MUTE

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australian Fiction

Honeybee by Craig Silvey

$32.99 AUD

Category: Australian Fiction | Reading Level: near fine

The highly anticipated new novel by the bestselling author of Jasper Jones. 'Find out who you are, and live that life.' 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. Honeybee is a heartbreaking, life-affirming novel that throws us headlong into a world of petty thefts, extortion plots, botched bank robberies, daring dog rescues and one spectacular drag show. At the heart of Honeybee is Sam: a solitary, resilient young person battling to navigate the world as their true self; ensnared by loyalty to a troubled mother, scarred by the volatility of a domineering stepfather, and confounded by the kindness of new alliances. Honeybee is a tender, profoundly moving novel, brimming with vivid characters and luminous words. It's about two lives forever changed by a chance encounter - one offering hope, the other redemption. It's about when to persevere, and when to be merciful, as Sam learns when to let go, and when to hold on. ...Show more

The Dry (FTI) by Jane Harper

$19.99 AUD

Category: Australian Fiction

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING ERIC BANA AS AARON FALK. WHO REALLY KILLED THE HADLER FAMILY? It hasn't rained in Kiewarra for two years. Tensions in the farming community become unbearable when three members of the Hadler family are discovered shot to death on their property. Everyone assumes Luke Hadler committed suicide after slaughtering his wife and six-year-old son. Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk returns to his hometown for the funerals and is unwillingly drawn into the investigation. As suspicion spreads through the town, Falk is forced to confront the community that rejected him twenty years earlier. Because Falk and his childhood friend Luke Hadler shared a secret, one which Luke's death threatens to unearth ... ...Show more

Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australian Fiction

Family circumstances force siblings Ying and Lai Yue to flee their home in China to seek their fortunes in Australia. Life on the gold fields is hard, and they soon abandon the diggings and head to nearby Maytown. Once there, Lai Yue finds a job as a carrier on an overland expedition, while Ying finds w ork in a local store and strikes up a friendship with Meriem, a young white woman with her own troubled past. When a serious crime is committed, suspicion falls on all those who are considered outsiders. Evoking the rich, unfolding tapestry of Australian life in the late nineteenth century, Stone Sky Gold Mountain is a heartbreaking and universal story about the exiled and displaced, about those who encounter discrimination yet yearn for acceptance. ...Show more

All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton

$32.99 AUD

Category: Australian Fiction

The bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton, returns with All Our Shimmering Skies - a glorious novel destined to become another Australian classic. Darwin, 1942, and as Japanese bombs rain overhead, motherless Molly Hook, the gravedigger's daughter, turns once again to the sky for gui dance. She carries a stone heart inside a duffel bag next to the map that leads to Longcoat Bob, the deep country sorcerer who put a curse on her family. By her side are the most unlikely travelling companions: Greta, a razor-tongued actress and Yukio, a fallen Japanese fighter pilot. 'Run, Molly, run,' says the daytime sky. Run to the vine forests. Run to northern Australia's wild and magical monsoon lands. Run to friendship. Run to love. Run. Because the graverobber's coming, Molly, and the night-time sky is coming with him. So run, Molly, run. All Our Shimmering Skies is a story about gifts that fall from the sky, curses we dig from the earth and the secrets we bury inside ourselves. It is an odyssey of true love and grave danger; of darkness and light; of bones and blue skies. A buoyant, beautiful and magical novel abrim with warmth, wit and wonder, a love letter to Australia and the art of looking up.     ...Show more

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

$22.99 AUD

Category: Australian Fiction | Reading Level: very good

An utterly wonderful debut novel of love, crime, magic, fate and a boy's coming of age, set in 1980s Australia and infused with the originality, charm, pathos, and heart of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The mind can take you anywhere you want to go. Eli Bell's life is complicated. His father is lost, his mother is in jail, and his stepdad is a heroin dealer. The most steadfast adult in Eli's life is Slim--a notorious felon and national record-holder for successful prison escapes--who watches over Eli and August, his silent genius of an older brother. Exiled far from the rest of the world in Darra, a seedy suburb populated by Polish and Vietnamese refugees, this twelve-year-old boy with an old soul and an adult mind is just trying to follow his heart, learn what it takes to be a good man, and train for a glamorous career in journalism. Life, however, insists on throwing obstacles in Eli's path--most notably Tytus Broz, Brisbane's legendary drug dealer. But the real trouble lies ahead. Eli is about to fall in love, face off against truly bad guys, and fight to save his mother from a certain doom--all before starting high school. A story of brotherhood, true love, family, and the most unlikely of friendships, Boy Swallows Universe is the tale of an adolescent boy on the cusp of discovering the man he will be. Powerful and kinetic, Trent Dalton's debut is sure to be one of the most heartbreaking, joyous and exhilarating novels you will experience. ...Show more

The Morbids by Ewa Ramsey

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australian Fiction

Heart-wrenching, heart-warming and ultimately uplifting--a story about the power of a little kindness. A story of friendship, love and what it means to truly live when, sometimes, it may seem easier not to. Caitlin is convinced she's going to die. Two years ago she was a normal twenty-something with a b lossoming career and a plan to go travelling with her best friend, until a car accident left her with a deep, unshakable understanding that she's only alive by mistake. Caitlin deals with these thoughts by throwing herself into work, self-medicating with alcohol, and attending a support group for people with death-related anxiety, informally known as the Morbids. But when her best friend announces she's getting married in Bali, and she meets a handsome doctor named Tom, Caitlin must overcome her fear of death and learn to start living again. Beautiful, funny, and universally relatable this story of hidden loneliness and the power of compassion and companionship reminds us that life is an adventure truly worth living. ...Show more

Clean Straw for Nothing and A Cartload of Clay by George Johnston

$16.99 AUD

Category: Australian Fiction | Series: A&R Classics Ser.

In the sequel to his semi-autobiographical novel My Brother Jack, George Johnston concludes his Meredith trilogy in this brilliantly evocative, single volume of books two and three: Clean Straw for Nothing (winner of the Miles Franklin Award) and A Cartload of Clay. Set against the backdrop of a Greek island, Clean Straw for Nothing follows the story of successful war correspondent and retired journalist David Meredith as he abandons his career for a life in exile with his beautiful wife Cressida. Johnston focuses on the developing relationship between David and Cressida, exploring the complex and reflective character of David as he questions the nature of success, sexual tensions, expatriation and ill-health. the questions are almost entirely unanswerable and the freedom David craves nearly impossible. In the final episode of the trilogy, David Meredith travels back to Australia, rediscovering his deep affection for his native land after having been so long in Greece. Coming to terms with his new home's deep faults and failings, as well as virtues, it is here that he reviews his life, his pursuit of success and his unfortunate failures. Still without a conclusion to his philosophical concerns, David comes to accept that the meaning of life is the journey we take and is not a price to be given at the end. ...Show more

Everything in its Right Place by McCorkell, Tobias

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australian Fiction

'Equal parts harrowing coming of age story, and paean to the joys of a misspent youth, Everything in its Right Place is a heartbreaking, lyrical love letter to overcoming trauma, and finding oneself in the bohemian heart of Melbourne.' Liam Pieper, author of The Feel-Good Hit of the Year and Sweetness a nd Light Coburg, Melbourne. Ford McCullen is growing up with his mother Deidre and his Pop and Noonie in 'The Compound', a pair of units in the shadow of Pentridge prison. His father, Robert, has left them to live in the bush with his new male partner. Nobody is coping.When Ford's paternal grandmother Queenie's good fortune allows him to attend a prestigious Catholic private school on the other side of the river and to learn the violin, Ford finds himself balancing separate identities. At school he sees himself being moulded into an image that is not his own, something at odds with the rough and tumble of his beloved north.Crumbling under the weight of his family's expectations and realising that he just might be the only adult amongst them, Ford embarks on a quest for meaning while navigating the uncomfortable realities of his father's life, his mother's ongoing crisis, and the pillars of football and religion, delving ever deeper into a fraught search for the source of the 'McCullen curse'. Everything in its Right Place tackles themes of class, love and sexuality with humour, truth and grit. It is a story of the legacies and dilemmas that families bring, of how we all must find our own way, astonishingly told. 'Powerful and urgent. Crackling with energy and wit, Everything in its Right Place is a dark joyride of a read, its danger and beauty announcing a roaring new talent.' Roger Averill, author of Relatively Famous and Keeping Faith   ...Show more

Infinite Splendours by Sofie Laguna

$32.99 AUD

Category: Australian Fiction | Reading Level: very good

A bold new literary novel from the author of the award-winning The Eye of the Sheep and The Choke. Lawrence Loman is a bright, caring, curious boy with a gift for painting. He lives at home with his mother and younger brother, and the future is laid out before him, full of promise. But when he is ten, a n experience of betrayal takes it all away, and Lawrence is left to deal with the devastating aftermath. As he grows into a man, how will he make sense of what he has suffered? He cannot rewrite history, but must he be condemned to repeat it? Lawrence finds meaning in the best way he knows. By surrendering himself to art and nature, he creates beauty - beauty made all the more astonishing and soulful for the deprivation that gives rise to it. Infinite Splendours is an extraordinary novel, incandescent with love and compassion, rich in colour and character. The power and virtuosity of Laguna's writing make it impossible for us to look away; and by being seen, Lawrence is redeemed. And we, as readers, have had our minds and hearts opened in ways we can't forget.   ...Show more

My Best Friend's Murder by Polly Phillips

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australian Fiction

'A perfectly-paced page-turner that cleverly explores the "frenemy" relationship . . . A really gripping read full of secrets, lies and dark motivations' Philippa East, author of Little White Lies * You're lying, sprawled at the bottom of the stairs, legs bent, arms wide. If I squint, you could be playi ng Sleeping Bunnies. Or maybe Twister. I wish I could tell you how the blood pooling around your head looks like a halo. But you're past listening. I need to let the paramedics in. And then I have to be careful. Because as the energy trickles out of your body it's pumping into mine. And while this could be a tragic accident, if anyone's got a motive to hurt you, it's me. * Bec and Izzy have been best friends their whole lives. They've been through a lot together - the death of Bec's mother, the birth of Izzy's daughter, Bec's engagement. But there's a darker side to their friendship, too - and Bec is about to reach breaking point. Then Izzy is found broken and bloodied at the bottom of the stairs. It could have been an accident - perhaps she fell - but if the police decide to look for a killer, then Bec is sure to be their prime suspect. * This is The Rumour meets The Holiday, a compulsive thriller with a toxic but layered friendship at its heart that keeps you in the dark until the final few breathless pages . . . ...Show more

Revenge - Murder in Three Parts by S. L. Lim

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australian Fiction

'A coiled spring of a novel, Revenge hits you right between the eyes.' MALCOLM HARRIS, author of Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials and Shit is Fucked Up and Bullshit: History Since the End Of History'Before I go into my grave,' she says out loud, 'I will kill that man.'A brill iant new novel from the author of Real Differences. A family favour their son over their daughter. Shan attends university before making his fortune in Australia while Yannie must find menial employment and care for her ageing parents. After her mother's death, Yannie travels to Sydney to become enmeshed in her psychopathic brother's new life, which she seeks to undermine from within ? This is a novel that rages against capitalism, hetero-supremacy, mothers, fathers, families - the whole damn thing. It's about what happens when you want to make art but are born in the wrong time and place. S. L. Lim brings to vivid life the frustrations of a talented daughter and vengeful sister in a nuanced and riveting novel that ends in the most unexpected way. It will not be easily forgotten. On Real Differences.'Startlingly sophisticated and mature ... exploring what it means to want an ethical framework for your life.' Kerryn Goldsworthy, The Age   ...Show more