Gleaner June/July 2025

Gleaner

June-July 2025

P6 We take tea and cake with the Bookshop Detectives

P19 Poetry and pain in The Nightmare Sequence

Plus All the highlights from the Sydney Writers’ Festival

Shop Talk

From David’s desk

First, a brief reflection on this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival. In a word, amazing. Record crowds, record book sales, and what seemed overwhelming enthusiasm for Carriageworks, the main venue, and, more importantly, for the writers and other guests who appeared in the often sold-out sessions. What is undeniable is the appetite of the reading public for writers known and not known, for all forms of the written word, and for kids, a day of excitement and learning. I still hear plenty of pushback against festivals (too big, too busy, too hard to get to, too expensive) but fundamentally, as this one proved again, they are an enormous positive for readers and writers. Well done SWF.

As we push into the prime indoor reading time of the year, we’re delighted to offer an edition chock full of reviews and recommendations. Here are some of mine.

The first is a few months away (September), but I’ve been lucky enough to score an advance copy of Arundhati Roy’s fabulous memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me. It’s been more than 25 years since the wonderful Booker prize-winning God of Small Things and there have only been two volumes of essays since then, but this dazzlingly sharp and clear-eyed account of what has made her the writer, and person, she is has been worth the wait. It’s a chronicle from childhood to present, Kerala to New Delhi, with an intense and captivating focus on her mother, Mary Roy, described

as “my shelter and my storm”. Don’t miss it. I was intrigued by both the title and contents of a debut novel by Victorian based Rachel Morton, The Sun Was Electric Light. This is the first novel I’ve read set in Guatemala, and she brings that country and culture to life with clarity and conviction, as she does with the book’s subject matter. The novel’s protagonist has abandoned New York for an environment where she can test what’s real and meaningful, and what’s not. She does this in relationships with other ‘expat’ characters, struggling to find themselves and their connection to the world.

For a change of pace, I thoroughly enjoyed Michael Robotham’s The White Crow (July). Written with his customary flair, attention to detail (his plots are invariably complex and credible) and with a terrific ensemble of plausible characters, The White Crow meets Robotham’s standards as an elite writer of thrillers.

And finally, can I commend your serious attention to Robert Macfarlane’s Is a River Alive? All his writing is important, challenging and absorbing, but possibly never more so than in his latest book; an impassioned plea for the rights of nature, a plea enriched by three remarkable “river” experiences which give the book its narrative shape and personal perspective.

David Gaunt

David Marr and The Guardian’s Matilda Boseley celebrate in The Great Debate at Sydney Town Hall. Picture: Jacquie Manning

More than a hundred fans of Lynette Noni’s fantasy books queue to get her signature.

An action-packed performance entertains a packed crowd. Picture: Jamie Williams Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty. Picture: Prudence Upton

AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE

The Good Losers

Meg Bignell

Callie March is fascinated by human absurdity, including the habits of the upper class. So when she pushes her screenaddicted teenage son to join a local rowing club, she is thrilled to discover a whole new world of odd behaviours, irrational obsessions and riverside rooting. But there’s something fishy in the rowing shed, and Callie is determined to find out what lurks behind the closed doors of this sports club. Set in northern Tasmania, this novel contains profundity, profanity, heart-ache, bum chafe, terrible winners and very good losers. $35, Penguin. Out July

King of Dirt

Holden Sheppard

Giacomo Brolo, aka Jack, is a mess. He works construction gigs in remote WA, drinks himself to oblivion and is estranged from his family and friends. When he returns to his hometown of Geraldton for a family wedding, he finds out he may have conceived a son with his teenage girlfriend. But whatever happened to Xavier, the former schoolmate who Jack was in love with and whose rejection had spurred him to leave Geraldton? Is Jack doomed to live a dead-end life – or can he open himself up to the possibility of love, found family and connection?

$35, Pantera. Out June

ALSO OUT

Stinkbug

Sinead Stubbins

Part millennial fever dream, part workplace satire, this corporate gothic novel is wildly original and deeply unhinged. $35, Affirm. Out now

Sins of the Fathers

John Byrnes

An epic wartime saga that leads the paths of two men to one final destination: revenge. $35, Macmillan. Out July

The Brownout Murders

Luke C. Jackson & Kelly Jackson; illus. Maya Graham

The year is 1942, the place, Melbourne. A brownout is in effect to dim the night-time lights of the city, and thousands of American GIs are based in Royal Park. As the latter make plans to defend the Pacific, the women of Australia have stepped up to support the war effort at home. But then a series of grisly murders is committed in the eerie half-light. Inspired by true events, The Brownout Murders tells a story of fear, fortitude, and social change.

$35, Scribe. Out June

The Name of the Sister

Gail Jones

A young woman stumbles onto an outback road at night, and is caught in the headlights of an approaching car. Who is she? Nobody knows, and she has lost the ability to speak. She is rushed to hospital and then exposed to the glare of the TV cameras. Gail Jones’ new novel, set in Sydney and the Mars-red landscapes surrounding the remote mining town of Broken Hill, explores how stories about identity and history multiply in the absence of reliable facts.

$35, Text. Out June

Swallow the Air

Tara June Winch

When May’s mother dies suddenly, she and her brother Billy are left searching for their place in a world that doesn’t seem to want them. While Billy takes his own destructive path, May sets out to find her father and her Aboriginal identity. Her journey leads her from the Australian east coast to the far north, but it is the people she meets, not the destinations, that teach her what it is to belong. With an introduction from UQP’s First Nations Classics series editor Yasmin Smith, Swallow the Air is the much-loved debut of Miles Franklin Awardwinner Tara June Winch.

$20, UQP. Out June

Big Feelings

Amy Lovat

The perfect love story is all Sadie has ever wanted. Her parents’ story is what rom-com dreams are made of, but so far, no one has offered the Happily Ever After Sadie is searching for. Then she meets Chase, and falls in love with her. Sadie is ready for her sail-off-into-the-sunset happy ending – but will her needling insecurity mess everything up? Cue: the break-up. Hard truths will be uncovered and family secrets revealed, as Sadie tries to figure out how it all – love, life – went so wrong.

$35, Macmillan. Out July

The Far Side of the Moon

Jana Wendt

In The Far Side of the Moon, Jana Wendt brings to life a brilliant parade of people, living in a world we instantly recognise. Her characters grapple with fortune and misfortune, with memories of lives in interesting times. Couples are betrayed and redeemed. There are heart-stopping monologues and witty exchanges between friends and rivals. Tragedies alternate with enduring love. Wendt’s stories are polished and exuberant, rich with distinctive voices and precise details. $35, Text. Out July

AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE

The Occupation

Chloe Adams

Mary stands on the deck of an Australian naval ship, awaiting arrival in the ruined Japanese city of Kure. There, thousands of Australians have established an occupation of the Hiroshima prefecture. As she settles into her new life, Mary finds carefree expats throwing parties while the war-ravaged locals try to rebuild their lives. When she meets Sully, an Australian journalist, Mary’s idealised notion of the occupation crumbles. Confronted by moral ambiguity on such a grand scale, she becomes reckless. Returning home may seem the answer, but even there, echoes of the occupation linger.

$35, Penguin. Out July

The Pearl of Tagai Town

Lenora Thaker

Growing up in the 1930s, Pearl strives for a place in the wider world, battling deepseated prejudices. When she rescues a white shopkeeper trapped under a fallen beam, a bond forms between the two women, and Pearl becomes the first Islander woman to work frontof-shop in the nearby white town. Not everyone is happy and Pearl’s romance with the bank manager’s son must be kept secret. When war arrives and Teddy enlists, Pearl faces a cruel punishment. Lenora Thaker’s debut novel brings a fresh angle to Australian historical fiction with a First Nations wartime love story. $35, Text. Out July

Be a Good Girl, Valerie

Marcia van Zeller

When Valerie, now in her 60s, learns that her Gen Z co-worker, Anna, has effectively been fired for rejecting the boss’s advances, Valerie becomes her champion, and ensures that justice will prevail. But it brings back traumatic memories of when Valerie herself was the victim of sexual assault while working as an aspiring TV reporter in 1970s London. Exposing the unfair consequences of saying “no” in the workplace, the book illustrates the power of standing up for another woman’s rights – and your own – with warm humour. $33, Ventura. Out July

The Immigrants

Moreno Giovannoni

In the Victorian town of Mitref, tobacco is grown, an Italian cinema and cafe open, and people travel back and forth from Italy. A boy fishes, wanders the countryside and watches a community form, with its joys, scandals and shared understandings. Interspersed are the ‘grotesques’ – indelible and terrible events that sit alongside the better future they all seek. In The Immigrants, Moreno Giovannoni depicts a family as they build a new life in a strange land. Through love and exile, industry and tragedy, their unspoken dreams and fears unfold in this astonishing and moving book.

$37, Black Inc. Out July

Ruins

Amy Taylor

At a crossroads in their lives, a couple arrives in Greece to house-sit for a friend. Emma is searching for a meaningful next step beyond work or motherhood, and Julian is struggling to come to terms with the failure of his academic career. When the couple meet Lena, an enigmatic young Greek woman, it presents an opportunity to explore their relationship in excitingly risky ways. But they soon find themselves entangled in Lena’s life. Voyeuristic and thrilling, Ruins delivers the drama of a modern Greek tragedy while exposing the tensions between privilege, power and desire.

$33, Allen & Unwin. Out July

New Skin

Miranda Nation

Alex and Leah meet at medical school and form an immediate and intense connection. Over the course of four years, they are caught in the push-pull of passion and betrayal, longing and reunion. Neither can quite give up the relationship, even as they question whether they are good for each other. New Skin evokes a coming of age in the 1990s and charts the course of first love and its power to shape who we become. Spare and compelling, this powerful debut introduces a dazzling new voice in Australian fiction.

$33, Allen & Unwin. Out June

An eventful summer forever changes the lives of a family in the most engrossing debut you’ll read this year.

‘RIVETING’ HANNAH KENT

‘EXTRAORDINARY’

Cops, cake and cosy crime

The bestselling Bookshop Detective series has quickly become a cosy crime favourite. It’s set in a bookshop run by former cops in a small New Zealand town, and written by Gareth and Louise Ward, who themselves are former cops who own bookshops. With the arrival of their new mystery, Tea and Cake and Death, we caught up with Gareth and Louise to find out about how their real-life bookshop offers ‘character-building gold’ and why the world needs cosy crime right now.

The Bookshop Detectives have returned for a new mystery, less than a year after solving their first. What lies in store for them in this book?

Only a few weeks after uncovering the mystery surrounding a decades old cold case, Garth and Eloise must sniff out a prolific poisoner before 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?

The second Bookshop Detectives mystery arrived very quickly after the first. Did you have a story ready to go? Do you have many adventures already in mind for Garth and Eloise?

We had various cases and stories for our intrepid heroes to investigate, but really wanted it to centre around Battle of the Book Clubs which is a quiz night that we really, truly run every year to raise funds for a local charity. It’s the perfect scenario – the countdown to the big day, competitive teams full of great personalities (including many favourites from book one) and there is enough chaos on the night to create tension and suspense.

can be scary, exciting and life threatening and in real life we’re fortunate enough to live the quiet life that our characters crave. Where reality and fiction meet is in the fascinating people who wander through the bookshop – our community is wide and varied and makes for character-building gold.

Cosy crime has always been popular – even before it was called cosy crime – but it seems more popular than ever. Why do you think that is?

Cosy crime has all the elements of any crime novel: pace, tension, a tight plot – but with most of the nasty stuff happening off the page. There is humour and warmth and I think that’s what the world needs right now. Whether it’s true or not, we’re bombarded with the message that our society is buggered, so to read a story in which there is a real community, and funny, light and lovely things happen amongst the darkness, is reassuring and enjoyable.

What is your writing process like? How do you collaborate while writing The Bookshop Detectives series?

We’re currently writing book three which will be out next year, and after that there will definitely be something else but we’re not quite sure what yet.

What’s the most difficult part about writing a mystery for you?

Because we write together, we need to plot the story out in a bit of detail so we both know where it’s going. The challenge is not letting the reader know what we know as we’re writing. Teasing out the clues and hints is great fun, but has to be done carefully to keep the mystery (or most of its elements) flowing until the end.

Your names bear a remarkable resemblance to your characters – how much of yourselves is in Garth and Eloise?

We think they’re about 80% us in personality and habits. We are ex-coppers and we run a bookshop and we bear striking physical resemblances to Garth and Eloise, although we have vainly made them slightly younger than us.

The things that happen and have happened to our characters

We plot the novel out together, passing ideas back and forth and nutting out the main plot points. There’s a spreadsheet with what needs to happen in each chapter to move the plot along and we stick to that, on the whole, but the writer in charge of the chapter has free rein on where and how things happen. Once a chapter is complete, it’s emailed to the other, and he or she carries on with the next.

How easy is it to take criticism or be critical of each other’s work during the collaborative process? Do you need to have thick skins?

We’ve been married for 30 years and have gradually learnt to live with each other’s foibles, as you do. We made a decision to park our egos at the door before we started to collaborate. If one idea is better than the other, we go with that. There are small struggles along the way but we can work through them, always with what’s best for the story winning out.

The Bookshop Detectives: Tea and Cake and Death is out now (Penguin, $35)

INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE

Happiness Forever

Adelaide Faith

Sylvie is only happy when she is at therapy. This is because Sylvie is in love with her therapist. She thinks about her every second they’re not together. Beyond therapy, Sylvie has what she considers to be a small life: a job as a veterinary nurse, her little brain-damaged dog, Curtains, and a new friend, Chloe. When the therapist delivers some devastating news, Sylvie has to imagine new and lasting ways of coping. In this stunning debut novel, Adelaide Faith encapsulates the great vulnerability, difficulty and joy of being alive.

$33, 4th Estate. Out June

Sunbirth

An Yu In Five Poems Lake, a small village surrounded by impenetrable deserts, the sun is slowly disappearing overhead. The town fell on hard times long before the sun began to shrink, but now, every few days, a new sliver disappears. As the temperature drops and the lake freezes over, the inhabitants realise there is no way they can survive. But when the Beacons appear –ordinary people with heads replaced by searing, blinding light, like miniature suns – the residents wonder if they may hold the answer to their salvation, or if they are just another sign of impending ruin.

$35, Harvill Secker. Out July

When the Museum Is Closed

Emi Yagi

Rika Horauchi’s new part-time job is to converse with a statue of Venus – in Latin – when the museum is closed. Initially reluctant, Rika starts to enjoy her strange new job. As Venus comes to life, they talk about everything. Venus opens up new worlds for Rika, both intellectually and emotionally. They soon fall in love. But when the museum’s curator, Hashibami, makes it clear he wants to keep Venus for himself, what will Rika do? A joyful queer love story, this original novel confirms Emi Yagi as one of the most exciting Japanese writers published in English today.

$35, Harvill Secker. Out July

Men In Love

Irvine Welsh

It is the late 1980s. The Trainspotting crew have left heroin behind and separated after a drug deal gone wrong. They fill their days with sex and romance and trying to get ahead. Sick Boy starts a relationship with Amanda – rich, connected, everything that he is not. But as the 1990s dawn, will finding love be the answer to the group’s dreams or just another doomed quest? Irvine Welsh’s sequel to Trainspotting tells a story of riotous adventures, wild new passions, and young men determined to get the most out of life.

$35, Jonathan Cape. Out July

All We Need

Magdalena

McGuire

When Sapphie, a passionate environmentalist, goes on a camping trip in the bush, she miraculously rescues a baby from the sea. The baby belongs to Candace, a charity worker struggling with new motherhood. The act of rescue inspires an intense friendship. Candace’s best friend Alexia has her reservations about the new woman in their lives. When Alexia investigates Sapphie’s background, she discovers … nothing. As far as the internet is concerned, Sapphie doesn’t exist. What is Sapphie hiding? Navigating the turbulent waters of love, duty and control, the women must discover who they really are.

$35, Ultimo. Out July

Flashlight

Susan Choi

One evening, 10-yearold Louisa and her father, Serk, take a walk out on the breakwater. They are spending the summer in a coastal Japanese town while Serk, a Korean emigre, completes an academic secondment from his American university. When Louisa wakes hours later, she has washed up on the beach and her father is missing. As Louisa and her American mother, Anne, return to the US, the traumatic event reverberates across time and space, and the mystery of what really happened to Serk slowly unravels.

$35, Jonathan Cape. Out July

ALSO OUT

Summer Island

Kristin Hannah

A poignant novel about the complex ties that bind a mother and a daughter.

$35, Macmillan. Out July

Saraswati

Gurnalk Johal

Brimming with rich folklore, Saraswati takes us through the lives of seven people whose histories resurface with a holy river.

$35, Serpent’s Tail. Out June

Ripeness

Sarah Moss

It is the 60s and, just out of school, Edith finds herself travelling to rural Italy. She has been sent by her mother with strict instructions: to help her sister, ballet dancer Lydia, through the final weeks of her pregnancy and the birth, and then make a phone call which will seal this baby’s fate, and his mother’s. Decades later, in Ireland, Edith’s best friend Maebh asks for help when a man claiming to be her brother suddenly appears. Ripeness is an extraordinary novel about familial love and the communities we create, about migration and new beginnings, and about what it is to have somewhere to belong.

$35, Picador. Out now

Make Me Famous

Maud

Ventura

Ever since she was a child, Cléo has had only one obsession: becoming a famous singer. Over the years, she overcomes every obstacle and becomes a global superstar. Now 33-years-old, Cléo has travelled to a remote island where she can work on her fourth album in peace. Except that with so much time to think, she can’t help ruminating on her past – including how, just six months earlier, things started to go very, very wrong. Make Me Famous dives into the machinations of one woman’s complicated mind, and her relentless pursuit of fame.

$35, HarperVia. Out June

Notes on Infinity

Austin Taylor

Zoe and Jack couldn’t be more different – she’s the daughter of a renowned MIT professor, he’s escaping an upbringing steeped in poverty – but when they meet in a chemistry classroom in Harvard, they are immediately drawn to one another. Two years later, they have dropped out of college and become business partners in a billion-dollar company that promises longer life. But as they become wrapped up in a maelstrom of insatiable ambition, greed and ultimately deceit, their love for each other will be tested to its very limit.

$35, Michael Joseph. Out June

My Sister and Other Lovers

Esther Freud

For as long as Lucy can remember, she’s been caught between loyalty to her rootless, idealistic mother and devotion to her fierce and exacting sister, Bea. From her unsettled childhood to her turbulent teenage years, she’s been forced to make a choice. But as the sisters come of age and embark on their own experiments in love, drugs, work, motherhood, they find their lives in turmoil. Can the love they have for each other transcend the damage of the past? Or is the past too dangerous to examine?

$33, Bloomsbury. Out July

The Second Chance Convenience Store

Kim Ho-Yeon

Seoul Station is home to Dokgo, a man with no memories of his past. When he returns a lost wallet to its owner, Mrs Yeom, she offers him a meal as a token of gratitude. And when the man’s bravery saves the store from ruin, he finds a job and a place in the heart of the neighbourhood. But then Mrs Yeom’s troubled son hires a detective to dig into the mysterious man’s past … The Second Chance Convenience Store is a moving and joyful story of community and hope.

$23, Pan. Out July

INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE

June in the Garden

Eleanor Wilde

June can name every flower species. She finds it much harder to cultivate an understanding of people. After her mother’s unexpected death, June sets out to find her father, whom she knows only from an old photograph. When she arrives at his door, he panics and turns her away. With nowhere to go, she secretly moves into his yellow garden shed. But when her father’s 12-year-old son discovers her, June must decide whether to stay or run. This joyful, humorous debut celebrates difference. June in the Garden lets us see things afresh.

$35, Text. Out June

Dead Ends

Samantha Byres

All-round chaos merchant Nell Jenkins has returned to her small hometown to fulfil family duties for the mother and brother she’s barely seen since she escaped as a teen. Settling right back into old habits, Nell begins a relationship with her dead best friend’s brother and the newly arrived Katya, who’s working for the oncefamous TV psychic Petronella Bush. Nell soon finds herself drawn into Petronella’s charismatic web. Dead Ends is a beguiling, big-hearted portrait of love and loss, and the bad decisions we make in their wake.

$35, UQP. Out July

Back in the Day

Oliver Lovrenski

Ivor and Marco have been getting high since they were 13, started dealing at 14, by 15 they were carrying knives. At 16 years old, they hurtle from one trip to the next, one fight to the next, always watching their backs. Ivor dreams of getting out – finishing school, becoming a lawyer, marrying the girl he loves from the corner shop – but the path he’s on only leads one way. In flashes of firecracker prose, shot through with rare empathy, irrepressible wit and gut-punch pathos, Oliver Lovrenski gives voice to young men growing up in a brutal and chaotic world.

$35, Hamish Hamilton. Out July

My Sister

Emmanuelle Salasc

One summer’s day in 2056 in the mountains of southern France, a warning siren goes off – inside the receding glacier above a spacentre village, a large pocket of water is about to give way, just as it did 150 years earlier. Hundreds of people died in the floods that followed. My Sister is about the ancestral fear of environmental disaster, and the narrator Lucie’s fear for her twin sister Clemence, who has returned to the village after a 30-year absence. It’s a spinechilling story of sibling rivalry and a profound examination of the future of our relationship with nature.

$35, Text. Out July

A Room Above the Shop

Anthony Shapland M has inherited his family’s ironmongery business. B is younger by 11 years and can see no future in the place where he has grown up, but when M offers him a job and lodgings, he accepts. As the two men work side by side, they begin a life together in their one shared room above – the kind of life they never imagined possible. Unfolding in South Wales against the backdrop of Section 28, the age of consent debate and the HIV and AIDS crisis, this is a tender and resonant love story, and a powerful debut.

$30, Granta. Out June

The Remembered Soldier

Anjet Daanje

Flanders 1922. After serving as a soldier in the Great War, Noon Merckem has lost his memory and lives in a psychiatric asylum. Countless women, responding to a newspaper ad, visit him in the hope of finding their spouse who vanished in battle. One day a woman, Julienne, appears and recognises Noon as her husband, and takes him home against medical advice. Only gradually do the two grow close, and Noon’s biography is pieced together on the basis of Julienne’s stories about him. But how can he be certain that she’s telling the truth?

$38, Scribe. Out June

NEW IN JULY

‘A queer, dark, funny and somehow ultimately life-affirming story.’

HAYLEY SCRIVENOR

A unique and melodic picture book inspired by Chinese parables and First Nations Creation stories.

Mouthing

Orla Mackey

Ballyrowan is a sleepy corner of rural Ireland where nothing ever happens. Where everyone knows everyone else’s business, and everyone has an opinion on it. Where family feuds simmer and intensify across the generations. Where young and old delight in dragging each other down like crabs in a barrel. Following the fortunes of this small community from the mid-20th century to the early 21st, Mouthing is a bittersweet love letter to the pleasures (and frustrations) of village life.

$23, Penguin. Out July

How to Hold Someone in Your Heart

Mizuki Tsujimura

Ayumi is a young man with special powers to bring back the dead to meet the living. A gift passed down in his family, he is able to arrange meetings according to strict rules and always under a full moon. After years in this role, he begins to question its meaning, and how his powers affect his own desires in the real world.

$35, Doubleday. Out July

ALSO OUT

To The Moon

Jang Ryujin

A bittersweet tale of wealth and class, female friendship, and the promise of the future.

$33, Bloomsbury. Out July

Liquid Mariam Rahmani

A modern tale of love, loss and belonging told with wit, verve and originality.

$35, Doubleday. Out now

The Naked Eye

Yoko Tawada

A tale of abduction, obsession and lost identity that spans Vietnam, East Berlin, West Germany and Paris.

$33, Granta. Out June

All the Perfect Days

Michael Thompson

Family GP Charlie Knight fears life is passing him by. He’s in his late 30s, and treading water as a family doctor in the same small town he grew up in. Just as he’s planning his escape, he develops a gift: a sense of exactly how many days his patients have left to live. But in a country town like Marwick, his patients are his friends. His own family. The people he grew up with, and the girl he still loves. And Charlie discovers this gift may not be a gift at all.

$35, Pantera. Out June

The Passengers on the Hankyu Line

Hiro Arikawa

Trundling through the scenic countryside of Kyoto and Osaka is the Hankyu line. It’s a burgundy-coloured electric train that has been carrying its commuters to their destinations for decades. Over the course of a single journey in springtime, and the return journey six months later just as the leaves begin to fall, passengers jostle and connect, as this gentle timeless train carries each one forward towards the person they intend to become.

$35, Doubleday. Out June

Atmosphere

Taylor Jenkins Reid

In the summer of 1980, astrophysics professor Joan Goodwin begins training to be an astronaut at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates. As the new astronauts prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined and begins to question everything she believes about her place in the observable universe. Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

$35, Hutchinson Heinemann. Out June

Wildcat Dome

Yuko Tsushima

Mitch and Yonko haven’t spoken in a year. As children, they were inseparable, raised together in an orphanage outside Tokyo, but ever since the sudden death of Mitch’s brother, they’ve been mourning in their private ways, worlds apart. In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, they reunite, finding each other in a city undone by disaster. Wildcat Dome is a hugely ambitious exploration of denial and the ways in which countries and their citizens avoid telling the truth.

$33, Penguin. Out July

Cure

Katherine Brabon

While on holiday in Italy, Thea writes in her journal. She is constructing a character: an image of herself as she grapples with having the same illness as her mother, Vera. But gradually another person emerges in her journal, through her imaginings of her mother in the same house, the same city, at the same age. They have come to Italy to see where Vera’s family originates, but also to chase a promised cure in the form of a man said to be able to heal Thea’s illness. $35, Ultimo. Out July

Burning Seasons

Nana Howton

In 1970s Brazil, two teenage sisters are thrust into a chaotic world. Fear and hunger stalk them in a sugarcane town choked by a constant rain of ash, a testament to the ravaged environment in which they are trying to grow. With only each other for comfort, they set out to search for their missing mother and the father they’ve never known. Burning Seasons lays bare the scars of a nation, the plight of marginalised people, and the silent suffering of women, girls, and the environment itself.

$35, Scribe. Out July

CRIME & THRILLER

Broke Road

Matthew Spencer

A late-night phone call is never good news for homicide Detective Sergeant Rose Riley. This time she’s being sent up to the Hunter Valley, where a woman has been found dead in her home. A media hound points the finger at the husband, angering Rose but capturing the attention of journalist turned true crime author Adam Bowman. His book on the ‘Blue Moon Killer’ made him famous but the case nearly cost Rose her life. When new evidence connects the crime to an old case, Rose realises the murderer is ready to strike again.

$35, Allen & Unwin. Out July

Stone and Sky

Ben Aaronovitch

Detective Sergeant Peter Grant takes a much-needed holiday up in Scotland. And he’ll need one when this is over: his partner Beverley, their young twins, his mum, dad, his dad’s band and their dodgy manager have all tagged along. Even his boss, DCI Thomas Nightingale, takes in the coastal airs as he trains Peter’s cousin Abigail in the arcane arts. And they’ll need them too, because Scotland’s Granite City has more than its fair share of history and mystery, myth ... and murder. $33, Orion. Out July

King of Ashes

S. A. Cosby

Roman Carruthers is enjoying a life of shallow excess as a financial adviser in Atlanta until he gets a call from his sister, Neveah, telling him their father is in a coma after a hit-andrun accident. When Roman goes home, he learns the accident may not be what it seems. A financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, Roman must use all his skills to deal with a shadow that has haunted his family for 20 years: the disappearance of their mother when they were teenagers. As fate and chance and heartache ignite their lives, the Carruthers family must pull together to survive or see their lives turn to ash.

$34.99, Headline. Out June

The Ones We Love

Anna Snoekstra

Since the weekend of the party – the one Liv can’t remember, the one that left her covered in bruises –she’s been locked out of her bedroom by a padlock. Her parents are behaving oddly and her best friend won’t respond to her texts. Youngest son Casper was away that weekend, but he knows something isn’t right. His parents don’t look each other in the eye any more – and where does Liv keep disappearing to in the middle of the night? Casper decides to find out what no one will tell him about that weekend.

$35, Ultimo. Out June

Melaleuca

Angie Faye Martin

Aboriginal police officer Renee has been seconded to her sleepy hometown’s police station. She is pretty sure work will hold nothing more exciting than delivering speeding tickets. Then a murdered woman is found on the outskirts of town. Leading the investigation, Renee uncovers a connection to the disappearance of two young women 30 years earlier. As she delves deeper and the mystery unfurls, intergenerational cruelties, endemic racism, and deep corruption show themselves.

$35, HQ Fiction. Out now

Nock Loose

Patrick Marlborough

Bodkins Point is a tiny town with a big secret and an annual, screwball medieval festival. And Agincourt will make you a hero if it doesn’t kill you. And this year’s festival is more dangerous than ever. Because Joy Robyn, a vengeful former Olympic archer and stuntwoman, is on a quest to use Agincourt as her platform for vengeance after her granddaughter is killed in a bushfire started by someone in the town.

$35, Fremantle. Out July

The White Crow

Michael Robotham

As the daughter of a London crime boss, Police Constable Philomena McCarthy walks a thin blue line keeping the two sides of her complicated life apart. On patrol one night, she discovers a child in pyjamas, wandering alone. Taking Daisy home, Phil uncovers the aftermath of a home invasion, as a prominent jeweller is found strapped to an explosive in his ransacked store. The crimes are linked, and the evidence points to Phil’s father as the mastermind. Phil is trapped in the middle of a vicious gang war that will threaten her career and everyone she loves.

$35, Hachette. Out June

ALSO OUT

Hotel Ukraine

Martin Cruz Smith

An investigation of a wealthy Russian businessman puts Arkady Renko in the crosshairs of the killers.

$35, Simon & Schuster. Out July

The Forsaken

Matt

Rogers

When his oldest friend is murdered, Logan lets his fury deliver him from despair.

$35, Simon & Schuster. Out July

To Love a Liar

L. V. Matthews

One woman dead, another missing. A man guilty of a crime, but which one?

$35, Viking. Out September

CRIME & THRILLER

Actually, I’m a Murderer

Terry Deary

It is 1973 and the lives of four people are thrown into turmoil when sharing a carriage with an unremarkable little man with glasses, on the night train back to Newcastle. By the end of the following day, one of them will be dead, one will turn blackmailer and another forced to commit a crime. And all of them will be under the astute observation of Aline, the local police officer with her own agenda to fulfil. When the body count begins to rise, the question is: just how many murderers are out there ... and who will be the next victim?

$35, Constable. Out June

An Enemy in the Village

Martin Walker

A woman is found dead in an abandoned car parked near a local beauty spot in the Dordogne town of St Denis. When disputes arise over her will, chief of police, Benoît “Bruno” Courrèges, suspects murder, not suicide. At the same time, Bruno makes the mistake of interfering in a local marital dispute. Then he is suspected of being less of a village copper and more of a secret policeman working for French intelligence. With his shiny reputation tarnished, Bruno must save his name and answer the questions around Monique’s death.

$35, Quercus. Out June

ALSO OUT

Murder by Cheesecake

Rachel Ekstrom Courage When Dorothy’s date is found dead-face-planted in cheesecake, she and her friends must find the killer.

$30, Disney. Out July

Do Not Disturb

Freida McFadden

On the run after committing an unthinkable crime, Quinn Alexander finds herself at a sinister motel with a dark past.

$35, Poisoned Pen. Out July

Inspector Imanishi Investigates

Seicho Matsumoto

Tokyo, 1960. A man’s body is found on the tracks at Kamata Station. Setting aside his beloved bonsai and haikus, Senior Inspector Imanishi Eitaro must cross Japan in search of answers, from Osaka to Akita, accompanied by junior detective Yoshimura. At each new town, they encounter traces of the avant-garde Nouveau Group – young Tokyo artists bringing new ideas from the West. What to make of this modern collective? And how to stop another mysterious death occurring? Inspector Imanishi Investigates is a riveting mystery from the master of Japanese crime.

$23, Penguin. Out June

Can You Solve the Murder?

Antony Johnston

There’s been a murder at Elysium, a wellness retreat set in an English country manor. You arrive to find the body of a local businessman on the lawn who appears to have fallen to his death from the balcony above. But that balcony can only be accessed through a locked door, the key is missing, and everyone in Elysium is now a suspect. Gather the evidence and examine the clues. Choose who to interview next, and who to accuse as your prime suspect. Can YOU solve the murder?

$35, Bantam. Out September

This House of Burning Bones

Stuart MacBride

Someone has firebombed a migrant hostel and there’s a massive climate change protest march happening on Saturday. Half the police force is off sick and all leave has been cancelled. Detective Inspector Logan McRae has to kick off a major murder investigation with a skeleton staff of misfits, idiots and malingerers – aka DS Steel’s team – until the top brass can arrange back-up from other divisions. But there’s something far more sinister lurking in the heat haze of this sweltering Aberdeen summer, and it’s clear that things are going to get much, much worse

$35, Macmillan. Out now

An Ill Wind

Margaret Hickey

High on a hill above the small Victorian town of Carrabeen, 300 wind turbines constantly spin. Except one is now deadly still – a body hanging from its huge white blade. Detective sergeants Belinda Burney and Will Lovell are shocked to discover the dead man is Geordie Pritchard, a rich local philanthropist and owner of the wind energy farm, which has split the rural town in two. Some welcome the jobs it brings, others are enraged by the loss of farming land. In short, Pritchard was both saint and sinner. But who hated him enough to want him dead?

$35, Penguin. Out July

The Peak

Sam Guthrie

Political hatchet man Charlie will do anything to protect Sebastian, government minister and his best friend since their brutal private school days. But after a single phrase in Mandarin is spoken in Sebastian’s ear, things start to fall apart. Planes can’t land, the phone lines go down and the power is out. From the jostling streets of Hong Kong to Beijing’s shadowy halls of power and the backstabbing Machiavellian workings of Parliament House in Canberra, The Peak is a powerful, propulsive and nail-bitingly tense international thriller.

$35, HarperCollins. Out July

CRIME & THRILLER

Believe

S.M. Govett

Natalie has spent 10 years trying to get over the two events which changed her life forever. The first: the moment her boss assaulted her. The second: the moment the jury declared him innocent – and her, a liar. So when her husband, Ryan, gets accused of the same crime, Natalie wants to believe him. But when the body of the young woman who made the accusation is found in the woods near their house, Ryan becomes a prime suspect, and Natalie realises she can’t trust anyone – herself included. $35, Michael Joseph. Out June

SCI-FI

Salvage

Jennifer Mills

Jude won’t talk about her past. Or her sister Celeste, lost in the tragic failure of a space station that was supposed to save her, and the other ultra-rich, from the wreckage of a dying world. After an escape pod falls from the sky, the fragile peace of her community is put at risk, and Jude must re-examine the terms of her survival – and her exile. Salvage is a gripping novel of literary speculative fiction that asks: what does it mean to care for each other, after the end of the world?

$35, Picador. Out now

GRAPHIC NOVEL

Mr. Distinctive

Eden Mark Brandi

Tom Blackburn is fresh out of jail and not sure where his future lies. He knows sleeping on the streets is the quickest way back to a cell. And then, his luck turns around. A chance encounter leads to a job and somewhere to stay. A place in the dead centre of Melbourne. It’s the perfect place to save some money and make some plans. A place to keep his head down and stay out of trouble. But trouble finds him. He has missed the signs, again. Going back to jail might be the safest option. Unless he can figure some way out of the danger he’s in.

$33, Hachette. Out June

HORROR

One Yellow Eye

Leigh Radford

Kesta’s husband Tim was the last person to be bitten in a zombie pandemic. The government seems to have rounded up and disposed of all the infected. But Kesta has a secret … Tim may have been bitten, but he’s not quite dead yet. In fact, he’s tied to a bed in her spare room. A scientist by day, Kesta juggles intensive work under the microscope alongside Tim’s care, slipping him stolen drugs to keep him docile, knowing she is hiding the only zombie left. Can she save her husband before he is discovered? Or worse … will he trigger another outbreak? $35, Tor. Out July

Olga Tokarczuk, illus. Joanne Concejo

Mr. Distinctive has a memorable, attractive face. Once he starred in a TV ad and was praised for having a face that sold the product well. Mr. Distinctive loves to take selfies and posts countless images of himself online. One day Mr. Distinctive looks in the mirror and sees that his face has changed into a blur. With every new photo he posts, his distinctiveness dwindles. Determined to regain his flawless face, Mr. Distinctive seeks out an extreme solution. A new story from Nobel prize in literature winner Olga Tokarczuk and illustrator Joanna Concejo shows us a world obsessed with personal appearance where the cult of youth rules.

$45, Seven Stories. Out July

FANTASY

Silvercloak

L. K. Steven

Two decades ago, the Bloodmoons ruthlessly murdered Saffron’s parents. Hellbent on revenge, she lied her way into the elite Silvercloak Academy of detectives with a single goal: go undercover and tear the Bloodmoons down from the inside. Saff must commit some truly heinous deeds to keep her cover – and her life. Not only are there rival gangs and sinister smuggling rings to contend with, there’s also her growing feelings for the kingpin’s tortured son, and the curious prophecy foretelling his death at Saff’s hand.

$35, Del Ray. Out July

Six Wild Crowns

Holly Race

The king has been appointed by god to marry six queens. Those six queens are all that stand between the kingdom of Elben and ruin. Or so we have been told. Clever, ambitious Boleyn is determined to be Henry’s favourite. And if she must incite a war to win Henry over? So be it. Seymour acts as spy and assassin in a court teeming with dragons, backstabbing courtiers and strange magic. But when she and Boleyn become allies, the balance of power begins to shift. Together they will discover an ancient, rotting magic at Elben’s heart.

$35, Orbit. Out June

ALSO OUT

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

V. E. Schwab

Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532. London, 1837. Boston, 2019. Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots. One grows high and one grows deep and one grows wild. And all of them grow teeth.

$35, Tor. Out June

Shop Talk

From the Heathens

So far it has been a year of the mad, the rad, the sad and the glad. We have landed belly-up in the middle of a year that has felt chaotic, shouty and, at times, overwhelming. In our little escarpment town, we have focused on the sweeter things –spectacular autumn leaves, relaxed and comfortable weekenders dropping in to pick up a getaway read, our regulars looking for a bookish treat to go with their coffee and Hat Hill Records and Audio shop across the way spinning some vinyl that makes us smile. Here are our “we’ve made it halfway” reads.

Tiff has gone for the slightly mad with The Usual Desire to Kill by Camilla Barnes, a deeply funny, love/hate letter to your parents. It captures the trifles and absurdities of long lives spent together, the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies that develop and take hold while navigating not just the big moments in life, but particularly the mundane. It also reminds us that our parents aren’t just parents, they’re people who have led lives before you, who have regrets and made poor decisions just like you!

Followed by the radly mad First Name Second Name by Steve MinOn where the protagonist is a reanimated corpse attempting to return to his birthplace. Tiff implores you to go with it! This is a brilliant and utterly original story of race, sexuality, identity and belonging. MinOn is an exciting and inspiring new voice in Australian literature.

Victoria has settled into The Elements Series: Water, Earth, Fire & Air by John Boyne, which hits the sad notes. These interconnecting novellas tell the story of the bad things that humans inflict on each other. The stories are gritty, compelling and uncomfortable but raise questions about human nature. Victoria explains that Fire was the most confronting and the least credible so she approached the final book, Air, with a certain amount of caution. But Boyne has done a terrific job in tying all four books together, bringing some healing, hope and forgiveness. These stories of trauma need to be told, and if well written with believable characters and circumstances, then the shockingness can be digested more easily, which this author does.

Bron has gone with the crazy mad and sad selections of Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata. If you’ve read Convenience Store Woman or Earthlings you will have some idea of what you are in for. Murata’s latest book is totally weird, bizarre and off kilter. A dystopian Japan where the concept of having sex to conceive a baby is considered old-fashioned, unhygienic and a form of abuse akin to incest. Instead, the preferred way to make babies is by using artificial insemination. Although the story contains some annoying repetitions and didn’t always seem to know which direction it was heading, it didn’t matter. This is one story that pulls you along for the whole ride, crazy. Not for the faint-hearted, but let’s get together some time to talk about THAT ending!

And the slim but perfectly formed Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico is a tale about a millennial couple who have moved to Berlin to live their best authentic lives is quite deceptive. On the surface, an on-point, hilarious look at modern life, carefully curated and performed on social media. Underneath a barbed critique of generational miscommunication wrapped up in existential angst a la Georges Perec’s Things: A Story of the Sixties Jody has been on a memoir deep-dive with the following books

that will gladly feed your head, heart and soul. Human Nature by Jane Rawson recounts the author’s decision to leave her innercity home and move to a cottage in the Huon Valley. Worried about the effects of climate change, Jane wanted to experience life in the bush but realised she struggled living with the unpredictability of nature. She is forced to confront how humans live in the natural world, herself included, raising questions of who gets to decide what is saved in the swirl of collapsing life systems. Profound, funny and bravely inquisitive, Human Nature is a bittersweet joy to read.

Think Nora Ephron meets Deborah Levy and you will get a feel for Chinese Parents Don’t Say I Love You by food journalist Candice Chung. A memoir that begins with the end of her 13-year relationship, her first love. Needing a plus-one to accompany her to restaurants for food reviews, Candice’s retired Cantonese parents offer to help. It is through dining together that she is able to reconnect with her parents realising that it is food that has always been the way her family have communicated. A story of hunger, cravings, comfort, love and human connection. This is congee in a book. So deliciously good.

Looking back at the months that have flown by and the books we have read so far, it seems that connection with others is the common theme that calms amongst the upheaval that surrounds us all at the moment.

eat & drink @ gleebooks

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www.gleebooks.com.au

PICTURE BOOKS

I Don’t Need a Little Brother

Nat Amoore, illus. Nathaniel Eckstrom

No one understands. I DON’T NEED A LITTLE BROTHER! I have Mum and Dad, and Grandpa who smells like biscuits. I have Wilson and Chirpy and … Oh no! Where is Beryl Bear? After trying all the usual ways to dispose of a sibling, one bewildered big brother discovers his little brother might actually be the one person he can’t live without.

$20, Puffin. Out June

Bapa’s Last Canoe

Maree McCarthy Yoelu, illus. Samantha Campbell

Bapa takes his three daughters away on a long canoe ride to go to school. They travel for many months to get to the city, seeing many animals and sights along the way and enjoying each other’s company.

A simple, touching children’s picture book about Bapa (Grandfather), a traditional canoe maker, and the making of his very last canoe.

$28, Magabala. Out October

The Enchantment of Golden Eagle

Margaret Wild, illus. Stephen Michael King

One day, Ella and her little brother Leif found a fledgling with a broken wing. They took him home, wrapped and fed him, and watched over him for seven days and seven nights. In time, Golden Eagle was well enough to fly away, but he loved the children, so he promised to stay with them at the edge of the dark forest. Until one day, the wind whispered and the breeze caressed his feathers, and Golden Eagle forgot his promise …

$25, Allen & Unwin Children. Out July

The Emperor’s Egg

Rae Tan

Looking for a worthy successor to his throne, an ageing emperor gives all the children in his kingdom an egg. After 30 days, he will judge what each child delivers to him and choose his heir. Ren brings his egg home and takes the best care of it. He reads to it, sings to it, sleeps with it and keeps it warm. Ren waits and waits, but his egg never hatches, while all around him wondrous hatchlings are emerging from other children’s eggs. In a hall full of magical creatures, how can Ren present his unhatched egg to the emperor?

$25, Lothian. Out June

BABY BOOKS

Follow That Car

Lou Peacock, illus. Stephan Lomp

Follow Mouse on an epic mission to find Gorilla in this interactive adventure full of zooming vehicles, comic capers and animal antics. This quirky text has been lovingly abridged for younger readers and is now in chunky board book format. With cars to count on every page, and a mapped-out route to trace, little vehicle fans will be entertained for hours.

$15, Nosy Crow. Out July

You Choose Bedtime

Pippa Goodheart, illus. Nick Sharratt

The perfect book for toddlers to choose before they snooze – with an ingenious lift-the-flap ending. With satisfying rhyming text from Pippa Goodhart and vivid illustrations from Nick Sharratt, this is a joyful and accessible introduction to You Choose for younger readers.

$17, Puffin. Out June

We Are Definitely Human

X. Fang

When three mysterious visitors show up in Mr Li’s field in the middle of the night, he does what any kind human would do – he invites them back to his farmhouse and offers to help fix their ... car. No, there’s nothing strange about these guests at all. They’re just like other humans. They make business. They play sportsball. And they wear hats. Yes, they are DEFINITELY human … or are they?

$25, Pushkin. Out June

At the Window

Hope Lim, illus. Qin Leng

Every day, while walking their dog, a child passes a woman seated in her wide front window. What is she doing? What does she see? Days pass, and the two neighbours exchange smiles, nods and waves. Soon they’re calling out “Hello!” But one day, the child finds the wide window empty and a For Sale sign outside. When the opportunity to look out through, instead of up into, that nowlonely window arrives, the rewards ripple out in heartwarming ways.

$28, Walker. Out July

ALSO OUT

Ages 8-12

Friday Barnes 13: In Plain

Sight

R.A. Spratt

$17, Puffin. Out June

Picture book

Thoughts from a Quiet Beach

Kes Gray, illus. Nila Aye

$27, Hodder. Out July

Graphic novel Into the Bewilderness

Gus Gordon

$25, Figment. Out July

Picture book

A Lemon for Safiya

Jemima Shafei-Ongu, illus. Nisaluk Chantanakom

$25, Lothian. Out now

Children

EARLY READERS

Bin Chicken Trashy Tales #2

Kate & Jol Temple, illus. Ronojoy Ghosh Surf’s Up! Benny, Scrap and Tweeter are off for a day at the seaside. But the squawky seagulls think they own the beach ... and they have a pesky plan to get rid of bin chickens once and for all! Is this trashy trio headed for a total wipe-out?!

$15, Scholastic. Out June

CHAOS! Which way will YOU choose?

Andrew Cranna

When Bodhi, Jemima and Kevin the pig find Grandpa’s famous Amazonian Chilli Collection, they have no idea what sort of power is about to be unleashed. And now the fate of their world depends on the choices they make. Oh no!! That sounds like a recipe for disaster … and outrageous hilarity!! Laugh out very loud at the most ridiculous, absurd adventures ever, where you get to choose what happens next.

$16, Walker. Out July

ALSO OUT

AGES 8-12

The Silken Thread

Gabrielle Wang

On the day Moonie’s beloved Ma Mi goes away, Little Dipper appears in her Melbourne house. Before they can speak, he is whisked back to his home in China.

Aided by a magical silk cocoon, Little Dipper’s visits become a regular event and although neither knows how or why they are connected their bond grows each time. Will the silken threads of friendship be enough to help Moonie bring Ma Mi home, or to save Little Dipper from the troublesome ghosts who stand between him and his dream of learning English?

$18, Penguin. Out July

Sonny and Tess

Nova Weetman

Picture book

The Backwards Alphabet

Paul Friedrich

$33, Hodder. Out July

Ages 8-12

Deadly Diamond

Mark Greenwood

$15, Fremantle. Out June

Early readers

Paw Prints: Mr Duckins’ Chickens

Mick Elliott

$13, Walker. Out June

Picture book

The Ordinary Life of Jacominus Gainsborough

Rébecca Dautremer

$30, Post Wave. Out July

It’s the end of year 7 and Tess wants a summer job. But her mum has other ideas: it looks like Tess will be stuck at home babysitting her twin brothers. Thirteenyear-old Sonny is tired of moving around. With his dad up north, he’s staying with his uncle and aunt above their fish and chip shop. When Sonny and Tess crash into each other outside the shop, sparks and dim sims fly. Soon they’re both wondering if the other feels the same way – but, as Sonny loves to say, it’s complicated.

$17, UQP. Out July

KIDS’ EVENTS @ GLEEBOOKS

Saturday morning storytime

Adventures on the Dreaming Path

Paul Callaghan, illus. Dylan Finney

Meet Uncle Rolly, your guide through Dreamtime stories and activities, and join Emily and Jacob as they go on adventures to new and beautiful locations out in the bush. In each chapter, Uncle Rolly tells us all a Dreamtime story, followed by a yarn with the children and their teacher, Ms Green.

$30, Pantera. Out July

R.I.P. Nanny Tobbins

Lucie Stevens

When Nanny Tobbins fell off a horse and broke her neck, the grown-ups told nineyear-old Albertine she’d never see her beloved governess again. But it simply isn’t true. For every night, when the clock strikes 12, Nanny returns to the nursery. In her new ghostly state, Nanny Tobbins quickly causes chaos in the household – and to make matters worse, the grown-ups don’t believe in ghosts at all, leaving Albertine to take the blame for Nanny’s unruly antics. How will Albertine restore peace to her home before the unthinkable occurs?

$19, HarperCollins. Out June

Join A Loo of One’s Own author Eleri Harris in conversation with Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi for a fun and fascinating session about cool women doing cool things! 10.30am Saturday 28 June.

Saturday afternoons

Join Lucie Stevens to celebrate the launch of R.I.P. Nanny Tobbins. Make weird and wild characters to dwell in your own haunted house. All materials provided. Saturday 20 June, 3pm.

Events are free, please RSVP on 9660 2333. For more information contact Rachel at rachel@gleebooks.com.au and follow our @gleebooks_kids Instagram page for any last minute changes.

GRAPHIC NOVELS

The Foal in the Wire

Robbie Coburn, illus. Christa Moffitt

Haunted by trauma and depression, struggling with school and disillusioned with his home life after the death of his older brother, Sam’s life changes when he finds a wounded foal tangled in barbed wire in one of the paddocks at the edge of their property. In the course of rescuing and caring for the foal he becomes close with Julia, a troubled girl from the next property.

The Foal in the Wire is the deeply moving and inspiring story of Sam, his love for a girl and the horse that brings them together.

$20, Lothian. Out now

Kickflip Vol. 1

L.D. Lapinski, illus. Logan Hanning

At school, Elliot gets bullied for being “different to other girls” whereas at the skate park, everyone welcomes Elliot – presuming they’re male. But neither label feels right. As Elliot’s love of skateboarding and friendships grow, their worlds collide at a sports expo where the school netball team and skate crew are competing. Can Elliot find the courage to share what they’ve learned about non-binary identity?

$25, Orion. Out June

No Country

Joe Brady & Patrice Aggs

What would you do if your home wasn’t safe any more? Bea and her family are trying to live as if everything is normal. She and her sister Hannah look out for one another, at home and in school. But their country is starting to fall apart. A civil war is raging, and it’s getting closer. Bea is desperate not to leave home, but how long will it be before they have to run?

$19, David Fickling. Out now

Trapped

Julia Lawrinson

In 1907, the mining town of Bonnie Vale experiences a sudden deluge of rain that floods a gold mine while miners are still at work down the shaft. Joe’s dad is one of them. And it soon becomes clear that he’s the only one who hasn’t made it back out. Why didn’t he escape with the others? And more importantly, how will they rescue him? Inspired by the true story of the trapped miner of Bonnie Vale and told in verse, Julia Lawrinson weaves a tale that will beckon readers down into the gold mine to find out how the daring rescue unfolded.

$18, Fremantle. Out June

A Box Full of Murders

Janice Hallett

When Ava and Luke discover a mysterious box of papers in their attic they are instantly curious about secrets it might hold. As they read through letters, diary entries, newspaper cuttings and listen to secret recordings, they realize that a decades-old, still unsolved, murder mystery is unfolding right in front of them. They decide to try and crack the case themselves. But as they work through the clues, it soon becomes clear that the killer is still out there – and might be closer than they think.

$17, Puffin. Out June

Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody: The Hat of Great Importance

Patrick Ness, illus. Tim Miller

When Daniel arrives at the school bus stop sporting a salmoncoloured hat, Zeke is shocked. Don’t only birds wear hats? As if this isn’t strange enough, the school suddenly has a new student – a fish of all things – and a mysterious new Guidance Counsellor. Meanwhile, Zeke’s friends seem to have ditched him. So when somebody melts his house with the Death Ray of Death – twice – Zeke has had enough. Just who is sabotaging his life –and why? The second book in the absurdly funny Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody series. $17, Walker. Out June

NONFICTION

A Loo of One’s Own

Eleri Harris

In 1943, the first two women were elected to the Australian parliament. Enid Lyons and Dorothy Tangney had very different political views, but they soon discovered they had at least one problem in common: none of the loos for elected officials in Parliament House were marked “Ladies”. Award-winning cartoonist Eleri Harris tackles an important moment in Australian history in a humorous and lighthearted way, illuminating themes of equality and accessibility for readers of all ages.

$27, A&U Children’s. Out June

O’Donoghue $23, Walker. Out July YA

BIOGRAPHY

A Different Kind of Power

Jacinda Ardern

As New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern’s compassionate, powerful response to the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks, resulting in swift gun-control reforms, exemplified a new kind of leadership – one that is caring and effective. She guided New Zealand through unprecedented challenges – a volcanic eruption, a major biosecurity breach, and a pandemic – and advanced visionary new policies to address climate change, reduce child poverty, and secure historic international trade deals. In A Different Kind of Power, Ardern shares her story, from the struggles to the surprises, including why she decided to step down during her sixth year as prime minister. $55, Penguin. Out June

The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück

Lynne Olson

For decades after World War II, histories of the French Resistance largely ignored the contributions of women. The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück corrects that omission, surveying the bond between four women who fought against Nazi oppression. They were arrested by the Gestapo, underwent merciless interrogations and beatings, were jailed, and ultimately survived the hell of Ravensbrück, the only concentration camp designed specifically for women. In the aftermath of World War II, the women joined forces to find a way to transcend the horrors of the war. The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück is an illuminating, inspiring account.

$37, Scribe. Out July

ALSO OUT

Ferryman

Katia Ariel

The life and deathwork of Ephraim Finch.

$35, Wild Dingo. Out June

Letters from Gaza

Mohammed Al-Zaqzooq & Mahmoud Alshaer

Every Living Thing

Jason Roberts

In the 18th century, two men dedicated their lives to the same daunting task: identifying and describing all life on Earth. Both began believing their work to be difficult, but not impossible – stunned by life’s diversity, both fell far short of their goal. The rivalry between Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis de Buffon created reverberations that still echo today. Jason Roberts tells an unforgettable true-life tale of intertwined lives and enduring legacies, tracing an arc of insight and discovery that extends across three centuries into the present day. Winner of the 2025 Pulitzer prize for biography.

$25, Riverrun. Out now

As the year 2023 came to an end, the whole world was left startled with the unfolding of the largest humanitarian crisis of this century. While we lamented the visuals of unimaginable destruction, loss, and unsurmountable pain, there were people living that reality. Throughout the year, 30 people living in the Gaza strip, of varied ages and ethnographies, penned their feelings, fears, memories, thoughts, and hopes on the tempestuous days of war.

This collection stands as a testament to unparalleled resilience and unveils the unimaginable emotional scars of war.

$35, Penguin. Out now

Cult Bride

Liz Cameron

In her gap year after high school, Liz is approached at a shopping centre by a woman who asks her survey questions about her Christian faith. Liz is slowly brought into her small, friendly church community – but her new “friends” are members of the South Korean cult Providence, which operates in more than 70 countries. She takes us behind the scenes to show us how cults operate in plain sight – and how we can unpick the systems that enable them to prey on vulnerable people.

$37, Pantera. Out June

Looking for Elizabeth

Helen Trinca

Why did Elizabeth Harrower – one of the most important authors of postwar Australia – stop writing at the height of her powers? After publishing four books that earned the admiration of Patrick White, Shirley Hazzard and Christina Stead, Harrower published no more novels. She faded from the literary landscape, until being rediscovered decades later to international acclaim.

In Looking for Elizabeth, Helen Trinca unravels this mystery. Based on private interviews with Harrower and full access to her archive, this is the first full biography of this significant figure in Australian letters.

$37, La Trobe University. Out July

Daughters of the Bamboo Grove

Barbara Demick

Daughters of the Bamboo Grove tells the gripping story of twins forcibly separated as babies through adoption trafficking, their respective fates in China and the USA, and Barbara Demick’s role in reuniting them against huge odds. Painting a rich portrait of China’s history and culture, it asks questions about the roots, impact and consequences of China’s one-child policy, the ethics of international adoption, and the assumptions and narratives we hold about the quality of lives lived in the East and the West.

$37, Text. Out June

The Nightmare Sequence

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. It’s an extraordinary collaboration by an award-winning duo, poet Omar Sakr and visual artist Safdar Ahmed, that bears witness to the genocide in Gaza.

Staff Picks

Books we love

Theft

Abdulrazak Gurnah

$33, Bloomsbury

An utterly absorbing slice of three young lives in 90s Tanzania and Zanzibar. It starts at a rather elegant and stately pace, accelerating to a stonking pageturning conclusion.

- Andrew, Glebe

Taboo

Hannah Ferguson

$35, Affirm

As much as I hated reading about some of the difficulties Hannah has faced in her life, I was also really glad that she decided to share them. Divulging that you have been nominated by trusted adults as a teenager to safeguard younger siblings in a risky family violence situation must not be easy, but too often we look at these scenarios through the perspectives of the

adults involved, rather than from that of the young people. Highly recommended if you want to read a feminist thinker’s take on a number of issues confronting modern Australia.

- Isabel, Glebe

The Sun Was Electric Light

Rachel Morton

$35, UQP

A strange title, but I was drawn into this book from page one. It is a story about women, friendship and belonging. A slow burn, but very much worth it.

- Victoria, Blackheath

Ninth House

Leigh Bardugo

$23, Gollancz

The first book in a riveting two part series with a third on the way, this fantastical story takes place in the very real setting

of Yale University. After dropping out of high school and witnessing a horrific violent crime, Alex Stern is offered a full ride scholarship to Yale – under the condition that she monitors the magical goings-on of the school’s secret societies. Full of bitter wit, compelling mystery, and fascinating worldbuilding, Bardugo’s first adult fantasy novel takes you where you least expect it.

- Luci, Glebe

The Eyes of Gaza

Plestia Alaqad

$30, Macmillan

This is an unflinching perspective of what a genocide looks like. When the world has been watching Gaza from the outside for years, it is more important than ever that Plestia has given us the chance to see a warzone from the inside.

- Imogen, Glebe

Extract from The Nightmare Sequence by Omar Sakr and Safdar Ahmed ($30, UQP)

Joss: A History

Grace Yee

In the White Hills Cemetery in Bendigo the remains of more than a thousand ’chinamen’ lie interred, many in unmarked graves. Most were sojourners, who hailed from the Canton region in south China, and found themselves unable to return to their homeland. The poems in Joss: A History pay tribute to the author’s ancestors, illuminating how they survived – and thrived – amid longstanding colonialist stories that have exoticised and diminished Chinese communities in white settler nations around the Pacific Rim since the gold rushes of the 19th century. $27, Giramondo. Out June

Lobster

Hollie McNish

As people, we are capable of both love and hate; amazement and disgust; fun and misery. So why do we live in a world that is constantly telling us to hate, both ourselves and others? We are told to be repulsed by our own bodies, bodies that let us laugh and sweat and eat toast; to be ashamed of pleasure; to be embarrassed by fun. In this collection, Hollie McNish brings her inimitable style to the question of what we have been taught to hate, and if we might learn to love again.

$27, Fleet. Out June

ALSO OUT

Australian history

The Last Tour

Ann Curthoys

Historian Ann Curthoys sheds light on the intersections of race, gender and women’s political activism.

$40, Melbourne University. Out July

Memoir

Through Fear and Fire

John Taylor & Heath

O’Loughlin

A tell-all memoir of chilling true crime stories and the bravery of Australia’s most elite policing unit.

$37, Macmillan. Out July

How to Dodge Flying Sandals and Other Advice for Life

Daniel Nour

Meet Daniel Nour: Egyptian and Australian; loud and painfully awkward; conservative and very confused (especially about other boys). He’s never quite pulled off normal, but ’not-normal’ is where the best stories are. Now he’s made his peace with that and is ready to share his wisdom. Told as a series of snapshots from Daniel’s life - from ’How to Be Born’ to ’How to Die’ and everything in between – this is a sharply funny tale of culture, family and trying, but not always managing, to come of age.

$30, Affirm. Out now

How to Lose Your Mother

Molly Jong-Fast

Molly Jong-Fast is the only child of Erica Jong, author of the feminist autobiographical novel Fear of Flying. A sensational exploration of female sexual desire, it catapulted Erica to fame in the early 1970s. How to Lose Your Mother is Molly’s delicious and despairing memoir about an intense mother-daughter relationship and a sometimes chaotic upbringing with a fame-hungry parent. It takes us behind the scenes of a fascinating family dynamic, revels in the gossipy details of Erica’s famous friends and enemies, and leaves us with a better understanding of our own relationships.

$37, Picador. Out June

GENDER

Shadows of Azadi

Manisha Sobhrajani

In the conflict-torn and highly militarised region of Kashmir, “Azaadi” can mean different things to different people. For one woman, it could mean expressing her innermost thoughts without the fear of punishment. For another, it could mean studying the subjects of her choice. It could also mean being able to wear make-up, or certain clothes; even to to read whatever one likes. This anthology of essays by women from the three main regions of Indian-administered-Kashmir –Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh – explores what Azaadi means in a country where basic rights for women are forbidden. $30, Melbourne University. Out July

Spring

Michael Morpurgo

Michael Morpurgo has lived on a farm deep in rural Devon for more than 40 years. As the natural world shakes off a long winter, Michael watches lambs being born on the farm, delights in a fanfare of bluebells in the woods, and sings to the birds, dressed in his wellies and dressing gown. He shares small moments of joy found in the back garden, as well as more dramatic encounters with sparrowhawks, hares and otters. With new poems and reminiscences about childhood and springs gone by, this is an enchanting memoir of a season from one of the world’s best-loved authors.

$45, Hodder. Out June

Bad Friend

Tiffany Watt Smith

Meet the bad friends, the ones who broke all the rules about femininity that they didn’t write. In this history of women’s friendship, Tiffany Watt Smith reckons with the ways we understand this complex and vital connection. She takes us from Japan to the Ivory Coast, The Mindy Project to Zadie Smith’s Swing Time, from prisons to film sets to hospital wards and elder communities, untangling the assumptions about good and bad friends. Weaving together history, interviews and memoir, Bad Friend offers what’s long overdue: a more expansive, more rebellious vision of friendship fit for 21st-century life.

$35, Faber. Out July

Bombard the Headquarters!

Linda Jaivin

In 1966, Mao Zedong unleashed the full, violent force of a movement that he called the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. By the time he died 10 years later, millions had perished, China’s cultural heritage was in ruins, its economic state was perilous, its institutions of government damaged and its society bitterly divided. The history of this period is so toxic that China’s rulers have gone to great lengths to bury it – while a few brave men and women risk their freedom to uncover the truth. At once rigorous and readable, this is a marvel of historical storytelling.

$27, Black Inc. Out June

The Buried City

Gabriel Zuchtriegel

Pompeii is a world frozen in time. There are unmade beds, dishes left drying, tools abandoned by workmen, bodies embracing with love and fear. And alongside the remnants of everyday life, there are captivating works of art: lifelike portraits, exquisite frescos and mosaics. The Buried City reconstructs the catastrophe that destroyed Pompeii on 24 August 79 CE, offering a behind-the-scenes tour of the city as it was before, showing that ancient history is much closer to us than we think.

$35, Hodder. Out now

The Einstein Vendetta

Thomas Harding

Italy, August 1944. A unit of German soldiers arrives at a villa near Florence. Villa Il Focardo is home to Robert Einstein, cousin to the most famous scientist in the world, Albert Einstein – a prominent enemy of the Nazi regime. Twelve hours after arriving, the soldiers have vanished – and a family is dead. This crime – and what happened next – still haunts those who survived. In The Einstein Vendetta, Thomas Harding reveals Italy’s brutal wartime history – its fall to fascism, antisemitism and bitter partisanship –and a family’s search for justice.

$37, Michael Joseph. Out now

Politics

Hayek’s

Bastards

Quinn Slobodian

How the far right has emerged, not in opposition to neoliberalism, but within it.

$55, Allen Lane. Out July

The Death of Stalin

Sheila

Fitzpatrick

When Joseph Stalin died in 1953, he had been the unchallenged leader of the Soviet Union for more than 20 years. He had been surrounded by a cult that made him seem godlike; no successors were in sight. Sheila Fitzpatrick draws on her unparalleled knowledge of Stalin’s circle and Soviet society to tell a tale that blends black comedy with forensic analysis. The final chapter deals with Stalin’s eventful afterlife,including his recent resurrection in Putin’s Russia. This is both a riveting read and a salutary one.

$28, Black Inc. Out June

Darwin on the Beagle

Harrison Christian

In 1831, Charles Darwin set out on an expedition to South America as the gentleman companion for Captain Robert FitzRoy. Initially conceived as a Christian mission, the voyage would spark Darwin’s revolutionary theory of evolution. This theory put the rational, scientific Darwin at odds with the deeply religious FitzRoy, who would go on to publicly denigrate Darwin and his heretic ideas. This fascinating book captures the tension of the Victorian period – an age torn between religious certainty and scientific doubt.

$37, Ultimo. Out June

History

What Is Free Speech?

Faramerz Dabhoiwala

This book shows that history complicates our contemporary presumptions of free speech.

$55, Allen Lane. Out June

The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire

Henry Gee

For the first time in more than 10 millennia, the rate of human population growth is slowing down. Rapid climate change, a stagnating global economy, falling birth rates and a decline in average human sperm count are combining to make our chances for longevity increasingly slim. Gee argues that unless Homo sapiens establishes successful colonies in space within the next two centuries, our species will have vanished entirely within another 10,000 years. Drawing on a dazzling array of the latest scientific research, Gee tells the extraordinary story of humanity and suggests how our exceptional species might avoid its tragic fate.

$37, Picador. Out June

TRUE CRIME

Someone Somewhere Knows Nothing

Meni Caroutas

Every 14 minutes in Australia, someone vanishes. Of the 38,000 missing persons reported each year, most return. But for the families of those who don’t, it’s a nightmare they never wake up from. There are currently 2,600 long-term missing Australians. On top of that, 700 unidentified bodies lie in morgues and unmarked graves across the country, silent mysteries waiting to be solved. In this powerful and gripping collection of reallife cases, Meni Caroutas – a former cop turned investigative journalist – reviews old evidence, hunts new leads and recounts shocking developments surrounding the disappearance or murder of 18 people.

$35, HarperCollins. Out July

Memoir

Bookish

Lucy Mangan

An ode to the bookish places and the stories that make us who we are.

$40, Square Peg. Out June

Clever Men

Martin Thomas

In 1948, Charles Mountford led an expedition of American and Australian scientists to Arnhem Land to investigate traditional Aboriginal life and the tropical environment. Backed by National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Australian government, it was also a display of the friendship between Australia and the US. But the adventure turned out to be anything but friendly. In this compelling account, Martin Thomas tells how the expedition turned toxic. He uncovers the secrets, scandals, and unlikely achievements. He also reveals how Indigenous communities, including the elders known as “clever men”, dealt with the intrusion of these foreign “experts”. $37, Allen & Unwin. Out June

Pride and Prejudices

Keio Yoshida

Unlike women’s rights, disability rights, children’s rights, freedom from torture, and racial discrimination – there is no dedicated and binding treaty or convention in international human rights law with respect to LGBTQ+ rights. In Pride and Prejudices, Yoshida analyses case law from around the world, including the first global precedent to call for the decriminalisation of same-sex intimacy between women, and other timely cases such as the bitter debate over self-ID for trans people in the UK and Florida’s recent ’Don’t Say Gay’ bill. This pivotal book addresses the legal problems that still persist and what more needs to be done to protect LGBTQ+ communities.

$33, Scribe. Out June

The Last Outlaws

Katherine Biber

In the winter of 1900, Wiradjuri man Jimmy Governor and his brother Joe murdered nine people across New South Wales, in a rampage that caused panic in the colony on the brink of nationhood. The brothers’ names still resonate, partly due to Thomas Keneally’s novel The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith and Fred Schepisi’s subsequent film, but their story has remained distorted and obscure. Populated by a cast of extraordinary characters and compelling detail, The Last Outlaws offers an electric new understanding of our past and our present.

$37, Scribner. Out July

Start Digging, You Bastards!

Tom Gilling

Tom Gilling recounts in vivid detail the brutal hand-to-hand fighting, deadly artillery barrages and momentous tank battles that characterised the desert war, culminating in two immense clashes involving hundreds of thousands of troops around an isolated Egyptian railway halt at El Alamein. Rich in historical insight and heart-pounding action, Start Digging, You Bastards! brings to life the fateful conflict in the Egyptian desert, evoking the desperate, dust-choked struggle through the eyes of the troops, whose courage and endurance were tested to the very limit.

$35, Allen & Unwin. Out July

Deep History

Ed. Ann McGrath and Jackie Huggins

In Deep History: Country and Sovereignty, leading historians and thinkers explore Indigenous histories of caring for places and people over millennia. Walking on Country, gardening and agriculture and rock art are historical practices that continue to play an important role in asserting sovereign rights. While colonial powers crafted historical narratives of entitlement, First Nations people continue to perform deep histories of sovereignty. Deep History offers readers an invitation to walk the Country, to see how it reveals the most crucial of all histories for the planet.

$50, UNSW. Out July

Broken

Graeme Turner

Graeme Turner provides a reality check for those who imagine the academic life is one of privilege and leisure, laying bare the enormous challenges and lack of hope experienced by many in academia. He unearths the foundations of this crisis, then explains how the solution lies in an overhaul of the one-size-fitsall approach to university funding, the establishment of genuine full-time career paths, and the formation of an independent body to ensure our university system serves the national interest in both teaching and research, rather than the ferocious competitiveness of the marketplace.

$20, Monash University. Out July

Terraglossia

Debra Dank

You won’t find “terraglossia” in a dictionary. It’s a word coined by acclaimed academic and awardwinning author Dr Debra Dank in response to the first Europeans’ description of Australia as “terra nullius” – no one’s land. These new arrivals, with their language born far away, silenced and made invisible the ancient civilisations that have lived in this place for many thousands of years. Terraglossia is a powerful and moving reply to a false claiming, to the need for understanding that only through responsible living with the earth will all the voices of Australia truly be heard. $23, Echo. Out June

You Hide That You Hate Me and I Hide That I Know

Philip Gourevitch

Philip Gourevitch’s modern classic We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families opened our eyes to the 1994 genocide of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority – close to a million people murdered by their neighbours. Now Gourevitch brings us an intimate exploration of how killers and survivors live together again in the same communities, grappling with seemingly impossible burdens of memory and forgetting, vengefulness and forgiveness.

$45, Allen Lane. Out August

Hard New World: Our Post-American Future, Quarterly Essay 98

Hugh White

Under Donald Trump, America’s retreat from global leadership has been swift and erratic. China, Russia and India are on the move. Hugh White explains the big strategic trends driving the war in Ukraine, and why America has “lost” Asia. He discusses the Albanese government’s record and its post-election choices, and why complacency about the American alliance – including AUKUS – is no longer an option. This essential essay urges us to make our way in a hard new world with realism and confidence.

$30, Quarterly Essay. Out June

BUSINESS

Blindspotting

Kirstin Ferguson

Intellectual humility, intellectual curiosity and cognitive flexibility can transform the way you lead, think and grow. In Blindspotting, award-winning leadership expert Dr Kirstin Ferguson reveals how the best leaders aren’t those with all the answers – they’re the ones who can say, “I don’t know yet”. Through compelling stories and cutting-edge research, Ferguson uncovers the hidden forces shaping our decisions – often without us realising it. This isn’t just a leadership book – it’s a game changer for anyone who wants to see the world, and themselves, with fresh eyes.

$37, Penguin. Out June

$35, Bloomsbury. Out July ALSO OUT

Politics

Minority Rule

Ash Sarkar

Sarker reveals how minority elites rule majorities by creating the culture wars that have taken over our politics.

TECHNOLOGY

These Strange New Minds

Christopher Summerfield

Can AI systems think, know and understand? Could they manipulate or deceive you, and if so, what might they make you do? Whose interests do they ultimately represent? And when will they be able to move beyond words and take actions for themselves in the real world? Ultimately, can we look forward to a technological utopia, or are we in the process of writing ourselves out of history? Christopher Summerfield, Research Director at the UK government’s AI Safety Institute, explains how the technology that is revolutionising our world actually works, and what it means for our future.

$37, Viking. Out June

Revenge

Alex Isenstadt

According to his closest confidantes, even Donald Trump was taken aback by his decisive victory. Through deep reporting and sourcing, Isenstadt takes readers into the back rooms of Mar-aLago and “Trump Force One”, providing a fly-on-the-wall account of the thoughts and reactions of the President-Elect and his closest aides to show what really took place over the course of his reelection bid.

$35, Grand Central. Out now

The Big Fix

Albert Palazzo

The character of war is constantly changing, and so too must the approach to national security. In The Big Fix, defence strategist Albert Palazzo proposes a defence policy centred on the strategic defensive, which presents the best military fit for Australia, given its geography and the current state of military technology. Crucially, he elevates climate change to primacy in the national security hierarchy and explains how we cannot afford to ignore it as a security factor. And he asks: what is stopping Australia’s leaders from seriously considering other options for the nation’s security?

$30, Melbourne University. Out July

ECONOMICS

Blood and Treasure

Duncan Weldon

Philosophy What to Expect When You’re Dead

Robert Garland

An ancient tour of death and the afterlife.

$50, Princeton University. Out July

Together institutions and incentives shape and explain human behaviour. Over the long span of human history, nothing has shaped institutions – and hence economic outcomes – as much as war and violence. Blood and Treasure examines why Genghis Khan should be regarded as the father of globalisation, how New World gold and silver kept Spain poor, how pirate captains were pioneers of effective HR techniques, and why economic theories helped to create a tragedy in Vietnam.

$35, Abacus. Out June

Meanjin 84.2 Winter 2025

Esther Anatolitis

What is a revolution? What are the sounds of the crickets, the carpark, the quails and the creek? Who funds culture wars, and whose interests does their gamble serve? Can you dance through an entire year – and what is there to learn? This winter, Meanjin’s fiction, poetry, memoir, experiments and essays take us on new adventures led by Australia’s finest writers.

$25, Meanjin. Out June

Backstage

Donna Leon

In this series of essays, the author of the Venice-set Guido Brunetti crime novels reveals her admiration for the great crime novelists Ruth Rendell and Ross Macdonald, expresses her love for Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, and her appreciation of Sir Walter Scott’s generosity of spirit. She chronicles the research she undertakes to authentically present Brunetti and his colleagues, and the places and characters far from her own experience, from interviewing a diamond dealer in Venice to meeting a courageous sex worker and women’s rights activist to depict accurately the trafficking of women in Italy.

$30, Hutchinson Heinemann. Out July

ALSO OUT

History

The Wide Wide Sea Hampton Sides

A gripping account of what happened on Captain Cook’s fatal, final voyage to the Pacific. $25, Michael Joseph. Out July

True crime Unmasking the Killer of the Missing Beaumont Children

Stuart Mullins & Bill Hayes

An exposé of Harry Phipps, the prime suspect in the children’s abduction and likely murder.

$37, Simon & Schuster. Out July

The Prime Minister’s Potato

Anne-Marie Condé

In this book of essays, history curator Anne-Marie Conde asks fresh questions about the significance of objects and places within the lives of ordinary people. Whether it’s a wet greasy pavement in Hobart or a message in chalk in Sydney, Conde can coax a historical narrative out of the most meagre sources. Along the way she asks why anyone would offer a potato as a gift to a prime minister. How could this humble vegetable help us think about Australia’s past?

$30, Upswell. Out June

The Gifts of Reading for the Next Generation

Jennie Orchard

Remember the books that shaped your childhood, sparked your imagination, and ignited a lifelong love of reading? In The Gifts of Reading for the Next Generation, some of the world’s most beloved authors share their own transformative reading experiences – the books and stories that set them on the path of becoming the readers and writers they are today. With contributions from Tristan Bancks, Shankari Chandran, Colum McCann, Alice Pung, Diana Reid, Nardi Simpson, Thelma Young Lutunatabua, and more.

$35, Scribe. Out July

PHILOSOPHY

Traditionalism

Mark Sedgwick

raditionalism has been used to encourage respect for the environment, compose great music and reduce hostility between followers of different religions. But Traditionalism has also been used to support darker causes – from the election of Donald Trump to fascist movements. How has Traditionalism been so influential for so long, yet so little acknowledged and understood? Here, Traditionalism’s history, ideas and profound impact are laid out, shining a light onto this shadowy world and its three founders. Once you understand Traditionalism, you will see its influence everywhere.

$29, Penguin. Out June

Metaphors

Pedro Alcalde

The word metaphor comes to us from Ancient Greek, in which it meant transfer. In this book, philosophical concepts from throughout history and from all over the world are transferred into images, which help us to understand the world that surrounds us using memorable colors and shapes. Designed for those curious about philosophy and its intricacies, this elegant and accessible book explores 24 metaphors that are foundational to our understanding of the human experience and the mysteries of existence.

$50, Prestel. Out June

How to Talk About Love

Plato, translated by Arman D’Angour

What is love? Plato’s Symposium is one of the oldest, most influential, and most profound explorations of the topic. How to Talk about Love introduces and presents the key passages and central ideas of Plato’s philosophical dialogue in a lively and highly readable new translation, which also features the original Greek on facing pages.

$30, Princeton University. Out June

The Introvert’s Guide to Leaving the House

Jenny Valentish

At last: a practical and relatable book for introverts, stand-offishs, sociophobes and awkwards – full of game plans for every excruciating social scenario. Journalist and reformed sociophobe Jenny Valentish will help you extend your social battery life, tackle fear of judgement, create an online presence that feels comfortable, hit a party like a SWAT team, nail phone conversations, handle conflict, become a more confident manager and team player, hack public speaking, turn small talk into profound connections, and navigate the overlap between social anxiety and neurodiversity.

$37, Affirm. Out now

Pathless Forest

Chris Thorogood

As a child, Chris Thorogood dreamed of seeing Rafflesia – the plant with the world’s largest flowers. Today he is a botanist at the University of Oxford’s Botanic Garden and has dedicated his life to studying the biology of such extraordinary plants. We join him on a mind-bending adventure, as he faces a seemingly impenetrable barrier of weird, wonderful and sometimes fearsome flora; finds himself smacking off leeches, hanging off vines, wading through rivers; and following indigenous tribes into remote, untrodden rainforests in search of Rafflesia’s ghostly, foul-smelling blooms. Pathless Forest is part thrilling adventure story and part inspirational call to action to safeguard a fast-disappearing wilderness.

$27, Penguin. Out June

Doctors By Nature

Jaap De Roode Ages before the dawn of modern medicine, wild animals were harnessing the power of nature’s pharmacy to heal themselves. Doctors by Nature reveals what researchers are now learning about the medical wonders of the animal world. In this visionary book, Jaap de Roode argues that we have underestimated the healing potential of nature for too long and shows how the study of self-medicating animals could impact the practice of human medicine.

$45, Princeton University. Out June

POPULAR SCIENCE

The Ideological Brain

Leor Zmigrod

Dr Leor Zmigrod uses the powerful tools of neuroscience to show that our political beliefs are not transient thoughts in our minds, divorced from our bodies – ideologies actually change our neural architecture, our cells. The Ideological Brain is essential reading in today’s polarised and polarising world. To foster a more informed, resilient and freer society, we need to learn to spot rigid thinking in ourselves and others. Regardless of your political stance, this book will challenge you to reassess your convictions – and what they are doing to your brain.

$37, Viking. Out June

Elephant in the Room

Liz Kalaugher

Humans, animals and disease. They’re all inter-related, so why do we keep ignoring the elephant in the room? It’s well known that Covid-19 may have come from a bat, but diseases are often transmitted in the other direction too: humans have passed diseases to animals countless times through history. Taking the reader on a globe-trotting journey through time, Kalaugher presents a series of fascinating case histories of humanrelated wildlife diseases. Examining these tales and drawing on first-hand accounts from experts around the world, The Elephant in the Room is both a tragic history and an inspirational call to arms. $65, Icon. Out July

A User’s Guide to the Mind

Ian Hickie & James O’Loghlin

We’ve all heard advice for physical longevity, but what about our mental longevity? How do we fill those years with a better understanding of who we are and how our mind works? Whether you’re looking for a wealth of practical tools to carry with you through the tough times, or want to develop an overall strategy for lasting mental wellbeing, A User’s Guide to the Mind meets you wherever you are along life’s journey.

$37, Penguin. Out July

PARENTING

Building Resilient Kids

Tim Curtis

By around eight years of age, most children have developed their own habitual way of reacting to stress. So how do we help today’s children be more resilient?

In Building Resilient Kids, Tim presents the latest thinking from leading childhood professionals, groundbreaking resilience research and the wisdom of lived experience. This book will arm you with the knowledge and techniques to help your kids grow into kind and happy young adults, capable of confidently confronting adversity while being highly functional, contributing members of society.

$37, Macmillan. Out July

ENVIRONMENT

Plug In!

Saul Griffith & Laura Fraser

We all know that renewable energy is the future, but how can we ditch coal and gas in our own lives and homes? From hot water, to heating, cooking and transport, energy expert Saul Griffith offers pro tips and essential information for your electrification journey.

$28, Black Inc. Out June

VISUAL ART

Oliver Jeffers

Martin Salisbury

David Hockney

Norman Rosenthal

This book explores the endless inventiveness, curiosity and creativity that have characterised David Hockney’s work over eight decades, ranging from still life and portraits to his muchloved landscapes and stunning designs for opera. The artworks chosen reflect Hockney’s key themes and preoccupations over the decades, from his early life in Bradford and London through the California era and his later years in Yorkshire and France. Compiled with the full involvement of David Hockney and his studio, and with a large-scale landscape format with a selection of gatefolds that enables the reader to revel in the art.

$90, Thames and Hudson. Out June

Oliver Jeffers has tirelessly pushed the boundaries of what a picturebook can be. His regular exploration of existential issues – whether through illustration or other media such as site-specific installation or film – has exerted a major influence on the practice of authorial picturebook-making. This overview of his life and work – so far –charts his passion for the environment and his quest to understand humanity’s major challenges, and the impact this has had on his creative and intellectual output.

$40, Thames and Hudson. Out now

Hidden Portraits

Sue Roe Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, MarieTherese Walter, Dora Maar, Francoise Gilot, and Jacqueline Roque. These six extraordinary women shared Pablo Picasso’s life and were instrumental in his career, yet they have long been dismissed as simply passive models or muses. Sue Roe’s enthralling book spans 70 years, from Bohemian early 20th-century Montmartre to the glittering Riviera in the 1920s, through Paris under Nazi occupation and beyond Picasso’s final years of seclusion. The result is a riveting, atmospheric read about six fascinating and charismatic women.

$50, Faber. Out July

Visual art

Obey

Shepard Fairey

$80, Skira. Out June

Dangerously Modern

Various editors

This book charts the vital role of Australian women artists in the development of international modernism. Belonging to an unprecedented wave of women who travelled to Europe at the turn of the 20th century, they prevailed against centuries of social constraints to pursue professional careers on an international stage. Lavish colour illustrations enrich a collection of long and short-form essays that offer detailed insights into both celebrated and recently rediscovered paintings, sculpture, prints and ceramics.

$80, Art Gallery of SA. Out June

Liquid Reflections

Liliane Lijn

In 1958, talented and fearless and 18 years old, Liliane Lijn left her family home and moved to Paris alone to become an artist. She embraced the bohemian spirit of the Left Bank. She befriended artists, painters, poets, gallerists and revolutionaries, as the late Surrealists gave way to a burgeoning Pop Art movement. She experimented boldly, creating ground-breaking sculptures with light, text and movement. Liquid Reflections is her memoir of these years of experiment and adventure – from paper and canvas to wax and perspex to oil and water.

$45, Hamish Hamilton. Out June

Craft & design

Shosa

Ringo Gomez-Jorge

$85, Luster. Out July

Artists Series: Henri Matisse

Juliette Rizzi

This concise book is a captivating introduction to the life and work of Henri Matisse. It contextualises his career from his informal training in Paris to his early study of the impressionists, and the pivotal point when he created his first fauvist painting, marking his singular interest in experimenting with flatness of colour, simple shapes and sinuous loose lines. Highlighting the artist’s revolutionary technique with paper cutouts, this book demonstrates the relentless passion and incredible creative drive of a modern master.

$30, Tate. Out July

FASHION

Liberty

Kassia St Clair

Liberty – an icon of design innovation and luxury – is renowned internationally for fabric designs on silk, wool and cashmere. Gathered here are 150 of the most striking and significant Liberty patterns, ranging from much-loved florals to bold and abstract designs and contemporary collaborations. Published to mark Liberty’s 150th anniversary, this beautifully produced book presents the very latest examples of Liberty design alongside prints, drawings and samples from the company’s archive, telling an inspiring, century-long story of manufacturing quality and design excellence.

$100, Thames and Hudson. Out July

Gallagher

P.J. Harrison

For three decades, the question of why Liam and Noel, two brothers with the world at their feet, simply couldn’t get along has fascinated the music world. Gallagher explores that question and offer some answers. What drove them apart in 2009, and what led to their reunion in 2024? Through meticulous research, exclusive interviews and inside access, Harrison strives to understand how two brothers rose from a council estate in Manchester to create the dominant musical force of their generation throughout the 1990s and 2000s and why they have such enduring legacies. $35, Sphere. Out now

Men of a Certain Age

Kate Mossman

This book is a meditation on the powerful archetype of the ageing rock star, but it is also a personal story – of music and obsession, and of the deep unconscious projections at play in our relationships with the famous people who most capture our hearts. Featuring 19 long-form profiles lovingly constructed for The Word magazine and the New Statesman, Men of a Certain Age chronicles the lives of some of the biggest rock stars of our time, including Brian May, Gene Simmons, Terence Trent D’Arby, Johnny Rotten and Nick Cave.

$45, Nine Eight. Out July

The Iconic Tropical House

Patrick Bingham-Hall

This stunningly illustrated volume presents 45 of the most interesting tropical houses of the last 30 years, surveying India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and northern Australia, arranged decade by decade. These are buildings with pitched roofs, broad overhangs and eaves, verandas, big doors and windows, that optimize airflow and solar orientation. Larger than life, open to the elements, this is soaring architecture with a strong sense of place.

$90, Thames and Hudson. Out August

Interwar

Gavin Stamp

British architecture between the wars is most famous for the rise of modernism but the reality was far more diverse. Beginning with a survey of the modern movement after the armistice, Interwar untangles the threads that link lesser-known movements like the Egyptian revival with the enduring popularity of the Tudorbethan, to chronicle one of Britain’s most dynamic architectural periods. The result is more than an architectural history – it is the portrait of a changing nation.

$55, Profile. Out now

Natural Living by Design

Melissa Penfold

In her new book, design and style authority Melissa Penfold turns her attention from the basics of interior decorating to demonstrating what a powerful force design can be in boosting our physical and emotional wellbeing. It underscores the importance of introducing natural light; incorporating nature into our homes; creating lots of storage (mess is stress); and recognising the power that colour has on our state of mind. Illustrating each chapter are photographs of beautiful rooms in homes around the world.

$70, Vendome. Out now

Looking for the Perfect Beat

Arthur Baker

Beginning his career as a club DJ and disco producer in the early 70s Arthur Baker later produced one of the genre-defining early hip-hop tracks Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force. Baker went on to work with artists including Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Al Green, Pet Shop Boys, Quincy Jones and New Order. Looking for the Perfect Beat features unheard stories about many of the world’s best and most successful musicial figures, which together form a portrait of a man who has been quietly influencing the sound of popular music for more than 50 years.

$55, Faber. Out August

FILM

Nouvelles Femmes

Ericka Knudson

Legends of style, mystique, and individuality, actresses such as Anna Karina, Jeanne Moreau, Jean Seberg, Brigitte Bardot, and filmmaker Agnès Varda, are part of a larger group of “modern women” who revolutionised cinema; they broke out of the rigid representations that confined women to stereotypes and led the way toward more complex female roles. Their individual voices and undeniable presence brought authenticity to their characters that resonated both on screen and off.

$55, Chronicle. Out June

ALSO OUT

Design

Life-Changing Homes

Kirsten Dirksen & Nicolas Boullosa

$60, Abrams. Out now

Film

Star Wars: The Acolyte Visual Guide

$43, Dorling Kindersley. Out June

TRAVEL

Venice

Martin Gayford

Venice was a major centre of art in the Renaissance: the city where the medium of oil on canvas became the norm. Venetian views were a speciality of native artists such as Canaletto and Guardi, but the city has also been represented by outsiders: J. M. W. Turner, Claude Monet, John Singer Sargent, and many more. Then there are those who came to look at and write about art. The reactions of Henry James, George Eliot, Richard Wagner and others enrich this tale. Since the advent of the Venice Biennale in the 1890s, and the arrival of Peggy Guggenheim in the late 1940s, the city has remained the site of important artistic events. In this elegant volume, Gayford takes us on a visual journey through the city’s past five centuries.

$30, Thames and Hudson. Out June

Ultimate Japan

Japan is a country like no other: where else can you ride some of the world’s fastest trains, soak in the hot springs of an active volcano or dine in a robot-staffed restaurant? Bringing together everything that makes Japan so exciting, this book gives you all the inspiration you need to make your trip the best ever, including cherry blossom viewing parties, sublime sushi and the sacred deer of Nara. Interest-themed chapters and expertly planned itineraries show you how to make the most of your time.

$55, Dorling Kindersley. Out June

ALSO OUT

Travel

The Italian Way

Explore Italy’s classic food, dreamy landscapes and Renaissance masterpieces.

$43, Dorling Kindersley. Out June

Cooking

Our Nourishing Week

Sarah Bell

Sarah Bell simplifies dinner with “cook once eat twice” recipes and delicious time-savers.

$40, Penguin. Out July

HEALTH

Food Noise

Dr Jack Mosley

In a world captivated by the promise of GLP1 drugs – Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and others – one question remains: how do you lose weight well and sustain it for life? This groundbreaking guide by Dr Jack Mosley builds on the legacy of his father, Michael Mosley, combining expert medical insight with real-life stories and practical advice. Featuring interviews with people who’ve experienced the highs and lows of GLP-1 drugs and insights from leading experts, Food Noise unravels the pros and cons behind these so-called “miracle” weight-loss medications.

$35, Hachette. Out now

The Liver Repair Plan

Sarah Di Lorenzo

One in three Australians have a fatty liver, one of the most prevalent liver conditions worldwide. Revitalising your liver health can increase energy, aid weight-loss, improve sleep, slow aging, reduce headaches, improve skin health, reduce brain fog and lower anxiety. The Liver Repair Plan offers practical guidance, easy-to-follow meal plans, and more than 50 nutrient-dense recipes that will support your liver’s health and vitality.

$40, Simon & Schuster. Out June

Dr Golly’s Guide to Family Illness

Dr Daniel Golshevsky

As children move around the community, it’s inevitable they’ll pick up a few bugs or lurgies on the way. This resource is your go-to guide, helping you navigate through many of the most common illnesses, basic management plans and more importantly, how to identify severe illness when you may need more support. With a focus on understanding that sickness is inevitable, Dr Golly can teach us how to minimise and manage these illnesses to get your child better, sooner.

$30, Hardie Grant. Out June

COOKING

The Greek Islands Cookbook

Carolina Doriti

In her new book, Greek chef and food writer Carolina Doriti showcases Mediterranean food with a unique focus on the Greek islands. Alongside stunning photography, her recipes will inspire you to recreate some Greek holiday magic in your own kitchen, including melon, feta and mint salad, barbecue pork souvlaki with pita bread, artichoke bake and langoustines with zucchini.

$40, Murdoch. Out June

Boustany

Sami Tamimi

A homage to Palestinian food and culture, Boustany is the first solo cookbook from Sami Tamimi, Ottolenghi cofounder and champion of Palestinian food and culture. With over 100 recipes, Sami offers recipes for breakfast, sharing plates, big celebrations, simple breads, moreish sweet treats, easy dinners and more. It’s an approach that’s strongly present in Palestinian cuisine, from building your mooneh, or pantry, by preserving seasonal vegetables and herbs to lining the dinner table with a variety of salads and condiments reflective of a love for fresh and vibrant food.

$60, Ebury. Out June

Modern Australian Baking

Christopher Thé

Christopher Thé, founder of Blackstar Bakery and creator of “the world’s most Instagrammed cake”, offers a masterclass in cakes, breads and pastries that are defined by the Australian landscape and its distinctive produce. These recipes, which include Geraldton Wax Cheesecake with Strawberry Gum Biscuit, Saltbush Scones with Desert Lime Marmalade and Kangaroo Shepherd’s Pie with Bush Tomato Relish are suitable for anyone who is new to this style of baking, but will also inspire more skilled cooks and bakers.

$60, Hardie Grant. Out July

Actress Anne Enright

August Sander: Masterpieces Gabriele Conrath-Scholl

The Committed Viet Thanh Nguyen

Encounters with Euclid Benjamin Wardhaugh

with Mushrooms Andrea Gentl

Falling in Love Donna Leon

Ancient Magic Philip Matyszak

The Blossom Cookbook Ronan Seri & Pamela Elizabeth

Cucina Povera Giulia Scarpaleggia

Fool Peter K. Andersson

Apeirogon Colum McCann

The Brontë Cabinet Deborah Lutz

Elizabeth Finch Julian Barnes

Forms of Enchantment

Dame Marina Warner

From Holmes to Sherlock Mattias Boström

Kingdom of Ants Edward O. Wilson, Jose M. Gomez Duran

Pocket Guide to Birds of Australia Various

Sick Souls, Healthy Minds John Kaag

How Fast Did T. Rex Run? David Hone

Man with a Blue Scarf Martin Gayford

Roman Mythology David Stuttard

Still As Bright Christopher Cokinos

How the West Stole Democracy from the Arabs Elizabeth F. Thompson

On the Couch Ed. Andrew Blauner

The Secret History of Food Matt Siegel

Twelve Caesars Mary Beard

In Asian Waters Eric Tagliacozzo

Plunder Cynthia Saltzman

Shakespearean Robert McCrum

Vanity Fair’s Writers on Writers Various

Reid All About It

Underground

Haruki Murakami $23, Vintage Arrow

Tokyo. Monday 20 March 1995. Just after 8am, five members of the religious doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth) simultaneously released 21 containers of toxic sarin nerve gas – described as “the poor man’s atom bomb”into the carriages of five trains on three lines of the typically overcrowded Tokyo Metro subway system.

Disguised as lunch boxes and soft-drink cartons, the gas attack left 13 people dead, severely injured 50 and at least 5,000 others needing hospital treatment. Aum Shinrikyo was founded a decade earlier as a yoga school by the half-blind “guru” Shoko Asahara. At the time of the attack the cult was estimated to have more than 40,000 followers worldwide. At LSD-fuelled initiation ceremonies, the Master ordered his disciples to reject materialism by handing over their wealth. He declared himself “Tokyo’s Christ”, pledged to take away their sins and bestow upon them superhuman powers. As the decade progressed, Aum teachings took a violent, apocalyptic turn. Opponents were threatened, harassed and worse.

Murakami’s book is an impressive essay in eyewitness reportage. One of the criticisms, however, was the “one-sided” view that it presented; a later edition contains interviews with eight Aum Shinrikyo members.

They’ll Never Hold Me

Michael Adams $35, Affirm

Kevin John Simmonds was boyish looking, had a courteous manner and a liking for fitness training and fast cars. In 1959, aged 24, he became Australia’s most charismatic crook and fugitive. Simmonds’ crime sprees through two states left a trail of safe cracking, car thefts and robberies. In February 1959 it earned him a 15-year sentence in Long Bay gaol.

On 9 October 1959, Simmonds staged a daylight escape with a fellow inmate, 20-year-old Leslie Newcombe. The following day they broke into Emu Plains Prison Farm, attempting to steal food. Cecil Mills, a warden, was murdered. The pair took a gun. Newcombe was recaptured in Sydney a fortnight later. Simmonds remained at large.

Simmonds spent five weeks on the run, gaining much public sympathy. He was recaptured on 16 November at Mulbrig.

In 1960 both escapees were sentenced to life in prison. Simmonds was found hanged in his cell on the morning of 4 November 1966. Along with interviews with friends and family, Adams uncovers fresh information of his subject’s life – and demise – found in previously unpublished official records.

Stephen Reid

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SYDNEY WRITERS’ FESTIVAL BESTSELLERS

Fiction

1. The Safekeep Yael Van Der Wouden

2. Orbital Samantha Harvey

3. Butter

Asako Yuzuki

4. You Are Here David Nicholls

5. Long Island Colm Tóibín

6. Theory & Practice Michelle De Kretser

7. Stag Dance

Torrey Peters

8. The Ministry of Time

Kaliane Bradley

9. Brooklyn Colm Tóibín

10. A Sunny Place for Shady People

Mariana Enriquez

Nonfiction Children

1. The Eyes of Gaza Plestia Alaqad

2. Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza Peter Beinart

3. She Speaks!

Harriet Walter

4. 38 Londres Street

Philippe Sands

5. Discriminations

A.C. Grayling

6. The Siege

Ben Macintyre

7. The Season

Helen Garner

8. Find Me at the Jaffa Gate Micaela Sahhar

9. Always Was, Always Will Be Thomas Mayo

10. How to Dodge Flying Sandals and Other Advice for Life

Daniel Nour

1. Heist 1: The Great Chocolate Caper Joel McKerrow

2. The Girl & the Ghost Jacqueline Harvey

3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (BK1) Jeff Kinney

4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid 19: Hot Mess Jeff Kinney

5. We Are Wolves Katrina Nannestad

6. All the Beautiful Things Katrina Nannestad

7. Emmie & Friends 9: Entirely Emmie Terri Libenson

8. Invisible Emmie: 1 Emmie & Friends Terri Libenson

9. Urban Legend Hunters: The Dreaded Mr Snipe

Joel McKerrow

10. Waiting for the Storks Katrina Nannestad

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