2026 Book Club Readling Guide

GRIFFITH CITY LIBRARY

Book Club Reading Guide

2026

BOOK BUNDLES AUSTRALIAN CRIME FICTION BUNDLE

A gripping collection of mysteries and thrillers set against Australia’s unique landscapes, blending suspense, intrigue, and unforgettable Australian storytelling. This set contains four (4) copies of each book: Out in Nowhere by Fleur McDonald | Red River Road by Anna Downes | The Valley by Chris Hammer

AUSTRALIAN RURAL FICTION BUNDLE

A collection of stories about life in small country towns or outback communities with themes of resilience, community, and connection to the land. This set contains four (4) copies of each book: The Lightning Ridge Ladies | The Road Trip | Rumour Has It

ACTION/ADVENTURE/INTRIGUE FICTION BUNDLE

Three master storytellers delivering gripping tales of secrets, power, and truth; blending fast-paced action, global intrigue, and intelligent heroes who uncover the hidden forces shaping the world.

This set contains four (4) copies of each book: The Detective by Matthew Reilly | An Inside Job by Daniel Silva | The Secret of secrets by Dan Brown

A FAREWELL TO ARMS | Ernest Hemingway In 1918 Ernest Hemingway went to war, to the 'war to end all wars'. He volunteered for ambulance service in Italy, was wounded and twice decorated.

Out of his experiences came 'A Farewell to Arms'. Hemingway's description of war is unforgettable. He recreates the fear, the comradeship, the courage of his young American volunteer and the men and women he meets in Italy with total conviction. But A Farewell to Arms is not only a novel of war. In it Hemingway has also created a love story of immense drama and uncompromising passion.

A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW | Amor Towles On 21 June 1922, Count Alexander Rostov - recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt - is escorted out of the Kremlin, across Red Square and through the elegant revolving doors of the Hotel Metropol. Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the Count has been sentenced to house arrest indefinitely. But instead of his usual suite, he must now live in an attic room while Russia undergoes decades of tumultuous upheaval. Can a life without luxury be the richest of all?

A ROOM MADE OF LEAVES | Kate Grenville What if Elizabeth Macarthur - wife of the notorious John Macarthur, wool baron in the earliest days of Sydney - had written a shockingly frank secret memoir?

And what if novelist Kate Grenville had miraculously found and published it?

That’s the starting point for A Room Made of Leaves, a playful dance of possibilities between the real and the invented

THE AFTERLIFE CONFESSIONAL | Bill Edgar The Afterlife Confessional follows Bill's journey for answers as he looks through the dizzying kaleidoscope of his clients' lives - the widower who escaped an aged-care trap to take her husband's ashes on the road trip of a lifetime; the man who spent his life paying it forward to try to make up for one shameful act; the closet dominatrix who quietly confronts her husband's infidelity by comforting those truly in need; the devoted couple who insist on going hand-inhand into the afterlife.

AMERICAN DIRT | Jeanine Cummins Lydia lives in Acapulco. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while cracks are beginning to show in Acapulco because of the cartels, Lydia’s life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. But after her husband’s tell-all profile of the newest drug lord is published, none of their lives will ever be the same. Forced to flee, Lydia and Luca find themselves joining the countless people trying to reach the United States. Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to?

ANOTHER WOMAN'S CHILD | Kerry Fisher After the death of her best friend Ginny, Jo makes a life-changing decision: she will take in Ginny’s teenage son, Victor, and raise him as her own. But Victor’s arrival stirs long-buried tensions within Jo’s family and small rural community, unearthing secrets that have been hidden for years—and threatening to shatter the life Jo thought she had under control.

BILA YARRUDHANGGALANGDHURAY | Anita Heiss After surviving the deadly surge of the Murrumbidgee River, Wagadhaany is forced to leave her home and live far from her miyagan. Heartbroken and searching for a better life, she finds hope in Wiradyuri stockman Yindyamarra but dreams of freedom and reunion with her lost family pull her along the river of her ancestors. Can she defy the law that oppresses her, and will courage bring hope or heartache?

BIRDSONG | Sebastian Faulks In the heat of the French summer, young Englishman Stephen Wraysford travels to France and falls in love with his host's wife, Isabelle Azaire. When the world stops, their affair falters, and Stephen signs up. In a maze of tunnels under the trenches, Stephen finds the courage this war demands from the men in his command. And it is here that he will fight for everything he has ever known and loved.

A contemporary classic, Birdsong has moved millions of readers all over the world. It is an epic story of passion, survival and redemption from a master storyteller.

THE BOOK OF LOST NAMES | Kristin Harmel In 1942, Eva is forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children escaping to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Remy, Eva realises she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember their own identities.

THE BOOK OF RACHAEL | Leslie Cannold Did Jesus of Nazareth have a sister? The Book of Rachael imagines her story.

Born into a world that denied her education and independence, Rachael secretly learns to read and write, and even finds love with her brother’s friend, Judah. But when her brother journeys to Jerusalem to challenge the corrupt establishment, Rachael is drawn into a chain of events that will change her life—and the world—forever.

THE BORROWED LIFE OF FREDERICK FIFE | Anna Johnston Frederick Fife was born with an extra helping of kindness in his heart. If he borrowed your car he’d return it washed and polished, with a full tank of petrol.

The problem is, he has no one left to borrow from. At 82 he’s desperately lonely, broke and on the brink of homelessness. But Fred's luck changes when, in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, he takes the place of cranky Bernard Greer at Wattle River Nursing Home. Suddenly he has a roof over his head, warm meals in his belly and, most importantly, the chance to be part of a family again.

Fingers crossed his poker face is in better nick than his prostate, or the jig is up.

BOY SWALLOWS UNIVERSE | Trent Dalton Brisbane, 1985. Eli Bell’s life is already chaotic—lost father, mute brother, heroin-addicted mother, criminal stepfather, and a notorious babysitter. But when he meets the father he doesn’t remember, breaks into Boggo Road Gaol to save his mum, faces the criminals who destroyed his world, and falls in love, Eli’s journey becomes extraordinary.

BROKE ROAD | Matthew Spencer When Homicide Detective Sergeant Rose Riley is called to the Hunter Valley, she finds a region where postcard-perfect vineyards mask darker undercurrents. A woman has been found dead, and while the media rushes to blame the husband, Rose knows the truth will be far more tangled. As journalist-turned-true-crime author Adam Bowman reappears, still a reminder of a case that nearly killed her, Rose is drawn into a web of suspects, from grieving family to powerful local interests. But when new evidence links the murder to an old investigation, Rose realises the killer is preparing to strike again. And this time, there may be even more at stake.

CLARKE | Holly Throsby On a hot morning in 1991, police arrive in the regional town of Clarke to dig up Barney Clarke’s backyard, searching for the body of missing woman Ginny Lawson. Next door, Leonie Wallace watches with her young son Joe—certain she knows what lies beneath the concrete. But Ginny’s disappearance is only one of Clarke’s mysteries. Where is Barney’s wife? And who is really caring for Joe? A story of family, violence, and longing, Clarke explores the secrets that bind a small town together and the quiet courage of a woman determined to protect the child in her care.

CLOUD CUCKOO LAND | Anthony Doerr Bound together by a single ancient text, the unforgettable characters of Cloud Cuckoo Land are dreamers and outsiders figuring out the world around them: thirteen-year-old Anna and Omeir, an orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy, on opposite sides of the formidable city walls during the 1453 siege of Constantinople; teenage idealist Seymour and octogenarian Zeno in an attack on a public library in present-day Idaho; and Konstance, decades from now, who turns to the oldest stories to guide her community in peril.

THE COUNTESS FROM KIRRIBILLI | Joyce Morgan Elizabeth von Arnim, once hailed as a “forgotten feminist” and compared to Jane Austen for her wit and keen social insight, lived an extraordinary life across continents and eras. Born in Sydney in 1866, she moved to London, dazzled society, and made her court debut before Queen Victoria. After marrying a Prussian count, the world of European aristocracy became both her home and inspiration, turning her into a literary sensation. Spanning from Victorian Sydney to a Europe on the brink of war, Elizabeth’s remarkable life reflects a world—and a woman—in transformation.

THE CURFEW | T. M. Logan Andy and Laura are good parents. They tell their son Connor that he can go out with friends to celebrate completing his exams, but he must be home by midnight.

When Connor misses his curfew, it sets off a series of events that will change the lives of five families forever. Because five teenagers went into the woods that night, but only four came out. And telling the truth might mean losing everything...

CUTTER'S END | Margaret Hickey New Year’s Eve, 1989: eighteen-year-old Ingrid Mathers hitchhikes toward Alice Springs and accepts a lift to the remote town of Cutters End—her last known stop before tragedy strikes.

July 2021: Detective Sergeant Mark Ariti is assigned to revisit the decades-old case of a body found off the Stuart Highway, long dismissed as an accident. With the help of local officer Jagdeep Kaur, Mark’s search for answers leads him back to Cutters End, where old secrets linger and more than one mystery haunts the town.

DARK MODE | Ashley Kalagian Blunt Once you’re online, there’s nowhere to hide. Is it paranoia – or is someone watching? For years, Reagan Carsen has kept her life offline. No socials. No internet presence. No photos. Safe. Until the day she stumbles on a shocking murder in a Sydney laneway. The victim looks just like her. Coincidence? As more murders shake the city and she’s increasingly drawn out from hiding, Reagan is forced to confront her greatest fear. She’s been found. A riveting psychological thriller drawn from true events, Dark Mode delves into the terrifying reality of the dark web, and the price we pay for surrendering our privacy one click at a time.

DEMON COPPERFIELD | Barbara Kingsolver Demon Copperhead is set in the mountains of southern Appalachia. It’s the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-coloured hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labour, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favour of cities.

THE DEED | Susannah Begbie Tom Edwards is dying, and cranky. He's made his peace with the dying part. But he'd bet his property - the whole ten thousand acres of it - that there'd be no wailing at his funeral. His kids wouldn't be able to chop down a tree, let alone build a coffin to bury him in. Then Tom has an idea ...

Christine is furious, David ashen-faced, and Sophie distracted. Only Jenny listens carefully as Vince Barton, of Barton & Sons, reads their father's will.

Either they build his coffin - in four days - or they lose their inheritance. All of it.

THE DEEP | Kyle Perry On the Tasman Peninsula, nestled amidst the largest sea-cliffs in the southern hemisphere, is Shacktown. Here the Dempsey family have run a drug ring for generations, using the fishing industry and the deadly Black Wind as cover. But when thirteen-year-old Forest Dempsey walks out of the ocean, bruised and branded, everything is at risk – because Forest has been presumed dead for the last seven years.

DEVOTION | Hannah Kent Prussia, 1836: Hanne Nussbaum, a wild-spirited girl shunned by her village, finds an unbreakable bond with Thea.

1838: Fleeing religious persecution, Hanne and her family embark on a perilous voyage to South Australia. Amid hardship, whale song and love bloom, defying the laws of God, society, and nature.

In a new land, Hanne and Thea’s devotion faces impossible odds—but their hearts remain steadfast.

THE DICTIONARY OF LOST WORDS | Pip Williams Set when the women’s suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. It’s a delightful, lyrical and deeply thoughtprovoking celebration of words, and the power of language to shape the world and our experience of it.

DIRT TOWN | Hayley Scrivenor On a sweltering Friday afternoon in Durton, best friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together. Esther never makes it home. Ronnie's going to find her, she has a plan. Lewis will help. Their friend can't be gone, Ronnie won't believe it. Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels can believe it. She has seen what people are capable of.

She knows more than anyone how, in a moment of weakness, a person can be driven to do something they never thought possible. Lewis can believe it too. But he can't reveal what he saw that afternoon at the creek without exposing his own secret. Five days later, Esther's buried body is discovered.

DOPPELGANGER | Naomi Klein What if you woke up one morning and found you'd acquired a double? Someone almost like you, and yet not you at all? When Naomi Klein discovered that a woman who shared her first name, but had radically different, harmful views, was getting chronically mistaken for her, it seemed too ridiculous to take seriously.

Then suddenly it wasn't. She started to find herself grappling with a distorted sense of reality, becoming obsessed with reading the threats on social media, the endlessly scrolling insults from the followers of her doppelganger. Why had her shadowy other gone down such an extreme path? Why was identity - all we have to meet the world - so unstable?

THE END OF CUTHBERT CLOSE | Cassie Hamer Food stylist Cara, corporate lawyer Alex and stay-at-home mum Beth couldn't be more different. If it wasn't for the fact they live next door to each other in Cuthbert Close, they'd never have met and bonded over Bundt cake. The Close is an oasis of calm and kindness. The kind of street where kids play cricket together and neighbours pitch in each year for an end of summer party. But no one's told Charlie Devine, glamorous wife of online lifestyle guru, The Primal Guy. When she roars straight into the party with her huge removal truck and her teenage daughter with no care or regard for decades-old tradition, the guacamole really hits the fan. You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your neighbours.

EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING | Nadine J. Cohen When Yael Silver’s world comes crashing down, she looks to the past for answers and finds solace in surprising places. An unconventional new friendship, a seaside safe space and an unsettling amount of dairy help her to heal, as she wrestles with her demons and some truly terrible erotic literature.

Everyone and Everything is about family, mental health and inherited trauma, told with humour and humility, an intimate exploration of grief and inherited trauma, it asks what makes us who we are and what leads us onto ledges.

THE FAMILY STRING | Denise Picton Dorcas, an aspiring vet, dreams of having a dog, or failing that, a guinea pig named Thruppence. Ruthy wants to attend writing school, and Caleb wants to play footy with the local team. But Christadelphians aren’t allowed to be ‘of the world’ and when their older brother Daniel is exiled to door knock and spread the good word in New South Wales after being caught making out with Esther Dawlish at youth camp, each try their hardest to suppress their dreams for a bigger life. But for a girl like Dorcas, dreams have a habit of surfacing at the most inopportune moments, and as she strives to be the daughter her mother desires, a chain of mishaps lead to a tragedy no one could have foreseen.

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD | Thomas Hardy Bathsheba Everdene, independent and uncompromising, comes to a small rural community to take up a position as a farmer, where her confident presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, the seducer Sergeant Troy and devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. As each man complicates her life, Bathsheba becomes an object of superstition, judgement and betrayal.

FIVE FOUND DEAD | Sulari Gentill After surviving a gruelling medical battle, crime novelist Joe Penvale and his twin sister Meredith board the luxurious Orient Express, hoping for rest—and perhaps inspiration. But their journey turns deadly when the cabin next door becomes a blood-soaked crime scene with no body in sight.

As the train hurtles toward its destination, Joe and Meredith join a group of passengers to investigate the mysterious disappearance. But when more murders follow, the twins must race to unmask a killer before the final stop becomes their last.

FLASHLIGHT | Susan Choi One summer evening in a coastal Japanese town, ten-year-old Louisa walks the breakwater with her father, Serk—a Korean émigré on academic secondment. Hours later, Louisa washes ashore alone; her father has vanished, presumed drowned. The disappearance of Louisa's father shatters their small family unit, and as she and her mother return to America, the loss ripples through their lives, uncovering secrets that span decades and continents - from post-war Japan to suburban America and the shadow of the North Korean regime, this is the astonishing story of one family swept up in the tides of twentieth century history.

THE FRAUD | Zadie Smith Kilburn, 1873. The 'Tichborne Trial' has captivated the widowed Scottish housekeeper Mrs Eliza Touchet and all of England. Readers are at odds over whether the defendant is who he claims to be - or an imposter. Mrs Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her novelist cousin and his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects England of being a land of façades, in which nothing is quite what it seems. Andrew Bogle meanwhile finds himself the star witness, his future depending on telling the right story. Growing up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica, he knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realise.

FROM SCRATCH | Tembi Locke From Scratch chronicles three summers Tembi spends in Sicily with her daughter, Zoela, as she begins to piece together a life without her husband in his tiny hometown hamlet of farmers. Where once Tembi was estranged from Saro’s family and his origins, now she finds solace and nourishment - literally and spiritually - at her mother in law’s table. In the Sicilian countryside, she discovers the healing gifts of simple fresh food, the embrace of a close knit community, and timeless traditions and wisdom that light a path forward. All along the way she reflects on her and Saro’s incredible romance - an indelible love story that leaps off the pages.

THE GODMOTHERS | Monica McInerney Eliza Miller grew up loved but protected, until a tragedy before her eighteenth birthday changed everything. Thirteen years later, she lives cautiously, avoiding relationships and embracing routine—until an unexpected invitation from her godmother leads her to a bustling family in Edinburgh. Amid the chaos, Eliza begins to blossom, uncovering hope, confronting her past, and pursuing the greatest mystery of all: the identity of her father.

GONE BEFORE GOODBYE | Harlen Coben, Reese Witherspoon Maggie McCabe is on the brink. A highly skilled and renowned army combat surgeon, she has always lived life at the edge.

But now, after a devastating series of personal tragedies, Maggie is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague, an elite surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand the best care money can buy - as well as absolute discretion.

Halfway across the globe, one of the world’s most mysterious men requires unconventional medical assistance. Desperate, and one of the few surgeons in the world skilled enough to take this job, Maggie enters his realm of unspeakable opulence and fulfils her end of the agreement.

THE GOOD TEACHER | Petronella McGovern By day, Allison is a beloved kindergarten teacher. By night, she watches her husband’s new house, seeking answers she can’t have. When sick new student Gracie enters her life, Allison throws herself into helping the girl, sparking a community fundraising drive—but soon, questions arise, the police arrive, and Allison must confront a chilling truth: how far will she go to change a life, and whose life will it be?

THE GIVER OF STARS | Jojo Moyes Alice Wright makes an impulsive decision to marry wealthy American Bennett Van Cleve and leave her home and family in England behind. But stuffy, disapproving Baileyville, Kentucky, where her husband favours work over his wife and is dominated by his overbearing father, is not the adventure - or the escape - that she hoped for. That is, until she meets Margery O'Hare, a troublesome woman - and daughter of a notorious felon - the town wishes to forget. Margery's on a mission to spread the wonder of books and reading to the poor and lost - and she needs Alice's help. Trekking alone under big open skies, through wild mountain forests, Alice, Margery and their fellow sisters of the trail discover freedom, friendship - and a life to call their own.

THE GRAPES OF WRATH | John Steinbeck A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.

THE GRAPEVINE | Kate Kemp It's the height of summer in Australia, 1979, and on a quiet suburban cul-de-sac in Canberra a housewife is scrubbing the yellow and white chequered tiles of the bathroom floor. But all is not as it seems. For one thing, it's 3 am. For another, she is trying desperately to remove all traces of blood before they stain. Her husband seems remarkably calm, considering he has just murdered their neighbour. As the sun rises on Warrah Place, news of Antonio Marietti's death spreads like wildfire. Gossip is exchanged in whispers and suspicion mounts.

Twelve-year-old Tammy launches her own investigation, determined to find out what happened, but she is not the only one whose well-meaning efforts uncover more mysteries than they solve.

HAMNET | Maggie O'Farrell Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright. It is a story of the bond between twins, and of a marriage pushed to the brink by grief. It is also the story of a kestrel and its mistress; flea that boards a ship in Alexandria; and a glovemaker's son who flouts convention in pursuit of the woman he loves.

Above all, it is a tender and unforgettable reimagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH | Eddie Jaku During the Holocaust, Eddie Jaku faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on a Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country. Because he survived, Eddie made the vow to smile every day. He pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom and living his best life. He now believes he is the 'happiest man on Earth'. Shortly after his 100th birthday, Eddie published his memoir, The Happiest Man on Earth, wanting to share all he has learned about hope, kindness and friendship.

THE HERD | Emily Edwards You should never judge how someone chooses to raise their child. Elizabeth and Bryony are polar opposites but their unexpected friendship has always worked.

They're the best of friends, and godmothers to each other's daughters - because they trust that the safety of their children is both of their top priority. But what if their choice could harm your own child? Little do they know that they differ over one very important issue. And when Bryony, afraid of being judged, tells what is supposed to be a harmless white lie before a child's birthday party, the consequences are more catastrophic than either of them could ever have imagined . . .

HERE ONE MOMENT | Liane Moriarty If you knew when you were going to die, what would you do differently?

It all begins on a flight from Hobart to Sydney. The flight will be smooth. It will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off the plane.

But almost all of them will be changed forever.

Because on this ordinary flight, something extraordinary happens. 'A lady', unremarkable until she isn't, predicts how and when many of the passengers are going to die. For some, death is far in the future; for others, it is very close.

HERMIT | S. R. White After a puzzling death in the wild bushlands of Australia, detective Dana Russo has just hours to interrogate the prime suspect - a silent, inscrutable man found at the scene of the crime, who disappeared without trace 15 years earlier. But where has he been? Why won't he talk? And exactly how dangerous is he?

Without conclusive evidence to prove his guilt, Dana faces a desperate race against time to persuade him to speak. But as each interview spirals with fevered intensity, Dana must reckon with her own traumatic past to reveal the shocking truth . . .

THE HITCHHIKER | Gabriel Bergmoser Pushing fifty and reeling from an ugly divorce, Paul has decided it's time for an adventure. With the Bee Gees on the car stereo and the open road ahead, he sets out into the middle of nowhere, ready for whatever comes. But things take a sinister turn when he impulsively decides to pick up a hitchhiker. Clutching a ragged backpack and with his eyes locked on the rear-view mirror, this twitchy young man is clearly running from something. But what? And when the truth is revealed, how far will he – and Paul – go to survive?

HONEYBEE | Craig Silvey Late in the night, fourteen-year-old Sam Watson steps onto a quiet overpass, climbs over the rail and looks down at the road far below. At the other end of the same bridge, an old man, Vic, smokes his last cigarette. The two see each other across the void. A fateful connection is made, and an unlikely friendship blooms.

Slowly, we learn what led Sam and Vic to the bridge that night. Bonded by their suffering, each privately commits to the impossible task of saving the other

HORSE | Geraldine Brooks A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history.

Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.

I’LL LEAVE YOU WITH THIS | Kylie Ladd The O’Shea sisters couldn’t be more different.

Allison balances career and family, Bridie struggles with a stalled film career, Clare grieves a failed IVF journey, and Emma seeks solace in faith. When their brother Daniel dies, the sisters drift apart, until Clare suggests tracing the lives saved by his donated organs.

Can his gift of life also bring the sisters back together?

THE INTRUDER | Freida McFadden Casey's cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she's a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window. She’s young. She’s alone. And she’s covered in blood.

The girl won't explain where she came from or loosen her grip on the knife in her right hand. And when Casey makes a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night, things take a turn for the worse. The girl has a dark secret. One she’ll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.

JUICE | Tim Winton Two fugitives - a man and a child - drive across a stony desert, seeking refuge from a world gone mad. They discover an abandoned mine, a grim but promising sanctuary, but they are not alone. As danger and desperation close in, their journey becomes more than a fight for survival; it is a searing test of human decency in a landscape where barbarism is everywhere.

JUST ONE TASTE | Lizzy Dent When Olive Stone inherits her father’s struggling Italian restaurant, she expects a quick sale but his dying wish forces her to team up with Leo Ricci, her father’s charming surrogate son and sous-chef, to complete his cookbook. Traveling across Sicily, Tuscany, and Liguria, Olive and Leo clash, cook, and discover an undeniable attraction. As the trip unfolds, Olive must decide whether selling the restaurant is running away or whether she’s ready to savor something more than just recipes.

THE LABYRINTH | Amanda Lohrey Erica Marsden's son, an artist, has been imprisoned for homicidal negligence. In a state of grief, Erica cuts off all ties to family and friends, and retreats to a quiet hamlet on the south-east coast near the prison where he is serving his sentence.

There, in a rundown shack, she obsesses over creating a labyrinth by the ocean.

To build it-to find a way out of her quandary-Erica will need the help of strangers.

And that will require her to trust, and to reckon with her past. The Labyrinth is a hypnotic story of guilt and denial, of the fraught relationship between parents and children, that is also a meditation on how art can both be ruthlessly destructive and restore sanity. It shows Amanda Lohrey to be at the peak of her powers.

LANDFALL | Jams Bradley The world is in the grip of climate catastrophe. Sydney has been transformed by rising sea levels, soaring temperatures and rocketing social divide and unrest.When a small girl on the margins goes missing, Senior Detective Sadiya Azad is assigned to find her. She knows exactly what it is to be displaced, and swallowed by the landscape. A murder at the site of the child’s disappearance suggests a connection and web of corruption, but fear keeps eyes turned and mouths closed. With few leads to go on and only days until a deadly storm strikes the city, Sadiya and offsider Detective Sergeant Paul Findlay find themselves locked in a race against time.

THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE | Richard Osman It's rarely a quiet day for the Thursday Murder Club. Shocking news reaches them--an old friend has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing. The gang's search leads them into the antiques business, where the tricks of the trade are as old as the objects themselves. As they encounter drug dealers, art forgers, and online fraudsters--as well as heartache close to home--Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim have no idea whom to trust.

With the body count rising, the clock ticking down, and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out? And who will be the last devil to die?

LAST ONE OUT | Jane Harper In a dying town, Ro Crowley waits for her son on the evening of his 21st birthday. But Sam never comes home. His footprints in the dust of three abandoned houses offer the only clue to his final movements. One set in. One set out. Five long years later, Ro returns to Carralon Ridge for the annual memorial of Sam's disappearance. The skeletal community is now an echo of itself, having fractured under the pressure of the coal mine operating on its outskirts. But Ro still wants answers. Only a few people remain. If the truth is to be found in that town, does it lie among them?

THE LIFE IMPOSSIBLE | Matt Haig When retired Maths teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the Balearics Grace searches for answers about her friend's life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

THE LOST APOTHECARY | Sarah Penner A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them - setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.

Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.

Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

THE LOST BOOKSHOP | Evie Woods On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found…

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems.

THE LUCKY SISTERS | Rachael Johns Adopted twins Nora and Stevie Lucky have always been close, despite being total opposites.

When their mother dies, Nora convinces Stevie to search for their biological parents, only to come face-to-face with a life-changing revelation that sends them spiralling in opposite directions.

With their careers, love lives and even their sisterly bond at risk, they’re going to need more than luck to survive.

THE LYREBIRD LAKE LADIES CHOIR | Sandie Docker Sisters Eleanor and Maggie have run the Lyrebird Lake Ladies Choir for fifteen years, creating a sanctuary for lost and lonely women. When newcomer Hannah, a widowed single mother with an angelic voice, joins the choir, she could be their ticket to victory at the All Voices Championship. But her singing awakens a long-buried trauma for Eleanor, one that could either heal old wounds or threaten to tear the sisters apart.

THE MAID | Nita Prose Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She’s used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. She’s just a maid – why should anyone take notice? But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed. This isn’t a mess that can be easily cleaned up. And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways of the Regency Grand, she discovers a power she never knew was there. She’s just a maid – but what can she see that others overlook?

THE MARRIAGE PORTAIT | Maggie O'Farrell Florence, 1560s. Lucrezia, the third daughter of Cosimo de’ Medici, wanders her palazzo freely—until her sister’s death thrusts her into an arranged marriage with Alfonso d’Este, Duke of Ferrara. Barely out of girlhood, Lucrezia must navigate a treacherous court and decipher the true nature of her enigmatic husband: playful aesthete or ruthless politician?

MELALEUCA | Angie Fay Martin Renee Taylor returns to her remote hometown, intending a brief stay until a murdered woman is discovered by the creek. Leading the investigation, Renee uncovers links to the disappearance of two young women thirty years earlier. As the mystery unfolds, intergenerational cruelty, racism, and corruption surface, threatening to engulf both the town and Renee herself.

THE MIDNIGHT ESTATE | Kelly Rimmer In the aftermath of a tumultuous year, Fiona Winslow finds solace in the decaying grandeur of Wurimbirra, the rambling family estate. Intent on restoring it - despite her mother's objections - she discovers the keys to more than just the dilapidated country mansion. Beneath the crumbling plaster are secrets that have been buried for a generation. When a book, The Midnight Estate, catches her attention, Fiona is plunged into a tale that mirrors her own life - a story of love, loss and betrayal. She dismisses the similarities as coincidence, but as she's drawn deeper into the story, the lines between fiction and reality blur, and Fiona must ask herself: how well does she know her family?

MRS HOPKINS | Shirley Barrett On a rainy night in 1871, idealistic schoolmistress Mrs Hopkins arrives at Sydney Harbour’s infamous Biloela Industrial School for Girls, expecting order but finding chaos. The girls, lively and clever, outsmart the adults at every turn, and Mrs Hopkins quickly realises that noble intentions alone won’t suffice. She must devise unconventional methods to reach them—while confronting the long-buried ghosts she thought she had left behind, which threaten to unravel both her mission and her life.

ON A BRIGHT HILLSIDE IN PARADISE | Annette Higgs Told from five different points of view, each one revealing something different, On a Bright Hillside in Paradise, tells the story of a family of convict descendants in the back-blocks of Tasmania, on a farm in a place called Paradise. They lead hard-scrabble lives. The drama begins when strangers arrive, Christian Brethren evangelists who hold big revival meetings in local barns.

OUR HIDEOUS PROGENY | C.E. McGill Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her uncle disappeared in mysterious circumstances in the Arctic but she doesn't know why or how. She and her husband are trying to make a name for themselves as paleontologists but, in 1850s' London, scientific success requires wealth and connections - neither of which they possess. But then Mary discovers some old family papers that allude to the truth behind her great-uncle's past, of his attempts to create a living being and the creature that ultimately killed him.

Perhaps this idea will prove to be their salvation...

THE PARIS DAUGHTER | Kristin Harmel Paris, 1939. Elise and Juliette, both young mothers-to-be, are certain nothing can come between them. So, when war breaks out and Elise must flee the Nazis, she entrusts Juliette with her young daughter, playmate to Juliette's own little girl. But Juliette's world is destroyed when a bomb falls on the neighbourhood of her small bookshop, La Librairie des Reves. Elise returns after the war to reclaim her daughter, only to learn that Juliette survived, along with a little girl - but which little girl? Elise's desperate search for answers ultimately leads her to New York, and to Juliette, one final, fateful time.

PERSUASION | Jane Austen Persuasion, Jane Austen's last novel, is a moving, masterly and elegiac love story tinged with the heartache of missed opportunities. It tells the story of Anne Elliot, who, persuaded to break off her engagement to the man she loved because he was not successful enough, has never forgotten him. When he returns, he brings with him a tantalizing second chance of happiness . . .

PRAISEWORTHY | Alexis Wright In a small town shrouded by a mysterious haze, a visionary believes donkeys hold the key to solving the climate crisis and economic dependence of Aboriginal people. His wife escapes his madness through butterflies and a quest for her family’s repatriation. Meanwhile, their sons grapple with despair, ambition, and identity. Part allegory, part fable, this novel is a bold, provocative exploration of oppression, survival, and the end of days.

PRIMA FACIE | Suzie Miller Tessa is a thoroughbred. A young, brilliant barrister from a working-class background now at the top of her game: defending, cross-examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case. The law is a game and she is its most talented player. One sickening night, though, Tessa finds herself in a position countless women - one in three - have been in before her. And she's faced with a gut-wrenching, life-changing decision. Will she take the stand to testify about her rape, with the full awareness that the system has not been built to protect her?

THE PROMISE | Damon Galgut The Promise is an expansive family novel that explores the interconnected relationships between members of one family through the sequential lens of multiple funerals. Death assumes here both a closing but also an opening into lives lived. It is an unusual narrative style that balances Faulknerian exuberance with Nabokovian precision, pushes boundaries, and is a testament to the flourishing of the novel in the 21st century. In The Promise, Damon Galgut makes a strong, unambiguous commentary on the history of South Africa and of humanity itself that can best be summed up in the question: does true justice exist in this world?

THE PROXY BRIDE | Zoe Boccabella In the summer of 1984, Sofie visits her grandmother, Nonna Gia, in Stanthorpe, unaware of the secrets simmering beneath Gia’s fiery temper and even hotter spaghetti. As tensions rise, Sofie uncovers the story of Gia’s arranged marriage and her arrival in Australia as a ‘proxy bride’ during World War II. Amid prejudice, hardship, and forbidden love, Gia and a group of women must fight to survive on the land—and for their dignity. As the past unfolds, Sofie learns that her family’s history, like Gia’s chilli, is far stronger than she ever imagined.

PSYKHE | Kate Forsyth Fair as Venus, the goddess of love, and with the hard-won ability to save the lives of those of mortal blood, Psykhe is both shunned and revered.

When she unwittingly provokes Venus, she and her sisters lose everything.

Psykhe must find a way to make amends and support her family.

Befriended by an old woman, Nokturna, Psykhe finds herself irresistibly drawn to her young friend, Ambrose. But neither is what they seem.

REBECCA | Daphne Du Maurier On a trip to the South of France, the shy heroine of Rebecca falls in love with Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower. Although his proposal comes as a surprise, she happily agrees to marry him. But as they arrive at her husband's Cornish estate, Manderley, a change comes over Maxim, and the young bride is filled with dread. Friendless in the isolated mansion, she realises that she barely knows him. In every corner of every room is the phantom of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca, and the new Mrs de Winter walks in her shadow.

RIPPER | Shelley Burr Gemma Guillory has spent her life in the small town of Rainier, a place forever marked by the Rainier Ripper murders that ended at her teashop seventeen years ago. When a true-crime tour operator is killed by a copycat on her doorstep, old fears resurface and Gemma is drawn into the investigation— alongside a mysterious prisoner with his own connection to the case. As suspicion spreads, Gemma begins to wonder how well she really knows her town—or the people in it.

ROSE | Suzanne Falkiner In 1817, nineteen-year-old Rose de Freycinet defied convention and the French Navy’s strict rules by disguising herself as a man to secretly join her husband, Captain Louis de Freycinet, on a voyage of scientific discovery. For three years, she lived as the only woman among 120 men - dancing at colonial balls, evading pirates, meeting Indigenous peoples, and surviving shipwrecks. Her vivid journals made her the first woman to circumnavigate the globe and record her extraordinary journey.

SAFE HAVEN | Shankari Chandran Fina arrives in Australia seeking asylum and dedicates herself to helping refugees held at the remote Port Camden detention centre. As she builds a new life and family, speaking out for the detained draws unwanted attention, leading to her arrest. When a security officer dies under suspicious circumstances, special investigator Lucky arrives, uncovering secrets that could change Fina’s fate and divide the town and the nation.

SHUGGIE BAIN | Douglas Stuart Glasgow, 1981. Agnes Bain dreams of a better life, but when her husband abandons her, she and her children are left to survive in a decaying mining town.

As Agnes sinks into drink, her children struggle to save themselves, leaving only her son Shuggie clinging to hope. Different and fastidious, Shuggie believes that through determination, he can rise above the hardships, protect his mother, and escape the hopelessness that surrounds them.

SNAKE ISLAND | Ben Hobson Vernon and Penelope Moore never want to see their son Caleb again. Not after he hit his wife and ended up in gaol. But when Vernon hears that Caleb is being regularly visited and savagely bashed by a local criminal as the police stand by, he realises he has to act. What has his life been as a father if he turns his back on his son in his hour of desperate need? The father of Caleb's attacker is head of a violent crime family. The town lives in fear of him but Vernon is determined to fix things in a civilised way, father to father. If he shows respect, he reasons, it will be reciprocated. But how wrong he is.

SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN | Jessie Stephens Adella is facing the dawn of a new year and the end of her twenties - and she's in a psychiatric unit recovering from a mental breakdown. A decade earlier, her life held such promise; she had every option in her hand. How did it come to this? As we go back and walk with Adella through her twenties, she searches for her grand purpose through love, career and travel. At her side through the tumultuous highs and lows is her best friend, Jake, facing his own challenges and opportunities. They both know the future must have something better to offer but why does it also always feel, in the bottom of their stomachs, as though something bad is going to happen?

STRANGE SALLY DIAMOND | Liz Nugent Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died. Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and worried police, but also a sinister voice from a past she has no memory of. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, recluse Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, finding independence, and learning that people don't always mean what they say. But when messages start arriving from a stranger who knows far more about her past than she knows herself, Sally's life will be thrown into chaos once again . . .

TAKING TOM MURRAY HOME | Tim Slee After dairy farmer Tom Murray dies in a fire meant to destroy his farm, his wife Dawn embarks on a slow, 350km funeral procession to bury him in Melbourne.

Mounted on a horse-drawn cart, the journey becomes a race against time as mysterious arson attacks erupt across Victoria. With five days to reach the city before the police intervene, Dawn must navigate a trail of fire, mischief, and small-town chaos in this darkly comic tale of love, loss, and defiance.

THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ | Heather Morris Lale Sokolov is well dressed, a charmer, a ladies’ man. He’s also a Jew. On the first transport from Slovakia to Auschwitz in 1942, Lale immediately stands out to his fellow prisoners. In the camp, he is looked up to, looked out for and put to work in the privileged position of tattooist to mark his fellow prisoners , forever.

One of them is a young woman who steals his heart at first glance. This true story, full of beauty and hope, is based on years of interviews with Lale - it is heart wrenching, illuminating and unforgettable.

TELL ME EVERYTHING | Elizabeth Strout It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer, Lucy Barton, who lives nearby in a house next to the sea. Together, Lucy and Bob talk about their lives, their hopes and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, befriends one of Crosby’s longest inhabitants, Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known – "unrecorded lives," Olive calls them – reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.

TIPPING | Anna George Liv Winsome, overwhelmed mother of three, reaches her breaking point after an Instagram scandal involving her son and a car mishap with her husband.

Determined to reclaim her life, she challenges her family and her conservative school to change. With a colourful expert and bold interventions, the school culture slowly improves—but not everyone is happy with the new order.

THE THINGS THAT MATTER MOST | Gabbie Stroud The staff of St Margaret's Primary School are hanging by a thread. There's serious litigation pending, the school is due for registration, and a powerful parent named Janet Bellevue has a lot to say about everything. As teachers they're trying to remain professional, as people they're unravelling fast.

As secrets threaten to be exposed and working demands increase, each staff member struggles to recall the things that matter most.

TOM LAKE | Ann Patchett In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theatre company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

TWELVE SECRETS | Robert Gold Ben Harper's life changed for ever the day his older brother Nick was murdered by two classmates. It was a crime that shocked the nation and catapulted Ben's family and their idyllic hometown, Haddley, into the spotlight. Twenty years on, Ben is one of the best investigative journalists in the country and settled back in Haddley, thanks to the support of its close-knit community. But then a fresh murder case shines new light on his brother's death and throws suspicion on those closest to him. Ben is about to discover that in Haddley no one is as they seem. Everyone has something to hide.

TWICE | Mitch Albom From the age of eight, Alfie Logan can relive any moment, undoing mistakes and testing life’s limits - sometimes for fun, sometimes for love.

But when he learns a hidden rule of his gift—that undone love can never return - Alfie faces choices that could cost him everything. Years later, an ailing Alfie is arrested for an impossible casino win, and as a detective questions him, his extraordinary life and its astonishing consequences are revealed.

THE VISITORS | Jane Harrison January 1788. At Warrane, seven Aboriginal men from nearby clans gather to decide how to respond to ships newly arrived in Kamay. They debate, question, and deliberate: Are the visitors friends or foes? Should they be welcomed or driven away? As the day unfolds under strange skies, oppressive heat, and brewing storms, their unanimous decision will shape the fate of all.

THE WATERVALE LADIES WRITING AND FIREFIGHTING SOCIETY Mette Menzies In the small South Australian town of Watervale Downs, four very different women are brought together by a creative writing course and life soon writes its own lessons. International lawyer Tilly Marr expects a brief detour from London, but finds friendship, community, and unexpected challenges alongside matriarch Bev, former TV star Fenna, and warm-hearted librarian Jane. As secrets surface and bushfire season looms, each woman must confront the past and reconsider the future.

WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS | Catherine Newman Edi and Ash have been inseparable for over forty years, sharing secrets, milestones, and the ups and downs of life. When Edi is diagnosed with cancer, Ash’s world revolves around her care, from small acts of love to stolen moments of joy. A moving celebration of friendship, resilience, and the power of memories, this is a story about knowing when to hold on - and when to let go.

WE WERE NEVER HERE | Andrea Bartz Your best friend killed a man. Now, she needs your help. But can you really trust her motives? Her Last Holiday meets Thelma and Louise. Emily is on holiday with her best friend, Kristen, in the stunning mountains of Chile. It's heaven on earth, until, on the last night of the trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find it covered in blood. Kristen claims a backpacker attacked her. She shouted, but noone heard. She struggled, but he was too strong. She had no option but to kill him. With no evidence of the assault, Emily must help her hide the body. . . But, as the walls close in on their cover-up, Emily asks herself- can she really trust her closest friend?

THE WEEKEND | Charlotte Wood When lifelong friend Sylvie dies, the delicate balance holding her friends Jude, Wendy, and Adele together begins to crumble. Gathering at Sylvie’s beach house to clear out her belongings, old tensions, buried memories, and too much wine ignite. As frustrations and secrets surface, the women must confront whether their friendship can survive or if Sylvie’s absence will finally undo them.

WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA | Dervla McTiernan Nina and Simon are the perfect couple—young, fun, and deeply in love. But a weekend at his family’s Vermont cabin ends in disaster: only Simon returns, and his story doesn’t add up. As the police investigate and social media spreads wild conspiracy theories, alliances form and accusations fly. Outmatched by Simon’s wealthy and powerful family, Nina’s parents must decide whether to play by the rules—or break them—to uncover the truth and fight for justice.

WHAT I WOULD DO TO YOU | Georgia Harper A near-future Australia.

The death penalty is back. But if the victim’s family wants the perpetrator to die, they have to do it themselves. Twenty-four hours alone in a room with the condemned. No cameras. No microphones. Just whatever punishment they decide befits the crime. Ten-year-old Lucy was murdered. Through counselling sessions with their court-appointed psychologist, we learn the stories of her family members: Lucy’s two mothers – Stella and Matisse – her much older brother and her bookish teenage sister, who is too young to participate in the execution, but who has plans of her own . . .

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING | Delia Owens For years, rumors of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl.

But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved.

When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life - until the unthinkable happens.

THE WHITE GIRL | Tony Birch Odette Brown has lived her whole life on the fringes of a small country town.

Raising her granddaughter Sissy on her own, Odette has managed to stay under the radar of the welfare authorities who are removing Aboriginal children from their communities. When the menacing Sergeant Lowe arrives in town, determined to fully enforce the law, any freedom that Odette and Sissy enjoy comes under grave threat. Odette must make an impossible choice to protect her family.

THE WIFE & THE WIDOW | Christian White The Wife and the Widow is a mystery/thriller told from two perspectives: Kate, a widow whose grief is compounded by what she learns about her dead husband’s secret life; and Abby, an island local whose world is turned upside down when she’s forced to confront the evidence that her husband is a murderer. But nothing on this island is quite as it seems, and only when these women come together can they discover the whole story about the men in their lives.

WIFEDOM | Anna Funder Looking for wonder and some reprieve from the everyday, Anna Funder slips into the pages of her hero George Orwell. As she watches him create his writing self, she tries to remember her own…

Compelling and utterly original, Wifedom speaks to the unsung work of women everywhere today, while offering a breathtakingly intimate view of one of the most important literary marriages of the 20th century. It is a book that speaks to our present moment as much as it illuminates the past.

WING | Nikki Gemmell On a camping trip in the Australian bush, four students from an elite girls’ school - best friends known as ‘The Cins’ - become separated, along with a male teacher who goes searching for them. Days pass with no sign of the group, and the school’s principal, godmother to one of the girls, struggles to hold the community together. When the girls finally return, the teacher is missing and The Cins aren’t talking.

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW | A.J. Finn Anna Fox lives alone, a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors. Then the Russells move into the house across the way; a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble and its shocking secrets are laid bare. What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one, and nothing, is what it seems.

THE WOMEN | Kristin Hannah In 1965, nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath leaves her sheltered life on California’s Coronado Island to join the Army Nurses Corps, following her brother to Vietnam. Thrust into the chaos of war and returning to a country transformed, Frankie faces trauma, love, and the unbreakable bonds of female friendship as she discovers the path she truly wants for her life.

THE WORST THING I’VE EVER DONE | Clare Stephens Ruby Williams’ ordinary Tuesday spirals into chaos when an interview she posts goes viral, attracting the wrath of journalist and social media personality Felicity Cartwright. As public shaming escalates, Ruby confronts not just the online vitriol but a long-buried trauma from her past. With sharp empathy, Clare Stephens explores the collision between online personas and real lives, and the courage it takes to face what truly matters in a world clamouring for attention.

WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME | Gillian McAllister How do you stop a murder when it's already happened? Find out the lengths one woman will go to save her family. t's every parent's nightmare, your happy, funny, innocent son commits a terrible crime: murdering a complete stranger.

You don't know who. You don't know why. You only know your teenage boy is in custody and his future lost. That night you fall asleep in despair. Until you wake, and it is yesterday. Every morning you wake up a day earlier, another day before the murder. Another chance to stop it. Somewhere in the past lie the answers, and you don't have a choice but to find them . . .

YELLOWFACE | R. F. Kuang Athena Liu is a literary darling and June Hayward is literally nobody.

When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song.

But as evidence threatens June’s stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

What happens next is entirely everyone else’s fault.

THE YIELD | Tara June Winch As Albert “Poppy” Gondiwindi faces the end of his life, he writes to preserve the language, stories, and memories of his people on the Murrumby River. Years later, his granddaughter August returns from abroad for his burial, confronting grief, family, and the threat of her ancestral land being taken by a mining company. Determined to save Prosperous House, August discovers her grandfather’s voice, the secrets of the river, and the enduring stories of her people.

THE YOUNGER WIFE | Sally Hepworth When their father announces his engagement to Heather Wisher, Tully and Rachel are furious - and rightfully suspicious. Heather, half his age and carrying her own secrets, must navigate the sisters’ wrath while old family wounds and hidden truths come to light. As tensions mount, a web of stolen goods, cash, and a blood-soaked wedding sets the stage for a family implosion that threatens to destroy them all.

Program Details Program runs for 12 months, January to December.

All book club members MUST be members of the library.

Book clubs are entitled to one set of books per month (12 per year).

Each set contains 12 books and a folder of discussion questions.

Clubs will select their own books each month.

Books are on loan for 6 weeks.

Books cannot be renewed. If you haven’t finished reading, please check the catalogue and request a copy from the general collection.

Titles cannot be reserved.

A maximum of two titles will be issued to a book club at any given time. These restrictions ensure that as many book clubs as possible can make use of this service. Please help us to keep this service operating successfully by collecting and returning the books in a timely manner.

Book clubs must return the complete set of 12 books and folder. Incomplete sets or individual titles will not be accepted by the library.

Membership Requirements $450 membership fee to be paid in full prior to collection of the first set of books One primary contact for the book club Name and email address for each book club member All book club members must be a member of the Western Riverina Library service

Lost or Damaged Books Lost or damaged books will incur a replacement fee of $30 per item. This fee must be paid before the next set of books can be borrowed.

02 6962 8300 | www.wrl.nsw.gov.au | library@griffith.nsw.gov.au