name will be remembered for a thousand more. This is an ambitious debut retelling of the Irish mythic figure of the Morrigan, Ireland’s captivating goddess of war, power and fury.

$35, Michael Joseph. Out May

Letters to Our Robot Son

Cadance Bell

Arto wakes up in a desolate world devoid of humanity – he’s a robot, he knows that much – but he has no memory of how he got here. With a mysterious letter and a cheeky kitten as his only companion, he embarks on a quest to understand his existence. As Arto navigates this unfamiliar landscape, he stumbles upon a cantankerous robot who claims to be his sister. And that’s a problem, because she might be the reason there are no more people. An unexpected story of life, family, hope, and redemption – at the end of the world (maybe).

$35, Ultimo. Out April

PICTURE BOOKS

Tubowgule

Melissa-Jane Fogarty, illus. Dylan Finney

The Sydney Opera House is an Australian icon and a building recognised all around the world, but the land on which it stands has a long history. We step back in time to when Tubowgule was a ceremonial place for the Gadigal people and follow along as the land is claimed by the colonisers and then takes on various forms and uses before it comes back around again as a place to gather and share song, dance and culture.

$25, Lothian. Out March

Grandmother from the East, Grandmother from the West

Jacinta Liu, illus. Freda Chiu

I have two grandmothers.

One with brown eyes, and one with blue eyes. One makes dumplings, and one bakes bread.

They are my grandmothers.

One lives in the East, and one lives in the West.

This is a joyous celebration of multicultural identity and the many ways our grandparents shape who we are.

$25, Lothian. Out March

Epic Illustrator Battle

A bunch of uber-talented illustrators are flung together in a ferocious battle of skills as we determine the 2025 illustrator champion of champions. This fun-filled battle is hosted by R.A. Spratt (Nanny Piggins features David Conley (That Book About Greek Mythology Volumes 1 and 2), Jade Goodwin (Little Ash), Kylie Howarth (Kev and Trev and Andrew Joyner (Detective Galileo). Can they create masterpieces in a limited amount of time or will they buckle under the pressure? Warning: may contain creative meltdowns. Ages 3+

Sunday 25 May, 3pm, Carriageworks, free

Mr Wizard’s Magic Presents

Nick Sharratt

It’s Mr Wizard’s birthday and all of his magical friends have come to visit. Each one has brought him a special present, but what’s inside? Open the flap on each spread to unwrap his gifts in one of two different ways that will transform his presents and surprise him with either a lovely treat or a mischievous trick! Will it be a mug that turns into a slug? Or snapping crocs that turn into snazzy socks?

$20, Walker. Out April

The Train at the End of My Street

Tom Jellett

$23, Affirm. Out April

Don’t Trust Fish

Neil Sharpson, illus. Dan Santat

$20, Penguin. Out April

Letters to a Monster

Patricia Forde

It’s a dark and stormy night, and Sophie knows that there is a monster hiding under her bed. So, like any sensible child, she decides to send him a letter. But as the letters fly back and forth, she begins to wonder if Monster isn’t as scary as she thought. What if he’s the friend she’s been looking for all along?

$17, Bloomsbury. Out April

One Day

Shirley Marr, illus. Micheal Speechley Early one morning, a mayfly takes flight. Her one day is the day, and is a day filled with possibility. There are things to see, places to go, and friends to meet. Mayfly makes the most of every single moment, marvelling at what her life has to offer. Awardwinning creators Shirley Marr and Michael Speechley have crafted a story that inspires us to look at things differently, to live life to the fullest, and to seize the day, every day. $28, Walker. Out April

Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob

Huw Aaron

It’s time to go to bed, and whether you are a phantom, a vampire, a Dark Lord or a yeti, you still must brush your teeth, put on your pyjamas, and settle down with a cosy story. Full of warmth and humour (and slime!), this rhyming bedtime book will disgust and delight sleepy little monsters everywhere.

$17, Puffin. Out April

My Mum Is a Bird

Angie Cui, illus. Evie Barrow

$25, UQP. Out April

R.A. Spratt. Picture: Ashley Mackevicius

GRAPHIC NOVELS

Wizard of Earthsea

Ursula Le Guin, illus. Fred Fordham

Ursula Le Guin’s classic 1971 children’s fantasy novel follows the story of Ged, a poor smith’s son, who discovers a magical talent and is sent away from home to a wizard school where he summons a terrible shadow creature. Finally he seeks advice from his old master Ogion, who tells him to confront the creature rather than flee it. A stunning graphic novel edition of the classic fantasy adventure, with a foreword by Theo Downes-Le Guin.

$28, Walker. Out April

The Cartoonists Club

Rain Telgemeier

Makayla is bursting with ideas but doesn’t know how to make them into a story. Howard loves to draw, but he struggles to come up with ideas, Lynda constantly draws in her sketchbook but keeps focusing on what she feels are her mistakes, and Art simply loves being creative and is excited to try something new. They come together to form The Cartoonists Club, where kids can learn about making comics and use their creativity and imagination for their own storytelling adventures!

$20, Scholastic. Out April

ALSO OUT

Poetry

A Boat of Stars

Ed. Natalie Jane Prior and Margaret Connolly

$30, ABC. Out April

GLEEBOOKS BOOK CLUB

Calling all bookworms: we want to hear about your favourite reads! We’d love to feature more of our wonderful book clubbers in our Gleaner magazine. So if you’ve got a book you’d like to review or if you want to write about an author that’s visiting, send us an email at rachel@ gleebooks.com.au. We have exciting giveaways waiting for you!

EARLY FICTION

Something Terrible series Tim Tie-your-shoelaces Becky Brush-your-hair

Sally Barton, illus. Christopher Nielsen

“Something terrible will happen” if Tim Mulligan doesn’t tie his shoelaces, his mum tells him. “Something terrible will happen” if Becky doesn’t brush her hair, her mum tells her. These are the stories of the “something terrible” that did. Paul Jennings meets the Treehouse in this hilarious new series of cautionary tales. $16 each, Walker. Out April

Hairbrain Saves the Ocean

Danny Katz, illus. Mitch Vane

Hairbrain has lots of ideas. Unfortunately, Hairbrain’s ideas are a bit ... hairbrained. Even the good ones. Like her massively brainy plan to clean up pollution and help save the whole world (and her school holidays). (Which is obviously not as important as saving the world.) (But she just wants you to know.) New junior fiction from the muchloved creators of Little Lunch

$16, Walker. Out May

YOUNG ADULT

90 Packets of Instant Noodles

Deb Fitzpatrick

Joel and Craggs are in it together. They drink together, they flirt with petty theft together and, when Craggs turns violent, they face the consequences together too. That’s until Joel’s dad makes a deal with the police. Craggs is off to juvenile detention and Joel to solitary confinement – 90 days of fending for himself in a remote bush shack with no radio, telephone or fridge. Miles from anywhere, Joel starts to like his own company, until one day the past tracks him down. Deb Fitzpatrick’s poignant YA novel speaks across generations about the challenges of being a teenager.

$23, Fremantle. Out May

The Glittering Edge

Alyssa Villaire

For as long as anyone can remember, the De Luca witches and the wealthy Barrion family have been sworn enemies. Ever since the curse that changed their fates forever. Now, if a Barrion falls in love with you, you’ll die. But when Penny Emberly’s mother becomes the curse’s latest victim, she must bring together two bitter rivals, Alonso and Corey, in order to save her mum’s life and stop the feud for good. An unputdownable gothic contemporary fantasy with feuding families, dark magic and a strategic love story.

$20, Penguin. Out May

The Other Girl

Emily Barr

Two girls meet on a train journey. One of them – privileged, chaotic – is heading to an exclusive Swiss rehab centre following months of partying and living wildly. The other – who couldn’t be more different – is down to her last penny, running away. When they get off the train they are both pretending to be the other. Just for a short period, of course. Just until the rehab stint is over. A brilliant YA thriller from the author of The One Memory of Flora Banks.

$20, Penguin. Out May

How to Train Your Dragon School #1

Cressida Cowell

Join Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third and his dragons, Toothless and Windwalker, in their hilarious, hair-raising adventures at the Isle of Berk’s Training School for Vikings and Dragons. Where they are bottom in pretty much everything. Packed with illustrations, action and a highly accessible text, this series is perfect for developing readers, and the millions of How to Train Your Dragon fans worldwide.

$17, Hodder. Out May

A Killing at the Box Office

Paul Westmoreland

Arlo Banks has always wanted to be a detective. And when he solves a fiendish puzzle in The Times, he might just get his chance. The reward for solving the puzzle is a trip of a lifetime – a journey on the famous Orient Express. But now Arlo faces more puzzles, and more mysteries. You choose what path you take, what puzzles you solve – and what answers you take to help you solve a murder. Your choices could take you to the killer – or lead to a more unfortunate fate.

$20, Puffin. Out May

Villain

Adrian Beck

Gaming fanatic Jay receives a strange phone call on a school trip to Titanium Tower. The voice on the other end calls himself Z. And he has trapped Jay’s classmates in the elevator at the very top of the skyscraper. Jay finds himself with no choice but to try and solve Z’s deadly riddles. And he has the worst person possible helping him: Hudson Hamm, the school’s star athlete and resident tough guy. Can they team up to beat Z at his own game?

$18, Scholastic. Out May

Willow Bright’s Secret Plot

A.L. Tait

After moving to the city from the country, Willow Bright feels like she’s lost her mum all over again – and landed on another planet. Her clothes are wrong, her taste in music is wrong, and even the food she eats is wrong. But when Willow spots a pattern in a series of puzzling accidents and mishaps, she forms an unlikely friendship – and finds new purpose. Can Willow solve the mystery and find room to be herself along the way?

A middle-grade story about growing up, grief, finding your place in the world and the restorative benefits of nature.

$16, Scholastic. Out May

Silverborn: Nevermoor #4

Jessica Townsend

When Morrigan is invited into Nevermoor’s wealthy Silver District, she discovers a world of extravagance and a family mystery she’s eager to unravel. She could never imagine where it would lead: a white wedding, a golden dragon and a red pool of blood. Embroiled in suspicion and danger, Morrigan leaps headfirst into a murder investigation, while also grappling with her ever-growing Wundersmith powers. Jessica Townsend weaves a spellbinding tale of magic and mystery in this thrilling new installment of the Nevermoor series.

$19, Lothian. Out April

NONFICTION

Quarks, Sparks and Quantum Mysteries

Lisa Harvey Smith

Meet the invisible forces that guide everything from the smallest particles to the shape of the cosmos. Blow your mind with theories of space and time. Travel through the galaxies to discover black holes, gravitational waves, strange stars and so much more, with Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith and her trusted guinea pig guide, Biscuit.

$27, Thames & Hudson. Out April

Can You Get Music on the Moon?

Dr Sheila Kanani, illus. Liz Kay

Join Dr Sheila Kanani on a fascinating exploration of the world of sound and space science! You’ll start with the sound technology we use every day, then explore the natural world, including animal noises, thunder and earthquakes, before jetting off into space to discover what sound might be like on other planets. And yes, you’ll even find out whether it’s possible to get music on the moon!

$33, Puffin. Out April

The Glasshouse

Hélène Druvert

Holly loves to wander the city streets, collecting fallen leaves and stray flowers, tiny treasures that bring a spot of brightness to her life. But one day she stumbles upon the biggest treasure of all, an amazing forgotten place bursting with life and colour that might change her grey world forever. This gorgeous, large-format book is filled with intricate lasercuts and glorious images.

$35, Thames & Hudson. Out April

ALSO OUT

Alice Peel, illus. Beck Feiner

$28, NewSouth. Out April

The Dully Dispatch

The weather is finally cooling off a bit and (when you’re not busy knitting) it’s very good weather for reading. For this month’s dispatch, Letitia is handing the baton to the stellar team of booksellers at Dulwich Hill. Aren’t they the best? There really is something here for every reader.

Dasha already has a frontrunner for her favourite read of the year with The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (author of the much-loved Pet). The novel is set in an alternate England in 1979 and follows the lives of identical triplets who grow up in a government-funded care home under close supervision. Their lives appear eerily perfect but, as the government decides to shut down the home, the boys gradually uncover disturbing truths about the world around them. Chidgey’s writing is wonderfully crafted and this compelling and unsettling novel is simply brilliant.

Ruby’s pick of the month is Hungerstone by Kat Dunn. The appearance of a mysterious woman leads Lenore down a path of desire, revenge and an insatiable hunger for more. Set during the Industrial Revolution, this suspenseful story has gothic undertones reminiscent of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier … but with a vampiric element. Amid the atmospheric narrative is a commentary on class inequalities and the role of women at the time. Multiple mysteries combine seamlessly to create a hauntingly beautiful read that Ruby absolutely loved.

Attention fantasy readers: Arwen recommends you dive into the second instalment in the Castellane Chronicles, The Ragpicker King by Cassandra Clare. This is an alarmingly engaging read, with even more political machinations for Arwen’s courtly little heart! A tumult of emotion, betrayal and magic, The Ragpicker King dives deeper into the intrigue of Castellane and its neighbours, with beloved characters proving again and again that all is not what it seems. The good is never just good and love cuts close to the spine, so be prepared for tricks and for treachery, for fire and for blood!

Lachlan is delighted to see the return of beloved character Cormac Reilly of the Galway police in Dervla McTiernan’s new thriller, The Unquiet Grave. This time he’s investigating a body uncovered in a peat bog and navigating complicated relationships with his team and his ex-wife. With McTiernan, you know you’re in the hands of a master. Lachlan’s also looking forward to the return of Gus Hawkins in Skull River, the follow-up to Pip Fioretti’s fantastic historical outback procedural, Bone Lands. And he’ll read anything James Bradley puts his hands to. Bradley’s new book Landfall is a near-future crime novel set in a drowned and steaming Sydney scarily transformed by climate change.

Koko has recently delved into the wonders of sapphic literature. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024) is a mesmerising tale of obsession and desire. Set in post-WWII Netherlands, it immerses readers in the regimented life of Isabel, whose world is upended when her brother’s new girlfriend arrives. Moving forward in time, A Language of Limbs by Dylin Hardcastle offers a poetic exploration of love, loss and growth over three decades. Raw, heartbreaking and beautiful, it is a deeply moving and memorable tribute to Australia’s queer community. Lastly, Koko stepped into the future with Fable for the End of the World, a gripping dystopian novel that may be Ava Reid’s finest work yet. Following a hunter and a hunted as they

struggle within the constraints of their vastly different worlds, this masterful novel tackles themes of governance, climate change and bodily autonomy; all while weaving an unforgettable love story.

Meanwhile, Soren highly recommends Stag Dance by Torrey Peters (the author of Detransition, Baby). It consists of four novellas that are fantastic and innovative trans storytelling. “I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like it,” says Soren.

Renee recommends you read The Place of Tides by James Rebanks; a captivating piece of travel writing, nature writing and memoir wrapped up in a book about eider ducks and the woman who tends them on a remote Norwegian island. Beautiful, slow and unexpectedly fascinating. Meanwhile, Curtis Sittenfeld is in fine form with the short stories in her latest book Show Don’t Tell. This collection had Renee longing for each story to be expanded into a novel. Renee loves it when the tables are turned and customers give booksellers excellent recommendations. Australian Gospel, a memoir that reads more like a page-turning novel, is proof that truth is stranger than fiction. Read it and then book tickets to see author Lech Blaine at this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival.

And speaking of Renee, Storytime has returned to Gleebooks Dulwich Hill! Storytime@Dully is 10am every Thursday. Singing, dancing, stories and more. It’s wholesome fun for little ones and their big people. See you there!

The Dully Crew

Follow us on instagram @gleebooks_dulwich

Renee gets ready for storytime.

Forty Days in the Jungle

Mat Youkee

In June 2023, four Indigenous children were found alive in the Colombian Amazon, 40 days after the light aircraft they had been travelling in crashed into deep jungle, killing the three adults on board. Forty Days in the Jungle tells the story of how the eldest child kept her siblings safe and fed during their time in the wilderness. It follows the battle-hardened soldiers and the brave Indigenous volunteers who undertook the search operation. And it delves into the Indigenous mythology that was central to the drama and made it a rescue mission unlike any other.

$37, Scribe. Out April

The Good Daughter

Kumi Taguchi

Growing up, Kumi Taguchi thought her father was merely distant: reserved, obsessively frugal and – after her parents’ divorce – almost entirely missing. But just because a parent has gone doesn’t mean they’re absent. Over time Kumi came to understand more about what made her father as he was, including his experiences as a child in wartime Japan. In a beautifully crafted memoir of captivating emotional honesty, the SBS Insight host sets out to understand the father she never really knew, and – along the way – herself.

$35, Scribner. Out April

Unsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place

Kate Grenville

After the success of her two best known works, The Secret River, adapted for stage and television, and Dolly Maunder, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Kate Grenville is still grappling with what it means to be a descendant of colonisation in Australia. In her new work Unsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place her family’s history, placing First Peoples in the same picture.

$37, Black Inc. Out April

Thursday, 22 May, 10am, Carriageworks, $35-$40. Kate also discusses her classic novel The Secret River, Wednesday 21 May, State Library of NSW, free.

The Next Day

Melinda

French Gates

In this deeply personal book, Melinda French Gates writes about the joyful upheaval of becoming a parent, the death of a close friend, her life after divorce, and her departure from the Gates Foundation. Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, the stories she tells illuminate universal lessons about loosening the bonds of perfectionism, helping friends through times of crisis, trusting your inner voice, and more. With her signature warmth and grace, Melinda empowers readers to make the most of the space between an ending and a beginning and find the courage and confidence to embrace a new day.

$37, Macmillan. Out April

Chopping Onions on My Heart

Samantha Ellis Samantha’s mother tongue, Judeo-Iraqi Arabic, is dying out. This realisation leads her on a journey to preserve her culture and pass it on to her son. Through encounters with demon bowls, kohl, and fusion food, she explores the complexities of cultural preservation and the balance between holding on and letting go. This memoir is a testament to resilience and the healing power of ancestral traditions.

$37, Chatto & Windus. Out April

The Loves of My Life

Edmund White

With his trademark wit, candour and relentlessly perceptive eye, Edmund White delves unflinchingly into the aspect of his life which has inspired so many of his masterpieces: sex. White documents everything from covert fumblings in the repressed American Midwest of the 1950s to the Arcadian gay debauchery of New York in the 1970s; through the terror of HIV and the age of sex on the apps, The Loves of My Life is unyieldingly honest, outrageously raucous and arrestingly touching.

$40, Bloomsbury. Out April

Till Death Do Us Part

Lauren Zonfrillo

In this deeply personal and heartfelt memoir, Lauren Zonfrillo details her journey through grief after the sudden and public loss of her husband, Jock – chef, restaurateur and MasterChef Australia judge. Thrust into the role of a solo parent, with the overwhelming task of guiding her young children through their grief while managing her own, Lauren has also had to navigate the weight of public expectations and intense media scrutiny. Part memoir, part handbook for grief, with a love story at its core, Till Death Do Us Part is a powerful and unputdownable read.

$37, Penguin. Out May

BIOGRAPHY

Surreal

Michele Gerber Klein

Using previously undiscovered material, Surreal tells the riveting story of Gala Dali, who broke away from her cultured but penurious background in pre-Revolutionary Russia to live in Paris with both France’s most famous poet, Paul Eluard, and artist Max Ernst. By the time she met the budding artist Salvador Dali in 1929, Gala was known as the Mother of Surrealism. In this vivid, detailed rendering, Michele Gerber Klein reveals a charismatic figure who played a pivotal role in the art world, yet never received the full recognition she deserves.

$35, Virago. Out April

Hear Me Roar

Erna Walraven

In the early 1980s, when Erna Walraven decided to follow her dreams and become one of the first female zookeepers in Australia, she thought her biggest challenges would be feeding big cats and subduing irate gorillas. In fact, it was her male colleagues who made work miserable, harassing and humiliating her for doing a “man’s job”. In this insightful and delightful book, Erna blends memoir and pop science to tell a fiercely female story. She recounts a life spent caring for animals and dives into scientific evidence and evolutionary history to debunk the myths that once held her back.

$35, Affirm Press. Out April

Frog

Sally Gould

“Frog”, a term of endearment for intensive care paramedics, derives from the notion that everything they touch croaks. But behind the sirens and the life-or-death scenes, and the absurdity of non-urgent callouts, a paramedic’s career is very different to the way most people imagine it. Based on years of meticulously kept journals, Frog is an intimate look at the human cost of the job and the cumulative effect of trauma. It is a gripping and heartfelt memoir that dives into the unpredictable, often absurd, and sometimes heartbreaking reality of life as a paramedic.

$37, Simon & Schuster. Out April

Always Home, Always Homesick

Hannah Kent

In 2003, 17-year-old Australian exchange student Hannah Kent arrives at Keflavík Airport in the middle of the Icelandic winter. That night she sleeps off her jet lag and bewilderment in the National Archives of Iceland, unaware that, years later, she will return to the same building to write Burial Rites, the haunting story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the last woman executed in Iceland. Always Home, Always Homesick is an exquisite love letter to a land that has forged a nation of storytellers and an ode to the transcendent power of creativity. $37, Picador. Out April

Thursday 22 May, 1pm, Carriageworks, $20-$30

A Memoir of Freedom

Cheng Lei

Journalist Cheng Lei’s memoir is a powerful and harrowing account of her three-year ordeal in China that began with her arrest in August 2020. This is vivid and brave writing that offers a rare glimpse into China’s ultra-secret state-security prisons and what it takes to survive such incarceration with your humanity intact. Harrowing, fierce and occasionally darkly humorous, A Memoir of Freedom is about the power of the human spirit and bravery in the face of cruelty and pettiness.

$36, HarperCollins. Out June

Desire Paths

Megan Clement In 2020, as the world is closing its borders, journalist Megan Clement races to be with her father, who is dying on the other side of the world. Trapped in hotel quarantine in Melbourne, she reflects on what it means to be a naturalised Australian – both immigrant to and emigrant from her adopted country – and on a life lived between Stoke-on-Trent, Harare, Melbourne, London and Paris. This is a story about who gets to cross borders, and what Australia’s obsession with its own frontiers means for those on either side.

$37, Ultimo. Out April

ALSO OUT

Pathemata

Maggie Nelson

A dreamlike exploration of the body and mind’s struggle to connect amid chronic pain.

$30, Fern. Out May

All of It

Brooke Boney

A collection of witty and heartfelt essays about love, loss and ambition.

$35, Joan. Out April

Nell, The Duchess of Manchester

Robert Wainwright

The forgotten story of Australia’s only duchess.

$35, Allen & Unwin. Out April

HISTORY

A Bunker in Kyiv

John Lyons

As Ukraine’s long-term future captures the focus of global leaders in Russia, Europe and the US, ABC global affairs editor John Lyons takes readers into the heart of a nation under siege. He interviews Ukrainians who stand tall in the face of an increasingly brutal conflict and an uncertain future. These are the stories of ordinary civilians making extraordinary contributions, determined to fight back in every way possible to ensure the survival of themselves, their families, and the soul of their nation.

$35, ABC Books. Out April

Mythica

Emily Hauser

Award-winning classicist, ancient historian and author Emily Hauser takes readers on an epic journey through the latest archaeological discoveries and DNA secrets of the Aegean Bronze Age, as she uncovers the astonishing true story of the real women behind ancient Greece’s greatest legends – and the real heroes of those ancient epics, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey $37, Doubleday. Out April

Everything Is Tuberculosis

John Green

Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticised as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it. In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, along with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world, and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

$37, Ebury. Out March

The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz

Anne Sebba

In 1943, German SS officers in charge of Auschwitz-Birkenau ordered female prisoners to form an orchestra. Almost 50 women and girls from 11 nations were assembled to play marching music to other inmates –forced labourers who left each morning and returned, exhausted and often broken, at the end of the day – and give weekly concerts for Nazi officers. For almost all of the musicians chosen to take part, being in the orchestra was to save their lives. In The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz, award-winning historian Anne Sebba tells their astonishing story.

$35, W&N. Out March

38 Londres Street

Philippe Sands

On the run from justice at the end of WW2, Nazi SS officer Walter Rauff settles in Punta Arenas, Patagonia, but there are whispers about this discreet and self-possessed German – rumours of a second career with Augusto Pinochet’s secret intelligence service, the dreaded DINA. In 38 Londres Street Philippe Sands blends personal memoir, historical detective work and gripping courtroom drama to probe a secret double story of mass murder, one that reveals a shocking thread that links the horrors of the 1940s with those of our own times.

$35, W&N. Out April

Holding Up the Mirror with Philippe Sands, Sam Selinger-Morris and Michael Gawenda, Friday 23 May, 10am, Carriageworks, $30-$35

Sword

Max Hastings

On 6 June 1944, when the allied armies landed on D-Day, WW2 had already lasted almost five years. Yet many of the British and American troops who invaded Normandy were virgin soldiers, never before committed to battle. In Sword, Max Hastings explores with extraordinary vividness the actions of the Commando brigade, Montgomery’s 3rd Infantry and 6th Airborne divisions on and around a single British beach. He describes their frustrations, hopes, loves and fears through the apparently interminable years training and preparing in England, and their triumphs and tragedies on the beach and beyond.

$40, HarperCollins. Out May

Motherland

Luke Pepera

Motherland is a ground-breaking exploration of African culture and identity, told via Luke Pepera’s journey through 500,000 years of history to connect with his extraordinary heritage. Pepera explores aspects of African identity from nomadic culture to matriarchal society. We meet an array of intriguing characters including Mansa Musa, the wealthiest man who ever lived, and the Kandake Queen Amanirenas, who defeated the Romans in Nubia. We learn how the response to the actor Chadwick Boseman’s death demonstrated Yoruba beliefs about ancestral veneration, and how the rap battle evolved from earlier forms of African oral literature.

$35, W&N. Out April

Picture: Christian André Strand

The Southern Frontier

Rohan Howitt

Antarctica looms large in the Australian psyche – as a place of science, adventure and peril. Our romantic entanglement with this unique environment is deep and enduring. The Southern Frontier: Australia, Antarctica and Empire in the Southern Ocean World 1815-1947 reconstructs Australian ideas, beliefs and anxieties about the Antarctic and shows how Australians came to imagine their nation as having a natural right – perhaps even a destiny – to explore, exploit and control the world to their south. $40, Melbourne University. Out May

No Power Greater

Liam Byrne

Unions are making a comeback. Labour disputes around the world have hit the headlines as unions take action to challenge inequality. But while media coverage has increased, understanding of unions has not. In this lively history of Australian unionism, Liam Byrne seeks to illuminate what unionism means, exploring why successive generations of working people organised unions and nurtured them for future generations. No Power Greater is the compelling story of the acts of rebellion and solidarity that have shaped Australia’s past and shows that unions are far from history. $35, Melbourne University. Out May

History

Four Red Sweaters

Lucy Adlington

From the author of The Dressmakers of Auschwitz

$37, Ultimo. Out April

Environment

Hope Dies Last

Alan Weisman

Weisman reflects on the world’s future, now that we have passed the climate change point of no return.

$37, Witness. Out April

The Shortest History of France

Colin Jones

France is the most popular tourist destination in the world, thanks to its unsurpassed cultural and historical riches. Rarely, however, do we think of France as a melting pot, but historian Colin Jones asserts it’s no less a melange of foreign ingredients than the US. As nationalism and anti-immigration rhetoric surge in France (and elsewhere), The Shortest History of France presents a portrait of a nation whose politics and society have always been shaped by global forces.

$28, Black Inc. Out April

The Shortest History of AI

Toby Walsh

Since Alan Turing first posed the question “Can machines think?”, artificial intelligence has evolved from a speculative idea to a transformative force. The Shortest History of AI traces this evolution, from Ada Lovelace’s visionary work to IBM’s groundbreaking defeat of the chess world champion and the revolutionary emergence of ChatGPT. Revealing how many “overnight” successes were decades in the making, this accessible and illuminating book simplifies AI into six key ideas, equipping readers to understand where we’ve been – and where we’re headed.

$28, Black Inc. Out April

Thursday 22 May, 11am, Carriageworks, free and The Art and Science of AI, with Jeanette Winterson, Wednesday 21 May, 6pm, Carriageworks, $35-$45

POLITICS

After America: Vantage Point Issue 1

Emma

Shortis

Dr Emma Shortis draws on her longstanding research on America’s place in the world, her discussions with some of Australia’s most prominent policy-makers and commentators and her experience in America in the final days of the election campaign, to develop a picture of how the world is changing with a second Trump presidency and what choices Australia has in determining its own future.

$20, Australia Institute. Out April

Find Me at the Jaffa Gate

Micaela Sahhar

What does the daughter of a Nakba survivor inherit? It is not property or tangible heirlooms, nor the streets and neighbourhoods of a father’s childhood and the deep roots of family who have lived in one place, Jerusalem, for generation upon generation. Fixing her gaze on moments, places and objects – from the streets of Bethlehem to the Palestinian neighbourhoods of the New Jerusalem – Micaela Sahhar assembles a story of Palestinian diaspora.

$35, NewSouth. Out May

Perfect Victims

Mohammed El-Kurd

Palestine is a microcosm of the world: on fire, stubborn, fragmented, dignified. While a settler colonial state continues to inflict devastating violence, fundamental truths are deliberately obscured: the perpetrators are coddled while the victims are blamed and placed on trial. How we see Palestine reveals how we see each other; how we see everything else. Masterfully combining candid testimony, history, and reportage, Perfect Victims presents a powerfully simple demand: dignity for the Palestinian. $28, Haymarket. Out June

ABORIGINAL STUDIES

Uprising

Stephen Gapps

The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance ended in 1824 with massacres conducted by settlers in the Bathurst region. From the 1830s, colonists began occupying more and more Aboriginal land across western NSW and stocking it with sheep and cattle. By 1838, a dramatic fightback had begun across the entire frontier of the colony. What has been called the Second Wiradyuri War of Resistance, from 1839 to 1841, was, in fact, part of a vast arc of conflict from present-day northern Victoria through to southeast Queensland. In Uprising, Stephen Gapps reveals the incredible story of this extensive frontier resistance warfare for the first time.

$37, NewSouth. Out April

Fearless Beatrice Faust

Judith Brett

Fearless Beatrice Faust is a fascinating biography of the feminist political activist, a controversial writer on sex and gender, founder of the Women’s Electoral Lobby and campaigner for abortion-law reform from the 1960s to 1990s. It celebrates, explains and questions her struggle to change both herself and her world. Drawing on public records and private writings, awardwinning biographer Judith Brett creates a compelling and psychologically nuanced portrait of a gifted, argumentative woman who refused to be a victim.

$37, Text. Out April

MYTHOLOGY

Australia’s Agricultural Identity

Joshua Gilbert

Josh seeks to provide a new understanding that Australians, as a nation of farmers and land managers, need to develop our agricultural system into one where Indigenous and Western knowledges converge.

One where we acknowledge the realities of Australia’s farming heritage, both positive and negative, and find ways to feed our population while caring for Country and ensuring the livelihood of Australia’s farming towns. He explores what it means to be an Aboriginal person today, what it means to be a farmer and even what it means to say you are Australian.

$37, Penguin. Out May

Girl on Girl

Sophie Gilbert

In this blazing, razorsharp takedown of popular culture in the 21st century, Girl on Girl turns 90s and 00s nostalgia on its head, and shows how the media of that era repackaged the feminist movement as a containable, commodifiable (and hugely successful) product: “girl power”. From the Spice Girls to the Kardashians, to #GirlBoss and OnlyFans, Sophie Gilbert illustrates how the cultural forces of the last few decades have systematically shaped – and warped – women’s relationships with themselves and other women.

$35, John Murray. Out April

Monsterland

Nicholas Jubber

Nicholas Jubber goes on a journey to discover more about the monsters we’ve invented. His far-ranging adventure takes him across the world, from the thrones of giants in Cornwall, to the shrine of a beheaded ogre near Kyoto, and an 18-century Balkan vampire’s forest dwelling. On his travels, he discovers that the stories of the people and places that birthed them are just as fascinating as the creatures themselves. $38, Scribe. Out April

REFERENCE

Bookish Words & Their Surprising Stories

David Crystal

The world of books has played a striking role in the history of English vocabulary. Book itself is one of the oldest words in the language, originating from boc in Old English, and appears in many commonly used expressions today – by the book, bring to book and bookworm – to name a few. This anthology presents a selection of more than 100 words which shows the influence of writing, reading and publishing books on our everyday vocabulary over the centuries, telling the stories behind their linguistic origins, and uncovering some surprising twists in the development of their meaning through time.

$33, Bodleian Library. Out April

Proto

Laura Spinney

As the planet emerged from the last ice age, a language was born between Europe and Asia. This ancient tongue, which we call Proto-Indo-European, soon exploded out of its cradle, changing and fragmenting as it went, until its offspring were spoken from Scotland to China. How did this happen? Laura Spinney set out to answer that question, retracing the IndoEuropean odyssey across continents and millennia. Proto is a revelatory portrait of world history in its own words.

$37, HarperCollins. Out April

ALSO OUT

Feminism

Every Man

Dr Jackson Katz

Why violence against women is a men’s Issue, and how you can make a difference.

$25, Penguin. Out May

History

America, América

Greg Grandin

A sweeping five-century narrative of North and South America. $40, Torva. Out April

ENVIRONMENT

Human/Nature

Jane Rawson

Several years ago, Jane Rawson packed up her beloved innercity home and moved to the bush. Scared about what climate change would do to the big city, she found a new home in a cottage in the Huon Valley where she had to confront her uncomfortable relationship with the outdoors. If you’ve ever asked yourself whether humans are ruining nature, whether there’s a better way for us to belong, or whether it’s possible to love both the environment and your cat, you’re not alone. This exquisite book is for anyone who has ever wondered where they fit in the natural world.

$35, NewSouth. Out April

How to Survive the Next 100 Years

Simon Mustoe

Ecologist, artist, expedition leader and naturalist Simon Mustoe has tumbled in boats amid frigid north Atlantic storms, trekked solo into Madagascar’s remote dry forests, sailed the archipelagos of West Papua and as a teenager was helping to produce BBC nature documentaries. In How to Survive the Next 100 Years: Lessons from Nature, Mustoe reflects on the power of our relationship with animals and nature and the journey to rebuild a healthy, habitable planet.

$35, Wildiaries. Out May

ALSO OUT

Philosophy

Six Conversations

We’re Scared to Have

Deborah Frances-White

Comedian Deborah FrancesWhite explores ways to achieve progress in today’s screaming hellscape.

$35, Virago. Out April

Poetry

Barefoot Poetess

Paris Rosemont

Paris Rosemont’s followup collection to her highly acclaimed debut Banana Girl

$28, WestWords. Out April

Barrie Cassidy and Friends: state of the nation

What is the future of Australian politics? What are the failures of a twoparty system? How are voters resisting “politics as usual” during housing, cost of living and climate crises? What difference can we expect from this government? To discuss these questions, Barrie is joined by broadcaster and Walkley Award-winning journalist Waleed Aly, Prime Minister’s Literary Award-winning journalist George Megalogenis, The Australia Institute’s chief political analyst Amy Remeikis and Melbourne Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award winner Niki Savva.

Saturday 24 May, 6pm, Sydney Town Hall, $35-$60

HEALTH

Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine

David A. Kessler

Almost one in three Australians struggle with obesity and its related health conditions, including high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. In this groundbreaking book, Kessler explains how processed food has changed our brain chemistry, creating both an addiction to highly rewarding foods and compulsive cravings that cause us to eat more. Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine explains why maintaining weight loss is almost insurmountably difficult and what we can learn from addiction science and eating-disorder-recovery protocols to forge a new way forward.

$37, Text. Out May

Vaccine Nation

Raina MacIntyre

In Vaccine Nation, internationally acclaimed epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre examines the history of vaccines and how they work, vaccine safety, public policy, cutting-edge new technologies, and the miraculous new developments in vaccines to fight cancer and other chronic diseases. At a critical time when vaccination rates are falling globally, MacIntyre argues that science must reclaim the stage or we will lose centuries of gains that vaccines have brought to the world.

$35, NewSouth. Out May

The Ageless Brain

Dale Bredesen

Ask people what they fear most about ageing, and memory loss is likely to be top of their list. In The Ageless Brain, Bredesen shows us how brain ageing and neurological diseases are completely avoidable, regardless of our genes. Bringing together a lifetime of clinical work and research, you’ll find out the very best brain health strategies that can be put into action straight away, along with a comprehensive background on what the new science says about how to reverse and prevent cognitive decline.

$37, Vermilion. Out April

Addicted to Anxiety

Owen O’Kane

Anxiety is a normal and sometimes healthy process, but in a world that feels increasingly unsafe and unpredictable, many of us find ourselves in its grip far more than is comfortable or truly necessary. If you subconsciously believe that worrying or investing in your anxiety will keep you safe, it is easy to get unwittingly hooked on it. Addicted to Anxiety will help you understand anxiety from the perspective of addiction, identifying your triggers and learning how to break your habits and actively replace them with new, more productive behaviours. $37, Michael Joseph. Out May

We Can Do Hard Things

Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach & Amanda Doyle

In the span of a single year, Glennon was diagnosed with anorexia, her sister Amanda was diagnosed with breast cancer, and her wife, Abby’s, beloved brother died. They were all lost at the same time. So they turned toward the only thing that’s ever helped them find their way: deep, honest conversations with other brave, kind, wise people. They discovered that no matter what road you are walking down, someone else has traveled the same terrain. We Can Do Hard Things is a place to turn when you feel clueless and alone, or when you want wise company on the path of life.

$37, Vermilion. Out May

PHILOSOPHY

Immortal Gestures

Damon Young

A tilted head. A finger to the lips. A wave that could mean emphasis or dismissal. A raised palm of piety and fellowship. Our gestures do not simply point to our thoughts, they are our thoughts made flesh. They can be instinctive, intuitive, or calculated – or all three. They exist in the briefest moment, and through history and across whole nations.

Drawing from classical poetry and science fiction, heavy metal and ballet, Young sheds light on 13 curious gestures, illuminating our varied humanity from prehistory to today. $33, Scribe. Out April

Discriminations

A.C. Grayling

It seems like we can’t talk about anything nowadays. Whether it’s war or something utterly inconsequential, the internet is primed for furore. And the results can be horrifying – from online pile-ons and doxing to job loss and, in some cases, death. But how did we end up here? A.C. Grayling searches for middle ground in an otherwise incendiary debate. Looking at the history of cancellation, from Ancient Greek ostracism through hemlock cups, witch trials and the House on Un-American Activities, Discriminations is a timely examination of the state of our public culture and the chilling effect it is having on intellectual discourse.

$33, Oneworld. Out April

Saturday 24 May, noon, Carriageworks, $35-$45 and Thursday 22 May, 6pm, Phive, Parramatta, $10

Moral Ambition

Rutger Bregman

Rutger Bregman shows us that with moral ambition it is possible to be both idealistic and successful – and to change the world along the way. Looking to the great change-makers of history, he uncovers the qualities that made them so persuasive, influential and effective, and shows how we, too, can lend our talents to the biggest challenges of our time, from climate change to gross inequality to the next pandemic.

$35, Bloomsbury. Out April

Read Yourself Happy

Daisy Buchanan

In a hectic world that can feel uncertain and overwhelming, Daisy Buchanan offers the perfect antidote to all the noise, inviting us to discover the literary worlds that have helped her survive – and thrive. Featuring original interviews with David Nicholls, Ruby Rare, Emma Gannon, Catherine Gray and more, Daisy provides hard-won wisdom and personally curated reading lists to help you process your emotions and find more peace with every page.

$38, Dorling Kindersley. Out April

ALSO OUT

Feminism

Unshrinking

Kate Manne

Fatphobia harms everyone. Acclaimed philosopher Kate Manne shows how to combat it. $25, Penguin. Out April

Cooking

The Baker’s Book

Ruby Goss

A collection of recipes for bakers by bakers. $45, Murdoch. Out April

Poetry

44 Poems on Being With Each Other

Ed. Pádraig O Tuama

An illuminating anthology exploring human connection $40, Canongate. Out April

ART THEORY

What Art Does

Brian Eno & Bette Adriaanse

Why do we need art? What Art Does is an invitation to explore this vital question. It is a chance to understand how art is made by all of us. How it creates communities, opens our worlds, and can transform us. Curious and playful, richly illustrated, full of ideas and life, it is an inspiring call to imagine a different future. $33, Faber. Out April

Those Passions

T.J. Clark

Is art obliged to engage with politics? If so, how? By taking sides in political struggles; by singing the song of the barricade, the new nation, the bombed city? Or by giving form to the deeper patterns of experience from which any politics is made? Using case studies stretching across the centuries, from Hieronymus Bosch to Jacques-Louis David and the French Revolution, from Walter Benjamin to Pier Paolo Pasolini, Those Passions aims to show how modern art has responded to the chaos and danger of modern life.

$80, Thames & Hudson. Out April

MUSIC

The Sound of Utopia

Michel Krielaars

Michel Krielaars vividly depicts Soviet musicians and composers struggling to create art in a climate of risk, suspicion and fear. Some successfully toed the ideological line, diluting their work in the process; others ended up facing the Gulag or even death. While some, like Sergei Prokofiev, achieved lasting fame, others were consigned to oblivion, their work still hard to find. Krielaars paints a fascinating and disturbing portrait of the absurdity of Soviet musical life – and of the people who crafted sublime melodies under the darkest circumstances.

$50, Pushkin. Out April

ART HISTORY

Slow Reveal

Paul McGillick

Hardly mentioned in standard histories of Australian art, the nude is like an unwanted guest, somehow slightly embarrassing. After a tentative entrance in Hobart in the 1840s, it disappeared until the 1870s. Why was this? When it did finally emerge, how did it compare to its European origins? Is there something unique in this antipodean version, linking it to the tanned and scantily clad denizens of Australia’s famous sandy beaches? This book reflects on the nude in Australian art up to the present day in painting, sculpture, printmaking and photography, and highlights the central role played by female artists.

$80, Yarra & Hunter Arts. Out April

The Short Story of Queer Art

Dawn Hoskin

The Short Story of Queer Art explores more than 40 key works and queer artists, from across the world and throughout art history, and links them to the most important movements, themes and breakthroughs. Concise and richly illustrated, the book gives readers a thorough understanding and broad enjoyment of the full achievements that queer artists have made in genres that include classical art, Art Nouveau, pop art, street art and video installations. An eclectic range of art is featured, including Aubrey Beardsley’s The Peacock Skirt, Frida Kahlo’s Self-portrait with Cropped Hair and Tamara de Lempicka’s Autoportrait

$45, Laurence King. Out May

GRAPHIC BIOGRAPHY

The Novel Life of Jane Austen

Janine Barchas; illus. Isabel Greenberg

Through vivid artwork and compelling narrative, readers are invited to journey alongside Jane Austen as she navigates the challenges and triumphs that shaped her works. The gritty circumstances of Austen’s own genteel poverty and the small daily injustices so often borne by creative women of time reflect many of the plots and characters woven into Austen’s greatest works. All the settings and scenarios presented are based upon the historical record, including the clothing, architecture, decor and Regency locations. Sprinkled throughout, the Easter eggs and witty references to popular screen adaptations of Austen’s novels will satisfy the casual and avid Austen fan alike.

$45, Greenfinch. Out April

ARCHITECTURE

Australian House

Royal Australian Institute of Architects

Step inside the most exceptional homes in Australia in this definitive showcase of the Robin Boyd Award, the nation’s highest accolade for residential architecture. Spanning four decades, this collection highlights inspiring dwellings that reflect the evolving spirit of Australian life. Featuring original jury comments alongside fresh insights from visionary architects like Glenn Murcutt, Peter Stutchbury and Kerstin Thompson, these houses reveal more than architectural excellence – they capture shifting values, growing wealth and a changing cultural identity.

$120, Thames & Hudson. Out April

Harriet Walter: What Shakespeare’s Women Might Have Said

After a lifetime of bringing Shakespeare’s female characters to life on stage, multiaward-winning British actor Harriet Walter lends them her pen in She Speaks! Shining a new light on classic stories, Harriet imagines what Lady Macbeth, Ophelia, Juliet’s nurse, Cleopatra and others could have said without the constraints of the Bard’s perspective and reveals what might be their true desires. Join Harriet in conversation with Ailsa Piper as they delve into the unexplored depths of the English literary canon.

Wednesday, 21 May, 8pm, Carriageworks, $35-$40

VISUAL ART

In Search of Painting

George Haynes

George Haynes was born in Kenya in 1938 and moved to Western Australia in 1962, after studying at the Chelsea School of Art, London. Shortly after, he started exhibiting at Skinner Galleries, the first commercial gallery in Perth. His paintings are characteristically drenched in colour and offer a keen observation of everyday Australian life and landscape. He is a master of light, creating harmonious paintings of colour, tone, and temperature, with a flair for composition that imbues a musical quality to his works. In Search of Painting illustrates the artist’s influential, 60-year career as a painter, teacher and mentor. With more than 150 colour photographs.

$60, Art Collective WA. Out April

Vanessa Bell

Rosalind McKever

Vanessa Bell initiated a step change in modern British art, bringing the bright palette and bold stylisation of the Parisian avant-garde to London. She was a central figure in the Bloomsbury group, alongside members of her family and close circle including Virginia Woolf, Clive Bell and Duncan Grant. This book explores Bell’s radical approach to art and life through her paintings and designs for interiors, gardens, book jackets and more, bringing her work out of the shadows of her male contemporaries. With more than 100 illustrations. $35, Thames & Hudson. Out April

Yokai Ghosts

Philippe Charlier

Discover the wonderfully eerie supernatural beings of Japanese lore in this magnificent hardcover edition which features an elegant silk coating as well as coloured edges and closing straps. Yokai ghosts are a significant aspect of Japanese culture. In turns terrifying, playful and mischievous, they can take the form of malevolent spirits, seeking a place in the afterlife, or shapeshifters tricking humans with wisdom and sometimes cruelty. This unique book includes 150 striking images by Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro and others, that capture the essence of yokai folklore with stunning detail and evocative imagery. $70, Prestel. Out April

STREET ART Kowloon Bustle

Xeme

There is one name universally synonymous with Hong Kong’s graffiti scene: Xeme, widely recognised as one of most prolific figures in the Hong Kong graffiti scene and the wider Asian graffiti and street art scene. Kowloon Bustle shows Hong Kong through the eyes of this legendary artist. Photography by Xeme (and friends) and art directed by Xeme himself, this is a unique portrait of a place in flux. This pocket size book is an artwork in itself and will transport readers instantly to the streets of today’s Hong Kong.

$25, Soi Books. Out April

CRAFT

Cyanotype

Victoria Glover

One of the simplest and most elegant forms of photography, the cyanotype print gives distinctive whiteon-blue results that are simultaneously graphic, intricate and mysterious. Drawing on Victoria Glover’s experience running workshops for beginners, this book presents a selection of projects for you to develop your skills, including printing on to a cushion cover, T-shirt, tote bag and lampshade.

$30, Skittledog. Out now

ALSO OUT

Visual art

Art of Roslyn Kean

Sasha Grishin

$80, Beagle. Out May

Interior design Sanctuary In Bed

$60, Hardie Grant. Out April

Visual art

Blanche HoschedeMonet in the Light

Galina Olmstead

$85, Giles. Out May

Picture: Sim Canetty-Clarke

Nonfiction

COOKING

The Best of Maggie Beer

Maggie Beer

Beloved Australian cook Maggie Beer and The Australian Women’s Weekly have had a long partnership, with Maggie’s recipes featuring monthly. This cookbook gathers some of Maggie’s favourite recipes she has shared with The Weekly. There are meals for entertaining, comfort foods, seasonal springtime selections and a special chapter with all-new recipes from the Maggie Beer Foundation. Every recipe epitomises Maggie’s ethos that everyone should enjoy beautiful food every single day.

$45, AWW. Out April

Viet Kieu

Thi Le with Jia-Yen Lee

Viet Kieu explores the heart of Vietnamese food and cooking techniques, as interpreted by acclaimed chef Thi Le. From classics like Chao ga (Chicken congee) and the southern-influenced Can chua chanh day (Sweet & sour fish soup with passionfruit), to a vibrant Prawn goi salad with a nuoc mam dressing, along with communal feasts like a Viet Cajun seafood boil-up, each of Viet Kieu’s 100-plus recipes reflect Thi’s unending appetite for food that is alive with freshness, a relentless curiosity and an uncompromising desire to distil the cuisine of her heritage through a modern lens. $55, Murdoch. Out April

Bindas

Mehak Kansal

At Bindas eateries in London, Mehak Kansal’s bold food feeds the soul, layering flavours inspired by her Indian heritage, her travels, and her rural English upbringing. Bombay Cheese Toast, Paneer Tikka Burger, Mehak’s bestselling Chicken Makhani, Masala Potato Skins and the amazing Chai-misu … This is vibrant, unexpected Indian food with a global outlook.

$40, Murdoch. Out May

PHOTOGRAPHY

Life Around the Sea

Russell Ord and Alex Workman

Life Around the Sea is an odyssey through which we can explore the existence of those whose hearts beat in unison with the rhythmic swells of the ocean. This book features stories of individuals who have discovered their true selves among the salt, sand and surf, including fearless big-wave riders, the artists drawn to the coastline to bring its ancient beauty to life, and the shapers who expertly craft boards for wave seekers around the globe. These stories are brought to vivid life by Russell Ord’s spectacular photography. With more than 300 illustrations. $120, Images. Out March

TRAVEL

The Invention of Amsterdam

Ben Coates

When Ben Coates injures his leg and needs to rebuild his strength by walking, he finds himself presented with an exciting opportunity: to rediscover Amsterdam, the city he has been working in for over a decade, at a slower pace. Join Coates as he meanders past beautiful townhouses and glittering canals, dances at Pride celebrations, witnesses the King’s apology at Keti Koti, attends a WW2 memorial, gets high at a coffee shop, walks through the red-light district, and gazes in awe at Rembrandt paintings, all the while illuminating modern Amsterdam by explaining its past.

$30, Scribe. Out April

She Shapes History

Sita Sargeant

Sita Sargeant has travelled Australia to uncover tales of women who have so often been left out of the history books, to reframe wellknown stories and let readers see the amazing histories around every corner of their own hometown or city. The book features 30 cities and towns from across the country; from Coober Pedy to Hobart, Hahndorf to Rockhampton, and all of the major cities in between, and the myriad women who left their mark. There are 18 city walks included, with easy-tofollow maps that relay stories of women who affected change there.

$35, Hardie Grant Explore. Out April

POETRY

Pilgrim Soul

Stephen Leeder

With a nod to Yeats and segmented into seven sections, Life, Cycle, Destiny, War, On a Lighter Note, Musings and Departures, the poems feature the complex thoughts and internal wresting that can be expected from a life well lived in the medical profession. The Australian physician and artist reflects on life and death, the loss of war, happiness, humour, and awe in a beautiful selection of poems that is the culmination of his life’s work.

$30, Halstead. Out now

The Nightmare Sequence

Omar Sakr; illus. Safdar Ahmed

The Nightmare Sequence is a searing response to the atrocities in Gaza and beyond since October 2023. Heartbreaking and humane, it is a necessary portrait of the violence committed by Israel and its Western allies. Through poetry and visual art, Omar Sakr and Safdar Ahmed capture these historic injustices, while also critiquing the role of art and media – including their own – in this time. The Nightmare Sequence is an insightful work of testimony that also considers how art is complicit in Empire. This transcendent book invokes the power of poetry and art to shift hearts and minds; it will serve as a vital record in decades to come.

$30, UQP. Out April

Patti Smith

Mamushka

Apotheosis of Captain Cook Gananath Obeyesekere

Diaghilev’s Empire Rupert Christiansen

Lawrence of Arabia Ranulph Fiennes

Mr Todiwala’s Bombay Cyrus Todiwala

Near & Far

Heidi Swanson

Rilke: The Last Inward Man Lesley Chamberlain

The Tablet of Destinies Roberto Calasso

Weary Sons of Freud Catherine Clement

Collected Poems Marianne Moore

Sensoria McKenzie Wark

The Twist of a Knife Anthony Horowitz

The Passage West Giacomo Marramao

The Other Renaissance Paul Strathern

Serving the Servant Danny Goldberg

The Verso Book of Dissent Tariq Ali, Andrew Hsiao

Wild Rituals Caitlin O’Connell

Proof!

Amir Alexander

Strange Harvests

Edward Posnett

Yogurt Janet Fletcher

Reid All About It

Everest: From Reconnaissance to Summit

Peter Gillman

Folio Society, London, 2021

Compiled, written and edited by Peter Gillman for The Folio Society, Everest: From Reconnaissance to Summit is the ultimate account of five key expeditions to the summit of the world, using spectacular photography from the archives of the Royal Geographical Society and reportage from the men who went there.

Marking the 100th anniversary of the earliest British reconnaissance in 1921, it also covers the first attempt on the summit in 1922 and the tragic 1924 expedition that claimed the lives of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. The mountain proved unconquerable by a new generation of climbers in 1933, before the triumphant ascent of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. The first volume, A Photographic History, collects 268 remarkable mountain photographs, including breathtaking panoramas, steep gorges, glaciers, ice-fields, pinnacles and close-ups of the ascents.

The men’s testimony makes up the second volume, An Eyewitness History, in articles and dispatches, memoirs, official reports, diaries and private letters, each accompanied by a commentary by Gillman. The preface is from Jan Morris (formerly

James Morris), journalist, traveller and historian. She was the last surviving member of the 1953 expedition until her death in 2020. Two books in slipcase, bound in printed and blocked cloth, with illustrated boards and blue endpapers. Silver page tops. Pictorial slipcase. Condition: Fine. Slipcase: Lightly rubbed, otherwise fine. $450

Religion and the Decline of Magic

Keith Thomas

The Folio Society, London, 2012

Religion and the Decline of Magic was originally published in 1971. Written in a clear, engaging style, it was a thoroughly enjoyable, groundbreaking work of immense historical investigation on the history of popular religion and supernatural beliefs.

Thomas sought to reveal the logic underlying a diverse but “interrelated” set of beliefs held by people at every level of 16th and 17th century English society: witchcraft, magical healing, astrology, prophecy, ghosts, fairies and omens – and how these beliefs were a part of the religious and scientific assumptions of the time.

All of these beliefs had been taken seriously by intelligent people in the past. It was the task of the historian, Thomas argued, to explain why this was the case. The book set the agenda for decades of future research. With an introduction by Hilary Mantel. Hardcover. Two volumes in a decorated slipcase. Frontispiece in each volume. Set in Minion; 992 pages in total; 42 pages of colour plates. Condition: Fine. Slipcase condition: Very good. Slightly rubbed with some surface markings. $300

Stephen Reid

ORDER FORM

Join the Gleeclub and enjoy all the benefits: 10% redeemable credit on all purchases, free attendance at events held at in our shops, the Gleaner sent free of charge, free postage within Australia. Annual membership is $40.00/year and $100.00/three years. Membership to the Gleeclub is also a great gift; contact us and we’ll arrange it for you.

Please supply the following books:

3

PO Box 486, Glebe NSW 2037

Ph: (02) 9660 2333 Fax (02) 9660 3597

Email: books@gleebooks.com.au

Please note that publication dates of new releases may vary. We will notify you regarding any delays.

Total (inc. freight) $ Payment type attached

Or charge my: MasterCard VISA

Card No:

Expiry Date: / Signature:

Name:

Address:

Gleeclub No:

City/Suburb: Postcode:

Ph:

Email:

Delivery charges: Gleeclub members: free postage within Australia. Non-Gleeclub members: $10 Australia wide. For larger orders post office charges apply. For express, courier and international, rates apply accordingly. Postage (for rates see below) TOTAL

Gleaner

is a publication of Gleebooks Pty Ltd, 49 Glebe Point Rd (P.O. Box 486), Glebe, NSW, 2037 Ph: (02) 9660 2333 books@gleebooks.com.au

Editor Gabriel Wilder

gabriel@gleebooks.com.au

Graphic Designer Mark Gerts

Editorial Assistant Nic Wilder

Printed by Rogue Print and Mail

The Gleebooks Gleaner is published from February to November with contributions by staff, invited readers and writers. ISSSN: 1325 - 9288. Feedback and book reviews are welcome Prices and publishing dates correct at time of going to print

Registered

BEST SELLERS

Fiction

1. Orbital

Samantha Harvey

2. Wild Dark Shore

Charlotte McConaughy

3. One Hundred Years of Betty

Debra Oswald

4. Signs of Damage

Diana Reid

5. The Sunbird

Sara Haddad

6. Dream Count

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

7. Three Days in June

Ann Tyler

8. We Do Not Part

Han Kang

9. The Safekeep

Yael van der Wouden

10. Theory & Practice

Michelle de Kretser

Nonfiction Children

1. Behind the Badge

Nick Kaldas

2. Quarterly Essay 97: Losing It

Jess Hill

3. The Let Them Theory

Mel Robbins

4. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

Omar El-Akkad

5. The Season

Helen Garner

6. Miles Franklin Undercover

Kerrie Davies

7. Memorial Days

Geraldine Brooks

8. We Are the Stars

Gina Chick

9. The Buried Life

Andrea Goldsmith

10. Australian Gospel

Lech Blaine

1. Sunrise on the Reaping

Suzanne Collins

2. Parrot Palace

Susanne Gervay

3. Big Jim Begins: Dog Man #13

Dav Pilkey

4. How to Sail to Somewhere Ashleigh Barton

5. Tubowgule

Melissa-Jane Fogarty & Dylan Finney

6. Escaping Peril

Tui T. Sutherland

7. Lots of Dots

Yayoi Kusama

8. Magic Beach

Alison Lester

9. Laughter Is the Best Ending

Maryam Master & Astred Hicks

10. Hot Mess: Diary of a Wimpy Kid #19

Jeff Kinney

For more new releases go to:

Main shop—49 Glebe Pt Rd; Ph: (02) 9660 2333. Sun-Tue 9am-6pm; Wed-Sat 9am-9pm

Blackheath—Shop 1 Collier’s Arcade, Govetts Leap Rd; Ph: (02) 4787 6340. Open 7 days, 9am-5pm Blackheath Oldbooks—Collier’s Arcade, Govetts Leap Rd: Open 7 days, 10am-5pm Dulwich Hill—536 Marrickville Rd Dulwich Hill; Ph: (02) 9560 0660. Tue-Fri 9am-6pm; Sat 9am-5pm; Sun 10-4; Mon 9-5 www.gleebooks.com.au. Email: books@gleebooks.com.au; oldbooks@gleebooks.com.au