Winter reads

3for COSY NIGHTS

SECOND FIRST IMPRESSIONS SALLY THORNE (Hachette Australia)

Young, beautiful and bright, Ruthie Midona has everything going for her. Instead, the 25-year-old chooses to hide herself away working — and living — at a luxury retirement village. It’s all about her elderly charges, which gives Ruthie the perfect excuse not to have to think about her own life, or lack of it. But best laid plans being what they are, the arrival of the handsome Teddy Prescott is about to throw a spanner of epic proportions in the works. Teddy is single, charming (and he knows it), rich (Daddy owns the retirement village) but he needs a job. Before Ruthie can object, he’s her newest employee and life is never going to be the same again. Sally Thorne’s lighthearted novel combines humour and romance in a charming read that is sure to bring warmth on a cold winter’s day. NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS PATRICIA LOCKWOOD (Bloomsbury)

The unnamed narrator, a woman famous for her viral social media posts, travels the world talking to her adoring public. “The portal”, as she calls the internet, is her whole world; a never-ending scroll and unrolling of threads transporting her further and further from reality. But two texts from her mother break through, and it is family that will return her to the real world. The internet and social media are topics tailor-made for Patricia Lockwood, often described as the “poet laureate of Twitter” (Rolling Stone magazine, The Guardian) for her pithy, ironic tweets. Written in the style of online posts and referencing viral memes and tweets you may recognise, her first novel is a tale for our times — of the good and bad of the internet, of online and offline connections, and trying to achieve a healthy balance. STILL MATT NABLE (Hachette Australia)

The Australian landscape has played a key role in fiction, the Outback a major figure in recent works alongside the human protagonists. Matt Nable puts 1960s Darwin front and centre in Still. This is a city of prodigious drinking, hard men, stay-at-home wives, racism casual and strident, and crocodiles! Ned Potter, a young policeman, chances on the scene when a body is found. A clash with his senior sergeant over investigating the matter triggers a narrative littered with bodies, fights, marital discord, a shady man of the cloth and a politician with an eye on bigger prizes. Charlotte Clark is also taken out of her comfort zone when she, too, finds someone she can help. Ned must fight his battles to make sense of the snatches of information that come his way, all the while trying to maintain his marriage and keep his wife and daughter safe.

THE LAST REUNION

Kayte Nunn (Hachette Australia) Reunited after fi ve decades apart, fi ve women set in motion a tale of desire, courage and revenge. Inspired by the Australian and British servicewomen who served in Burma during World War II.

THE BOMBAY PRINCE

Sujata Massey (Allen & Unwin) Miss Marple meets Phryne Fisher in 1920s Bombay when Perveen Mistry, the city’s fi rst female lawyer, returns to bring justice to a murder victim’s family.

GIRL ONE

Sara Flannery Murphy (Bloomsbury) Nine women raise nine miracle babies on an experimental commune but have to fl ee when a fi re kills the doctor and one of the girls. One for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale.

DEAR MUM EDITED BY SAMUEL JOHNSON OAM (Hachette Australia)

If you had the chance to say anything to your mum, what would it be? Breast cancer advocate, actor, 2019 Dancing with the Stars winner and longdistance unicyclist Samuel Johnson brings together a collection of heartwarming letters written by well-known Australians. Some are short and to the point (Sam’s sister Hilde Hinton); others are so intimate and full of detail (Sam and Guy Pearce) you feel as if you are eavesdropping on a personal conversation, and then there

With love

are the humorous ones (Thai cave rescuer Richard Harris). But all are fi lled with love and gratitude, and celebrate mums in their many guises. Letters are accompanied by Shaun Tan’s playful illustrations. Be prepared to shed a tear or two.