CAE Book Groups Catalogue Dialogue 2017

CENTRE FOR ADULT EDUCATION 9652 0611 l CAE.EDU.AU CITY l BOX HILL l LILYDALE Contents

4 5 3 Join a CAE Growing Up,

Book Discussion Service. 527 Collins Street Introduction Book Group Moving On

Contact Us 11 Families Level 2, 253 Flinders Lane Melbourne VIC 3000 20 28 Ph (03) 9652 0620 Relationships Journeys Fax (03) 9663 1856 Email [email protected] 34 Web www.cae.edu.au Step Back in Time 41 49 Surviving, Exceptional Keep yourself informed about Prevailing Women upcoming literary events, book reviews, book and movie giveaways and lots more. Email [email protected] to receive regular email updates. 54 59 Start your own group Artist, Obsessions, 62 See page 4 for more information about Maker, Thinker Dreams What If starting a group. 66 74 Join an existing group Dark Deeds Index by Author Some of our existing groups are looking for new members. Please contact CAE 73 Book Groups, and we will help you find a Art group in your area.

82 77 Index by 83 Index by Title Large Type Enrolment Form

Centre for Adult Education www.cae.edu.au 3 Introduction

Centre for Adult Education CAE is a leading provider of Adult and Community Education and has been providing lifelong learning opportunities to Victorians for over 65 years. CAE has a strong focus on delivering nationally recognised and accredited training as well as non‑accredited short courses, and connects with the community through socially inclusive practices that recognise diversity and creativity. Located in the heart of the arts and café area of Melbourne’s CBD, CAE offers a vibrant and supportive adult learning environment, flexible learning options, skills recognition, practical training and supervised work placements. CAE Book Groups The program has significant autonomy: members of CAE Book Groups select their own pool of titles for their year’s reading list; decide on monthly meeting times; choose their own members; and pick a place to meet such as a private home, café or library. CAE Book Group members can also suggest titles for inclusion in the program. From international award‑winners to debut and Australian authors, there are over 1,000 books to choose from. Reading guides accompany each box of books and the questions provided can be used to frame each group’s discussion. CAE Book Groups has a long history which can sometimes be seen in our selection of titles, or even in the way the discussion notes are written. We like to think of it as a great trip down Theme Icons memory lane; we hope you do too. C crime N nonfiction Borrow an e-Book F fiction S short stories B biography, memoir, autobiography large print available As part of your CAE Book Groups membership, you can borrow L an e-book version of your group’s next book – absolutely free! To receive e-books, please ensure you have filled out the form online New Icon NEW to Register Your Interest. When there is an e-book available to match the book selected for your group’s next meeting, you will Book Title A Short History be notified by email a few days in advance of the meeting. of Richard Kline Author Amanda Lohrey Using Dialogue LONGLISTED Literary A selection of Reactions (feedback on the books our members Stella Prize Prize have read) from group members is included to provide a broad Richard Kline perspective on the titles in the program. The Reactions we Book has always felt Cover receive from all our book groups provide vital feedback to CAE that something Book Groups staff. in his life was There are three indexes: Author Index, arranged alphabetically by missing. Now middle‑aged surname; Title Index and Large Print Index. and facing Please ensure all members of your group have access to cycles of Dialogue, which can also be downloaded as a PDF via our boredom and website at www.cae.edu.au. If you would like to receive a copy despair, he finds himself awakening to as a PDF, just email us and we will send you one. alternative spiritual pursuits and Members are advised of new titles added throughout the year philosophies despite his natural via the CAE Book Groups newsletter – if you are interested in cynicism, searching for ‘bliss’ receiving the newsletter, please tick the relevant box on your in the midst of chaos. Lohrey enrolment form or contact us and let us know. probes the relationship between Year devotion and dependence in this The titles are grouped thematically, with fiction and nonfiction comic yet moving exploration of Published masculinity and meaning. titles often sitting side by side. You will find a description of the themes in the content list. Theme type F 2015 272pp B2224 Box Number Book Groups Number This book gave us much to Group of Pages discuss about the way we live Favourite our lives and the differences Reaction between Western and Eastern philosophies. Lohrey is a wonderful writer and most of us enjoyed the book. BOOK GROUPS A book extremely popular either with Group Name Melbourne City Readers FAVOURITE other groups or with Book Groups staff 4 Join

Start your own book club or join an existing one in your area. How do I start a CAE Book Group? CAE Book Groups is a great way to connect with other readers in your local community. Get together with friends, neighbours or colleagues to discuss the sort of books that might appeal to you as a group and choose a suitable time and venue. Once you have between 8‑15 people and have decided on the number of discussion meetings you would like to have, you are ready to take the next step of electing a CAE Book Group Secretary. The CAE Book Group Secretary CAE Book Group Secretaries provide a permanent delivery address for books and liaise with CAE staff on book selections, payments and enquiries from potential new members. Secretaries are vital to the success of book clubs and ensure CAE keeps in touch with the needs of each group. The role of secretary can be rotated between group members from year to year. Where do CAE Book Groups meets and how often? CAE Book Groups meet approximately once a month (6, 9 or 11 times a year). Groups choose the time, place and format of their own meetings and direct their own discussions. Books available for loan Each month, CAE selects a book from the list of possible titles your group has chosen from Dialogue. Groups have the option of requesting books in priority or random order. CAE discussion notes Kick start your meeting with CAE discussion notes. While there is no formal tuition or assessment, all books are accompanied by specially commissioned notes, complete with discussion questions. More than just a book review, the notes are guaranteed to get your group talking. How much time do we have to read the book before the discussion? One month. Books are delivered to the Group Secretary prior to the scheduled meeting. Members collect their copy of the book from the secretary then meet again the following month to discuss the book they’ve just read and collect their next book. How do we receive and return books? CAE sends a box in advance of each meeting to the delivery address nominated by the Group Secretary. Books are returned to CAE by the Group Secretary via courier or post. Reply‑paid slips are included in all boxes. Groups operate most efficiently when books are returned to and collected from the Group Secretary by each individual member at the scheduled meeting. What do I get for my fee? Fees cover the delivery and return of book boxes each month. Each box contains copies of the selected book (maximum 15 copies) and notes on loan for each individual member. Group Secretaries should only distribute books to paid members. Group members can also sign up for six editions of CAE Book Groups Newsletter to receive timely news on events and competitions as well as book reviews by CAE Book Groups staff. Victorian Annual Membership Fees 2017 (per member) Interstate Annual Membership Fees 2017 (per member)

No of Full Fee Seniors Concession Secretary No of Full Fee Seniors Concession Secretary meetings meetings 11 $149. $135 $98 $84 11 $172 $150 $116 $95 9 $138 $125 $91 $78 9 $155 $135 $105 $86 6 $109 $99 $72 $62 6 $118 $103 $80 $65

Starting a new group If you have between 8 and 15 people who would like to start a book group, contact CAE Book Groups today to receive a New Group Pack so you can begin selecting your books. Your first book will arrive within two weeks of receipt of membership payments and book selections. Joining an existing group If you would prefer to join an existing group, please contact CAE Book Groups, and we will help you find a group in your area and confirm the appropriate pro‑rata fee. Enrolment form Please see page 83 for an enrolment form, or download it via our website www.cae.edu.au. The enrolment process can be handled online, by post, email or by phone. If you are eligible for senior or concession fee, you will need to provide a photocopy of your senior or concession card. Students are also eligible for a discount (same as the seniors fee). 5 Growing Up, Moving On Exploring the experience of childhood and finding one's way in the world, this chapter celebrates both fiction and nonfiction coming‑of‑age stories.

NEW The Boy in the Green Suit A B Robert Hillman About a Boy Bad Blood Barracuda WINNER Nick Hornby Lorna Sage Christos National Biography Prize Tsiolkas Will, a 36‑year‑old bachelor who In Lorna’s bizarre upbringing In 1965, 16‑year‑old Robert is delighted to be child‑free, in a North Wales town her From the Hillman boarded a boat for gets mixed up with 12‑year‑old dissolute vicar grandfather author of The Ceylon, wearing a green suit Marcus and his newly‑separated and furious grandmother are Slap comes an and carrying a suitcase of books mother. This entertaining dominating figures. ‘A totally exploration of and a typewriter. When the novel is about families, being unexpected book ... rackety, class, identity and the meaning ship arrived in Athens instead, a man, being a kid ... and the painful, sometimes menacing of success. Danny is from a Hillman, with no money and no importance of being cool. and mad. Out of it all she has working class background, and return ticket, began an adventure F 1998 286pp B1706 made something devastatingly when he obtains a scholarship that led him to Istanbul, Tehran funny, full of characters and full of to a prestigious college he builds and Kuwait. Punctuated by tales All the Pretty Horses exhilarating resilience and sly wit,’ his identity on becoming an of growing up in rural Victoria, said reviewer Anthony Thwaite. Olympic swimming champion. Cormac McCarthy this is a tender, funny memoir of B 2000 281pp B1663 But what happens when things a young writer‑in‑the‑making. comes crashing down? Strong B 2003 232pp B1872 FINALIST Balzac and the Little language and explicit content National Book Award Chinese Seamstress may offend some readers. Breath While not a formula western F 2013 516pp B2202 or a ‘man’s book’, this novel Dai Sijie Tim Winton has very American themes. During Mao’s Cultural Revolution, The Bean Trees At 16, John Grady Cole leaves two sons of doctors are sent to WINNER the Texan ranch where he the country for 're‑education’. To Barbara Kingsolver Miles Franklin Literary Award grew up but has no future, keep their sanity, they have their Young Taylor Greer has grown to ride into the Mexican frontier: sense of humour and also some up poor in rural Kentucky and WINNER into adventure, romance and distraction from the charming achieved her first two aims – to The Age Book of the Year rough male justice. Strong daughter of the local tailor. When avoid becoming pregnant and When paramedic Bruce Pike masculine point of view, they discover a suitcase full of to get away from her home arrives too late to save a boy powerful landscapes and forbidden literature, new worlds town. She buys an old car and found hanged in his bedroom, distinctive style. are opened to them. Delightful, heads West, but before long he senses this lonely death is an F 1992 302pp B1481 funny and unexpected. she acquires an unexpected accident. Pike, too, was once F 2001 172pp B1671 responsibility,Book Groups and when car addicted to extremes, barely An Australian Son troubles lead her to stop knowing when to stop. Winton’s somewhereFavour inite Arizona, Taylor Gordon Matthews We loved this book, with ninth novel returns to the remote its dangerous mountain begins a surprising new life. West Australian coast and the An extraordinary life story passageways, houses F 1988 246pp B1869 fictional universe of Sawyer. without literary pretensions. mired in squalor, and Simple yet profound, Breath is a Adopted into a Melbourne beautiful scenery. Woven moving story of youth’s reckless family in the 1950s, Matthews’ BOOK GROUPS throughout is an appreciate FAVOURITE compulsion to oblivion. distinctive colouring set for the ability of the him apart at school and in human mind to transcend F 2008 216pp B1992 adolescence he lost the sense everyday privations. The Bell Jar of where he belonged, until he Wood Glen: 2nd Tuesday Sylvia Plath Butterfly identified as an Aborigine. His The only novel by this well‑known Sonya Hartnett search to uncover his origins poet. A brilliant treatment of the opens up questions of adoption, Barn Blind effect of society’s expectations SHORTLISTED colour and Aboriginality. Jane Smiley on a sensitive young woman Miles Franklin Literary Award B 1996 230pp B1503 This is a striking study of a woman who went to England, married Plum Coyle is nearly fourteen of powerful will. Entirely focused the poet Ted Hughes, had two and on the fringe of her peer on the world of horses and riders, children and committed suicide group. When her glamorous Kate has conscripted all four of her seven years later. next‑door neighbour Maureen, children in the service of her vision. F 1963 260pp B188 a young wife and mother, But their own adolescent natures befriends her, Plum feels herself assert themselves, and events reinvented. But Maureen move to a conclusion the family has an ulterior motive for has never imagined. Written with taking Plum under her wing. superb insight into human nature Gripping, disquieting and and the young. beautifully observed. FL 1980 218pp B1433 F 2009 215pp B2045

C Crime F Fiction B Biography S Short Stories N Nonfiction L Large Print Book Groups Favourite 6

Coda Drinking Coffee BOOK GROUPS C Thea Astley Elsewhere FAVOURITE Kathleen’s memory and body ZZ Packer A Fortunate Life The Catcher in the Rye show signs of failing, but she is J.D. Salinger still her feisty, independent self, FINALIST A.B. Facey wanting to lead her own life. PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction Abandoned as a child by FINALIST How long, she wonders, before Surprising, witty and involving, his widowed mother in the National Book Award she becomes a dumped granny? these eight stories follow late 1890s, Facey endured Holden Caulfield, is a 16‑year‑old In this brilliant small book, with characters on the brink of extraordinary hardships in American boy who has just its glittering satiric wit and aching change. Their stories are the pioneering days of the flunked out of his third smart poignancy, Astley is at her best. connected by themes of Western Australian wheatbelt, school. His own values reveal F 1993 188pp B1436 race, black identity, religion experienced Gallipoli, survived that he has a deep intuitive and belonging. They range the Depression and, having taught himself to write, set about sense of what has gone wrong Everyone loved this book! It from a teenager who flees the with the culture to which he was moving and hilarious at Pentecostal fanaticism of her this powerful autobiography. belongs, and the book is written different turns, and we had a hometown, finding herself in a B 1981 326pp B360 Growing Up, Moving On Moving Up, Growing from his point of view and in his great discussion about ageing dangerous world of drugs and American period slang. and family commitments in sexual exploitation, to a girl who stages a political sit‑in at a Fresh Fields F 1951 224pp B257 different cultures. Melbourne City Readers local café. Peter Kocan S 2003 243pp B1829 With little money, an indifferent Our group was divided in mother and no home, a shy appreciation of this classic novel. However, all agreed A Complicated Kindness 14‑year‑old boy drifts between that Holden, though a Miriam Toews city and bush, slowly becoming E alienated and distrustful. Fresh strange boy, had a lot of This Canadian novel examines Fields is a dark portrait of the typical 16 year old thoughts, a family whose life within their Extremely Loud and evolution of a loner sustained feeling that he was a square fundamentalist Mennonite Incredibly Close Book Groups only by a potent inner life, where peg in a round hole. After community has reached a crisis Favourite Jonathan Safran Foer love and death are increasingly discussion we gave this book point. Narrator, teenaged Nomi, Foer explores grief through the confused. As a lonely, silent 4 stars! is superbly sustained, her voice eyes of 9‑year‑old Oskar, whose teenager in 1966, award‑winning Mount Waverley Tally Ho is funny, dark, and piercing. father died in the 9/11 World novelist Kocan shot and injured Tuned in to every hypocrisy yet Trade Center disaster. Oskar Arthur Caldwell, the federal barely conscious of her own is an intelligent, sensitive and opposition leader of the day. BOOK GROUPS confusion, she is torn by her love FAVOURITE creative kid, whose business of those who have left and the F 2004 373pp B1880 card lists Inventor, Amateur father who remains. Entomologist, and Origamist Cat’s Eye F 2004 246pp B1920 as some of his interests. When Margaret Atwood he finds a mysterious key in his G A Canadian painter, returning father’s wardrobe, he embarks A Gate at the Stairs to Toronto for a retrospective D on an investigation to help him exhibition of her work, is caught understand his loss. Lorrie Moore up in a reflection of her life David Copperfield F 2005 326pp B1922 Tassie, a 20‑year‑old college and of the driven relationship Charles Dickens student from the American with her ‘best friend’, Cordelia. Midwest, gets a job as This partly autobiographical Comic, mind‑stretching, terrible part‑time nanny for an affluent novel wonders ‘whether I shall in its grasp of children’s needs F middle‑aged couple who turn out to be the hero of my and cruelties, hopeful – and a harbour a dark family secret and own life’. A wonderful blend of compulsive read! NEW are in the process of adopting a comedy and pain, with Dickens’ bi‑racial child. Tassie’s time away F 1988 421pp B1249 unforgettable characters: the For Today I has changed her perspective Micawbers and Murdstones, Am a Boy and during a visit home, she Mrs Gummidge, Uriah Heep, The Chosen sees her family differently, Miss Betsey and Mr Dick. Kim Fu Chaim Potok including her brother Robert, Two‑month book. As the only who is being approached by Two young Jewish boys growing son of Chinese F 1850 920pp B224 the military. up in Brooklyn around the time immigrants, of the Second World War study Peter struggles F 2009 322pp B2068 Talmud together, but differences with the strong patriarchal in upbringing, attitude and belief expectations of his parents – The Getting of Wisdom create tension in their friendship. especially as he has always Henry Handel Richardson Will Danny, the Rabbi’s son, felt he should have been born become a Rabbi himself or will a girl. This delicately handled A semi‑autobiographical account he break with tradition? Zionism, coming‑of‑age novel follows of Laura, a Victorian country girl the birth of the state of Israel and Peter and his sisters as they whose quirky individuality creates the destruction of the European journey into the wider world, awkwardness in the conformist Jews are important themes in finding their places and atmosphere of a girls’ private this novel. conquering the shadows of boarding school. F 1966 281pp B121 the past. F 1910 240pp B131 F 2014 256pp B2203

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The Go‑Between Hoi Polloi L.P. Hartley H Craig Sherborne I A study of early adolescence, This boyhood memoir has a as an old man recalls his The Hanging Garden startling vividness, its comedy I for Isobel boyhood in a country house Patrick White and pathos deriving partly Amy Witting in the 1920s. His life has been Critics have hailed this from the remorseless candour SHORTLISTED shaped by his involvement then posthumously published novel with which Sherborne portrays Growing Up, Moving On in the relationships and traumas as an unfinished masterpiece. his social‑climbing parents Miles Franklin Literary Award of three adults. A profound It is WWII, and two children and the sexual fumblings of The small but unrelenting novel about social stratification, are sent to a house with a wild adolescent boys. His parents cruelties of Isobel’s unloving adolescence and the sometimes garden overlooking Sydney move to Sydney from a small parents make her life a misery, destructive effects of love. Harbour. White tenderly explores New Zealand town, where they but her struggle for creative FL 1953 280pp B187 the Sydney of his childhood, the hope to join the ‘hoi polloi’, as self‑knowledge is sustained by nature of war, and the ceaseless his mother mistakenly calls the glimpses of kinder adults and upper crust. NEW human yearning for connection. by the enchantment of words This is an unexpected B 2005 197pp B1908 and writing. A shapely and opportunity to re‑connect with vivid evocation of day‑to‑day Ghost River an iconic Australian novelist. Tony Birch How the Light Gets In Australian life. F 2012 240pp B2161 M.J. Hyland F 1989 158pp B1246 LONGLISTED Miles Franklin Literary Award This book raised an interesting SHORTLISTED discussion with many different Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Ren and Sonny dedicate points of view. Everyone J their free time appreciated White’s use of A bright 16‑year‑old cannot wait Jasper Jones to exploring imagery and his understanding to escape from the poverty of the Yarra River of the main characters in her family life in Sydney. Living Craig Silvey and its secrets, this book. He is not easy to as an exchange student with stories and read, but we felt it was very an American family seems like SHORTLISTED adventures. worthwhile reading, even a dream come true, but things Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction The Yarra though it had not been edited quickly begin to unravel. A winds itself or completed by the author. masterly study of adolescent SHORTLISTED through their Maleney Group 10 spirit, defiance and longing Miles Franklin Literary Award lives as the for acceptance, as well as the boys grow, and they must complexities of family dynamics. Summer, 1965. Charlie Bucktin, a bookish boy of thirteen, is eventually find the courage The Highest Tide F 2003 317pp B1820 to face the threats to their Jim Lynch startled by an unexpected river – but at what cost? An visitor: Jasper Jones, an outcast Thirteen‑year‑old Miles O’Malley The Hundred atmospheric and haunting novel in the regional mining town of is an avid beachcomber who from the bestselling author of Secret Senses Corrigan. Rebellious and solitary, discovers a rare giant squid Shadowboxing and Blood. Amy Tan Jasper represents danger and washed up on the mudflats of the intrigue, so when he begs for F 2015 305pp B2230 Washington coast. Miles becomes SHORTLISTED Charlie's help, Charlie nervously an overnight sensation, attracting Orange Prize follows and witnesses Jasper’s attention from scientists, spiritual horrible discovery. healers, and media vultures. This Two half‑sisters link the Chinese Great Expectations F 2009 368pp B2061 Charles Dickens charming coming‑of‑age story is and American cultures when funny and well paced, and raises the life of five‑year‑old Olivia is Late, great Dickens. An lots of material for discussion. taken over by her older sister’s A short but powerful story! anonymously‑given fortune takes 2005 246pp B1924 traditional Yin world of ghosts The children in the book Pip, a blacksmith’s apprentice, F and stories. For thirty years she attracted our interest more fromt his pre‑industrial world struggles to get away from them than the adults, which we to a gentleman’s life in 19th His Illegal Self and live a ‘normal’, American found to be stereotypes. We century London. The rich cast Peter Carey life. But the marvellous story had a good discussion about of characters includes Miss Che is the precocious son of unfolds to surprise her, and us, life in the ‘60s in the country. Haversham, Magwitch, Jaggers, radical student activists. Raised into other ways of seeing life in Keilor Community Centre and Wemmick – incomparable in isolated privilege and denied both countries. figures of comedy, terror and access to television and news, F 1995 345pp B1468 human and social insight. his timely rescue pitches him Johnno FL 1861 493pp B63 into a hippy commune in the David Malouf jungle of tropical Queensland. David Malouf’s first novel is set Here he slowly confronts his mainly in the Brisbane of the life, learning that nothing is as it 1940s and ’50s. It is the story seems. Carey lends his narrative of two men who spend much of wizardry to a beautiful story of their time together, although they love between mother and son. seem to have little in common. F 2008 288pp B2020 Distinguished by its fine depictions of people and places and its deep personal feeling. F 1975 170pp B277 Enjoyed Great Expectations? Try Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones [B1959]

C Crime F Fiction B Biography S Short Stories N Nonfiction L Large Print 8

Modern Interiors Oranges Are Not K M Andrea Goldsmith the Only Fruit The Kite Runner Middlesex After forty‑one years of Jeanette Winterson prosperous marriage, Philippa A young girl’s world is forever Khaled Hosseini Jeffrey Eugenides Finemore is widowed. Hoping changed when she falls Amir and Hassan have an to be not only a grandmother in love with another girl. eventful childhood set against WINNER and babysitter, she makes Winterson skilfully portrays a backdrop of tumultuous Pulitzer Prize major changes in her life - but the ensuing emotions and Afghan history, from the fall Because of a rare genetic the family circle responds with confrontations common to of the monarchy and Soviet deficiency, the narrator is a indignation and fury. all human experience - but intervention, to the flight of hermaphrodite. The book covers F 1991 242pp B1414 particularly acute in an refugees to America. When a startling family history of Greek- evangelical household. unforeseeable events take Amir American migrant experience Mudeye F 1985 171pp B1312 back to Afghanistan in the rise and moves into an evocation Bary Dowling of the Taliban regime, he must of Callie/Cal’s predicament: in Out Stealing Horses right old wrongs in this poignant, this either/or world, what does Dowling’s memory is precise Growing Up, Moving On Moving Up, Growing Per Petterson moving exploration of love it mean to discover that one is and detailed, and his clear, and responsibility. sensuous writing brings to both and neither? WINNER 2003 324pp B1860 life the highly individual past F F 2002 529pp B1792 of the boy and his family; the Independent Foreign Fiction The Life and Times of The Mill on the Floss provincial city of Ballarat – its Fifteen‑year‑old Trond witnesses the Thunderbolt Kid lake, shops, schools, churches; the a sudden breakdown of George Eliot the surrounding farms; the his friend, the first in a series of Bill Bryson Maggie Tulliver is intensely people. An emotional and incidents in the fateful summer of In 1950s Des Moines, Iowa, Bill evoked in her provincial world. powerful autobiography. 1948 leading to the destruction Bryson is the thunderbolt kid. She is passionate, intelligent, B 1995 266pp B1465 of his family. This coming‑of‑age Via this superhero persona (with and idealistic, and her bonds tale explores the relationship a handy death‑ray for zapping with family, particularly her between father and son, and morons) he vividly recalls the brother, release comic and tragic O the impact of war. Winner experiences of his childhood possibilities. The Introduction in of the International IMPAC in baby‑boomer America, and this edition replaces our usual Old School Dublin Award. draws on a fascinating breadth Notes. Questions for discussion Tobias Wolff F 2005 264pp B1993 of social history to bring alive an are provided. era of unprecedented affluence 1860 528pp B1211 and downright weirdness. F FINALIST This was thoroughly enjoyed PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction by our group. Easy language BN 2006 309pp B1970 Miss Gymkhana, R.G. and a flowing plot to follow. In an American boys’ school in The undercurrent of tensions Menzies and Me 1960 where a strong culture of All those who read this Kathy Skelton between the fathers were book enjoyed it. Bryson literature and writing prevails, an interesting subplot, and skilfully takes the reader Skelton was born in 1946 and writers Robert Frost, Ayn Rand the male perspective gave back to the 1950s and grew up in seaside Sorrento, and Ernest Hemingway visit an insight to the 'place' 1960s, immersing them in Victoria. Subtitled ‘Small Town to judge a literary competition, of female characters in the world in which he lived. Life in the Fifties’, this book is the prize a private audience their world. Bryson uses exaggeration a portfolio of snapshots and with the writer. This exploration Camperdown: and ‘stupid boyo humour’ anecdotes evoking a world of of adolescent identity, writing The Leura Literati to great effect, though some red‑hot commos, the young and the complexities which felt the descriptions of girls Queen, strict Catholics, the surround ambition, offers much and women were at times Petrovs, Billy Graham, the to discuss. distasteful. Overall, a good, Olympic Games and the F 2003 195pp B1889 easy read. Saturday matinée. Sure to Montmorency 1 provide laughs of recognition One of the Wattle Birds and a wave of reminiscences. Jessica Anderson 1990 153pp Lilian’s Story B B1278 In the days before her exams, Kate Grenville Cecily is more concerned Mister Pip with questions about the The exuberant but painful Lloyd Jones story of a child born in Sydney recent death of her mother in 1901, who bursts beyond than with study. Her need to constraining stereotypes to SHORTLISTED make sense of things provides Man Booker Prize make herself as large and unique the action in this funny and as her own sense of life. Lilian After civil war trouble reaches engaging study of the brio and will stay with you long after you Matilda’s tropical island, one white independence of the young. Enjoyed finish this moving, exceptional man remains. When Mr Watts F 1994 192pp B1419 and unique novel. A must-read begins to read aloud from Great Miss Gymkhana? Expectations, Dickens’ hero Pip for any Grenville fan. Try Solid Bluestone FL 1985 211pp B819 comes alive for Matilda, but on an island at war, imagination can be Foundations by a dangerously provocative thing. This is a moving, uplifting love Kathleen Fitzpatrick letter to books and reading. [B1290] F 2006 220pp B1959

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The Outcast A Portrait of the Artist The Road from Coorain BOOK GROUPS Sadie Jones as a Young Man Jill Ker Conway FAVOURITE In 1957, 19‑year‑old Lewis James Joyce This evocative, readable Shadowboxing travels home from prison in the Joyce is one of the great 20th autobiography of the author’s Tony Birch south of England. His return century novelists. This book life to her mid‑twenties conveys echoes his father’s return from is largely autobiographical, day‑to‑day detail – the smells, A collection of ten linked stories about the life of a boy growing up war a decade earlier, before and traces Stephen Dedalus’ sounds, weather, plants, people. Growing Up, Moving On his mother died in a tragic boyhood and progressive Why did she leave Australia for a in Melbourne’s Fitzroy during the accident. Her death strained isolation in Ireland and distinguished intellectual career, 1960s. Michael’s world is one of the relationship between Lewis commitment to art: his and how did her family and the simple pleasures, family life and and his father, and as time education, the growth of his drought‑vulnerable plains of their love, punctuated by random acts blends Lewis’ grief with anger, creative powers, and his religious sheep property in New South of brutality. The reader follows as childhood friend Kit’s attempts and sexual consciousness. Wales shape her sensibility? he matures into a sensitive adult who can forgive, but never quite to help will release dark secrets. F 1916 256pp B276 B 1989 238pp B1289 2008 345pp B2040 forget, the past. A fascinating F snapshot of working‑class life Purple Hibiscus Romulus, My Father in inner‑city Australia. Over the Top with Jim Raimond Gaita Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie S 2006 178pp B1912 Hugh Lunn From a life whose events were Journalist Hugh Lunn was WINNER often historically terrible and born in Brisbane in 1941. This Commonwealth Writers’ Prize personally tragic emerges The Smallest Color engagingly down‑to‑earth book an extraordinarily brave and Bill Roorbach evokes his boyhood in the 1940s SHORTLISTED dignified man. Deep gratitude In this fast‑paced, funny, dark and ’50s and is a breath of Orange Prize infuses his son’s frank, truthful first novel, Roorbach builds an fresh air. Full of resonances for biography. It allows us to see engaging portrait of the turbulent anyone who knew Australia in Fifteen‑year‑old Kambili grows up how wisdom, compassion and in sheltered privilege in a Nigeria ’60s in the States: free‑love those years. an ethical sense are developed and drug experiments, the ravaged by political unrest. She in a growing child. BL 1989 272pp B1311 lives in fear of her fanatically naïve innocence of some and religious and tyrannical father, a B 1998 208pp B1554 the restless violence of others. charismatic Catholic patriarch. Gradually, the entwining tales P When Nigeria is shaken by a Roundabout at Bangalow join – strands of the present military coup, Kambili and her Shirley Walker and past, the man of 45 and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha brother are sent to live with the boy of 15, the ’60s and the This Australian memoir moves ’90s, sadness and anger, love Roddy Doyle their aunt, which allows Kambili from a childhood in the lush to blossom in a new life amid the and guilt. Through his virtuoso rendering rainforests of the Byron turmoil of the old. 2001 325pp B1810 of the voice of the ten‑year‑old Bay hinterland to farming a F Paddy, we are taken into F 2004 307pp B1933 sugarcane property in north the world of north Dublin’s Queensland; from the restrictive Solid Bluestone working‑class suburbs. Idiomatic The Puzzles of Childhood small‑town life of Grafton to an Foundations episodes reveal the impact Manning Clark enjoyable time as a mature‑age Kathleen Fitzpatrick on the boy of the deprivation, student at university. Walker has The author of the six‑volume Subtitled ‘Memories of an vitality and violence of his family a keen eye for her human and History of Australia undertakes Australian Girlhood’. Former and school, the media and natural surroundings and writes the history of his own early Associate Professor of History the community. unfolds in a dryly amusing voice. years, from his infancy to his at the University of Melbourne, F1991 282pp B1420 Melbourne Grammar days. B 2001 232pp B1805 Kathleen Fitzpatrick evokes her His memories focus on his South Melbourne girlhood, with Past the Shallows intensely religious parents whose Saving Jessie its tensions between Protestant Favel Parrett existence together was riven by Imogen Clark grandfather and Irish Catholic various conflicts. Moves between grandmother, trade and public Only names have been changed service, her schooling and early SHORTLISTED Sydney, Kempsey, Phillip Island in this true story of a Canberra Miles Franklin Literary Award and Belgrave. university experiences. Full of family who discover that their Australian people and places. B 1989 213pp B1258 youngest child is addicted to A deceptively simple story about 1983 210pp B1290 two brothers growing up on heroin. Intelligent, talented and B the wild Tasmanian coast, and loved, Jessie did not fit the the tragedy that fractured their R stereotype of the young person Kathleen has given us an family beyond repair. The raw who turns to drugs to escape amazing picture of not only her extended family and island landscape frames this Ride on Stranger from pain or abuse. A candid, unsensational account of a her various educational story, where the austere prose Kylie Tennant experiences but a description belies a book of great sensitivity family trying to learn how far Written with a sly humour, this of many familiar attitudes and power. This debut novel it is possible to help. novel tells of the trials of the during the 20th century. is effortless and commanding, ‘impossible’ Shannon Hicks sent N 1999 277pp B1741 Her depiction of the English and the last third absolutely off to a doughty aunt at a tender clinging to ‘home’ and shattering. You will not forget age. The aunt is impossible the Irish integrating and Harry and Miles. too, so Shannon makes her pushing away the old class F 2011 254pp B2127 own way in the world of the system was beautifully depicted. We all loved it and unskilled, conmen, eccentrics had a great discussion. and losers, the world of Sydney Yarrawonga 3 in the 1930s. F 1943 301pp B928 10

Spies Too Close to the Falls Unpolished Gem NEW Michael Frayn Catherine Gildiner Alice Pung WINNER Growing up in respectable 1950s Set in Melbourne’s western When the Night Comes Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Lewiston (not far from Niagara suburbs, this documents with Favel Parrett Falls, NY), Catherine Gildiner humour and insight the arrival Set in Britain during World War II, had a highly unusual childhood. of Pung’s Cambodian‑Chinese Probably today’s hyperactive family to Australia in the 1970s. LONGLISTED Spies takes us into a world under Miles Franklin Literary Award threat, but a threat situated in the child, Cathy was set to work in the Populating her pages with imaginings of two small boys living family pharmacy at age four under eccentric characters, she captures Isla and her out the Blitz in a middle‑class the doctor’s orders. Prescription the essence of the Asian immigrant brother see the suburb. Superbly written, this novel delivery rounds provided a fund experience. This meditation world in grey until combines suspense, anguish, of anecdote and escapade that on cultural difference is also a Bo enters their humourBook and Gr surprisingoups twists. Gildiner uses to brilliant effect in coming‑of‑age story of a talented lives. A cook F 2002Fav our213ppite B1691 this captivating memoir. woman struggling to balance her on a Danish B 1999 350pp B1798 parents’ dreams with her own. ship bound for BN 2006 282pp B1958 Antarctica, Bo Growing Up, Moving On Moving Up, Growing Tuvalu lodges with T them while his Andrew O’Connor This book was well received by ship is in port, expanding Isla’s BOOK GROUPS Outsider Noah exchanges his our group. Everyone found it world with his stories. This is an FAVOURITE directionless life in Melbourne informative and was interested enchanting tale about the magic for a dead‑end teaching job in to learn of the experiences of the ocean, the mysteries of Tell Me I’m Here Tokyo. His absent girlfriend and of a migrant family. What an the universe, and of life and Anne Deveson inability to speak Japanese are adjustment they had to make death, darkness and light. and what a lot they had to When her son Jonathan was perfect excuses for isolation, F 2014 256pp B2225 until the gorgeous, manipulative learn about the Australian way 17, Deveson realised he had of life when they arrived from a Mami Kaketa crashes into his schizophrenia. Here she traces culture so different. life. This intriguingly offbeat debut When We Were Orphans seven years of his illness, Bellarine Bookies showing the fear and anguish explores love, lust, honesty and Kazuo Ishiguro which this condition produces commitment. Perceptive and droll, A celebrated detective is driven in patients and in those close O’Connor captures the darker to solve the mystery of the to them. An important book – side of the expatriate experience: V disappearance of his parents informative, warm, humane, and loneliness, isolation and alienation. when he was a child. The deeply moving. F 2006 347pp B1957 The Voluptuous Delights novel becomes a disturbing, N 1991 269pp B1342 of Peanut Butter and Jam challenging exploration of the Lauren Liebenberg relationship between the colonial British, China, and Japan, and The Tin Moon U In Rhodesia in the late 1970s, of the way simplistic ideas of Stephen Lacey Uncle Tungsten sisters Nyree and Cia’s father oneself and the world might is conscripted to fight against distort reality. Set in England ‘We had the rocket up on three Oliver Sacks the black freedom fighters. The house bricks and were ready and Shanghai in the early and Best known for his writings girls inhabit an innocent world, mid‑20th century, this is an to light the petrol,’ begins this on neurological abnormalities, roaming their run‑down colonial nerve‑fraying account of young ironic, complex and deeply Sacks now takes a look at farm, until their damaged, moving tragi‑comedy. boys’ doings in a small town orphaned cousin Ronin arrives himself, unearthing the source 2000 368pp outside Sydney. From a ten of his scientific curiosity in a and evil enters their world. This F B1652 year old's viewpoint we take in sometimes troubled childhood is a beautiful, sad story about kaleidoscopic impressions of in wartime Britain. He was born childhood in a time of civil war. We had mixed responses to school, family, new words and into a distinguished, scientifically F 2008 245pp B2015 this book, but it did give us a world which offers endless oriented London family, and a great discussion. Everybody found it an engrossing, if scope for getting into everything developed a fascination with frustrating, story. – including trouble. A cliff‑hanging metals, gases, chemistry and the novel in which hilarity blends into discoveries of pioneer chemists. W Melbourne City Readers darker comedy. An unusual, warm and witty book. What Was Lost F 2002 300pp B1693 B 2001 337pp B1661 Catherine O’Flynn Wildlife Tirra Lirra by the River Richard Ford Under My Skin WINNER Jessica Anderson Doris Lessing Costa First Book Award In the summer of 1960, the town of Great Falls, Montana, WINNER An outstanding 20th century Ten‑year‑old junior detective Kate is ringed by fires. When young Miles Franklin Literary Award autobiography, this first volume follows ‘suspects’ at a shopping Joe’s father loses his job and takes Lessing from her African centre and befriends a man called Nora Porteous returns as an goes off fire‑fighting, his mother childhood to London in 1949. Adrian. But when she disappears, old lady to the Queensland meets Warren Mitchell. In spare, Her freedom in the African Adrian falls under suspicion. town of her girlhood. With understated prose Ford evokes a landscape, her turbulent Years later, Adrian’s sister Lisa an ironic eye she reviews her young male making his way in a relationship with her parents, and security guard Kurt glimpse experiences there and tries to world of adult upheaval which he her awareness of her own body, a little girl on the centre’s security place them amongst the various only partly comprehends. This is her intense involvements with cameras. Could it be Kate? strands of her life. A brilliant and a moving, memorable read. people, politics, and everything An intricately plotted, satisfying unillusioned novel. 1990 162pp around her are conveyed with novel exploring grief, loneliness F B1293 F 1978 141pp B120 keen intelligence. Small print. and friendship. B 1994 419pp B1565 F 2007 242pp B1996

Join a CAE Book Group visit 9652 0611 / CAE.EDU.AU / CONNECT WITH US 11 Families These titles tackle the dynamics of families in all kinds of situations and configurations. Some are dysfunctional, some are happy, and many lie somewhere in between.

Aphrodite and the Others Behind the Scenes Brideshead Revisited A Gillian Bouras at the Museum Evelyn Waugh And the Mountains A fascinating book. With Kate Atkinson This is Waugh’s best known candour and compassion, This four‑generation English novel, thanks largely to the Echoed Bouras examines the outlook family saga is captivating. sumptuous 1981 television Khaled Hosseini and life experience of her Atkinson’s imagination and series. When Charles meets From the bestselling author mother‑in‑law, Aphrodite – remarkable way with words lay glamorous Sebastian at Oxford, of The Kite Runner and priest’s wife, illiterate, and open family life – the mismatches he is seduced by the exotic A Thousand Splendid Suns unbending matriarch. The book of personalities and expectations, allure of Sebastian’s aristocratic comes a multi‑generational story counterpoints the oral tradition the strains and trivialities, the family and their grand country that explores sibling bonds. and the literate one, the personal ridiculous and the tragic. house, Brideshead. As his friend Beginning in Afghanistan in and the political. F 1995 382pp B1520 succumbs to alcoholism Charles the early 1950s, the story B 1994 174pp B1402 develops a complex relationship shifts to France and America, Births Deaths Marriages withBook Sebastian’s Groups sister, Julia. and back again, in a series of The Art of the This Fahauntingvour itenovel is a portrait tales woven together by Georgia Blain of love and faith, and a eulogy Engine Driver for a lost world. a powerful storyteller. Steven Carroll In this beautiful and resonant F 2013 416pp B2197 collection of stories, daughter F 1945 336pp B2130 SHORTLISTED of Anne Deveson revisits her bohemian childhood during All That Happened Miles Franklin Literary Award BOOK GROUPS the social change movement, FAVOURITE at Number 26 In late 1950s Melbourne, the collapse of her parents’ Denise Scott Vic longs to perfect his marriage, her brother’s illness engine‑driving technique and and her path to becoming a Breathing Lessons The much‑loved comedian achieve the perfect smooth writer. Deftly examining her life’s Anne Tyler tells the stories that attach ride; his son Michael dreams of triumphs and disappointments, themselves to a family home, fast‑bowling perfection; Rita, she teases out the universal WINNER exploring married life and the mother and wife, longs for a qualities that make us both Pulitzer Prize trials and triumphs of raising life with something more. A fallible and loveable. children, and memories of her Married for 28 years, Maggie distinctively Australian novel outer suburban childhood. B 2008 224pp B1998 and Ira Moran are an unlikely with a luminous evocation of Life outside Number 26 includes couple: Ira is reticent and ordinary lives. her career and friendships forged The Blind Assassin detached; Maggie optimistic, with other strong, funny women. F 2001 278pp B1674 Margaret Atwood confiding, impulsive, and an Like the house itself, this book intervener in other people’s lives. This sad, sharp, humorous Marriage and family provide is a bit ramshackle but warm reflection on family life spans and fun. the focus for a wry, tolerant B most of the 20th century. look at life’s absurdity and B 2008 261pp B2101 With characters attracting underlying comedy. Basil Street Blues sympathy and rancour, Angela’s Ashes Michael Holroyd mysteries unravelling, and F 1988 327pp B1265 Frank McCourt The acclaimed biographer of themes of sacrifice and betrayal, inspiring pathos and bathos, The Burgess Boys A funny, gritty, confronting George Bernard Shaw and Augustus John, Holroyd never Atwood continues to surprise Elizabeth Strout memoir of an impoverished and intrigue. childhood in the slums of explored his own family’s history Haunted by the accidental death Limerick. The father rarely until his parents’ death, which F 2000 641pp B1619 of their father, lawyers Bob and works; when he does he drinks left a vacuum he felt the need to Jim Burgess leave behind their the proceeds, so hunger is a fill. The result? A continuation of The Book of Emmett sister, Susan, and town in Maine continuing theme. McCourt tells his never‑ending love affair with Deborah Forster for new lives in New York. But his story of ‘that most miserable human nature – part detective when Susan calls them back of childhoods, the miserable story, part family saga and part SHORTLISTED home to help her lonely son, Irish Catholic childhood’ with oblique voyage of self‑discovery. Prime Minister’s Literary Awards who has thoughtlessly landed eloquence, exuberance and B 1999 309pp B1632 himself in deep trouble, old a notable absence of rancour SHORTLISTED tensions surface. A beautifully or misery. Miles Franklin Literary Award written and complex story of BL 1996 364pp B1508 A heartbreaking exploration sibling relationships. of domestic abuse. Emmett F 2013 336pp B2192 is an unpredictable alcoholic and violent father. His children, Louisa, Rob, Peter, Daniel and Jessie, are shaped by his destructive presence, but as he Enjoyed Brideshead Revisited? lies dying they must all come to Try Sweet Caress by William Boyd [B2243] terms with their past. F 2009 296pp B210 0

C Crime F Fiction B Biography S Short Stories N Nonfiction L Large Print 12 Book Groups Favourite The Color of Water C James McBride D The Children McBride’s unforgettable memoir Careless Act tells his mother’s brave, eccentric BOOK GROUPS Deborah Robertson Ian McEwan story in her own words. FAVOURITE Family Court Daughter of a failed orthodox SHORTLISTED Jewish rabbi in the American Miles Franklin Literary Award judge Fiona Dark Places daily takes South, she ran away to Harlem, Kate Grenville Tragedy enters the lives of two momentous became a Bap tist, married a strangers: widowed Sonia, decisions black man, raised 12 children SHORTLISTED and Adam, a young sculptor concerning children, and must and put them all through college. Miles Franklin Literary Award experiencing his first taste of Around her story is McBride’s now rule on an unusual and Albion Gidley Singer is the cruel, artistic success. This superbly story of his own struggles for intelligent 17‑year‑old whose domineering patriarch from written, convincingly plotted identity, and towards faith in a faith has him unable to accept Lilian’s Story. Grenville assumes debut Australian novel skilfully God neither black nor white, but a life‑saving treatment. The his voice to give his carelessly explores responsibility, for both ‘the color of water’. consequences of Fiona’s choices misogynistic perspective on his the living and the dead. echo through her personal life, B 1997 291pp B1593 life and values as a son, husband, F 2006 293pp B1960 and will make you reconsider and father in this disturbing and medical, religious and legal ethics. The Corrections impressive novel that stands alone We enjoyed this book to This is McEwan’s succinct, Jonathan Franzen well, but perfectly complements gripping prose at its best. varying degrees; probably FINALIST Lilian’s Story. because the characters F 2015 224pp B2220 FL 1994 375pp B1439 Families were often unlikeable PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and destructive. We felt the earlier chapters were The Children’s Bach FINALIST Digging to America sensitively written but that Helen Garner Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Anne Tyler the ending seemed somewhat A compact but densely‑styled Two families living in Baltimore abrupt. The casual outdoor novel which teases apart Alfred is elderly and increasingly atmosphere of the book's ill, and his wife Enid wants only each adopt a baby girl from the threads of a number of Korea and meet up at intervals setting in Perth was well complex inter‑relationships. to have her three adult children conveyed. over the years: the all‑American An imaginative and compelling home for a family Christmas Malvern Botanical together. These three moved to Donaldsons and the Yazdans, treatment of inner‑suburban an Iranian‑American family. angst from the inimitable Garner. other cities, where they contend with their own messy adult lives. International adoption is only one F 1984 96pp B569 The black comedy and pathos in of the concerns here, as each The Casual Vacancy parent, child and grandparent in J.K. Rowling family living are counterpointed City of the Mind against biting portraits of this sensitively observed novel Through the microcosm of Penelope Lively America in the late 1990s. An responds differently to questions parish council politics in the rural engrossing, ambitious, powerful, of being a foreigner, belonging, town of Pagford, she brings His marriage now evaporated, funny, exceptional novel. and being American. Matthew Halland shares in the together a multigenerational 2001 568pp B1677 F 2006 277pp B1962 cast of characters reflecting bringing‑up of his eight‑year‑old F many aspects of modern Britain. daughter. An architect, his A compelling exploration of work takes him all over the Craft for a Dry Lake The group found this book an community and family dynamics. ever‑changing cityscape of easy read with lots to discuss. Kim Mahood The differing approaches F 2012 576pp B2174 London. Lively’s characteristic fusing of feeling and intellect in WINNER to adoption, traditions and this most satisfying novel. The Age Nonfiction Book of the Year celebrations within the book The Children made us aware of how we all F 1991 220pp B1367 approach these differently. We Charlotte Wood Artist Kim Mahood drives and paints her way across the also loved the humour. When Mandy and her siblings Cloudstreet Tanami Desert and the cattle Bega Book Group return home to watch over their Tim Winton station where she grew up. critically ill father, they struggle to Fiona Capp comments: ‘This reconcile their past. Wardsman WINNER subtle, sharp‑eyed, resolutely Dinner at the Homesick Tony has been waiting for Miles Franklin Literary Award unsentimental memoir could Restaurant Mandy’s return, and as he well mark a new phase in our Two families of ordinary people Anne Tyler insinuates himself into the family, literature about Australian – battlers and losers – share pressure builds with devastating outback life and the complexities FINALIST a ramshackle old Perth house force. Wood’s acutely observed of a white woman’s relationship Pulitzer Prize for Fiction called Cloudstreet. Over 20 third novel explores the with the land and with the years, the ups and downs of tenacious grip of childhood and Aboriginal people who inhabit it.’ Pearl has been left to bring the price paid for bearing witness their lives bring them and the up two sons and an unruly, to the suffering of others. house closer together in this N 2000 266pp B1636 passionate daughter. Anne sprawling, moving novel. F 2007 269pp B2025 Tyler skilfully uses the power of F 1991 426pp B1269 youth’s perceptions, and sets them off against the reality of ‘adult’ life. Loving descriptions of family relationships, including youthful jealousies flavour life into Enjoyed The Children? Try The Book of Emmett by Deborah Forster [B2100] middle age. F 1982 303pp B777

The Fifth Child A Fraction of the Whole Gilead E Doris Lessing Steve Toltz Marilynne Robinson Lessing’s engrossing novel Every Secret Thing explores the ‘old‑fashioned’ idyll LONGLISTED WINNER Gillian Slovo of a couple who meet, marry and Miles Franklin Literary Award Pulitzer Prize This astonishing book traces lovingly fill their house with their Heroes or criminals? Crackpots or From the author of Housekeeping the life of the daughter of an families. The arrival of their fifth, visionaries? Relatives or enemies? comes a beautiful story of faith, imperilled South African family and very different, child raises From his prison cell, Jasper family, and history. Towards the of passionate fighters against dark questions about their family Dean tells the unlikely story of his end of his life, Reverend John apartheid. What does it do to – and about the human family in scheming father Martin, his crazy Ames begins a letter to his son your personal life if your parents contemporary society. uncle Terry and how the three of about the strained relationship are white, communist and F 1989 159pp B1259 them upset an entire continent. between his father, a pacifist, and irrepressible? Nadine Gordimer Incorporating death, parenting grandfather, an abolitionist, who calls this an ‘extraordinary The Fine Colour of Rust and first love this is a scathingly ‘preached men into the Civil War’. expression of the very nature of P.A. O’Reilly funny, heartbreaking story of F 2004 282pp B1963 loving’. Compulsive reading. families and how to survive them. 1997 282pp Single mum Loretta lives in the B B1550 dusty rural town of Gunapan with F 2008 711pp B2042 The Glass Castle her two kids. She gamely steps Frangipani Jeannette Walls up when the local school is about Walls’ father was a hopeless Families F to be closed and the council Célestine Hitiura Vaite alcoholic, and her mother an Falling Leaves approves a dodgy development This mother‑daughter novel is full artist who let her four children project near town. A book about of Tahitian lore about men, women, fend for themselves. Walls’ Adeline Yen Mah love, friendship and community, children and the realities of life. attitude to her parents is Embracing historical events covering contemporary issues Gossip, intrigues, family crises, and almost always affectionate with tenderness and humour. Book Groups of world importance, Mah’s the mother’s flavoursome advice – butFa readersvour itemay not be so tale of her life as an unwanted F 2012 247pp B2151 to her headstrong daughter are forgiving! This book will elicit daughter in thrall to the ideal of conveyed with warmth, charm passionate discussion. filial devotion is gripping from the and gusto from this Tahitian- B 2005 341pp B1882 beginning. A portrait of all the Foal’s Bread born author. Gillian Mears basic (and base) family feelings – F 2004 295pp B1879 love and tenderness, hate, pain, BOOK GROUPS FAVOURITE greed, resentment, indifference WINNER The Age Book of the Year Freedom and malice. Jonathan Franzen B 1997 278pp B1558 The God of Small Things SHORTLISTED We follow the lives of Patty Arundhati Roy Family Matters Miles Franklin Literary Award and Walter Berglund and their children, while touching on the Mears chronicles the hopes and WINNER Rohinton Mistry environment, overpopulation, heartbreaks of two generations of Orange Prize Who in the family will care for sustainability and life in Middle a NSW farming family, particularly its ageing patriarch, in failing America after September 11. Twins Estha and Rahel live in the marriage of golden boy health and now helpless after a It also tells a personal story the Indian state of Kerala, where Roley to tough nut Noah. From fall? His daughter’s family take that explores the relationship cruel caste traditions coexist the pre‑war rural show‑jumping him into their crowded Bombay between the Berglunds and alongside a modern communist circuit to the changing world apartment. The resulting Walter’s best friend and rival movement. This moving novel of the 50s, this is a powerful dilemmas and pressure are Richard Katz, a rock musician. explores the joys and pains of testament to the Australian interwoven with the old man’s moments of life for a family in landscape and the vulnerability of F 2010 562pp B2104 remembrances of a forbidden a society where love laws ‘lay the humans within it. love in his earlier life. ‘A luminous down who should be loved. And compassion, an abundance F 2011 361pp B2139 how, and how much’. of life and piercing moments’ G F1997 340pp B1559 ‑ (Michelle Goldberg). Small print. The characters were beautifully drawn and the The Gathering F 2002 500pp B1818 writing was very visceral and Anne Enright The Good Parents emotionally powerful. Joan London Fault Lines Caulfield 3 WINNER Nancy Huston Man Booker Prize SHORTLISTED Prime Minister’s Literary Awards WINNER A Foreign Wife The nine surviving children of the France’s Prix Femina Gillian Bouras Hegarty clan gather for the wake Maya moves to Melbourne of their wayward brother Liam. It and begins an affair with her Bouras grew up in Melbourne; Told from the perspective of a wasn’t the drink that killed him; boss whose wife is dying of she married a newly‑arrived series of six‑year‑olds, the story it was the events of the winter cancer. When her parents arrive Greek. Later, with two small reveals how scars from the past of 1968 in his grandmother’s to visit, they find out that their boys, they moved to a village can shape the present. From house, which his sister Veronica daughter has disappeared. near Kalamata. Pictures of California to New York, from must now come to terms with. The award‑winning author Australian and Greek life Haifa to Toronto and Munich, Enright follows a line of hurt of Gilgamesh unravels the alternate as we reflect on family secrets unwind revealing and redemption through three complex bonds between differing cultures. A lively, disturbing truths including generations, as memories warp parents, siblings, friends and attractive and painful account of the family’s history during and secrets fester. lovers to create a portrait of WWII. Content may offend what it is to be away from home contemporary Australia. and to be different. F 2007 261pp B1985 some readers. F2008 351pp B2014 F 2007 308pp B1989 B 1986 192pp B1221 C Crime F Fiction B Biography S Short Stories N Nonfiction L Large Print 14

The House in the Light Instructions for The Joy Luck Club H Beverley Farmer a Heatwave Amy Tan A divorced Australian woman Maggie O’Farrell Hamlet’s Dresser returns to the Greek village FINALIST July, 1976. London is sweltering National Book Award Bob Smith where she was once welcomed through a heatwave when Discovering Shakespeare by as a bride. Against the Robert Riordan walks out on his A vibrant evocation of chance at the age of ten was earthiness and austerities of wife and disappears. His three four Chinese women a lifeline for the writer of this rural Greece, Farmer traces the adult children return home, and and their first‑generation exceptional memoir. Having affection, scratchiness and strain family secrets are revealed as Chinese‑American daughters: spent his earlier years caring for in the relationship between Bell tensions mount on a journey this brave, heartfelt novel a disabled sister, in his teens and her ageing mother‑in‑law, to Ireland. Beautifully written powerfully communicates the he joined the backstage staff the matriarch Kyria Sofia. with surprising twists, this is a intricacies of a double cultural of a theatre company. Tender, Complex, with a luminous quality moving portrait of a family that identity, illuminating traditional restrained, and glowing with to the prose. comes undone. Chinese customs and modern excerpts from Shakespeare, F 1995 235pp B1447 F 2013 338pp B2179 mother‑daughter relationships. this book will fasten itself in Small print. your memory. The Household Isa & May F 1989 288pp B1283 B 2002 285pp B1782 Guide to Dying Margaret Forster Debra Adelaide This was well written and a The Hand That Isamay is writing a master’s thesis thoroughly good read. There First Held Mine Australian author and domestic about the role of grandmothers was much to discuss about advice columnist Delia Bennet in women’s history, which leads the perceived and implied Maggie O’Farrell is diagnosed with cancer. She to an examination of her own racism affecting minorities Families Separated by fifty years, two knows she will leave behind her grandmothers: pugnacious May within a multicultural society. women are connected in husband, two young daughters and chilly Isabel. Each harbours We would recommend unexpected ways. Lexie is in and five chickens. Trying to intriguing secrets, which come this book to others. her early twenties when she get her house in order, she to light as Isamay examines Exeter Book Group moves to London, becoming writes lists, makes plans, and their lives. Forster’s writing is immersed in the 1950s Soho art contemplates how she should entertaining and accessible, and scene. In contemporary London, spend her remaining time. a great catalyst for exploring the artistBook Elina Gr strugglesoups to recover F 2008 386pp B2011 universal themes of family and the K fromFa a vdifficultourite birth, while her multiple roles of women. partner Ted faces questions from Housekeeping F 2010 316 pp B2121 The Kitchen God’s Wife his past. Marilynne Robinson Amy Tan F 2010 341pp B2094 FINALIST J Winnie’s story moves from National Book Award Shanghai in the 1920s, through BOOK GROUPS the Japanese occupation of FAVOURITE Jesus Wants Me Still at school, Lucille and Ruth China, World War II and the have high hopes of their aunt for a Sunbeam rise of the communists, to The Harp in the South Sylvie who comes to keep house Peter Goldsworthy her decades in America after Ruth Park for them after their mother’s Rick, Linda and their two 1949. Her personal life contains death. But the gentle Sylvie is much pain, courage and This beloved Australian novel children represent the perfect a drifter and her behaviour too joy. Emotionally charged yet introduces Hugh and Margaret Australian suburban family. bizarre for some. One sister unsentimental, the novel explores Darcy, doing their best to raise When their daughter is departs and soon Sylvie and relationships, uncovers secrets, a family amidst the poverty and diagnosed with cancer, their Ruth must move on. There is and describes Chinese customs. hardship of slum life in 1940s world is shattered. This novella bleakness here, but also oddity, Sydney. Ruth Park combines poses important questions about F 1991 415pp B1330 beauty and a sense of stillness. robust and engaging characters death, the afterlife and the place A book that lingers in the mind. with acute social observation. of religion. The conclusion to this Her humanity, humour and skilful F 1981 187pp B1206 moving meditation on love, faith L storytelling make The Harp in and fate will generate fiercely the South as fresh and readable divided responses. Ladder of Years as ever. I F 1993 133pp B1863 Anne Tyler F 1948 225pp B2198 Indelible Ink SHORTLISTED Home Fiona McGregor Orange Prize Larissa Behrendt WINNER Sensing indifference in her family, The Age Book of the Year Delia Grinstead vanishes from Stretching back to the early their lives. Walking along the years of the 20th century, Home Marie is fifty‑nine, recently divorced beach, she keeps right on going describes three generations with grown children and living in to a town nearby where she of an Aboriginal family. The an affluent Sydney suburb. When takes on a new life as a single novel begins in contemporary drunk she decides to get a tattoo working woman with no ties. Australia with Candice, a young and develops an unlikely friendship Where will things go from here? indigenous lawyer visiting her with the tattoo artist, who shows An unsettling look at marriage, ancestral country with her father. her a different side of Sydney. An family, human complexity and Behrendt’s characters are vividly immersing family drama set in the simple needs. Funny and drawn and there is a buoyancy Howard era. plangent by turns. and optimism in her vision. F 2010 446pp B2092 B 1995 326pp B1466 F 2004 317pp B1832

NEW Love and Vertigo BOOK GROUPS My Family and Hsu‑Ming Teo FAVOURITE Other Animals The Lake Pandora is drawn back to her The Memory Keeper’s Gerald Durrell House native Singapore to die, and her Daughter The Durrell family, their eccentric Kate Morton Australian‑born daughter Grace hangers‑on, and the local animals, tries to understand her mother’s Kim Edwards birds and insects provide a steady A missing child early life as the ‘rubbish child’ – the One evening in 1964, a blizzard stream of hilarious incidents in this and a family fourth daughter of a Singaporean forces Dr Henry to deliver his own light‑hearted book, set in Corfu secret are at the Chinese family in the 1940s. In turn twins. His son is born healthy, his where the author lived as a boy in centre of this funny, sad and insightful about the daughter has Down syndrome. the 1930s. Small print. enthralling mystery from the author tensions and mysteries in families Making a decision that will haunt 1956 300pp of The Forgotten Garden. The fragmented by the dislocations of their lives forever, he asks the BL B575 Edevane family live an idyllic life war and emigration. nurse to take their daughter to an in their beautiful Cornwall home – B 2000 287pp B1645 institution, and tells his wife that until their toddler son disappears. the baby died. This international N When disgraced police constable Lovers’ Knots bestseller is a deeply moving Sadie stumbles across the house exploration of family secrets and Nine Days decades later, she begins to Marion Halligan the redemptive power of love. Toni Jordan unravel what really happened on WINNER F 2005 401pp B1972 Spend nine days immersed in

that midsummer evening in 1933. Families The Age Book of the Year the lives of members of one F 2015 608pp B2240 The Moor’s Last Sigh Melbourne family from the 1930s A capacious, hundred‑year family to the present day. Kit's family, Last Friends novel which focuses on particular Salman Rushdie including his sister, mother and lives of individuals at key points. Jane Gardam This Indian family saga has grandchildren, are engaging Like a moving photographic a huge, surprising cast. Its and real in this evocative and This is the final title in the trilogy collage, it lets the reader glimpse mind‑blowing mixture of the compassionate novel about featuring Old Filth and The Man the time‑shifts which show private and public, the historical sacrifice and survival. in the Wooden Hat. It charts individual and family destinies and invented is elegiac, F 2012 245pp B2172 the life of Old Filth’s great rival, from unexpected angles. outrageous, astute, funny. Terence Veneering, from his F 1992 377pp B1380 An imaginative and human unconventional childhood to old No Great Mischief challenge – vintage Rushdie! Alistair MacLeod age in the English countryside. Lovesong F 1995 434pp B1492 Gardam is a superb stylist Alex Miller Driven from the Highlands in and an astute navigator of the 1779, Calum MacDonald sails human heart. Last Friends is a A Mother’s Disgrace for Nova Scotia, where he and must for any group that enjoyed WINNER Robert Dessaix his people work as loggers and her previous books. The Age Book of the Year An unusual and compelling miners, struggling in the new F 2013 224pp B219 6 autobiography written in mid‑life land and its endless cold. Two SHORTLISTED centuries later, these red‑haired Miles Franklin Literary Award to describe how Dessaix came All members found this an to find and know the woman black‑eyed MacDonalds are still enjoyable read, with pacy In her Tunisian café on the outskirts who is his birth mother. He linked by intense clan loyalty. narrative and colourful of Paris, Sabiha falls in love with offers a moving account of F 1999 262pp B1627 characters. We had a good Australian John, and together they the apparently ordinary couple discussion, and compared fashion a new life. When writer Ken who adopted him and were Noah’s Compass the author's early and later meets them in Melbourne later in such loving parents, and talks Anne Tyler work with some finding life, the sadness in Sabiha’s eyes candidly about his move away the gentler mood of her draws him to tell their story. This from married life to discover A retired teacher in his 60s, e a r l y w o r k m o r e s a ti s f y i n g . is a story about home, family, and himself as a homosexual. Liam lives a lonely life in a small Malvern Botanical human frailties, raising questions of apartment. His inertia is broken morals and purpose. B 1994 195pp B1415 by an intruder, a knock on the 2009 368pp B2090 head and a case of amnesia. Life in Seven Mistakes F Mother’s Milk His eccentric second ex‑wife, Susan Johnson Edward St Aubyn his daughters and his grandson Noah all help Liam find direction. Babyboomer Elizabeth Barton’s Patrick’s mother Eleanor, ageing M and ailing, is determined to sign Noah’s Compass explores the art career is finally taking off. meaning of happiness and She’s about to fly to New York for over his inheritance to a New The Man in the Wooden Hat Age Foundation, while his wife the connections that keep us her first solo show at a prestigious anchored in our lives. gallery but first she must survive Jane Gardam Mary is lost in her obsession with the Barton family Christmas Child of the Empire, spirited motherhood. A bitingly witty and F 2009 277pp B2084 on the Gold Coast. Johnson young woman, Establishment sometimes heartbreaking novel explores relationships and ageing wife of lawyer Edward Feathers; about family dynamics. in a black comedy with an Betty is every bit as intriguing and F 2006 304pp B1952 unexpected, moving climax. vivid as her husband. Gardam Enjoyed F 2008 352pp B2037 explores the landscape of a Noah's Compass? marriage, including its secrets and compromises, with wit and understanding. This novel stands Try A Spot of Bother alone well, and is a remarkable by Mark Haddon companion piece to Old Filth. [B1966] F 2009 233pp B2073

BOOK GROUPS Precious Bodily Fluids O FAVOURITE Charles Waterstreet Our Tiny, Old Filth Other People’s Children Full of event, flavour and brio Joanna Trollope Useless as 11‑year‑old Charlie threads Jane Gardam Hearts his way cheekily through a Edward Feathers is well respected What does it feel like, for adults Toni Jordan rollicking family memoir of the and known affectionately as Old and children, when, after losing owners of Waterstreet’s pub in Filth. Filth was a Raj orphan, a partner by divorce or death, a “Nothing much Albury in 1961. Irish Catholic sent 'home' at a young age from man or a woman with children happens in the family and school culture, six what was then Malaya, to be of various ages enters a new outer suburbs. o’clock closing, his discovery fostered and receive a proper relationship? This absorbing, It’s just like a spa retreat. A nudist, of masturbation, SP bookies, English education. Gardam’s shrewd and sympathetic novel adulterous spa retreat.” Caroline police raids and sinister plots to beautifully written, memorable probing the complexities of and Henry’s marriage is teetering fluoridate the town’s water are all novel pieces together the mosaic modern family life will surely on the brink, so it’s lucky that part of a delightful and dreadful of experiences that make up the sound echoes for every reader. Caroline’s sister Janice is there time, now gone. to look after their daughters. But life of this one member of the F 1998 320pp B1749 B 1998 262pp B1718 Establishment, and by extension, Janice is busy dealing with her a generation of children of the Raj. feelings toward her ex-husband, The Other Side of and to top it all off, Caroline’s A Private Man F 2004 260pp B1910 the Bridge nosy neighbours seem to be Malcolm Knox Mary Lawson having their own marital crisis. On Beauty This entertaining, moving novel LONGLISTED Arthur and Jake Dunn are as explores family, childhood, and Miles Franklin Literary Award Zadie Smith different as two brothers can Families the sacrifices we make for love. be. Arthur, who is older, is shy, Set in contemporary Sydney, WINNER dutiful and set to inherit the F 2016 288pp B2245 this is a portrait of three adult Commonwealth Writers’ Prize family farm in northern Ontario, brothers and their parents, over From the bestselling author Canada, while Jake is young and the days following the father’s of White Teeth. Howard is an reckless. When Laura arrives in P unexpected death in curious art historian at an East Coast their 1930s rural community their circumstances. In Knox’s look at college in the US. His marriage uneasy relationship is pushed to Passing On different models of masculinity, to Kiki is strained to breaking the edge. A beautifully told story Penelope Lively the worlds of medical practice, point, and their three children of love and family that spans test cricket and pornography An unmarried daughter and son, struggle to cope. When the changes of rural life from the merge in a literary thriller of 52 and 49 respectively, are left Howard's arch rival accepts Great Depression to WWII. about a family under pressure. by the death of their domineering a post in Howard’s faculty, a Strong language. F 2006 273pp B2003 mother to develop what remains cascade of hilarious and tragic of their lives. Compassionate, F 2004 385pp B1838 events ensues. Our Father Who poised and finely written. F 2005 446pp B1953 Art in the Tree F 1989 210pp B1347 Once in a House on Fire Judy Pascoe A funny, touching novel evoking The Poisonwood Bible The Pure Andrea Ashworth a family in crisis. A man dies Barbara Kingsolver Gold Baby This is an account of the suddenly, leaving four bewildered Margaret writer's early years following the children and a distraught wife. FINALIST Drabble accidental death of her father. In the heat of a Queensland Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Jess is an The men her mother accepts summer they contend with his anthropologist become violent, and the family absence, and young Simone Missionary preacher Nathan Price and single spirals downward into poverty is convinced her father is still moves his family to the Congo in mother. Anna is her pure gold and uncertainty. Ashworth’s speaking to her from where he the '60s, a time of tremendous baby – a smiling child with a lucid prose and lack of self‑pity now lives in the great tree behind political and social upheaval. learning disability who never and the child’s protectiveness the house. The narrative alternates between ‘grows up’. Narrated by their towards her beautiful, neglectful Nathan’s wife and four daughters F 2002 169pp B1795 neighbour Eleanor, The Pure mother raise fascinating in this powerful, poignant and Gold Baby profiles a changing questions about human sometimes funny exploration society from ‘60s London to the vulnerability and resilience. of religious zeal, conscience, imperialist arrogance, and the present day, exploring forms of B 1998 330pp B1740 many paths to redemption. human kinship, the experience Small print. of ageing, and the way we care The Orchard Thieves for one another. F 1998 543pp B1728 Elizabeth Jolley F 2013 291pp B2201 In this beautiful, autumnal work This is a fantastic, beautifully Jolley creates an insightful and written story. Kingsolver’s artful work about families. The research makes for rich and Enjoyed figures of the grandmother, the rewarding reading. A lot of three sisters, and the young discussion ensued, with some The Pure Gold Baby? grandsons who give the book of our members reading it its title, open our imaginations to twice to make sure they had Try The Memory the poignant question of what not missed anything! One of Keeper's Daughter one generation can pass on to our best books for 2015. following ones. More a fable than Rylstone DDGs by Kim Edwards a novel. Clear print. [B1972] F 1995 134pp B1477 START A CONVERSATION, START A BOOK GROUP / 9652 0620 / CAE.EDU.AU / CONNECT WITH US 17

Revolutionary Road Running with Scissors The Shipping News R Richard Yates Augusten Burroughs Annie Proulx Burroughs’ mother gave him Reading in Bed SHORTLISTED WINNER away to her psychiatrist when Pulitzer Prize Sue Gee National Book Award he was twelve. His bizarre Dido and Georgia have been Frank and April are bored by childhood, spent in the doctor’s WINNER friends since university. They live their 1950s suburban American dilapidated mansion where he National Book Award in a cultured English world of lives and dream of being maintained a relationship with a lovely gardens, good books and extraordinary. But their decision paedophilic inpatient, is the basis A hapless New York hack conversation. But for the first to change their life leads to for this harrowing, entertaining, journalist takes off with his two time, Dido has reason to question tragedy. Tennessee Williams and endlessly surreal memoir. small, motherless daughters her marriage, while widowed said: “here is more than fine Contains explicit content. and redoubtable aunt to Georgia has yet to come to terms writing; here is what… makes B 2003 304pp B1892 storm‑battered Newfoundland, with the loss of her husband; a book come immediately, where he gradually makes a their children are unhappy in love intensely and brilliantly alive.” new life. The characters, wild setting and remarkable writing all and perfect health is no longer 1961 336pp B2039 a given. This is a testament to F S come off the page with a blast of family, friendship and the love of a The Secret Agent freshness. An irresistible comedy good book. The Riders of human life and possibility.

Tim Winton Joseph Conrad Families F 2007 340pp B2016 F 1993 337pp B1458 A carefully developed human WINNER story of an agent’s family in We all felt transported to This was a pleasant book which Commonwealth Writers’ Prize the grim world of the agent dealt with a variety of life Newfoundland, and could issues without descending to Fred Scully’s desperate quest provocateur. It is based on a visualise the landscape, depressing levels. We engaged to get his Australian family real incident, the attempted the food, and the weather with the characters and a good together again drives him from destruction of Greenwich conditions. We appreciated deal of discussion took place. Ireland across Europe, with his Observatory, treated with the gradual change in the Moonaboola Readers gutsy and loving daughter. In the Conrad’s irony, scepticism and self-perception, esteem and development of the main background are the mysterious, social insight. character. Humorous and waiting riders and the Australian F 1907 249pp B1013 sad – an enjoyable read! Life experiences and experience. Gripping suspense. Canterbury: Burnside characters we could identify 1994 377pp Seducing Mr Maclean with made this a rewarding FL B1455 and Beyond read. Gee skilfully presents Loubna Haikal her characters’ flaws and Rose Boys The daughter of a Lebanese graces, but without judging Peter Rose family enrols in Medicine A Short History of them – eliciting both our to fulfil her family’s dreams. Tractors in Ukrainian empathy and wishes for WINNER Her Australian boyfriend, the positive resolutions. A clever National Biography Prize suspect business dealings of her Marina Lewycka novel, much enjoyed! brothers, and parents slaving CBD Maruska Robert Rose was a footballer away in their restaurant, are SHORTLISTED and cricketer in a famous ingredients in this fast‑moving Orange Prize Melbourne sporting family. comic novel. The Rector’s Wife Suddenly left quadriplegic at Sisters Nadezhda and Vera F 2002 318pp B1679 haven’t always seen eye to eye. Joanna Trollope 22 by a car accident, Robert became totally dependent on But when their father’s young, In her early forties, Anna realises others. His brother Peter, a poet, We had mixed reactions to glamorous fiancée Valentina that her Rector husband’s parish writer and editor, has written a this book. Some felt it was a bursts into their lives ‘like a fluffy is ‘the other woman in my life’. memoir about a family under caricature of the people and pink grenade’ they agree they Children’s needs impel her to get great pressure, a tribute to his the subject of integration, must rescue him from her greedy a paid job. Trollope’s account brother and parents and a book and we also felt that it clutches and his own geriatric of the web of personal, family of quiet power. showed its age. However, we fantasies. Enlivened with quirky and parish life was reprinted 13 did have a good discussion on characters and original dialogue, times in its first two years as a B 2001 289pp B1796 the difficulties that migrants this spirited story is about love, paperback. Good black print. face coming to our country. old age, immigration, Ukrainian Running in the Family Mulgrave 4 FL 1991 243pp B1423 history and family secrets. Michael Ondaatje F 2005 324pp B1893 The Red House Ondaatje returned to his native Mark Haddon Sri Lanka in the 1970s to retrace Sisters the baroque mythologies of Drusilla Modjeska Told from shifting points of view his forebears, outrageous, over the course of a week, eccentric, or embattled: Australia’s foremost women family relationships fracture as ‘Everyone was vaguely related writers – Modjeska, Mears, buried secrets surface. Dominic and had Sinhalese, Tamil, Yahp, Garner, Hewett and Jolley pays for his sister Angela and Dutch, British and Burgher – explore the joys and vexations her family to join him and his blood in them going back of sisters, in autobiographical new wife and step daughter for generations. Love affairs essays and more‑or‑less fictional on holiday in Wales. Ripe with rainbowed over marriages and stories. Wonderful glimpses tension and beautiful writing, this lasted forever so it often seemed of writers’ lives and into all domestic novel provides sharp that marriage was the greater that is involved in being and insight into the human condition. infidelity.’ An unforgettable book. remembering siblings. F 2012 340pp B2180 B 1982 207pp B1650 B 1993 185pp B1427

The Slap Swallow the Air BOOK GROUPS A Thousand Splendid Suns Christos Tsiolkas Tara June Winch FAVOURITE Khaled Hosseini When May’s mother dies That Eye, the Sky Brought together by war, loss, WINNER suddenly, she and her brother and marriage to the same Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Billy are taken in by Aunty. Tim Winton cruel man, Mariam and Laila A man slaps a child at a While Billy takes his own A threatened family struggles develop a lifelong friendship. suburban barbeque. The child is self‑destructive path, May sets to hold together in the city Spanning the Soviet invasion of not his own. This event and its off to find her father and her outskirts. The moving story is Afghanistan, the Afghan civil war consequences have a rippling Aboriginal identity. Written in a beautifully told in the pungent and the rule of the Taliban, this is effect on the friends and family poetic style, with an excellent slangy idiom of 12‑year‑old a moving tale of friendship, love at the barbeque. Told from the ear for dialogue, these skilfully Ort Flack. We see his family and family. viewpoints of eight people, The crafted interlinked stories (and the big human questions) F 2007 370pp B1961 Slap is an unflinching look at the about growing up on society’s through his loving, troubled, modern family. Strong language fringes herald a distinctive and visionary eyes. The Tiger in the Tiger Pit may offend some readers. exciting voice in Australian FL 1986 150pp B875 indigenous fiction. Janette Turner Hospital F 2008 400pp B2034 S 2006 198pp B1937 There Should Be The tiger is an old man facing The Sound of One his 50th wedding anniversary, The Sweet‑Shop Owner More Dancing irritated and alienated by Hand Clapping Rosalie Ham present incapacities and past Graham Swift Richard Flanagan On Margery’s eightieth birthday lost opportunities. His wife A decisive day in the life of she reflects back on her life. She strives to recompose a family SHORTLISTED 60‑year‑old Willy Chapman harmony, recognising that ‘We

Families has lived quietly in Brunswick Miles Franklin Literary Award evokes the personal, family and (Melbourne) for the past sixty are all capable of brutality, aren’t Sonja Buloh has gone to Sydney social history of his life and his years but now she wants to we?’ A deftly‑woven plot in this to make herself a carefully shop. Clear, compassionate jump off the balcony at her hotel. thought‑provoking exploration of ordered life. Her return to writing reveals courage, She doesn’t trust anyone, least parents and children. Tasmania connects her with the pain, laughter, limitation and of all her family. However, she F 1983 256pp B1244 traumas of her migrant parents’ unexpected sweetness in an doesn’t want to hurt anyone European and Australian pasts, ordinary life. below the hotel so instead she The Time We Have Taken and the childhood she has tried F 1980 222pp B1203 thinks back and revisits her life. Steven Carroll to forget. An important novel Told with Rosalie Ham’s wit, about dislocation, work, family. Swimming with humour and compassion. WINNER F 1997 425pp B1586 the Jellyfish F 2011 347pp B2128 Miles Franklin Literary Award Vicki Hastrich Summer, 1970: television and A Spot of Bother With a gift for humour and A Thousand Acres wireless shop proprietor, Peter, Mark Haddon characterisation Hastrich Jane Smiley pronounces his Melbourne From the author of The Curious evokes a small New South WINNER suburb one hundred years old. Wales coastal town through As his community prepares to Incident of the Dog in the Pulitzer Prize Night‑Time. George is trying the eyes of a likable eccentric celebrate progress, a mural is to settle quietly into retirement, woman, still preoccupied by the Dominating, implacable Larry commissioned of the area’s but his daughter is marrying disappearance of her mother Cook owns the largest, richest history. But what vision of the an inappropriate man, his twenty years back. A warm, farm in Zebulon County, Iowa. past will this painting reveal? The wife is carrying on with his quirky, insightful book with a cast Without warning he opts to third in a trilogy, Carroll’s novel ex‑colleague, and an unsettling of memorable characters. retire, passing the farm to his is a meditation on the rhythms rash has appeared on his hip. As F 2001 224pp B1692 three daughters and setting off a of suburban life during a time of the Hall family slides into chaos, chain of events which will divide radical change. George quietly and politely the family and bring dark secrets F 2007 327pp B2027 begins to go mad. T to light. In her modern reworking F 2006 390pp B1966 of Shakespeare’s tragedy King Tinkers A Tale of Love and Lear, this American novelist Paul Harding Summer at Mount Hope Darkness produces a compelling tale about family, human nature, and Rosalie Ham Amos Oz this farming community. WINNER Pulitzer Prize Ham’s second novel is a 19th The single child of a couple F 1991 371pp B1499 century romance. Feisty heroine who migrated to Israel in Clockmaker George Washington Phoeba Crupp lives with her the 1930s, Oz grew up in Crosby lies dying and travels parents and sister on a small Jerusalem and is now one of This was a fascinating story back in time through memories that enthralled most of the farm near Geelong. Her father Israel’s foremost writers. His group despite some of the of his impoverished childhood moved his family from the city to family chronicle is mesmerising: unpleasant themes. There in rural Maine, and of his father, establish a vineyard, a decision funny, intense, tragic. In the was plenty of discussion as a peddler who suffered from Phoeba’s mother bitterly resents. layers of his extended family the book left you with a lot epileptic seizures. Harding’s With less black comedy than in in Israel – all transplanted from of questions and possibilities. language dazzles, whether The Dressmaker, Ham highlights Eastern Europe and drenched in The discussion notes were he’s describing the workings the efforts of women a century European languages and culture very good, some of the best of clocks or sensory images ago to thwart tradition and – we see the making of Jewish we've ever had. of nature. pursue their dreams. Jerusalem, and beyond that the Canterbury: Burnside F 2009 191pp B2103 F 2005 296pp B1936 emerging state of Israel. and Beyond B 2004 564pp B1938

Trespass White Teeth 44 Scotland Street Valerie Martin W Zadie Smith Alexander McCall Smith Trespass is the story of two McCall Smith’s Scotland Street families haunted by the past. WINNER occupies a busy, bohemian Chloe Dale is discontent with Whitbread Novel Award corner of Edinburgh’s New the American involvement in This sparkling, noisy, comic epic Town, where the old haute the Iraq war, and with her son We Are All of multicultural Britain makes bourgeoisie rub shoulders with Toby’s girlfriend Salome Drago. Completely joyful use of vernaculars, various, students, poets and portraitists. An émigré from the former Beside as it traces the inter‑connections And Number 44 has more Yugoslavia, Salome has her own Ourselves of three families, one Indian, than its fair share of eccentrics concerns and dangerous secrets one white and one mixed, over and failures. Dry, funny and from her past are about to catch Karen Joy 25 years in North London and entertaining, 44 Scotland Street up with her. Fowler Oxford. A novel with a relish for was originally written as a F 2007 288pp B2019 ideas, for language and for the serialised novel. WINNER tragi‑comedy of human life. F 2005 326pp B2052 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction F 2000 462pp B1772 U 84 Charing Cross Road SHORTLISTED The World Beneath Helene Hanff Unless Man Booker Prize

Cate Kennedy Helene Hanff wrote from Families Carol Shields Something in Rosemary’s As Sandy and Rich approach New York to Marks and Co., Norah, beloved adult daughter childhood turned her from a middle age they look back on second‑hand booksellers in of Reta Winters, opts out of lively, chatty child into a quiet the Franklin Blockade as the London: ‘I enclose a list of my normal life in order to sit on adult with a secret. Her siblings highlight of their lives. While most pressing problems’. The a gritty street corner mutely disappeared inexplicably; her Sandy embraced new age reply and the books that were displaying a sign around her father, a renowned psychologist, spirituality and the mothering sent across the Atlantic began neck that reads ‘GOODNESS’. brought home his work in of their 15‑year‑old daughter, a joyous correspondence that Her mother’s search for what surprising ways. Rosemary Rich roamed the world with lasted 20 years. This book drove her daughter to this attempts to reconcile her present his camera, trying to recapture celebrates friendship, the art of turns into a funny meditation with her jumbled memories, the promise of his youth. letter‑writing and a love of books on where we find meaning and wondering what it is we relate Rich attempts to rekindle his and the English language. hope. A suspenseful fiction to in others – is it the ‘human’, relationship with his daughter B 1971 220pp B1200 about supposedly ordinary or the ‘being’? on a trek in the Tasmanian lives from this exceptional F 2014 336pp B2215 wilderness, but disaster looms. This was just the right book Canadian novelist. All three go on a journey and let for our Christmas meeting F 2002 213pp B1696 go of the past, while they move as it is all about friendship, The White Earth towards a future together. and giving and receiving. We Andrew McGahan F 2009 342pp B2071 were pleasantly surprised to find we had two stories in V WINNER one book – Hanff’s diary of Miles Franklin Literary Award her eventual visit to London Various Pets Alive Y added to the letters in the and Dead book. It is a slight book, Marina Lewycka WINNER You Gotta Have Balls but has obviously touched The Age Book of the Year Unrepentant hippie Marxists Lily Brett many people as it has been reprinted many times and Doro and Marcus realise the Do we own the land or does Ruth is a 54‑year‑old Jewish it own us? Who can claim to been made into a movie, revolution is never coming. Australian running a successful a telemovie and a stage play! But why do their children belong here? In the Darling business in New York. She Lismore 2 NSW have to embrace capitalism Downs in the years when the worries about her weight, and consumerism so imminent passage of Native about her husband, and about enthusiastically? A charming Title is of huge concern to local her 87‑year‑old father, the story about family values and the landowners, a fatherless boy irrepressible Edek. Enter Zofia: comedy of the new generation and his mother are taken in by buxom Polish sixty‑something gap from the author of A Short the family patriarch. Part family with one eye for business and History of Tractors in Ukrainian. saga, part history and part another for Edek, and Ruth’s gothic thriller, this novel is set 2012 366pp B2165 worrying reaches hilarious F in a landscape haunted by the heights. In this light‑hearted but ghosts of black and white. satisfying novel, Brett tackles This novel was an F 2004 389pp B1852 serious themes with wit and entertaining read with lots verve. Frank and with occasional of laughs and an animated discussion. Lewycka deals strong language, this is delightful with a wide range of issues – social comedy about modern social, moral, ethical, political family life. – and introduces a colourful F 2005 293pp B1944 cast of characters, giving us much to discuss. Portarlington 1

Enjoyed The White Earth? Try Carpentaria by Alexis Wright [B1986]

C Crime F Fiction B Biography S Short Stories N Nonfiction L Large Print 20 Relationships Mainly fiction, but with a few biographies, this chapter contains books that tackle the myriad aspects of human connection – from grand tragedy to light and witty.

The Age of Innocence April Fool’s Day NEW A Edith Wharton Bryce Courtenay Newland Archer has chosen a The emotive biography of Between The Accidental Tourist conventional and rather limited Courtenay’s son Damon, who Anne Tyler young woman for his wife. Now was born with haemophilia a Wolf and Sharing a common grief, Macon Countess Olenska appears on and acquired AIDS through a Dog Leary and his wife Sarah now the scene, refreshingly different transfusion with contaminated Georgia Blain find their differences too great in outlook and separated – blood. Told mainly in his father’s As the rain and they part. Macon makes shockingly – from her European words, but including passages beats down world trips to write a series of husband. Wharton presents an from his mother, brother and one sodden Sydney day, four travel guides which reflect his unillusioned view of 1870s New partner, it is a heart‑stirring people will slowly come to terms need of defensive routines. York, where a constricting social account. Whilst there is much with their pasts – and their Funnier than Dinner at the code puts individual lives under love and fortitude, there is also futures. Ester is finally moving Homesick Restaurant but great pressure. anBook angry indictmentGroups of some forward from her divorce from with that unmistakable ache F 1920 301pp B1313 institutionsFavour andite individuals in estranged husband, Lawrence. and tenderness. Australia’s medical system. Her sister, April, wonders how F 1985 355pp B1193 Ali and Nino B 1994 666pp B1432 she can heal the deep rift Kurban Said between her and Ester, while Addition their mother Hilary considers This little‑known masterpiece BOOK GROUPS the momentous decision she is Toni Jordan follows the cross‑cultural marriage FAVOURITE making. Subtle, poignant and of a young Muslim prince and a immersive. LONGLISTED rich Christian girl. Love does not Atonement Miles Franklin Literary Award run easily, but it works powerfully F 2016 320pp B2242 to try to overcome ancient tribal Ian McEwan Grace Vandenburg counts. She differences. Considered the Big Brother counts the number of poppy Romeo and Juliet of Azerbaijan, it WINNER Lionel Shriver seeds on her piece of cake, is a book for Western readers. Commonwealth Writers’ Prize she counts the number of steps Pandora, a chef and it takes her to reach her local F 1937 237pp B1658 A story that begins with three entrepreneur, must deal with café, she even counts the letters young people in the garden both her morbidly obese in her name. Then she meets The Amateur Marriage of a country house on the brother and her exercise and Seamus O’Reilly. Addition is a Anne Tyler hottest day of 1935, and nutrition‑fanatic husband ends with three profoundly quirky love story with a witty and Pauline and Michael marry in when circumstances bring unconventional heroine. changed lives. A depiction of the three of them under the haste. Slowly and painfully, love, war, class, childhood and 2008 256pp B2036 they realise they are completely same roof. In her distinctive F England, exploring shame and style, the author of We Need unsuited. A sensitively handled forgiveness, atonement and the portrayal of family dysfunction to Talk About Kevin tackles Aftermath possibility of absolution. family dynamics, addiction and Rachel Cusk and of lives lived always wondering how things ‘could F 2001 372pp B1668 our image‑conscious society, Subtitled 'On Marriage and have been’. Tyler’s look at one asking the question: is blood Separation'. Cusk is not family and at American family life really thicker than water? telling us how to live; this is from the 1940s to the present is B F 2013 373pp B2191 her narrative on marriage, incisive and poignant. separation, the difficulties of Bel Canto motherhood, loss of identity, F 2004 306pp B1817 Billie’s Kiss feminism and more. It is an Ann Patchett Elizabeth Knox honest exploration of the American Wife A novel for almost anyone, aftermath of her divorce and is Curtis Sittenfeld WINNER carrying the reader easily Orange Prize guaranteed to spark a discussion Alice is a quiet, bookish only across an extraordinary range in your group. child from small town Wisconsin, A group of international guests of concerns: a murder mystery, B 2012 152pp B2169 who experiences an event which in an unnamed Latin American a traditional community faced shatters her identity and makes country are taken hostage, with Edwardian modernisation, Some found this a little dry, her understand the fragility of but the target, the President, a sexy love‑story, pride and but others enjoyed Cusk's life. A decade later, Alice, a is not present. Among the prejudice, family and community honest style. We had a Democrat and school librarian, hostages are a famous American loyalties and divisions. A New long discussion about the meets and marries Charlie, opera singer, and a Japanese Zealand view of reality, set in a role of women, and how the outgoing wealthy son of a businessman. A charming, small island off Scotland. identities as 'merely' wives Republican family. When Charlie unconventional story unfolds as F 2002 280pp B1669 and mothers are portrayed becomes President of the United Bel Canto explores the themes in society. We also discussed States, Alice finds herself in of art, politics and love. the changing institution of a position of power, influence marriage in today's world. and privilege. F 2001 318pp B1991 Hartington Books and Wine F 2008 555pp B2044

Breakfast at Tiffany’s Childish Things Emma Truman Capote Robin Jenkins D Jane Austen When Fred’s new neighbour After the death of his A classic comedy about the Holly crawls through his much‑loved wife, 72‑year‑old The Deep Field development of a young woman, window, he is captivated by Gregor McLeod becomes the James Bradley and the disconnect between the glamorous 19‑year‑old. focus of several women in his Anna flees the political situation an individual’s inner life – her The wildly successful Audrey Scottish village and again in in Hong Kong for Sydney, where deepest fears and hopes – and Hepburn movie sanitised the California, where he escapes for she is drawn to Seth, a blind the external world of customs novella’s complex narrative a break. Greed, selfishness and paleontologist, and they begin and manners. Emma's spirit about sexual ambiguity and goings‑on are the stuff of this an affair; she also begins a and vivacity make her one the struggle between the need ironic, light‑hearted, well‑paced search for her missing brother. of Austen's most beloved for stability and the longing comic novel. Bradley’s future evokes a subtle characters. Inimitable prose. for freedom. Contains three F 2001 248pp B1778 air of menace and decay, but F 1816 432pp B1 short stories. finally this is a sensual love story FS 1958 168pp B2018 Cold Mountain about love, touch, time and loss. The English Patient Charles Frazier F 1999 412pp B1743 Michael Ondaatje Everyone enjoyed this book. There is so much more to it SHORTLISTED Dirt Music WINNER than you initially think, with National Book Award Tim Winton Man Booker Prize lots of layers which led to really good discussions! A man, wounded in the Civil War, WINNER In the destruction and confusion Wallington 1 deserts from the army and travels Miles Franklin Literary Award surrounding the end of the home, while a 'lady' learns to be Second World War, a small a woman on the frontier. As they Winton’s West Australian group of people find themselves The Bride Stripped Bare journey towards their destinies, coastland is physically and together in Italy. Recreating both Anonymous Frazier evokes the times and the psychologically perilous for a devastated Italy and a desert southern Appalachians setting the people who live by it, but world far away, Ondaatje fuses A novel about the psychological with great immediacy in this its beauty still compels. Each popular novel, war story, spy and physical aspects of a young beautiful story of love and war. member of the trio at the story’s story and the erotic in a complex woman’s extramarital affair. This FL 1997 357pp B1557 centre is differently damaged and work of wisdom and beauty. candid, fictional memoir raises dangerous. Winton’s narrative questions of trust, betrayal, tension is extraordinary: he draws F 1992 307pp B1370 Crossing to Safety Relationships secrecy, cultural expectation us into their struggles to break with and obsessiveness. It contains Wallace Stegner the past and regain hope and love. An Equal Music sexually explicit material and may When Larry and his wife settle F 2001 465pp B1664 Vikram Seth not be suitable for everyone. in to their new home in The narrator’s passionate love F 2003 376pp B1814 Wisconsin in the late 1930s, they begin a friendship with of chamber music is infused the Langs that will echo E by his passion for Julia, who through their lives. Exploring the disappeared from his life when C mysteries of friendship, Stegner NEW he left her in Vienna. Early in the novel, he sees her through the Captain Corelli’s Mandolin traces the bond that develops between the families in this Eligible window of a London bus. What Louis de Bernières eloquent, powerful narrative from Curtis next? A CD in each box provides this Pulitzer Prize-winning author. sound recordings of the music WINNER Sittenfeld referred to in the novel. F 1987 288pp B1522 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Seeking out F 1999 485pp B1735 the ‘classic During WWII, Italian troops We appreciated the skilled romance’ in occupy the Greek island of writing in the story of these modern life, this Cephallonia. Billeted with the local four very different characters, Bridget Jones style adaptation doctor and his daughter, Captain meeting through academic of Pride and Prejudice is fresh, Corelli, musician and comedian, careers and joining in their fun and wholly enjoyable. After tries to stay aloof. But it is no use: lives through both hard times their father’s heart surgery, Liz and happy ones. A good read. the two young people fall in love. and Jane Bennet return home to F 1994 436pp B1472 Brindabella Bookies Cincinnati, where their younger sisters run wild and their mother A Change in the Lighting despairs that they will ever marry. Amy Witting Things change when ER doctor and reality television ‘star’ Chip From its brilliant opening scene, Bingley arrives – but his friend, Witting’s novel takes us into neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy, the feelings and decisions of is unimpressed by the Bennets. a woman whose life changes when her husband leaves her F 2016 528pp B2244 suddenly for a younger woman. An insightful study of a woman in her fifties and her adult children. A must for appreciators of Amy Witting. F 1994 291pp B1401 Enjoyed Emma? Try Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell [B10]

Eucalyptus The Finkler Question The Four Letters of Love The Ground Murray Bail Howard Jacobson Niall Williams Beneath Her Feet In Dublin, the life of 12‑year‑old Salman Rushdie WINNER WINNER Nicholas is upended when Rushdie’s verbal pyrotechnics Miles Franklin Literary Award Man Booker Prize William, his father, drops his conjure up a musical love story A man plants out his property The Finkler Question tells the job in the civil service because between many worlds: India with an example of every known story of Julian Treslove and his God wants him to be a painter. before and after Independence, eucalypt and announces that his friends Sam Finkler and Libor Over on an island in the west, America, the underworld, and daughter will be a marriage prize Sevcik. Sam and Libor are lonely 11‑year‑old Isabel thinks it is her above all the global worlds to the first man who correctly widowers, while Julian wishes fault when her beloved musical of rock’n’roll and late‑20th identifies every tree. Is Ellen to have one of his lovers would expire brother Sean is disabled after a century showbiz. A heady and no say in her own destiny? This is romantically in his arms, and fit. Can the plots of God and love heart‑stirring song of love, loss, a strangely exhilarating love story, wonders what it would be like to override mundane necessities pain and liberation. blending European folktale with be Jewish. This novel touches on and day‑to‑day trials? F1999 575pp B1746 a piquant Australian rendering of anti‑Semitism and Zionism, as F 1997 342pp B1711 landscape and longing. well as obsession, in a complex F 1998 255pp B1594 and insightful way. The Full Catastrophe H F 2010 307pp B2105 Edna Mazya This book elicited the full Aware that his beautiful young Happenstance range of responses from Firehead wife is having an affair, Ilan is Carol Shields active dislike to thorough Venero Armanno compelled to track down her enjoyment! However, all The parallel lives in contemporary The decades from 1975 to 1995 lover. Ilan’s actions become marriages are linked in two agreed that the language increasingly bizarre and in many of the descriptive and Brisbane are the setting in companion novels within the passages was beautiful and this ‘very Sicilian love story’. ‘An irrational, and his state of mind, one cover. Husband and wife the imagery was a real feature eerie story of generations and super‑sensitivity in reading in a twenty‑year marriage each of the novel. love, of police corruption and a moods and appalling mother tell their story of a week apart, Barwite Bookworms city’s changing terrain, and of are brilliantly depicted in a she at a convention where she is searching for that one place in suspenseful, funny psychological recognised as a gifted quiltmaker, the world you can finally say is thriller which begs to be read in he on home‑duties while NEW home.’ Armanno is an Australian one sitting. keeping his academic job going. writer with a unique voice: his F 2005 334pp B1881 Observant and compassionate. Eyrie novel is full of the urgency of 1980; 1982 390pp B1446 desire in sensuous prose. F Tim Winton F 1999 401pp B1754 G Hateship, Friendship, SHORTLISTED The Grass Harp Courtship, Loveship, Miles Franklin Literary Award Flights of Love Marriage Relationships Bernhard Schlink Truman Capote Unlikable and Alice Munro self‑pitying In these seven sophisticated short stories Schlink takes up FINALIST WINNER drunk Tom National Book Award begins to feel the theme of love, different kinds Man Booker International Prize of sadness, devotion and desire, Truman Capote was from the compassion Nine short stories from a misunderstandings, betrayal, Deep South, and this novel is and desire when master of the short story form. midlife crises and the search steeped in its symbolism and he encounters Munro writes about ‘the lives for renewal. cultural associations. Three his neighbour, of girls and women’ in her oddly endearing characters defy Gemma. Their S 2000 309pp B1665 own midwestern rural Canada. small‑town society; its other meeting brings ‘Whole lives come into focus levels of meaning will keep you back memories of the past, Five Bells suddenly through single events talking for hours. forcing Tom to face a physical Gail Jones or sudden memories which threat in his present which is F 1952 192pp B155 bring the past bubbling to the far more dangerous than the surface ... here are people who demons in his head. SHORTLISTED Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards The Great Fire reinvent themselves, seize life by F 2013 424pp B2210 Shirley Hazzard the throat.’ James and Ellie were teenage 2001 323pp lovers and are haunted by the WINNER S B1676 intimacy they shared; Catherine Miles Franklin Literary Award F fled the UK, grieving her older Heat and Dust The Feel of Steel brother; Pei Xing lost her parents Set largely in Japan in the Ruth Prawer Jhabvala during the Cultural Revolution aftermath of Hiroshima, the A young Englishwoman sets out Helen Garner and survived years in a love story at its centre unfolds to discover the full story of the This nonfiction collection re‑education camp. Through their delicately and across continents. scandal of her great‑aunt in the ranges from moods of loss and eyes we marvel at the Sydney Peter Craven called this ‘a India of the last days of the Raj. desolation to hilarity and awe. A Harbour’s spectacular clash of riveting, slow intoxication of a In doing so, she sets that India brief diary of heartbreak following rugged natural beauty and iconic novel which has a deliberateness against the 1970s republic, and a marriage break‑up, a journey architecture, but as forewarned and a density of verbal beauty evokes a country of heat, dust to Antarctica, fencing lessons, by Slessor’s poem ‘Five Bells’, its of which most literary fiction has and passion. water harbours death. lost even the memory’. reading the Bible: these short FL 1975 181pp B1168 pieces add up to a book with the F 2011 216pp B2112 F 2003 278pp B1831 texture of memoir. N 2001 223pp B1659

Heat Wave How to Be Good Instances of the Journey from Venice Penelope Lively Nick Hornby Number 3 Ruth Cracknell In her country house in England, Tired of her irascible husband Salley Vickers In 1998, after 41 years of marriage, the love and jealousy of Pauline’s David, Katie Carr embarks on ‘After Peter Hansome died, people the incomparable Ruth Cracknell early marriage resonates in her an affair. Meanwhile David falls were surprised that his widow planned a well‑earned holiday in daughter’s experience. While an under the spell of a faith healer seemed to be spending so much Venice with her beloved husband. unusually hot season takes its and disrupts everyone’s lives time with his mistress.’ This novel An unexpected stroke landed course, the family story moves with his devotion to the general explores the power of triangles: him in intensive care. This is a to its startling climax in Lively’s good. A dissection of modern a man, his wife and his mistress, memoir of their love as they face lucid, witty prose. morals, family life and a heartfelt the three people he leaves behind the outcome, and further evidence F 1996 215pp B1534 diagnosis of divorce. – and more universal instances of of the indomitable spirit of this Book Groups wonderful Australian woman. F 2001Fav our244ppite B1643 the number three. There was a very mixed F 2001 307pp B1686 B 2000 271pp B1764 attitude to this book in our group. This is a languid and I Iris very descriptive book, and John Bayley L the author set the scene well BOOK GROUPS Oxford critic John Bayley first but it was slow to get into. FAVOURITE Lady Susan, The It certainly caused a lively caught sight of Iris Murdoch discussion. (philosopher and writer) in 1954 Watsons and Sanditon Warrandyte 5 I Capture the Castle and fell instantly in love. During Jane Austen Dodie Smith the last four years of their long Lady Susan is an epistolary When a new American ‘squire’ marriage, Murdoch’s formidable novel that was completed but Honour and Other moves into the great house intellect and imagination were not published during Austen’s People’s Children in her village, Cassandra and consumed by the ‘insidious fog’ lifetime. The Watsons is an Helen Garner her wildly eccentric family of Alzheimer’s disease. Bayley unfinished fragment with a become embroiled in plots and writes in a moving, dignified way spirited heroine who finds her The first story,Honour , deals of the woman who was his wife, marriage prospects restricted with the emotional subtleties plans that test tempers and hearts. Cassandra observes and their life together, in earlier by poverty and pride. The of the interactions among a days and at the time of writing. incomplete novel Sanditon, man, his wife, his prospective the goings‑on in her journal – a modern Jane Austen, if not quite B 1998 294pp B1736 written in the last few months of second wife and the astute child, Austen’s life, is set in a seaside as sharp. Recently republished Relationships whose affections and loyalties resort and contemplates a hang in uneasy balance. The and a favourite with readers for The Ivory Swing many years. changing society. This volume second story, Other People’s Janette Turner Hospital includes an introduction by Children, explores the end of a F 1949 352pp B1802 A Canadian couple and their Margaret Drabble who examines close relationship between two two children move to a region these three pieces within the women, and the break up of of southern India, where Indian context of Austen’s work and life. their collective household. The Idea of Perfection Kate Grenville expectations, especially about F 2003 224pp B1046 F 1980 156pp B572 caste and women’s roles, confound the visiting family. WINNER Hospital’s first novel draws on Last Orders Hotel du Lac Orange Prize Anita Brookner her time in India, and presents Graham Swift Two Sydney people turn up on a disturbing meditation on the The novel concentrates on a work projects in a struggling clash of cultures and the rebellion group of men whose friendships WINNER little town in outback New South Man Booker Prize and feminine rage in each. and lives revolve around work, Wales. The engineer has been F 1982 252pp B1449 family, racetrack and pub. The Sophisticated and with a sent to replace the old ‘bent’ narrative is initially complex, perceptive eye for the world of timber bridge with a concrete because nine different voices appearances and for human one, but some of the locals have carry it. But this gives a wonderful foibles and needs, this novel their own thoughts on this. A J mix of the lyric and the realistic as unveils the self‑containment, novel with Grenville’s incisiveness The Jane Austen four men carry out Jack’s strange loneliness, encounters and and comic flair. Book Club last request – that his ashes be longings of a writer of romantic F 1999 401pp B1733 scattered into the sea. fiction in sanctuary in Europe Karen Joy Fowler F 1996 295pp B1538 after an indiscretion. The Insatiable Desire Five women and a man form F 1985 184pp B1325 of Injured Love a book group to discuss their Love, Again favourite Jane Austen novels. Each Doris Lessing Sally Morrison chapter focuses on a different Renata steps off a mountain into Austen book, interpreted through What happens when someone thin air and somehow survives. the life experience of the member falls in love? Is it different for Imprisoned in plaster on her hosting the month’s meeting. This the young and the old? Is hospital bed, she contends with is an entertaining character‑driven it a madness, a blessing, a the emotional fallout from a recent comedy of manners. No prior rationalisation of lust? Lessing’s affair and with family members knowledge of Austen’s work leisurely, discursive novel mostly intent on reforming is required but her fans will be interweaves the 19th century her. This novel springs from a especially thrilled to observe the with the 20th to connect us with real event in 1973 when Sally lives of the members unfold under the pains, delights and puzzles Morrison fell from a mountain in the guiding eye of a much adored of love, particularly that of an Victoria’s Cathedral Ranges. 19th century novelist. older woman for a younger man. F 2002 235pp B1786 F 2004 279pp B1884 F L 1995 352pp B1506

Love in the Time Mansfield Park Monkey Grip of Cholera Jane Austen Helen Garner O Gabriel García Márquez This heroine lacks the obvious A punchy novel set mainly in Of Love and Shadows The consummation of Florentino temperamental, physical and Carlton. It discusses the many Ariza’s passionate love for material advantages of Elizabeth facets of addiction – Nora’s Isabel Allende Fermina Daza is delayed for fifty Bennet or Emma Woodhouse. addiction to romantic love and Journalist Irene has enjoyed years by her highly satisfactory As Fanny Price struggles to Javo’s addiction to heroin, a privileged upbringing and is marriage to Dr Juvenal Urbino. make her way among luckier, and examines the relationship engaged to an army captain Magical yet realistic – this more extroverted and less between Nora and Javo. when she is partnered with astonishing work is crowded scrupulous people, Austen’s A must-read for any Helen photographer Francisco. They with life and love stories of the writing combines metaphoric Garner fan. soon become an inseparable Caribbean country where it is subtlety and comic delight. F 1977 244pp B890 investigative team, and when set. Smallish print. F 1814 462pp B576 they discover an unspeakable F 1985 348pp B1247 Moral Hazard crime perpetrated under the Mateship with Birds Kate Jennings chilling political regime of Love like Water their country, they must risk Carrie Tiffany everything to reveal the truth Meme McDonald SHORTLISTED Miles Franklin Literary Award – and to admit the truth about After the death of her fiancé WINNER their passion for each other. A in Queensland, Cathy spends Stella Prize Cath’s much loved, older husband magical, captivating read. time in Alice Springs with her This is a pitch‑perfect depiction begins to succumb to Alzheimer’s. F 1987 298pp B1349 childhood friend, Margie, hoping of the freedoms and strictures To earn the money needed to work out what to do with her of country‑town life in the for his care, Cath finds work Olive Kitteridge life. Cathy’s affair with Aboriginal 1950s Australian countryside. on Wall Street as an executive Jay reveals the underside of Lonely neighbours Harry and speechwriter and commutes Elizabeth Strout Alice Springs and the latent Betty lust after each other, and between two dementias – one of racism that simmers beneath complicating matters, Harry is men, power and greed, the other WINNER the surface of Australian society. also a father figure to Betty’s son; of the crumbling away of the love Pulitzer Prize A light and enjoyable read that but it all goes wrong when he of her life. A mordant, harrowing, This series of stories is boldly confronts difficult issues of tries to teach him about love and unsentimental novel. connected by the character place, race and identity. lust. Contains sexual references. F 2002 175pp B1672 of teacher Olive Kitteridge in a F 2007 349pp B1951 2012 211pp B2159 small coastal town in Maine, and F The Mothers’ Group combines "the sustained, messy Fiona Higgins investigation of the novel with This book had a variety of the flashing insight of the short M responses and created a Following six very different story... It illuminates both what lively discussion. Members women in a mothers’ group people understand about others Madame Bovary delighted in the descriptions through the first years of their

Relationships and what they understand about Gustave Flaubert of the family life of babies’ lives, this novel explores kookaburras and found the themselves"– The New York One of the great classics of motherhood and themes such Times. Small print. descriptions of country life as marriage, new parenting, world literature, this novel is engaging and believable. 2008 270pp B2060 about a young woman stultified and dealing with loss. One F S Milton 1 by marriage and motherhood in day, a shocking event changes a confined society. Its portrait everything, testing the women’s On Chesil Beach of Madame Bovary and the The Mint Lawn bonds and revealing secrets that Ian McEwan threaten to shatter their lives. bourgeois life of country town Gillian Mears Book Groups It’s 1962. Newlyweds Edward and France in the 19th century is A 25‑year‑old woman’s struggles F 2012Fav our312ppite B2149 Florence arrive at a hotel on the vivid and compelling reading. with an unsatisfying marriage, Dorset coast. They believe their F 1856 361pp B107 childhood and her mother’s marriage will bring them happiness death are conveyed in sensual, N but each faces their wedding night Major Pettigrew’s obsessively physical prose. A with unspoken fears. A brilliant strong sense of a small New South portrait of how a word not spoken Last Stand BOOK GROUPS can shape an entire life. Contains Helen Simonson Wales river town. Unpleasant FAVOURITE material that may offend. sexual content. Major Ernest Pettigrew, a F 2007 166pp B1954 widower, is grieving for his brother, F 1991 298pp B1332 Northanger Abbey Jane Austen when he answers the door to The Mistake Mrs Ali, a widow. They find they A high‑spirited, enjoyable share a love of literature, and Wendy James satire on romance mysteries their friendship soon becomes A decision to adopt out a baby and gothic tales of horror; one the subject of slanderous town illegally comes back to haunt Jodie of Austen’s earliest and most gossip. Set in a rural English Garrow twenty‑five years later. literary works that includes a village, Major Pettigrew’s Last The ensuing investigation puts spirited defence of novels. Stand is told with insight, wit, and pressure on the life and family she F 1818 252pp B1199 dignity and is an unconventional, has since built as Jodie becomes romantic comedy of manners that entangled in a media witch hunt. offers much to discuss. Wendy James explores family F 2010 388pp B2077 dynamics, motherhood, and the powerful role of the media today. Enjoyed Shadow Lines? Try That Deadman F 2012 278pp B2148 Dance by Kim Scott [B2118]

NEW Private Life The Rosie Project P Jane Smiley Graeme Simsion Paula The Poet’s Margaret Mayfield is Don Tillman, professor of Isabel Allende Wife twenty‑seven when she marries genetics, leads a very ordered ‘In ... 1991 my daughter, Paula, Mandy Sayer Captain Andrew Jackson life. He has launched ‘The Wife fell gravely ill. These pages were Jefferson Early. Despite her Project’ in a bid to find a suitable written during the interminable Sayer chronicles lonely marriage she stands by mate, but things go awry when hours spent ... beside her bed.’ her turbulent him through grief and tragedy, impulsive barmaid Rosie Jarman The novelist‑mother embarks marriage to but is forced to examine enters his life and he finds on the most magical, real and poet Yusef their lives together as things himself agreeing to help find passionate of all her stories, Komunyakaa in this unflinching take a darker turn when her father. This feel‑good comic containing the family legends, and intelligent memoir. She was WWII approaches. novel celebrates difference, Chile’s dramatic history, and the 22 and he nearly 40 when they F 2010 318pp B2099 tolerance and the transformative poignant progress of Paula’s met; she a busker, and he an power of the unexpected. illness. Perhaps more Isabel’s out‑of‑work professor – yet each Prodigal Summer F 2013 324pp B2182 than Paula’s saga. found a kindred spirit in the other. The Poet’s Wife Barbara Kingsolver B 1994 330pp B1493 examines their troubled Over one humid summer in relationship, and follows Sayer’s southern Appalchia, as the S Perfect Skin development as a writer. urge to procreate overtakes the Nick Earls countryside, three characters Sense and Sensibility F 2014 417pp B2207 Jane Austen A single father juggles his discover their connections to one another and to the flora day job as a consulting Everyone really enjoyed Austen portrays sisters Elinor and dermatologist with the needs this intriguing, gripping and fauna with which they share Marianne, each with contrasting of his six‑month‑old daughter memoir. Some thought it a place. A lavish and sexually temperaments and inclinations. Lily. Brisbane writer Nick Earls lacked emotion given the exuberant read. In their story, she explores brings us a very now novel with gut-wrenching subject F 2000 447pp B1690 distinctions between wisdom a lot about bad eighties fashion matter whilst others and feeling, reserve and secrecy, and music, email etiquette, thought it matched the spontaneity and steadiness. and dating thirty‑somethings. writer’s personality – full of R F 1811 368pp B1085 Full of insight, perceptive self-doubt, and therefore social comment and Earls’ subdued. The Reader The Sense of an Ending Relationships Caulfield 3 comedic instinct. Bernhard Schlink Julian Barnes F 2000 354pp B1688 A 15‑year‑old German student Portrait of a Marriage becomes involved with a WINNER Persuasion Man Booker Prize Nigel Nicolson 36‑year‑old woman. Long after Jane Austen she has disappeared from his life, Tony Webster has lived an Harold Nicolson and Vita How far should one yield to Michael has cause to reassess ordinary, relatively unexamined Sackville‑West were married persuasion from older, wiser, the Hanna he knew. This haunting life. Then, in retirement, an for 49 years. During this time loving people? When is advice tale raises profound questions unexpected bequest forces him each had affairs with others an interference? In Jane Austen’s about action, choice, judgement to revisit memories of his school of the same sex, notably Vita last completed work her and Germany’s recent past. Good friends and university days that and Virgina Woolf, yet they characteristic incisiveness gains clear print. he had thought immutable. This remained inseparably united. an autumnal tone. is a small novel that skilfully Written by their son, much of F 1995 216pp B1562 1818 264pp B596 tackles big themes such as F the book is based on work memory, ageing, love, truth, obviously intended to be his and regret. The Philosopher’s Doll mother’s autobiography. 2011 150pp B2138 Amanda Lohrey B 1973 237pp B1073 The Rosie F What happens when one Effect Pride and Prejudice Graeme Simsion Shadow Lines partner wants a child and the Stephen Kinnane other doesn’t? In a culture of Jane Austen Don is ‘not fond affluence, what do we need to Englishman Edward Smith Amusing and astringent. This of surprises, be happy, and how much control emigrated to Australia and met brilliant novel has become especially if they do we have over our lives? Jessie Argyle, who was born Austen’s best‑loved work. The disrupt plans This is an accomplished novel in the remote East Kimberley delightfully spirited Elizabeth already in place', so he is dazed exploring contemporary life and and taken from her Aboriginal Bennet must contend with by Rosie’s revelation of his how to 'have it all’. impending fatherhood. Simsion’s family at the age of five. In a the antics of her inappropriate deeply racially divided society, F 2004 306pp B1822 younger sisters, her hapless humour shines throughout this sequel to The Rosie Project as Jessie and Edward fell in love parents, and the suitors that and married. Despite official Plain Jane begin approaching herself and Don’s fears see him return to old ways, risking his newfound surveillance and harassment, Joan Barfoot her older sister, Jane. She must their Perth home became a also learn to overcome her own happiness as he comes to terms A plain 28 year‑old woman, centre for Aboriginal cultural and faults as she deals with those of with the unpredictability of life. living alone, working in a social life. her romantic interests. F 2014 368pp B2217 library, impulsively answers B 2003 414pp B1842 an advertisement to become F 1813 327pp B210 the penpal of a prisoner - and changes her life. Easy to read, wry and surprisingly tense. F 1992 243pp B1421 C Crime F Fiction B Biography S Short Stories N Nonfiction L Large Print 26

Shallows A Suitable Boy Thinks . . . To the Wedding Tim Winton Vikram Seth David Lodge John Berger A small coastal town in Western A young woman searches for Another delightful comedy of In an extraordinary series of Australia clings to one of its few a husband: shoemaker, poet manners about academia, telling vignettes a blind man surviving industries, whaling. or student? The saga moves adultery and human tells the story of the wedding The township witnesses out from the imagined city of consciousness. Ralph is an between young Gino and his struggle between whalers and Brahmpur into a spacious, international academic star in the bride. A mother and father, conservationists; the community deeply informative novel about highly trendy field of language estranged for years, travel across divides; a marriage founders. India after Gandhi’s death. Love and thought research. Novelist Europe for the celebrations. F 1984 235pp B1213 stories, moments of intimacy, Helen arrives at the university As the book moves from one huge populous events - take to teach, and to recover from character’s perspective to A Stranger Here time to savour this prodigious the unexpected death of her another, events and characters husband. Despite their differences move towards the convergence Gillian Bouras novel. Two‑month book. F 1993 1349pp B1498 they begin a secret affair – with of the wedding – a haunting Bouras uses three different complicated consequences. dance of love and death. voices, each commenting on Sweet Old World F 2001 342pp B1678 F 1995 202pp B1546 a recent crisis which concerns them all: Irene, Australian mother Deborah Robertson Three Dog Night Too Much Happiness of three sons and wife of a Greek David has always dreamed husband, has suddenly departed of becoming a father. When Peter Goldsworthy Alice Munro from her marriage and the village troubled teen Esther tumbles Goldsworthy’s intriguing novel in Greece. As in her non‑fiction, into his life, David’s initial explores human extremes WINNER here Bouras confronts the reluctance to become involved in a disturbing narrative of Man Booker International Prize painful realities of marriage, changes as he finds himself obsessive love, mortality and Extraordinary events touch motherhood, being drawn to two close to the happiness for which self‑deception. His deft and everyday lives within this brilliant cultures and belonging fully to he longs. This moving novel evocative prose carries the collection of short fiction from neither. Print well‑spaced. examines the oft‑ignored male intensity of the book’s dark celebrated Canadian writer and F 1996 247pp B1507 side of yearning for parenthood, journey, a desert trip where Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro. and the importance of hope. the Australian landscape and “Written with veteran assurance, The Submerged Cathedral 2012 224pp B2150 Aboriginal rituals amplify the brimming with intensely F ambiguities and complexities Charlotte Wood Book Groups believable characters and rich of hisFa charactersvourite and social detail, these dispatches SHORTLISTED T preoccupations. Challenging from the most unsparing reaches Miles Franklin Literary Award and compelling reading. of Munro’s imagination confirm Theft: A Love Story F 2003 342pp B1850 her acclaimed place on the Taking her title from composer highest ground of contemporary Claude Debussy’s La Cathédrale Peter Carey fiction” – Sunday Times. Engloutie, Wood has created a BOOK GROUPS Relationships haunting but beautiful story about SHORTLISTED FAVOURITE FS 2009 303pp B2108 the consuming love between Miles Franklin Literary Award Jocelyn, an editor and Martin, a The Toucher Artist Michael “Butcher Bones” The Time Traveler’s Wife doctor. When their relationship Boone, divorced and bankrupt, Audrey Niffenegger Dorothy Hewett is disrupted by a family tragedy, acts as caretaker for his patron’s Controversial in its graphic grief forces them to separate and Clare and Henry, met when Book Groups remote estate and for his depiction of the sexuality of embark on personal journeys of Clare was six and Henry was Favourite ‘damaged 220lb brother’. When a woman in her sixties in a discovery. Wood’s prose is rich in thirty‑six and were married when he meets American beauty relationship with a much younger imagery and metaphor. Clare was twenty‑two and Henry Marlene, a chain of unpredictable thirty. Henry suffers from a rare man. A powerful and plangent F 2004 302pp B1846 events unfolds. From rural condition where his genetic delineation of human neediness Australia to New York via Sydney clock periodically resets and he and creativity, set in a haunting BOOK GROUPS and Tokyo, Theft is a darkly funny, finds himself pulled into his past West Australian seascape. FAVOURITE thought provoking story of love, or future. A moving love story. F 1993 300pp B1430 responsibility and redemption. F 2004 518pp B2002 The Sugar Mother F 2006 269pp B1981 The Transit of Venus Elizabeth Jolley Shirley Hazzard Edwin Page, gentle, prim, is on his own while his wife is overseas FINALIST for a year. But Leila and her National Book Award mother, the new tenants next Explores the power of love, and door, somehow move in on him, its passing, through the lives of and Edwin becomes aware of two young Australian sisters who how he longs for the child he go to London in the care of a never had. Leila, it seems, is quite difficult relative. An incisive study happy to become a sugar – no, of relationships. Demanding, surrogate – mother. but rewarding. F 1988 210pp B1339 F 1980 337pp B162

What I Loved Wrack V W Siri Hustvedt James Bradley The New York art scene is the A Visit from the Waiting context for this powerful novel SHORTLISTED Miles Franklin Literary Award Goon Squad Ha Jin about two families, two sons and Jennifer Egan Lin Kong is an army doctor two marriages, brought together This intelligent and provocative during the China's Cultural by the friendship between the first novel sets up a compelling WINNER Revolution. He falls in love with two men, an art critic and an web of historical detection, Pulitzer Prize a modern, educated woman, experimental artist. With a academic and amorous rivalry, change of gear, the story shifts and passions of love and A Visit from the Goon Squad however Lin Kong is trapped from family and art into an urban war. Its focus is the wrecked delves into the pasts of former in an arranged marriage to thriller, complete with violence, Portuguese Mahogany Ship punk rocker and ageing record a work‑worn loyal wife in his duplicity, murder and erotica. whose discovery would rewrite producer Bennie and his assistant village, and until she agrees Hustvedt’s novel brims with Australia’s European history. Sasha – who has troubles of to divorce him, nothing will ideas and emotion. Print well spaced. her own. It is witty, insightful, be possible. Ha Jin’s novel of funny, and touching. “Features love and enforced obedience F 2003 370pp B1851 F 1997 341pp B1548 characters about whom you come provides fascinating insights to care deeply as you watch them into the chasm between The Winter Vault An incredibly complex doing things they shouldn’t, acting the new industrial China Anne Michaels novel with many streams gloriously, infuriatingly human.” – and the ways of its ancient of consciousness! Deeply Chicago Tribune (US). agricultural settlements. NOMINATED involved relationships F 1999 308pp B1897 Giller Prize (Canada) searching over fifty years and F 2010 340pp B2129 other countries, all involved Water Under the Bridge From the award‑winning author in other searches. So much The Volcano Lover of Fugitive Pieces comes a more than just the story of Susan Sontag Sumner Locke Elliott poetic love story that juxtaposes an archaeological dig and a search for the remains Subtitled ‘A Romance’, the A novel of life in Sydney during historical events with moments and after the Depression. in individual lives. In 1964, newly of a 16th century ship on novel focuses on the famous the coast of New South triangle of Sir William Hamilton, Murder, comedy and spoiled married couple Avery and Jean dreams are the stuff of this settle into a houseboat on the Wales. Beautifully written his wife Emma, and her lover – an author to search out! Nelson. Their personalities and exceptional novel. Nile, but a tragic event occurs which will influence their lives Mullumbimby Huon Books destinies are lived out near the F 1977 367pp B1132 Relationships actual volcano of Vesuvius, and relationship. and metaphorical volcanoes We Are All Made of Glue F 2009 341pp B2053 including the French Revolution Marina Lewycka Wuthering Heights and Napoleonic Wars. Sensual, The Women in Black Emily Brontë intelligent, demanding. After a rocky start, Georgie befriends her eccentric old Madeleine St John The poetic fierceness of Brontë’s F 1993 419pp B1431 neighbour Mrs Shapiro. When In 1950s Sydney, several women vision gives this book a rare Mrs Shapiro is admitted to are working at the famous F. elemental power. Adopted hospital, Georgie is named next G. Goode’s Department Store. by Catherine Linton's father, of kin. Sorting out Mrs Shapiro’s Their hopes, fears, dreams and wildling Heathcliff is bullied semi‑derelict mansion isn’t easy. romances unfold against the by Catherine's brother - and It is home to seven cats, the backdrop of a confined and when he returns to the grand handyman is not what he seems, changing society and as the house of Wuthering Heights as two estate agents are trying to New Year begins, the characters a grown and powerful man, the trick Mrs Shapiro into selling her find themselves at the beginning consequences of his vengeance house and the social worker is of a new chapter in their lives. will be far-reaching. At the heart of the complex drama of three determined to commit her to a 1993 228pp B2041 nursing home. Georgie also finds F generations of the Earnshaws herself unravelling a mystery that and the Lintons is the passionate takes her to wartime Europe and love of Catherine and Heathcliff. the Middle East. F 1847 376pp B2 F 2009 432pp B2048

Enjoyed Wuthering Heights? Try The Women's Pages by Debra Adelaide [B2241]

C Crime F Fiction B Biography S Short Stories N Nonfiction L Large Print 28 Journeys These books celebrate the ways in which we can step out and engage with the world, from travel writing to intensely personal and spritual experiences.

Brick Lane A Change of Skies A B Monica Ali Yasmine Gooneratne A witty, multi‑faceted The Accursed Mountains Balanda SHORTLISTED exploration of differences Robert Carver Mary Ellen Jordan Man Booker Prize and misunderstanding between Robert Carver knows he was ‘Balanda’ is the word used Life for Bangladeshi village girl cultures, and the impact of lucky to leave Albania alive. He by Aboriginal people in the Nazreen is duty and obedience moving between cultures. foiled an attempt on his life, Northern Territory to describe until her father arranges her Neither Australia nor Sri Lanka travelled the worst roads he non‑Aboriginal people. Fuelled marriage to Chanu of Tower will look quite the same to you has seen and fought off cholera by a desire to make a meaningful Hamlets, London. Nazreen after this. and dysentery. He describes contribution to the lives of struggles to reconcile herself F 1991 329pp B1319 wonderful scenery and remote indigenous Australians, Jordan both to fate and to choice as she settlements where a centuries spent a year working at a tiny faces issues surrounding family, City of Djinns old way of life is still unchanged. arts centre in Arnhem Land. identity, Islam and community. The transition from Melbourne William Dalrymple N 1998 349pp B1649 to Maningrida was extreme and F 2003 492pp B1813 Subtitled ‘A Year in Delhi’, the being a ‘Balanda’ proved more book presents encounters with The Adventures of complex than Jordan bargained Most enjoyed the book very a range of individuals – Muslims, Huckleberry Finn for. As her disillusionment much. The characters were Sikhs, Anglo‑Indians, Punjabis, Mark Twain grows, her opinions on beautifully written and the Sufi mystics, calligraphers, race, culture, language, art scenes were well portrayed. eunuchs, pigeon flyers – whose This great American novel and political correctness Many found it a bit long, but stories reflect the eventful is a comic and searching generally it was a very well are constantly challenged. history of this ancient city. Lively, examination of American received book. An honest, perceptive and diverting and informative: a real society in the mid‑19th engaging contribution to the Toorak Rockley Readers delight. Print smallish but clear. century. The depiction of life relationship between black and on the Mississippi raises larger N 1993 350pp B1405 white Australians. Brooklyn questions of individuality, conformity and escape. B 2005 224pp B1868 Colm Tóibín Conditions of Faith 1884 370pp B105 Eilis Lacey leaves her small Alex Miller F town in south‑east Ireland in the Behind the Wall A young Australian decides 1950s, and sets off for a new Colin Thubron to marry a Scottish Frenchman Almost French life in Brooklyn. When tragedy and folows him to 1920s Paris, Sarah Turnbull A finely written look at China. strikes, she is faced with a The big picture is made up of where he is working on a A frank and engaging travel difficult decision between love in many tiny portraits of people design tender for the Sydney memoir from this Australian her new land and the promises who are simultaneously common Harbour Bridge. Inevitably ex‑pat about her new life to her family back home. and extraordinary. Thubron the realities of her daily life as in Paris with a ‘very French parades before us the little F 2009 256pp B2059 wife, pregnant woman and Frenchman’. An honest, often lives of babies, people who mother clash with her desire amusing account of the highs, have nothing, the greedy and We all enjoyed this book; for liberty and the need to use lows and culture clashes the powerful, all as individuals. it was straightforward and her mind. A splendid account associated with living in a foreign Informative and rewarding. well written. We like the of the excitement and cruel country. Read this book for an 1987 302pp B1356 style and found it made for sacrifices entailed in creative and insider’s account of life in Paris N a very enjoyable discussion. intellectual commitment. – food, fashion, social rituals, Our predictions for Eilis were bloody‑minded bureaucrats and Bloodletting & very varied! F 2000 406pp B1634 pampered pooches. Miraculous Cures Sunraysia U3A 2002 309pp B1776 Vincent Lam Best discussion notes we B have had for years! We had mixed feelings about the An Authentic Life WINNER C characterisation, and did Caroline Jones Giller Prize (Canada) feel that it reflected the Caroline Jones sees her book Dr Vincent Lam draws on his life Catfish & Mandala male author's perspective. as an invitation to the reader ‘to experience as he follows a group Andrew X. Pham The descriptions were well written. reflect on your own story, on of young doctors from medical Pham’s family escaped Vietnam Arawang 1 your own experience, on the school to emergency rooms. in 1977. Twenty years later, Pham “Each of these interconnected way you are living your life – to abandons his engineering career discover the revelation it has stories reveal nuances of different and makes an epic year‑long to offer you’. She reveals a few pressures – the immense sense of bicycle journey on a shoestring central moments in her own life responsibility, sleep disturbances, budget through New Mexico, story as she explores the stories psychological problems and the USA, Japan and finally Vietnam. she elicited in her ABC Radio failures of imperfection”– Toronto Part travelogue, part memoir, National program ‘The Search Star (Canada). this is a confronting book about for Meaning’. FS 2005 350pp B2024 cultural identity, framed within an B 1998 312pp B1707 exciting adventure story. B 1999 342pp B1874

NEW Flight Behaviour BOOK GROUPS D Barbara Kingsolver FAVOURITE A Death in Brazil The End of Seeing SHORTLISTED French Lessons Peter Robb Christy Collins Orange Prize Alice Kaplan WINNER Farm wife Dellarobia sees her Brought up in a Minneapolis WINNER world ignited in a literal blaze family, Kaplan spent her fifteenth The Age Nonfiction Book of the Year Seizure Viva La Novella Prize of colour when rare Monarch year at a French‑speaking Swiss Robb paints a picture of South Ana is still butterflies make their home in school. Exploring French became America’s largest and most recovering from the forests on her family’s land. a passion, and her account of mysterious country, blending the death of her Class differences and societal this is entrancing to language personal journey with a portrait daughter when values deepen as science lovers. Her later research into of a sensual, often violent her husband clashes with religion around this French fascist writing linked to society with extremes of poverty goes missing on small‑town American family, and memories of her father, a lawyer and wealth; a background of a photojournalistic the result is a thought‑provoking at the Nuremberg trials. Direct, Portuguese and centuries of assignment reflection of humanity against a candid and mind‑stretching. slavery, workers’ strikes and overseas. Nick’s backdrop of a world in flux. B 1994 221pp B1443 last pictures were taken all across organised crime – all flavoured F 2012 436pp B2190 with lime and coconut juice. Europe, following a theme of refugees and forgotten people. From Rice to Riches N 2003 372pp B1827 Uncovering the trail left by his Floundering Jane Hutcheon photographs, Ana sets out to Romy Ash Born in Hong Kong and Diary of a Welsh find Nick – or, at least, the truth part Chinese herself, ABC Swagman, 1869–1894 of what happened. Beautiful SHORTLISTED correspondent Jane Hutcheon William Evans and haunting. Miles Franklin Literary Award takes the reader on a journey Joseph Jenkins worked on farms F 2015 240pp B2233 Abandoned by their unreliable into her family’s past as well in the Ballarat and Castlemaine mother, Tom and Jordy live with as across the new China. area and kept diaries for 25 The English their grandmother until their With refreshing directness she recounts her round as a foreign years. These diaries lay in an attic Jeremy Paxman mother’s sudden reappearance. (in Wales) for 70 years before During a haphazard road trip, journalist – meeting characters they were found and interpreted The English are an ineradicable she leaves them again, this from all levels of society, outwitting as a valuable historical document part of Australian history. This time on Australia’s west coast. the Security Police and writing which conveys the personality of witty, penetrating book analyses Desperate, the boys turn to an self‑confessions when found out, the diarist. English society, offering historical old man for help – but what and sampling the country’s varied and sociological explanations for and delicious cuisine. B 1975 216pp B1089 danger does he pose? the way the English are. Paxman’s F 2012 202pp B2162 N 2003 371pp B1819 Down Under scholarship and intellectual rigour forces a careful consideration. Footsteps Bill Bryson N 1998 309pp B1639 Of course, we all know that Richard Holmes G Australia is a huge, mainly empty These ‘footsteps of a romantic Gilgamesh country of aggressive climatic biographer’ appeal to lovers extremes and teeming with F of biography, travel and Joan London poisonous creatures. Even so, A Fez of the Heart history, telescoping the joys of give yourself the pleasure of several books. Walk with R. L. SHORTLISTED Journeys Miles Franklin Literary Award accompanying American‑born Jeremy Seal Stevenson through France; join Anglophile Bryson as he sights a The fez has played a central role in in the French Revolution with range of the country’s must‑see Turkey’s conflicting desires to be Wordsworth and Wollstonecraft; WINNER destinations and draws such both Eastern and Western, both visit Shelley’s complicated The Age Book of the Year conclusions for himself. He Muslim and secular. It was banned household in Italy. Hunting A small‑town Australian woman can’t help just liking it here, in 1925 by Kemal Atatürk, and his haunting subject, Holmes journeys to war‑torn Armenia but his account of Oz is still Seal sets out to trace its history struggles towards his own to find the father of her child. sharp‑witted and aware. and demise. An engaging, gentle, mature identity. Her retelling of the ancient N 2000 319pp B1753 often funny travelogue offering real B 1985 288pp B1530 Mesopotamian epic of the insights into Turkey. hero Gilgamesh, his mourning N 1995 291pp B1528 The Fountain of Age for his beloved friend Enkidu Betty Friedan and his eventual homecoming, E The Fig Tree resonates with the journey taken. Friedan covers many of the Eat Pray Love Arnold Zable issues and choices facing F 2001 255pp B1695 Elizabeth Gilbert Including his Polish‑Jewish people as they age. She attacks After a bitter divorce and a parents and his wife’s Greek our society’s fear and denial of This was well received by the turbulent love affair, Gilbert parents, Zable collects stories age, and its belittling stereotypes majority of our group. We about belonging and dislocation. of older women and men. She found it an easy and satisfying realised it was time to pursue read, engaging, enjoyable three things: pleasure, devotion We move from late‑migrant‑era offers facts, anecdotes and Carlton to Ithaca, hearing tales of experience in a discursive and and well-written. London and balance. Her spiritual quest portrays her characters in refugees and wanderers, singers cheerfully resilient account of the unfolds in an engaging and a non-judgmental way and highly enjoyable travel narrative and poets. Hospitality and the third age – not a dead end, but a she excels at describing that takes her to Italy, India and welcoming of strangers are fountain! Smallish print. place, especially the Western Indonesia. recurring motifs in a book which 1993 654pp B1407 Australian countryside. remains relevant today. NL B 2006 348pp B2000 Maleney Group 10 B 2002 222pp B1685 C Crime F Fiction B Biography S Short Stories N Nonfiction L Large Print 30

Holy Cow! In Siberia A God in Ruins Sarah Macdonald Colin Thubron J Kate Atkinson Macdonald starts out as a Thubron journeys by train, river ‘fundamentalist atheist’, but and truck across the vastness Journey to the LONGLISTED her encounters with Hinduism, of Siberia among the people Stone Country Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Islam, Judaism, Jainism, Sufis, most damaged by the collapse Alex Miller Sikhs, Parsees, Christians and of Communism. He ranges from Teddy is the an assortment of yogis, sadhus, Mongolia to the Arctic Circle, WINNER younger brother swamis, nuns and Bollywood stars from the site of the last Czar’s Miles Franklin Literary Award of Ursula in Life leave her with a more complex murder and Rasputin’s village to A Melbourne academic and an After Life, and in agnosticism. A sceptical, lively the graves of ancient Scythians, Aboriginal stockman meet again this companion account of contemporary India. to Baikal, deepest and oldest of and travel together through the novel we follow 2002 298pp B1784 the world’s lakes. high ranges of remote North the life he would N 1999 287pp B1762 Queensland to the places they have had, had he N have known and come from. survived the war The Hungry Tide Miller’s intimate knowledge of which killed him Amitav Ghosh Inside Outside the outback resonates through in Ursula's story. Andrew Riemer his novel, both a cross‑cultural Atkinson writes with sensitivity WINNER The Sydney‑based academic, love story and an exploration and humour of life's highs, Crossword Book Award (India) writer and critic left Budapest of identity, of how and where including a bucolic childhood, Piya, an Indian‑born American is in during 1946 at the age of ten. one belongs, and of our and lows, such as Teddy's search of a rare river dolphin in the In 1990 he returned for a visit, painful histories. experience of war and the small hoping to get some sense of his wandering strands of the Ganges. 2002 364pp disappointments of fatherhood – When she hires an illiterate local family’s past there. A witty, lucid F B1803 and of living. fisherman, to guide her through and memorable account of two F 2015 400pp B2221 the backwaters, sophisticated worlds, also offering Riemer’s Delhi businessman Kanai must act views on issues such as the K as translator. Ghosh skilfully binds importance in a new country of The time shifts give us Teddy's three people together in an exotic language acquisition. The Kingdom by the Sea life in no particular order. Some members did not enjoy place to examine ideas of love, N 1991 218pp B1328 Paul Theroux this, but still rated the book jealousy, pride and trust. An informative, entertaining look highly due to the excellent F 2004 403pp B1883 Interpreter of Maladies at the Old Country – England, writing of one of our favourite Jhumpa Lahiri Wales, Scotland and Ireland. authors. The notes were very Landscapes and towns are helpful in understanding the I WINNER covered but we learn most from ending, which we had much Pulitzer Prize Theroux’s ear for dialogue and discussion over. I Heard the Owl Call for the way people unwittingly Rosanna 6 Wherever each of these nine reveal themselves. My Name short stories is set, from Margaret Craven Bengal to Boston, all in some N 1983 361pp B1354 Despite encroaching social way explore ‘Indianness’ H change, tribal beliefs and ways and the complex mechanics are still important to the Indian of adjustment to new M Heart of Darkness tribe living in a village of British circumstances, relationships, Mahjar Joseph Conrad Columbia. How can their new cultures. In transparently Anglican vicar, young Mark simple writing, devoid of overt Eva Sallis In the Congo during its Brian, find acceptance, serve comment, Lahiri uses voice and colonisation by Belgium, shocks Many books have been them and learn from them? viewpoint in such a way that the and transformations resulted written about the experience Journeys Canada’s rivers, salmon, wild stories linger in the mind. from the clash of cultures. The Book Groups of migrating to Australia from geese and changing seasons are novel follows a newcomer’s Favourite S 1999 198pp B1763 Europe and Great Britain. But central to this simple and moving journey up‑river and inland to these eloquent, linked stories tale. Fair‑sized print. the heart of that experience. Iron & Silk take us into the very different F 1967 133pp B1235 Mark Salzman lives of immigrants from the F 1899 340pp B3 Middle East. Sallis explores exile, From the age of 13, this loss, personal displacement, Highways to a War BOOK GROUPS engaging young American FAVOURITE growth and idiosyncrasy with Christopher Koch was absorbed by all things empathy, comic warmth, and Chinese. His account of two an undercurrent of anger in this WINNER In Search of the Blue Tiger years he spent teaching English timely book that is a joy to read. Miles Franklin Literary Award Robert Power in Changsha in the early 1980s is a series of entrancing S 2003 168pp B1834 ‘Being in battle, like being in Aided by a vivid imagination, anecdotes about his students, love, is one of the fundamental lonely young Oscar escapes his friends and those who teach human experiences.’ Set in the brutal home life through a rich him more about the literature, predominantly male world of war fantasy world. The relationships calligraphy and martial arts he journalism, this novel opens in he forms along the way with loves. Unforgettable vignettes of 1976 with the disappearance widowed librarian Mrs April China and the Chinese way of of a gifted war photographer and twin girls Perch and Carp doing things. will shape their destinies in in Cambodia, and follows the 1986 211pp B1304 highways of his life into the profound and tragic ways. N countries and wars he covered. F 2012 333pp B2160 F 1996 451pp B1504

Mantras & Miss Garnet’s Angel Night Letters The Old Man and the Sea Misdemeanours Salley Vickers Robert Dessaix Ernest Hemingway Vanessa Walker A retired teacher rents an WINNER apartment in Venice, changing SHORTLISTED Former journalist Vanessa Miles Franklin Literary Award Nobel Prize Walker decided to spend a her previously narrow life. Julia year in Macleod Ghanj (home Garnet succumbs to the beauty Diagnosed with a terminal illness, In Hemingway’s clear and of the Dalai Lama) researching of the city and its magnificent art the novel’s protagonist travels direct prose, this story of an a book on Tibetans in exile and responds to the spirituality of to Italy as his exploration of the old man’s fishing trip becomes and furthering her study of the Catholic religion, becoming meaning in life in the proximity theBook vehicle Gr foroups the discovery of Buddhism, but unexpectedly caught up in the lives of both of death moves him from the a new awareness of the dignity fell in love with an ex‑monk and locals and visitors. A gentle, kind, world of doing into a realm of and Fabeautyvour thatite can be found became pregnant three months decorous, funny novel. being. A beautiful, civilised work everywhere. A timeless tale. later. Part travelogue, part F 2000 342pp B1647 of tale‑spinning, travel, and richly F 1952 128pp B205 cross‑cultural love story, this is fanciful speculation. an enjoyable, educational and F 1996 276pp B1542 insightful read. Montebello BOOK GROUPS Robert Drewe FAVOURITE B 2006 293pp B1928 Norwegian by Night Drewe writes about ‘islomania’ Derek B. Miller The Many‑Coloured Land and the ocean, of death and The Old Man Who Eighty-two-year-old ex-marine Read Love Stories Christopher Koch renewal, his childhood and his career as a writer in this Sheldon has reluctantly moved Luis Sepúlveda Koch’s two great‑grandmothers discursive sequel to The to Oslo, where he remains settled in Tasmania in the 1840s: haunted by the ghosts of his Antonio Bolívar lives as a recluse Shark Net. At its core is the deep in the Amazon jungle one a Protestant gentlewoman, author’s journey with a group past. When he witnesses a the other transported as a woman’s murder by a Balkan in Ecuador. When an ocelot of environmentalists to the begins attacking humans in the convict. He explores Tasmanian Montebello islands, site of gang, he rescues her six-year- and Irish connections in a book old son and makes a run from small settlement, he is obliged little‑known British nuclear testing against his will to join a hunting which combines family history, in the 1950s. Lots to discuss! the gang, relying on military training now fifty years old. Both party and confront the creature childhood memoir and his travels 2012 286pp in two rather different Irelands, BN B2183 a chase-through-the-woods and his own past. A tale of in 1956 and in 2000. thriller and an emotionally life, death, atonement and the pleasures of reading. N 2002 246pp B1790 Mr Muo’s Travelling Couch haunting novel about ageing Dai Sijie and regret. F 1989 128pp B1836 The Memory of Running Mr Muo, a 40‑year‑old student F 2012 305pp B2186 Ron McLarty of Freud, returns from long One Thousand years of study in Paris to his Notes from a Small Island Chestnut Trees Smithy, the middle‑aged country of birth as its first Bill Bryson central figure in this American Mira Stout psychoanalyst‑at‑large. China Bill Bryson is an unrepentant novel, is alone and in a bad offers few patients and he is Irish‑American-Korean Anna way. Something prompts him Anglophile who happened to be visits Korea to discover her consumed by a new mission, to born in Iowa. He spent 20 years to resurrect his old bicycle liberate his first love from prison mother’s family, a powerful clan and head off for Los Angeles, in England before deciding to stripped of their lands during where she has been consigned return to the land of his birth. through New York, St. Louis, for political dissent. This comic the Japanese occupation. As and Denver, to find the sister This account of his walking tour the novel unfolds, details of novel follows its naïve hero’s of the English countryside is full who went missing years ago. Korean life are evoked with Journeys adventures and mishaps through of genial fun‑poking at a country His encounters on this cycling the maze of present‑day China. great piquancy, and we come road trip show us an inarticulate, he adores. to appreciate the country’s decent, and honest man. F 2005 264pp B1930 N 1995 352pp B1599 turbulent history in this century. His story and voice carry the 1997 324pp B1717 novel along. F F 2005 405pp B1929 N O We had little knowledge of Korea and so found this book Mermaid Singing; The Namesake The Odyssey very informative. We learned Peel Me a Lotus Jhumpa Lahiri Homer a great deal about Japanese occupation and the horrors of Charmian Clift A story about an Indian boy Odysseus' long voyage home growing up in America (and the Korean War. The themes In 1954, Australian writers from the Trojan War takes provided ample material for afflicted with a pet name in honour him through the terrors of the Charmian Clift and George of a Russian writer), this novel an interesting discussion, Johnston moved with their one‑eyed Cyclops, the seductive and everyone found the depicts a recognised pattern of Sirens, and the wandering young family from London cultural transition: the parents cling book a worthwhile read. to the Greek Islands – long islands, before he finally reaches Montmorency 1 to their Bengali past, while the Ithaca and his faithful Penelope. before the ‘seachange’ books next generation cannot shed the of more affluent writers. Clift This early Greek epic has inspired old ways fast enough. Lahiri writes writers and artists in later ages. records the passage of the with subtlety and her characters seasons and her family’s are beautifully observed. F C8th BC 376pp B335 experiences, writing with perceptiveness, warmth F 2003 291pp B1835 and vivacity. F 1956; 1959 422pp B1791 Enjoyed Montebello? Try Down Under by Bill Bryson [B1753]

Otherland Seven Years in Tibet The Sisters Brothers Maria Tumarkin R Heinrich Harrer Patrick deWitt Maria Tumarkin travels home Tibet, though torn and to rediscover her roots and River Town vandalised, has still not played SHORTLISTED introduce her Australian‑born Peter Hessler out its final act with China. Man Booker Prize daughter to the place where she Peter Hessler spent two years in Harrer’s personal story is high Oregon, 1851: brothers Eli and grew up – but the Russia and Fuling, a remote city in China’s adventure, but he also became Charlie Sisters embark upon Ukraine she returns to is not Sichuan province. This charming a Tibetan official, friend and tutor a journey to San Francisco the same as the one she left in travel memoir is remarkable for to the 11‑year‑old Dalai Lama, to fulfil a contract killing of a 1989. Maria comes to realise Hessler’s frankness, his curiosity and fled with him before the man who is not quite what he she cannot force her daughter and his unceasing desire to advancing Chinese. seems. The expedition offers to feel and think things just understand the people of China. N 1953 288pp B1360 dark adventures and comically because she wants her to. He provides a unique glimpse bizarre encounters in a fun B 2010 313pp B2080 into the Chinese psyche as he Shadow of the Silk Road revival of the western genre considers the profound cultural Colin Thubron with a ‘Coen Brothers’ feel. Our Woman in Kabul differences between China and F 2011 325pp B2142 Irris Makler the USA. Colin Thubron traces the first 2001 402pp great trade route through Freelance journalist Makler B B1890 China, the mountains of Central was one of the first people into Asia, northern Afghanistan, T Afghanistan after the terrorist Iran and Kurdish Turkey. Over attacks of September 11. With S eight months and 7000 miles That Oceanic Feeling a humorous and lively insight Salvation Creek he recounts his experiences Fiona Capp into the life of a journalist in the along this historic route. Rich in Capp explores surfing as an field and the contradictions of Susan Duncan humour, compassion and history. emblem of freedom, journeying the American involvement in Susan Duncan – forty‑something, N 2006 363pp B2004 from the waters of Byron Bay, Afghanistan, Makler writes with high‑profile, successful – seems Hawaii, Cornwall, and Port Phillip a deep sympathy for the Afghan to have it all. But a series of Siddhartha Bay. A unique memoir blending people, particularly the women heartaches and tragedies means Hermann Hesse the power of the sea, physical and children. she must rebuild her life out elation, and personal reflection. Written in Hesse’s ‘Eastern’ N 2003 356pp B1837 of the self‑destruction she’s 2003 288pp B1848 been indulging in. Despite the phase, this is a beautifully written N grief underscoring this memoir, novel about a young son of an Duncan crafts her story with Indian Brahmin. His search for That Old Ace in the Hole P honesty, humour and wit, truth is first through the spirit, Annie Proulx wonderful characterisation and then through the flesh, and finally When naïve young Bob is sent to Postcards through both. Annie Proulx exquisite depictions of place. purchase land for a polluting hog B 2006 404pp B2091 F 1957 167pp B464 farm, he finds a tough, wayward A Vermont farm clan declines farming people intent on keeping after a son flees in terror following Searching for Charmian Silences Long Gone their land despite all setbacks. the violent death of his girlfriend. Anson Cameron The eccentric and tenacious Barely literate, Loyal Blood Suzanne Chick locals and a brilliantly-evoked makes his way across America, At forty‑eight, happily married SHORTLISTED sense of place blend in this sending occasional postcards to and with three grown daughters, serious yet comic tale. his family, unaware that disaster Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Suzanne discovers that her birth 2002 361pp B1849 has overtaken them. Heartbreak, mother was the writer Charmian Belle watches as her town in F hilarity and Proulx’s unique style Clift. This moving book unfolds Western Australia is carted away, combine in this remarkable novel. Things You Get for Free herBook attempts Gr oupsto comprehend her vowing to remain and die in the

Journeys Michael McGirr F 1992 340pp B1495 mother,Fav andour theite turbulent changes land where she long ago dug in her sense of her own past and the ashes of her family. This is a Reader‑friendly, funny and deeply in her identity and direction in life. curiously life-affirming expedition thought‑provoking. Maureen B 1995 365pp B1457 into the Australian heartland, McGirr’s long‑delayed trip to Q which considers spiritual Europe with her priest son Michael Questions of Travel allegiance to the land. provides a framework for exploring BOOK GROUPS life and character, Michael’s FAVOURITE F 1998 358pp B1767 Michelle de Kretser relationship with his father, and the Sing and Don’t Cry world, a bus‑load of fellow‑tourists WINNER Seize the Day and the touristic highlights. Miles Franklin Literary Award Cate Kennedy Marie de Hennezel 2000 296pp B1624 Kennedy describes her years as N Laura is an Australian traveller This moving compilation of a volunteer in Mexico with vivid who becomes a travel guide a psychologist’s diarised accounts of food, family life, and editor. Growing up by the sea in experiences at a palliative‑care fiestas. This is a poetic travel Sri Lanka, Ravi dreams of other unit in France explores Enjoyed book with a social conscience, places until calamitous events terminally‑ill patients in their last which is both troubling Our Woman in Kabul? lead him to the uncertain life of a stages of life. Compelling stories and uplifting. refugee. This tender, witty novel about love and family, giving up Try A Thousand tells their stories across decades and taking charge, with a focus NL 2005 300pp B1935 and around the world. De Kretser on what we can learn from the Splendid Suns by writes masterfully about identity, dying, make this an inspiring Khaled Hosseini authenticity and connection. and emotional read. [B1961] F 2012 515pp B2188 N 2012 189pp B2143

This Book Will BOOK GROUPS The Unlikely Pilgrimage Save Your Life FAVOURITE of Harold Fry W A. M. Homes Travels with My Aunt Rachel Joyce Watkin Tench’s 1788 Richard trades stocks and shares Graham Greene SHORTLISTED First‑hand accounts of the First out of his beautiful LA home, Fleet’s expedition to Botany isolated - until an inexplicable and Staid, conservative Henry Man Booker Prize Pulling meets his Aunt Augusta Bay written by a captain in the sudden burst of pain lands him Harold sets out to post a letter, marines. Robert Hughes says: in hospital. With his routine and for the first time in over 50 years, and soon finds himself an ordinary task which becomes ‘An eye that noticed everything, his diet broken, Richard begins a 600-mile journey to the a young man’s verve, a sly wit his journey to reconnect with life. accompanying her on journeys to exotic countries. Aunt deathbed of an old friend. Left ... the most readable classic of This an entertaining and gently behind, Harold’s wife Maureen early Australian history.’ humourous novel that explores Augusta is as fascinating as she is amoral. finds herself on her own voyage 1793 276pp B1517 the quirkiness of LA and one of self-discovery in this unusual N man’s search for meaning. F 1969 265pp B1158 exploration of ageing, loneliness When Gods Collide F 2006 372pp B2007 Tuesdays with Morrie and love. F 2012 365pp B2187 Kate James Mitch Albom The daughter of evangelical NEW A journalist renews his friendship Vanishing Points missionaries who spent most of with his old college professor Thea Astley her childhood in India, James This Must who is dying.Mitch elects to help became an atheist as an adult. Be the Place Morrie on his quest to make a SHORTLISTED This book recounts her journey study of life’s last step. Written Miles Franklin Literary Award as she returns to India to Maggie with a kind of unsensational examine the nature of religious O’Farrell sensationalism, this is a Astley’s larrikin humour and belief and cultural identity, Daniel’s life fearless book. Morrie and lyrically evocative writing shine with particular reference to the has careened Mitch’s stories are affecting and through these two linked shocking murder of Australian spectacularly off track – yet ultimately joyous. novellas, centred on life on a tiny missionary Graham Staines and again. Banned from seeing his 1998 192pp Pacific isle for a would-be hermit his sons. B B1769 and a frustrated wife. Small print, children, he has set up a new N 2012 244pp B2156 home in the Irish wilds with a well spaced. startling woman; they are happy, U F 1992 234pp B1394 When in Rome until he hears news of a woman Penelope Green he loved (and wronged) twenty Unaccustomed Earth Voyages to the years ago. Across decades South Seas Journalist Penelope Green and continents and alongside a Jhumpa Lahiri abandons her comfortable diverse cast of characters, Daniel Danielle Clode existence and buys a one‑way will slowly learn about love, about WINNER ticket to Italy. Wrestling with the forgiveness, and about living. Commonwealth Writers’ Prize WINNER language and culture, Green Nettie Palmer Nonfiction Prize F 2016 496pp B2246 From the Pulitzer Prize‑winning writes about Roman life in author comes a poignant This is a swashbuckling tale of hilarious detail. This enjoyable collection of short stories that the adventures of the French and readable memoir outlines Throwim Way Leg touch upon the immigrant explorers to Australia. Filled with the risks and rewards of chasing Tim Flannery experience. Eight stories take colour illustrations, this lively a dream on the other side of the world.

us from America to Europe, Journeys ‘An Adventure’, promises the account brings to life a classic India and Thailand as they follow subtitle – a promise delightfully cast of 18th century notables, N 2005 308pp B2026 characters forging new lives. fulfilled by Flannery’s account of his exploring the French perspective of colonisation. field work in Papua New Guinea FS 2008 333pp B2055 and Irian Jaya. It’s a dazzling yet N 2007 261pp B2012 Z unpretentious combination of his work as a research scientist with Under the Tuscan Sun We enjoyed gaining an Zarafa his concerns over human rights Frances Mayes insight into the differences Michael Allin and our planetary future, lightened Mayes opens the door to a new between French and British Sent in 1827 as a gift to the by the marvellous stories of an world when she and her partner explorations. We admired King of France, Zarafa, a young incurably curious and candid man. buy and restore an abandoned the French for their pursuit of giraffe, took the French world N 1998 326pp B1564 villa in the Tuscan countryside. knowledge for its own sake, by storm. This account of her In sensuous evocative language, versus the colonial aspirations journey from the Ethiopian Tracks she celebrates what she calls of the British. highlands to Paris makes a Robyn Davidson ‘the voluptuousness of Italian Milton 1 charming, intriguing historical life’. Armchair travel at its narrative. Attractive small book Davidson taught herself from most inviting. with pictures and maps. scratch to tame and train camels, then travelled with four N 1996 280pp B1553 N 1998 215pp B1721 of them and one dog across 1700 miles of desert from Alice Springs to the coast of Western Australia. This is her engrossingbook about the journey with plenty to discuss. NL 1980 247pp B599

C Crime F Fiction B Biography S Short Stories N Nonfiction L Large Print 34 34

Step Back in Time Book Groups Take a journey back to days gone by. Covering thousands of years of human Favourite activity, this chapter contains historical fiction, nonfiction and biography.

As I Walked Out One The Birth House BOOK GROUPS A Midsummer Morning Ami McKay FAVOURITE According to Queeney Laurie Lee During WWI, young Dora The Book Thief Another re‑creation of times befriends the elderly Miss Markus Zusak Beryl Bainbridge gone by from the author of Cider Babineau, midwife in their small Savour this complex and with Rosie, this book deals with fishing village in Nova Scotia, Liesel is sent to live with a foster fascinating fictionalisation of the Spain before the Civil War, seen Canada. Together, they help the family near Munich in World twenty‑year relationship between through the eyes of a young women of Scots Bay through War II, and with the help of the acclaimed Samuel Johnson man destined to become a difficult labour, infertility, and even her accordion‑playing foster and his benefactor, Mrs Thrale, well‑known British writer. marital troubles. But when Dr father, learns to read. She is soon stealing books, which according to her daughter F 1969 186pp B524 Gilbert Thomas moves to town Queeney. A wonderful observer with his promise of modern she shares with her neighbours of human folly, Bainbridge tells At Home medicine, everything changes. and the Jewish refugee hiding a candid story of unrequited “An impressive novel, laced with in the basement. 'Death' is the love, passion, rejection and Bill Bryson quirky research and rippling with unconventional narrator of this possession, skilfully exposing An entertaining, witty and muscular poetry” – Observer (UK). international bestseller by an the sexual tensions that lie illuminative look at how history F 2006 385pp B2023 Australian author. beneath the surface of Georgian shapes our everyday lives. From F 2005 550pp B1995 London. Loosely plotted through the history of hygiene that is Bomb, Book and a series of letters, her concise brought to bear in the bathroom, style brings a cast of remarkable to nutrition and the spice trade Compass: Joseph Bring Larks and Heroes characters vividly to life. that are brought home to the Needham & the Great Thomas Keneally kitchen. His great skill is making F 2001 244pp B1947 Secrets of China WINNER daily life simultaneously strange Simon Winchester and familiar, helping us to Miles Franklin Literary Award recognise ourselves. From the author of The Surgeon of Crowthorne and The Map This imaginative reconstruction All the Light We N 2010 544pp B2096 That Changed the World. of a convict settlement in Cannot See A distinguished biochemist Australia in the 1790s tells of the Anthony Doerr working at Cambridge University physical and mental demands B and married to a fellow scientist, made on soldier‑poet Corporal Halloran: demands by his secret WINNER in 1937 Needham was asked Bearbrass to supervise a young Chinese bride, his superiors, his Irish Pulitzer Prize Robyn Annear student named Lu Gwei‑Djen. comrades and most of all by his conscience. Werner attends The authorial self‑description He fell in love with both Lu and a Nazi boarding sets the delightful and bracing China and established himself F 1967 248pp B166 school, tone: ‘Robyn Annear is a typist as the pre‑eminent China gratefully and lives in country Victoria with scholar, documenting everything Bring Up the Bodies escaping the somebody else’s husband’. from Chinese medicine to Hilary Mantel mines of his History has never been such fun, philosophy and nautical history. hometown; and Melbourne – ‘Bearbrass’ 2008 336pp B2021 Marie‑Laure, N WINNER – won’t be the same after this Man Booker Prize blind from a anecdotal, irreverent, informative young age, This book was fascinating and The sequel to Man Booker Prize book about its past and present. we wondered why we hadn't adores her winner Wolf Hall, this novel N 1995 290pp B1471 heard of Needham before. father who brings the world alive The book gave an insight into concentrates on the short, for her. Their eventful childhoods China’s struggles and the effect brutal period of Anne Boleyn’s unfold until their paths cross Bereft Needham’s socialist views had downfall. Thomas Cromwell in Nazi‑occupied France in the Chris Womersley on his life. A really good read! is at the height of his powers, walled port city of Saint‑Malo, Milton 1 masterfully negotiating court where Marie‑Laure hides from SHORTLISTED politics to secure Henry VIII a heavy shelling – and from a Miles Franklin Literary Award way out of his failed marriage. stranger who has hunted her This book really grabbed This is a ‘must read’ for those from afar. In 1919, Quinn Walker returns who enjoy Mantel’s stylish prose home from war, having fled his our group! And most did not expect to become so and sly wit. F 2014 544pp B2228 hometown as a teenager falsely engaged with the story of the F 2012 410pp B2155 accused of killing his younger fascinating Joseph Needham sister. On his return, he remains and his passion for China. both an outsider and a wanted The writing is informative, man. He meets a young orphan lively and often humorous as girl, Sadie, who seems to know Winchester traces Needham's more about the crime and about scientific academic life in Quinn than she should, and she Cambridge and travels in encourages him to take justice China during WWII. into his own hands. Mullumbimby Huon Books F 2010 264pp B210 6

START A CONVERSATION, START A BOOK GROUP / 9652 0620 / CAE.EDU.AU / CONNECT WITH US 34 35

Burial Rites Célestine Come in Spinner Hannah Kent Gillian Tindall Dymphna Cusack & E SHORTLISTED In a French peasant village, Florence James Electricity Stella Prize Tindall (an English historian) Wartime Sydney, and the came across a bundle of letters influx of American servicemen, Victoria Glendinning In Iceland, 1829, Agnes from the 1860s, addressed described through the eyes This high‑voltage, informative Magnúsdóttir awaits execution. to a young woman, Célestine of six women working in the and satisfying novel set Burial Rites chronicles the life Chaumette, and used them to beautyBook parlour Groups of a large hotel: in Victorian England, is a that brought Agnes to this carefully reconstruct the lives interestingFavour portrayalite of urban first‑person portrayal of Charlotte point, and explores the effect of the village and its people. working‑class Australian society. Mortimer and her surprising life, Subtitled ‘Voices from a French the doomed woman has on 1951 445pp illuminating the family, sexual those who spend time with Village’, this thoughtful social F B568 and social mores of a culture her in her last months. Kent history is detailed and complex undergoing great changes. evokes a harsh world within as it creates the vivid sense of BOOK GROUPS F 1995 250pp B1527 which humans battle for survival, ordinary daily lives and struggles. FAVOURITE a sense of identity, and for N 1995 292pp B1486 Empire Falls freedom. Based on a true story. Cranford Richard Russo F 2013 335pp B2193 Charles Hotham Elizabeth Gaskell Shirley Roberts First published in instalments in WINNER Bush Studies As the first governor of the a magazine edited by Dickens, Pulitzer Prize Barbara Baynton this is an affectionate portrait of colony of Victoria, Hotham A dying mill town in central These sharply effective stories was soon faced with troubles people and small- town customs and values in mid-Victorian Maine is the setting for Russo’s share time and setting with in the goldfields and with the portrait of ordinary people swept Lawson’s. But Baynton’s Eureka crisis. Before this, his England. In a series of satirical sketches, Gaskell describes with up in economic and political treatment strips away the naval career was distinguished forces as seen through the eyes romance and the heroics from and varied: of particular note humour and tenderness the lives of good natured spinster Miss of Miles, a short‑order cook at the bush and its characters. was his posting in West Africa the Empire Grill. The characters’ Contains ‘Squeaker’s Mate’, the where his squadron was Matty, her maid Martha, and narrator Mary Smith. behaviour and preoccupations basis of a controversial film. engaged in suppressing the are utterly compelling without S 1902 140pp B1055 trans‑Atlantic slave trade. A F 1853 312pp B10 high drama or exaggeration. lucid and positive assessment of It gently reminds us that life Hotham’s contribution to public itself, though often painful, must life. Pleasant hardcover volume: be cherished. C clarity of the print is excellent. D F 2001 483pp B1684 Caleb’s Crossing B 1985 201pp B1241 Dancing with Strangers Inga Clendinnen Geraldine Brooks Choose Your Dilemma 'These people mixed with ours,’ F NOMINATED William Nicolle Oats wrote James Bradley, ‘and all Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards As a young man, this Australian hands danced together.’ What Fire Under the Snow Quaker, in Europe for the first went wrong between the British Another compelling historical Palden Gyatso time from 1938 to 1940, was settlers of New South Wales novel from the author of Tibet, the last spiritual society, stuck by its bellicosity during one and the Australian inhabitants People of the Book, Year of met an avowedly materialist of the most dramatic moments they encountered? Arthur Phillip Wonders, and March. This is society, China, and lost. Gyatso, in modern history. His vivid, and the local leader Bennelong inspired by the life of Caleb then 17, and a monk, tells the regular correspondence with his pursued a difficult path to Cheeshahteaumuck who was strangest story, and the history mother is ‘a gripping collection conciliation; we follow the born in 1646 and was the first of contemporary Tibet. Is reality of thinking‑out‑loud letters painful end of that relationship Native American to graduate only materiality? Striving here, written by a moral man in an as cultural differences from Harvard. He befriends innocence, naïveté, brutality, unmoral world’ (Terry Lane). In asserted themselves. Bethia, who lives within a brainwashing, imprisonment, them he explores his pacificism Puritan settlement. N 2003 324pp B1826 hope, David and Goliath. Goliath in the face of the evil of Nazism. wins, but the Wheel turns. F 2011 369pp B2109 Can the political and spiritual A rarity. paths be reconciled? B 1999 150pp B1708 N 1997 232pp B1570 Step Back in Time

Enjoyed Fire Under the Snow? Try Mantras and Misdemeanours by Vanessa Walker [B1928]

The Floating Brothel The Glass Room BOOK GROUPS The Help Siân Rees Simon Mawer FAVOURITE Kathryn Stockett The Lady Julian sailed in 1789 Viktor and Liesel Landauer The Guernsey In the American South in the for Botany Bay with a cargo of build their modern home in early 1960s, aspiring writer female convicts. Rees writes the countryside of the Czech Literary and Potato Skeeter has graduated from vividly of the social pressures Republic in 1928. But when Peel Pie Society university and returns home to which led to female crime, of the Nazis rise to power, the Mary Ann Shaffer pressure from her mother to squalid prison conditions, the Landauers have to flee. The get married. Aibileen is a black routines on an 18th century house witnesses the Nazis In January 1946, Juliet receives maid raising her seventeenth sailing ship and a pragmatic and the Soviet invasion, but a letter which leads to an white child, with the knowledge approach whereby both men when Communism falls and the ongoing correspondence with that this child, too, will come to at sea and in the young colony Czech Republic becomes an the members of a Guernsey a certain age, and start to see might be provided with women. independent country again, the group formed during the her differently. Minny, Aibileen’s Both aboard and in Australia, Landauers can return home. German occupation of the best friend, keeps getting fired Channel Islands. When Juliet many women convicts found a F 2009 404pp B2125 because she won’t mind her life preferable to the one they goes to meet her new friends, tongue. The three women band had left behind. her life changes in unexpected together on a project that puts NEW ways. This warm and witty all of them at risk. N 2001 248pp B1641 epistolary novel is a celebration F 2009 451pp B2074 The Forgotten Garden Go Set a of books and an exploration of Watchman friendship, love, and sacrifice. A History of the World Kate Morton Harper Lee F 2008 273pp B2032 This is an international bestseller in 10 ½ Chapters This newly of family secrets, gothic Julian Barnes rediscovered Guns, Germs and Steel mysteries and fairy tales. When manuscript was Jokey, sorrowful, resilient, this Cassandra travels from Brisbane Jared Diamond intended as Lee’s first novel before unusual book is not so much a to the windswept Cornwall coast her editor suggested focusing on bird’s as a worm’s eye view of and a cottage she inherited from WINNER young Scout’s perspective in what history – seeing it from the bottom her grandmother, she discovers Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction became the Pulitzer‑winning To up, hollowing out certainties, a garden which holds the secret Kill a Mockingbird. Lee’s original Ambitiously subtitled ‘A short tackling the big human questions to her grandmother’s birth text is being published with no history of everybody for the by story‑telling and commentary. and journey to Australia as a revisions, and sees an adult last 13,000 years’, this is 1989 309pp 4‑year‑old stowaway. F B1324 Scout returning to Maycomb a thought‑provoking book F 2008 549pp B2116 twenty years after the events of on human history, tackling the difficult question of why This book promoted good Mockingbird. Whatever you think discussion with most people of the controversy surrounding human beings developed so differently on different continents. enjoying the twists and turns. the book’s release, it will certainly At times the language was G The writer of this Pulitzer stimulate discussion. a bit dense, but overall the Galileo’s Daughter Prize‑winning work on the group enjoyed the read. F 2015 320pp B2218 origins of human inequality is an Canberra 3 Dava Sobel American scientist and explorer, Galileo (1564–1642) was the We had a good discussion whose writings aim to make foremost scientist of his day, even though some found it science accessible. Small print. fighting Church opposition for confusing to readjust to Scout as an adult. It was interesting N 1997 480pp B1713 Human Croquet acceptance of his heresy that Kate Atkinson the sun, not the earth, was the to watch the development of centre of the Solar System. the altered relationships. Isobel Fairfax, the appealing His much‑loved daughter Pinewood 1 H young narrator of this story, Maria Celeste, consigned to a is both character in her own convent at an early age, wrote Hawke: The Prime right and representative of all to her father throughout her life, Gould’s Book of Fish Minister storytellers. She has the ability and Sobel has woven a clever Blanche D’Alpuget to move in and out of ‘normal’ Richard Flanagan time, so that the novel consists narrative around these. She also A biography written by a former of varied story strands with presents a fascinating account of lover, now wife, is a very rare SHORTLISTED different and equally plausible everyday life in 17th century Italy. thing. Blanche d’Alpuget Miles Franklin Literary Award endings. Part ghost story, part investigates Bob Hawke’s use of B 1999 429pp B1758 murder mystery, this novel is This novel plucks a real‑life thief power and his famous charisma also a stimulating presentation and prisoner, English forger William in this insider’s biography. She Generations of English history and the people Gould, from the pages of history reveals the deep‑thinking, very Hugh Mackay who walked through it. to act as protagonist‑narrator. human side of a Hawke who is One of Australia’s best‑known Sentenced to a prison colony likeable and popular – but who F 1998 383pp B1925 social researchers analyses off the Tasmanian coast, Gould also has more than his share of Australian society by generation. recounts his life story as he paints pride and ego. He looks at baby boomers, the island’s native fish, recalling his their parents and their children. B 2010 416pp B2167

Step Back in Time Back Step grim childhood and ill‑fated life of Comparing their various attitudes crime. Flanagan’s darkly humorous helps us understand the diverse tale of the 19th century world and changing circumstances of convicts and colonists slips Enjoyed The Help? facing all Australians as a new between the real and the fantastic. millennium dawns. Will you F 2001 404pp B1675 Try The Secret Life of Bees by agree with his findings? Sue Monk Kidd [B2005] N 1997 194pp B1572

The Lieutenant The Luminaries I J Kate Grenville Eleanor Catton Lieutenant Daniel Rooke arrives NEW Jack Maggs in New South Wales on the First WINNER Peter Carey Fleet in 1788 and sets up an Man Booker Prize The observatory to study astronomy On the New Zealand goldfields in WINNER and navigation. Aboriginal people Invention Miles Franklin Literary Award 1866, Walter Moody encounters of Wings soon start to visit his isolated twelve men gathered to solve Sue Monk Kidd Set in a vivid 19th century outpost and a child begins to a series of local crimes. In London, Carey’s acclaimed teach him her language. As this vivid and intricate world, The new novel novel in some ways reworks he meticulously records their fortunes are made and lost and by the author both Great Expectations, with conversations, an extraordinary fate is governed by the stars. of The Secret Magwitch as Maggs, and the friendship develops and Rooke Ingeniously structured, The Life of Bees is inspired by the Book Groups facts of Dickens’ own life in the soon faces a decision that will Luminaries reads like a 19th lives of abolitionist sisters Sarah Favourite figure of Tobias Oates. Other define not only who he is but the century murder mystery, but with and Angelina Grimké, born into characters, like Mercy and Percy, course of his entire life. gripping hidden complexities. a wealthy Charleston plantation are pure Carey. Strongly and Two‑month book. in the mid‑19th century. This is F 2008 320pp B2031 pacily plot‑driven, it puts a more the story of their slave, ‘Handful’, F 2013 834pp B2200 Antipodean slant on the society and the complex relationships from which Australia sprang. BOOK GROUPS with those around them, marked FAVOURITE by guilt, defiance, and the F 1997 392pp B1575 M uneasy ways of love. The Light Between F 2014 373pp B2205 Oceans The Madonnas L M.L. Stedman of Leningrad The Lamp Still Burns Debra Dean NEW Isabel ‘Spark’ Gill SHORTLISTED As the German army blockades Miles Franklin Literary Award the beautiful city of Leningrad in Brought up in the Victorian town World War II, all food stocks are The Invisible History Returned from the trenches of Clunes, Isabel Gill longed to be destroyed, leaving the people of the Human Race of WWI Europe, Tom is now a nurse, and her autobiography to struggle for survival in the the lighthouse‑keeper on a Christine Kenneally records her training and bombed out buildings. Recently remote island off Western experience in hospitals from 1936 employed as a custodian in the Australia, his young wife Isabel SHORTLISTED to 1981. With many photographs, great art museum the Hermitage his only companion. When Stella Prize it provides a social history of and now sheltering with others tragedy touches their lives, changes in nursing, public health in its ruins, young Marina will What is the they make a decision with and medical practice. Much to always remember its great complex notion far‑reaching consequences. discuss about then and now. paintings of Madonna and Child. of ‘identity’? This richly‑drawn, moving story 1989 187pp B1551 A moving exploration of the How can N of love and loyalty probes the power of art and memory. DNA shape blurry line separating right and cultures and The Law of Dreams wrong, and the bond between F 2006 231pp B1971 whole nations? Peter Behrens mother and child. Award‑winning Behrens brings alive the Good book, well constructed journalist F 2012 362pp B2166 catastrophe of the Irish potato and inspiring. It awakened Christine famine with Fergus O’Brien, who our knowledge of the great Kenneally asks these questions is left alone at the age of fifteen. The Long Song tragedy of the siege and and more, encompassing Sensing that he must keep Andrea Levy the suffering endured. A genealogy, science, cultural moving if he is to live, he survives remarkable agreement by all inheritance and the concept of In this novel, Levy responds to privation, danger and betrayals that it is a very good read. race. This engrossing book asks the question: “How can you on his route to Canada. Narrative Glen Waverley Uniting what we inherit from the past, and be proud of your Jamaican drive and vibrant language make guarantees hours of discussion roots, when your ancestors this a compelling read. with its answer. were slaves?” Its narrator is The Man Who Lost Himself F 2006 394pp B1968 house‑slave July, born on a N 2014 368pp B2219 sugar plantation in the early Robyn Annear Lazarus Rising 19th century. July speaks The author of Bearbrass brings us for those who are silent in a true story about a 19th century

John Howard Step Back in Time the historical record of this adventurer with a difference. Australia’s second‑longest repressive social system, but Annear’s account of the serving Prime Minister explains her emotional story is also highly contested Tichborne Inheritance his actions and beliefs, exploring personal and entertaining. sets out the evidence for readers the way these shaped our F 2010 308pp B2078 to judge, yet retains the essential country. Howard’s significance question: who was the Claimant? to the Australia we know today is undeniable, and his response B 2002 430pp B1687 to certain events will give you plenty to discuss. But is this the memoir of a successful leader, or, controversially, a vehicle to criticise those with whom he disagrees? Two‑month book. B 2010 688pp B2168

March Mr Darwin’s Shooter BOOK GROUPS Geraldine Brooks Roger McDonald FAVOURITE P WINNER SHORTLISTED The Night Watch Parrot and Olivier Pulitzer Prize Miles Franklin Literary Award Sarah Waters in America Set during the first year of the What part did Syms Covington, The Night Watch follows the Peter Carey American Civil War, Brooks Darwin’s manservant, play in On intertwined lives and relationships Aristocrat Olivier, inspired by evokes the life of John March, the Origin of Species? Drawing of four characters, Kay, Helen, the French nobleman Alexis the absent father from Louisa on the sparse historical details Viv and Duncan, revealing how de Tocqueville, who wrote May Alcott’s Little Women. An of Covington’s life, McDonald the war has changed each of Democracy in America travels to anti‑slavery idealist, March enlists imagines his boyhood, his them. Through air raids, blacked the new world to study the prison with the Union troops - but his seafaring years, and his work out streets, illicit partying and system, and to avoid another beliefs are challenged by the collecting specimens with sexual adventure, the novel revolution; Parrot is a frustrated horrors of war. Familiarity with Darwin. Small print. begins in 1947 during peacetime British artist who is sent with him Little Women is not essential. 1999 369pp B1598 and moves backwards to 1941, as spy, protector and servant. F allowing Waters to connect her F 2005 338pp B1888 On their journey, they develop an Mr Rosenblum’s List cast in sometimes startling ways. unlikely and enriching friendship. Mary Barton Natasha Solomons F 2006 480pp B1931 F 2009 452pp B2069 Elizabeth Gaskell Jakob is a Jewish refugee from Nothing But Gold A Passage to India Gaskell’s first novel is set in her Nazi Germany who arrives in Robyn Annear native Manchester and follows two London in 1937, where he is E.M. Forster working-class families in the 1840s. handed a list of rules on how The discovery of gold in Australia This novel tells more about John Barton begins questioning the to assimilate. Jakob takes this in 1851 tempted thousands to India than a history text. Set in unequal distribution of wealth, and seriously – he wants to fit in – and rush to try their luck. This spirited the last decades of the Empire, becomes involved in the trade-union begins to update the list with account of the first year or so of it depicts a world of English, movement; his daughter, Mary, sees observations of his own. His the Victorian goldfields conveys Hindu and Muslim difference marriage as her only way out of actions bewilder his wife Sadie, the day‑to‑day realities of getting and misunderstanding, and the poverty. Gaskell’s wit shines through who clings to where they came there and making a go of it: land seems to have a mind of this clever, emotional tale of romance from and who they left behind. winter’s mud, summer’s dust, its own, opposed to friendship and murder. 2010 311pp B2081 the hard labour of digging, the between races. F unimaginable water and food, F 1848 466pp B252 the violence and camaraderie, FL 1924 280pp B12 the exhilaration of being your Memoirs of a Geisha N own boss. A feisty recreation. The Passion Arthur Golden Jeanette Winterson NEW N 1999 329pp B1716 Sold into a geisha house in Henri, a young French peasant, 1929 at the age of nine, Sayuri The Narrow Road to becomes Napoleon’s chicken describes the elaborate ritual O chef, and Villanelle is a Venetian of making the creature whose the Deep North fishergirl born with webbed delicacy, artistry, conversation Richard Flanagan One for the Master feet. The public and private and seductiveness is captive to Dorothy Johnston passions of hero‑worship, war, the entertainment of rich and gambling and love are explored WINNER Helen Plathe, a young girl, wife, powerful men. Artifice, eroticism, with deft realism and magical Man Booker Prize mother, employee and citizen, exploitation and survival are part inventiveness. A surprising tells her story in this powerful, of a world evoked in fascinating and readable glimpse of early SHORTLISTED modest and very readable novel detail, and Sayuri's voice is Miles Franklin Literary Award 19th‑century Europe. perfectly captured by Golden. set in Geelong, a Victorian country centre, in the decades 1987 160pp B1226 In 1943, F F 1998 428pp B1597 after World War II. Johnston surgeon brings to life not only the People of the Book Dorrigo Evans This is a very impressive book characters in Helen’s personal is a prisoner Geraldine Brooks by a man who manages to story but also the woollen mill of war on the capture the essence of the with new technologies. SHORTLISTED female experience. We had Thai‑Burma Prime Minister’s Literary Awards so much to discuss about the railway. Haunted F 1997 270pp B1544 traditions of the geisha and by his affair with Pulitzer Prize‑winning author of their roles today. the enigmatic Orphans of History March and bestselling novel Year Melbourne City Readers Amy, his life Robert Holden of Wonders brings us the story intersects the lives of guards A look at the lives of the 34 of Hanna Heath, a renowned and fellow prisoners as they book conservator. She receives Midnight’s Children experience the daily brutalities First Fleet children. Starting in the London of John Hudson, a call in the middle of the night Salman Rushdie – and their consequences. about a medieval manuscript Juxtaposing beauty with a 9‑year‑old chimney sweep This vital, wide‑ranging novel recovered from war‑torn terror, Flanagan explores the sentenced to transportation, it inventively relates stories and follows the children to prison, the Sarajevo, and makes her way to

Step Back in Time Back Step capabilities of the human spirit, characters of India and Pakistan Bosnia to restore the Sarajevo and what makes up ‘humanity’ hulks, the voyage to Botany Bay since Independence, and shows Haggadah, a Jewish prayer in a time of war. and to Norfolk Island. Holden’s how politics can penetrate the lives tender, clear‑sighted focus on book, and to piece together the of ordinary and not‑so‑ordinary F 2013 467pp B2214 children allows us access to remarkable story, throughout the people. It is charged with new facts and insights about centuries, of this manuscript. Rushdie’s intense creativity. our nation’s colonial origins. F 2008 390pp B1990 F 1981 463pp B1145 N 1999 219pp B1766

Pure Remembering Babylon Samuel Pepys The Secret River Andrew Miller David Malouf Claire Tomalin Kate Grenville Paris, 1785. Les Innocents Pepys lived through and SHORTLISTED SHORTLISTED cemetery is full to bursting Miles Franklin Literary Award recorded the Great Plague and young provincial engineer of 1665 and the Great Fire of Miles Franklin Literary Award Jean‑Baptiste Baratte is chosen Gemmy Fairley stumbles into a London in the following year, as to clear up the mess. The year white settlement perched on the well as the intimacies of daily life WINNER he spends doing so, and the Queensland coast in the middle – theatre‑going, philanderings, Commonwealth Writers’ Prize people he meets, are bound his business affairs, of the 19th century. Is he white or Grenville depicts the appalling to change him forever. Pure is conversations, tiffs with his wife, black? In his new surroundings poverty of William Thornhill, who is elegantly written, with fascinating recorder lessons, hangovers, and with his affinity with the transported to New South Wales characters and discussable home improvements, clothes. feared blacks, his presence is for theft, and his later wonderment subject matter such as themes Biographer Claire Tomalin most unsettling. Another subtle at becoming a free man, able to of corruption, personal integrity revels in her subject’s appetite reflection from Malouf on the claim land along the Hawkesbury and social unrest. for experience. sense of the self and the other. and support his family. She F 2011 352pp B2146 FL 1993 202pp B1424 B 2002 499pp B1797 brings alive the settler situation as well as the response of the Sarah Thornhill Aboriginal people who already live R S Kate Grenville on that land. An important book, illuminating, confronting, satisfying. Ransom NEW SHORTLISTED F 2005 334pp B1934 David Malouf Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Salt Creek Sarah is the daughter of William Our group was delighted SHORTLISTED Lucy Treloar Thornhill of The Secret River. with this book. It opened up a Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Nicknamed ‘Dolly’, she grows great discussion. The writing was expressive, tender and A lyrical retelling of Homer’s WINNER up in the relative privilege of her father’s hard‑won estate vivid. We would definitely Iliad, set against the background Indie Awards Debut Fiction recommend this to our friends. of the Trojan War, Ransom is in early‑settlement Australia, Syndal 1 a meditation on grief and war. SHORTLISTED and must come to terms with Described by the Australian Miles Franklin Literary Award the tangled secrets and silent as a “masterpiece, exquisitely spaces wrought by violent The Short Reign written, pithy and wise and Fifteen-year- colonisation. Kate Grenville’s overwhelmingly moving”. old Hester is masterful story and colourful of Pippin IV troubled by her John Steinbeck F 2009 240pp B2058 characters will stay with you father’s decision long after you have finished this This light hearted satire on The Red Tent to move their engrossing novel. French monarchy and politics family of nine F 2011 304pp B2115 is a long way from Steinbeck’s Anita Diamant from the com‑ usual subject – the landless The bestselling novel The Red fort of 1850s Sea of Poppies farm labourers of America. As Tent is narrated by Dinah, Adelaide to a enjoyable as it is unexpected. remote outpost Amitav Ghosh Jacob’s only daughter in the 1957 168pp Book of Genesis. From her on the Coorong River. When F B212 a native boy begins working SHORTLISTED upbringing by the four wives of Man Booker Prize Jacob, to becoming one of the and then living with their family, NEW most influential women of the Hester watches powerlessly as India is on the eve of the first time, Dinah’s story brings to life colonialist prejudice comes to Opium War. Fleeing the violence Sweet women’s lives during biblical play out against the backdrop of of her village customs and caste Caress times, from Mesopotamia to a family – and a country – in flux. laws, Deeti and 'untouchable' William Boyd Canaan to Egypt. 2015 416pp Kalua become servants on an F B2234 Amory Clay is F 1998 395pp B1997 old slave ship. The ship becomes a shelter to them and the people a woman who The Remains of the Day they meet on their eventful knows her own journey across the Indian Ocean. mind. Born into Kazuo Ishiguro This is an immersive, rewarding a wealthy English family in 1908, read. Unmissable. her search for an interesting WINNER life will take her from scandal in 2008 480pp Man Booker Prize F B2017 1920s Berlin to an affair in New Step Back in Time York in the 1930s; from a stint For decades, Stevens has as a war photojournalist in WW2 served as butler to Lord France to the Vietnam War. Her Darlington of Darlington Hall. life's turns and the lovers she Now he recalls a lifetime of picks up along the twists of service. Ishiguro perfectly this story are engrossing, and captures the tone and outlook Amory’s spirit and humour will of one to whom dignity and stay with you long after you correctness are all‑important. finish this fascinating novel. There is wonderful comedy here Enjoyed Sea of Poppies? and a sense of the losses that F 2015 464pp B2243 may lie behind such a life. Print not large, but clear. Try A Fine Balance F 1989 245pp B1267 by Rohinton Mistry [B1516]

Sweet Tooth The Thousand Autumns Ian McEwan of Jacob De Zoet W Y In Britain in 1972, Serena is David Mitchell recruited by MI5 for Operation Water for Elephants The Year 1000 Sweet Tooth, a secret mission WINNER Sara Gruen Robert Lacey & that brings Serena together Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Jacob Jankowski jumps onto a Danny Danziger with writer Tom Haley. Soon The novel begins in 1799 Japan. passing train and enters a world Here is the world of the English at she falls in love and the rules Jacob de Zoet is a Dutch of swindlers and misfits. The the turn of the first millennium. This of espionage fall away, but the bookkeeper, working for the second‑rate circus Benzini Brothers stylish social history charts a typical truth is hard to discover. Set Dutch East India Company, Most Spectacular Show on Earth year of the period, demonstrating during the Cold War and a time is touring the backblocks of Book Groups when he falls in forbidden love the differencesFavourite between a very old of domestic terrorism, Sweet with a Japanese midwife. The Depression era America. A former world and our own. Tooth is complex, layered and Empire of Japan has shut out veterinary student, Jacob becomes N 1999 230pp B1656 beautifully written. the outside world for a century caretaker of the circus menagerie. F 2012 370pp B2178 and a half, but a European He meets Marlena, the star of the trading post keeps open a equestrian act, her husband who is a violently unpredictable animal BOOK GROUPS narrow corridor to the outside FAVOURITE T world. The midwife uncovers a trainer, and Rosie, a seemingly dark and heartbreaking secret. unmanageable elephant. Tartar City Woman F 2010 480pp B2093 F 2006 335pp B1984 Year of Wonders Trevor Hay Geraldine Brooks Wolf Hall Subtitled Scenes from the Life of True History of In 1665, the English village Wang Hsin‑ping, Former Citizen the Kelly Gang Hilary Mantel of Eyam became infected of China. What understanding Peter Carey with the plague. Rather do you have of China’s history WINNER than risk spreading it, the between 1937 and 1990? This Man Booker Prize villagers decided to quarantine WINNER themselves, and fear and remarkable biography will make The Age Book of the Year In England in the 1520s, Henry it live in your nerves and senses, superstition began to break The enthralling voice of Carey’s VIII finds himself without an heir down courage and faith. In through Hay’s account of the life by Catherine of Aragon, and of an outspoken, irrepressible Ned draws the reader into Brooks' novel, housemaid Anna understanding how a brave, loyal charges Cardinal Wolsey with becomes an unlikely hero - but Chinese woman, now living securing him a divorce already in Australia. and gifted boy becomes the what is it like to survive while so doomed, deluded yet compelling refused by the Pope. In comes many die? This is a poignant, B 1990 181pp B1291 writer of Kelly’s Jerilderie Letter. Thomas Cromwell, whose unforgettable read told in A wonderful exploration of family rapid rise to power and ruthless Brooks' inimitable style. Tess of the D’Urbervilles agenda lead to reformation, loves and tensions, rural poverty F 2001 308pp B1662 Thomas Hardy and hope, the novel gives a uncertainty, and bloodshed. Two-month book. Moral outrage greeted this voice to Australia’s oppressed, story of a classic situation – then as now longing to be heard. F 2009 672pp B2054 a wronged woman, a child F 2000 401pp B1625 conceived outside marriage, Working for Rupert and two men. Tess is bound up Hugh Lunn by the social forces of her time U Hugh Lunn now gives us his in this great 19th century novel seventeen years before the which remains relevant to the Under the Same Sun masthead on the Australian lives of women today. Andy Kissane as Rupert Murdoch’s ‘foreign correspondent’ in Queensland. FL 1891 512pp B84 Two young Italian men migrate Through most of the 1970s and to Australia in 1951. One is ’80s he parades us past a blur That Deadman Dance a metalworker from northern of editors, entertaining us in Kim Scott Italy, the other an apprentice Lunn style, and talking about the chef from the south. Part one newspaper world and how to WINNER immerses us in the different write a story that people will read. Miles Franklin Literary Award experiences and pressures 2001 244pp B1655 Award‑winning author Kim leading to their journeys. B Scott’s novel is set in Western Part two brings alive the Australia in the 1800s. It tells the opportunities, pains and complex story of contact between prejudices they face, in their Aborigines and early settlers in loves and their work, first in a harsh landscape. “There are Sydney and then in the perilous many strands to That Deadman Snowy Mountains Scheme. Dance: epic coastal journeys, F 2000 368pp B1651 whaling sequences that will make

Step Back in Time Back Step you gasp in wonder, injustice, understanding and loss. But it is the characters – flawed, credible human beings, embodying their history but never mere ciphers – Enjoyed Sweet Tooth? who stay with you”. The Age F 2010 400pp B2118 Try Restless by William Boyd [B1976]

START A CONVERSATION, START A BOOK GROUP / 9652 0620 / CAE.EDU.AU / CONNECT WITH US 41 Surviving, Prevailing Whether it is the inhumanity of man's actions towards fellow man or the conquering of personal demons, this chapter explores the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

Aman The Boat A Aman B Nam Le The disturbing story of a Somali girl’s first seventeen years in the The Bean Patch WINNER 1950s and 1960s. It shows the Shirley Painter Prime Minister’s Literary Awards All the Birds, Singing strong traditional culture in which Shirley Painter’s indomitable These short stories travel the Evie Wyld ‘Father is your main blood’, a memoir is sourced in her globe and include a grim journey young female is answerable experience of the extreme child of Vietnamese refugees on a WINNER to her brothers, female abuse she suffered, which was small boat and a child living Miles Franklin Literary Award circumcision is customary, and perpetrated within the family. in Hiroshima during WWII. any involvement with whites can This is a tribute to the teachers Le intuitively conveys the Tinged with precipitate violence. Enlightening in government schools who anxiety, Jake’s psychological conflicts people about the tribal and city peoples opened her spirit so that she experience when they find their solitary life of contemporary Africa. survived, even flourished, Book Groups tending sheep hopesFa andvour ambitionsite slamming B 1994 350pp B1467 to write this confronting yet up against familial expectations on an isolated hopeful story. Likely to prompt and brooding or the facts of history. Anil’s Ghost animated discussion with very 2008 312pp B2022 island in England different viewpoints. FS is somehow Michael Ondaatje 2002 310pp B1801 preferable to A forensic anthropologist returns B BOOK GROUPS whatever she to Sri Lanka, a land steeped FAVOURITE left behind in Australia – until in culture and tradition, to Beloved something starts killing her investigate organised campaigns Toni Morrison Boomer & Me flock. Tensions of her past mix of murder engulfing the island. Jo Case with her present in this clever Ondaatje blends the history, WINNER and thoughtful mystery which art, archaeology and folklore Pulitzer Prize Jo Case’s son, 'Boomer', was reflects on belonging and diagnosed with Asperger’s of his extravagantly beautiful This extraordinary novel reveals identity. Contains themes that birthplace, now ravaged by civil Syndrome in primary school – may disturb. the haunting legacy of slavery something that led the writer war. Telling of a culture’s attempt and racism: ‘Not a house in F 2014 240pp B2227 to submerge its history, the novel to view herself and her family the country ain’t packed to its from a fresh perspective. This weaves an intricate chain of rafters with some dead Negro’s human connection. book (subtitled A memoir of After the Fire, grief’. Morrison's love song to motherhood, and Asperger’s) F 2000 311pp B1629 her people and to the country is sure to spark discussion A Still Small Voice which has so abused the African Evie Wyld about what is ‘normal’, and An Anthropologist Americans enables us to begin whether difference necessarily to ‘understand the source of the WINNER on Mars means disability. Oliver Sacks outrage as well as the source of John Llewellyn Rhys Literary Prize the light’. Smallish print. B 2013 337pp B2195 Here are seven detailed stories This debut novel set in Australia about patients living with F 1987 275pp B1365 Brain on Fire shows the impact of the violence neurological conditions such of war. Frank moves to a Susannah Cahalan as autism, the violent tics of Birds Without Wings seaside shack after he breaks Tourette’s syndrome, and a Louis de Bernières Cahalan was a bright young up with his girlfriend. His father sudden and lasting inability to journalist when a sudden illness and grandfather before him each This epic novel of love and war see colour. Sacks’ infectious plunged her into terrifying came to the shack after they is set in the former Ottoman sense of wonder informs these psychosis, which was in fact served time in the Vietnam and Empire. De Bernières recreates gentle, exploratory, thorough a rare autoimmune disease Korean wars. a lost world in which Greeks accounts as he moves into wider affecting her brain. Part memoir, and Turks, Christians and part journalism, part medical F 2009 296pp B2102 speculations about the nature of Muslims, lived as neighbours, the mind. detective story, this fascinating All Quiet on the sharing their lives, their cultures book explores Cahalan’s N 1995 319pp B1518 intermingling. Harmonious village harrowing experience from Western Front life is destroyed by the events multiple perspectives. E.M. Remarque of World War I and the collapse The Assistant B 2012 264pp B2175 This anti‑war polemic powerfully Bernard Malamud of the Ottoman Empire. This engrossing novel, populated by portrays the agony and futility A Jewish storekeeper, in the of war. Remarque suffered memorable characters, is both poverty of New York, is badly a celebration of humanity and personally through loss of his hurt by an anonymous attacker German citizenship as a result a passionate lament over the who then becomes his assistant. catastrophic consequences of of this work. Many copies were A compassionate study of seized and burnt by the Nazis. religious and racial intolerance. the human heart’s growth out 2004 625pp B1871 F 1929 192pp B101 of violence. F F 1957 224pp B232

Burnt Shadows Close Range: BOOK GROUPS The Day We Had Kamila Shamsie Wyoming Stories FAVOURITE Hitler Home After 9/11, an unnamed man Annie Proulx The Curious Incident of Rodney Hall waits to be clothed in the the Dog in the Night‑Time orange jumpsuit of Guantanamo FINALIST SHORTLISTED Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Mark Haddon Miles Franklin Literary Award Bay and wonders “how did it come to this?” In August 1945 Proulx is one of America’s great A blind Hitler illegally enters in Nagasaki, Hiroko Tanaka WINNER storytellers, and here Wyoming Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Australia in 1919 with our survives the bomb blast. Her forms the harsh territory of returning soldiers, and has fiancé Konrad Weiss does not. eleven stories peopled by Fifteen‑year‑old Christopher to be smuggled out. Audrey The novel spans the intervening rugged eccentrics – ranchers, finds a neighbour’s dog lying McNeil, a young Australian years and the interweaving lives rodeo riders, country women dead on the lawn and decides cinematographer, grabs her of two families. – all struggling to survive in a to write a murder mystery about chance to escape a difficult family, F 2009 363pp B2087 world of raw loneliness, brutality, it. He has Asperger’s syndrome, and goes to 1920s Germany. longing, sexual urgency and and his flair for maths and At first incredulous, we come to Surviving, Prevailing Bury Me Standing sometimes bizarre events. scientific investigation is offset by recognise home truths – about unease and unusual behaviour Isabel Fonseca Includes 'Brokeback Mountain', Australia’s present and past, our a story about two men gripped in the presence of other people. insights and blind spots. The Gypsies are the Christopher is a brilliant creation: by a fierce attraction to F 2000 351pp B1637 untouchables of Europe, the each other when working as this depiction of the world lowest of the low – a scattered cow‑hands, which became a from his viewpoint leaves a Disgrace nation of 12 million people multi-award winning film. strong impression with much without a homeland. Fonseca, to discuss. J.M. Coetzee S 1999 318pp B1907 a journalist, describes the F 2003 272pp B1816 four years she spent with WINNER them in various countries Confessions of a Clay Man Commonwealth Writers’ Prize of Eastern Europe to bring Igor Gelbach An academic faces retribution back her insightful, personal D when his sexual encounters with account of this mysterious NOMINATED Dangerous Love one of his students are exposed. people and the way they live. Russian Booker Prize Ben Okri Refusing to offer the public apology Many photographs. The decay of a picturesque A love story alive with the sounds demanded from him, he resigns N 1995 322pp B1521 Black Sea resort during the and the smells of Nigeria in the and retreats to his adult daughter’s decline of the Soviet empire 1970s where the ordinary and isolated farm. A powerful, quietly forms the setting for this the poor live in almost impossible disturbing study of moral and C philosophical novel. The novel’s conditions. Struggling with historical accountabilities in the new main character, Bronhauser, post‑colonial realities and the South Africa. Café Scheherazade struggles to make sense in a aftermath of the civil war, the F 1999 256pp B1745 Arnold Zable Kafkaesque world. Gelbach, young artist and lover Omovo who in 1994 was nominated for You can go to this café in St is still in touch with potent The Diving‑Bell and the Russian Booker Prize, now communal, cultural and spiritual Kilda and eat the delicious lives and writes in Melbourne. ‘A the Butterfly food. But to find its real life, traditions. A gripping novel from wise and enchanting book,’ says this Booker Prize-winning author. Jean‑Dominique Bauby you need to read this haunting Robert Dessaix. novel. It interweaves the F 1996 325pp B1523 At 42 and the father of two young stories told by remarkably F 2001 184pp B1657 children, Bauby found himself different Jewish émigrés from speechless and paralysed after Dark Victory a massive stroke. His mind mid‑twentieth‑century Europe Coonardoo David Marr & Marian Wilkinson – Avram and Masha, the Katharine Susannah Prichard was unimpaired. To dictate this proprietors, and three of their A fascinating account of small book, Bauby blinked for Coonardoo is an Aboriginal girl the Howard Government’s each letter of every word. More regulars, Yossel, Laizer and brought up by a white woman Zelman. Trauma and dislocation unprecedented, relentless extraordinary is the writing itself – as companion to her little boy. pursuit of ‘border protection’ the keen gaze, lightness of touch are here transfigured by awe The boy is indoctrinated against and lyricism. on the eve of a federal election. and sensuousness with which he marrying black; and their love The Tampa crisis and Howard’s evokes his present circumstances F 2001 223pp B1620 changes from an idyll to a stark Pacific Solution is analysed and memories. tragedy. A moving account within the context of the N 1997 139pp B1555 Everyone enjoyed this of the fate of black women in 2001 election, September 11 book and it created ‘White’ Australia. and the war on terrorism. A lots of discussion about F 1929 208pp B201 fly‑on‑the‑wall perspective on displacement and different one of the most controversial ways of coping with totally episodes in Australia’s disrupted lives. The way political history. the book was written was very effective. N 2003 350pp B1779 Wallington 1

The Drowned and NEW A Fine Balance Fred Hollows: An the Saved The Eye of the Sheep Rohinton Mistry Autobiography Primo Levi Sofie Laguna In India in 1975, two tailors and Fred Hollows Levi’s last book argues that a college student come to the Appalled by the eye diseases as a Holocaust survivor he is WINNER vast, teeming city and end up he found among outback a proxy witness for the true Miles Franklin Literary Award lodging in cramped quarters with Aborigines, ophthalmologist Fred

witnesses – those who were a struggling widow. Their efforts Hollows gave years to a program PrevailingSurviving, annihilated. He is lucid and with This beautifully to survive are at the heart of this which improved the eye health neither hatred nor forgiveness nuanced unforgettable portrait of kindness, of thousands of them, and also as he investigates the genocide coming-of-age dignity, heroism, cruelty and worked in Eritrea and Nepal. This and its relevance to the present. story follows corruption which is well worth the life story of a doer, a maverick His insight into the issues of Jimmy, a kid not read. Small print. and a humanitarian emphasises guilt and shame makes this an quite like the F 1995 614pp B1516 his public rather than private life. important book for any nation others. Buffered BL 1991 240pp B1375 confronting violence and racism by his mother’s The First Stone in its past and present. love, Jimmy Helen Garner 1986 170pp B1440 negotiates the N realities of his world as his father This is a fictionalised account G oscillates between alcohol and of the sexual harassment case violence – and when his home at the University of Melbourne, NEW E life alters beyond recognition, which led to the resignation Jimmy must learn to navigate an of the master, despite being The Golden Age Edward Koiki Mabo alien and grown-up world that the cleared of charges. The Joan London Noel Loos & Koiki Mabo reader aches to protect him from. approach and the institutional issues raised make it both The 1992 Mabo Decision F 1995 614pp B2231 SHORTLISTED overturned the concept of terra relevant and controversial. Miles Franklin Literary Award nullius. Born on one of the N 1995 222pp B1442 remotest islands in the Torres We loved this book – a must- read for all book clubs. As SHORTLISTED Strait, Mabo found that he Flying with Paper Wings Stella Prize had no legal title to his land on told through the eyes of a boy, the beautiful narrative Sandy Jeffs Murray Island spurred him into a The Gold family takes the reader into his Poet Sandy Jeffs grew up in are immigrants ten‑year battle as a land‑rights dysfunctional, damaged and activist on behalf of his people. a violent family, and her world from war‑torn sometimes violent family. collapsed at 23 with the onset of Hungary, B 1996 206pp B1526 Dandenong 2 schizophrenia. Since then, she has and while become a community educator 13‑year‑old An Evil Cradling and speaker about living with Frank recovers Brian Keenan mental illness. An insightful look at from polio in a Keenan’s story of his years as F mental illness, from the social and convalescent home in Perth, hostage in Beirut is remarkable The Fault In Our Stars medical to the personal. for the humour, resilience and B 2009 268pp B2082 his parents can’t help missing the compassion which inform John Green elegance and charm of the city his experience and suffering. Sixteen‑year‑old Hazel knows For Esther they left behind. This beautiful story touches on how we come It includes the record of a she has a limited time to live, but Alex Sage friendship between the writer everything she has ever thought to terms with the past, the many – a working‑class Northern about life, love and death is Born in 1924 into a devout forms of recovery, and the healing Irishman – and the upper‑class upended when she meets Chassidic family, Alex Sage power of music. English public school humanist, handsome Augustus Waters. describes a childhood of acute F 2014 256pp B2222 John McCarthy. A beautiful story about what it poverty. A life of living off his wits ensued, until he reached B 1992 297pp B1371 means to be truly alive - it will make you sob and laugh. Australia via a death camp and A Good Day to Die Palestine. Sage attended English Lisa Birnie F 2012 313pp B2181 classes at CAE, and conveys his story with compelling directness. Is euthanasia either desirable or The Fiftieth Gate necessary, or could accessible B 2000 281pp B1757 palliative care supplant the Mark Raphael Baker need for it? In her search to Baker grew up in Melbourne, the understand what this question son of Polish Jewish parents who means, Lisa Birnie asked the survived the Holocaust. In this patients, family and staff of ‘journey through memory’, he McCulloch House (a short‑term seeks to draw his parents back palliative care centre) to tell into the terror of their childhood, their own stories. With her attempting to understand his own commentary, they make a experience of growing up with wonderful book, based on the their largely unspoken memories. compassionate conviction that B 1997 339pp B1529 everyone should die with dignity and free of pain. N 1998 231pp B1712

The Grass Is Singing Half the Sky The Happiest Refugee Hindustan Contessa Doris Lessing Nicholas Kristof & Anh Do Jane Watson In this powerful novel set in Sheryl WuDunn In this popular memoir, A book where myth blends with South Africa in the 1930s, we comedian and actor Anh the everyday, and where the experience the life of Mary WINNER Do traces his family history implications of cross‑cultural Turner. Lessing writes with Pulitzer Prize from war‑torn 1970s Vietnam relationships are tested. insight and compassion of to the current day. He also Indian‑born Milan and his Written by the first married Mary’s formative years, her describes his own personal Australian wife Tilly travel to couple to win a Pulitzer Prize young adulthood and her and professional journey with India where they fall into the for journalism, Half the Sky marriage to Dick. We learn of endearing candour and humour, hands of kidnappers. They must grew from the authors’ desire the racial attitudes of that earlier in this story of strength, hope accept their fate as prisoners to tell the personal stories of society and the way in which and forgiveness. and deal with the challenges women whose lives have been blacks were treated during they face within the intricacies catastrophically impacted by B 2010 232pp B2141 South Africa's Apartheid. of Indian culture. factors such as poverty, sex F 1950 220pp B427 trafficking and gender‑based We all enjoyed this heart- F 2002 308pp B1783 Surviving, Prevailing violence. It also examines warming story, which made The group had a lively the ways many women us laugh and cry. Anh is The Horses Too Are Gone discussion, and all agreed that have reclaimed their lives talented, hard-working and Michael Keenan while the characters were from oppression, and offers resilient, with his winning When drought took hold in quite unsympathetic, the suggestions to readers who personality and sense of Book Groups New South Wales in 1994, like writing was lyrical, captivating want to help alleviate global humour. The writing is Favourite so many others, the Keenan and transporting. There was poverty. Readers may find some engaging and original, though property was over‑stocked. His pin-drop silence in the room material in this book distressing. we thought it would benefit when members, returning from a little more careful efforts to keep his cattle fed to the book in response to a N 2009 295pp B2111 editing. and watered finally took Mike reference, found themselves, Hawthorn Cato Bluffers Keenan onto the stock routes of once again, absorbed in BOOK GROUPS south‑west Queensland, where the narrative. FAVOURITE he coped with one setback after Mount Waverley 30 What a great read! It caused another. This true account of his Hand Me Down World so much good discussion and experiences is a page‑turner and was so relevant to present a great Aussie yarn. The Great World Lloyd Jones times. The whole discussion N 1998 348pp B1595 David Malouf This is a hauntingly beautiful on the book was spontaneous tale of a mother’s search for with people wanting to share WINNER their favourite parts. Highly House Rules her son, taken by his father recommended! Miles Franklin Literary Award when only a few days old. Told Jodi Picoult Yarrawonga 3 This ambitious novel traces from the point of view of the Jacob has Asperger’s syndrome. the lives of two Australian men people who meet the mysterious He can’t read social clues, who survive the Second World north‑African woman after she is Hidden Agendas doesn’t like to make eye contact, washed ashore in Sicily, different War and Changi. Malouf’s usual John Pilger and has a singular focus. He is interest in relatedness and versions of the truth emerge to obsessed with forensic analysis. wisdom is combined with an reveal a complex narrative of a As reporter, polemicist and He keeps showing up at crime exploration of some key national displaced person struggling for partisan, Pilger crusades scenes and telling the police myths. Print smallish but clear. self‑determination and justice. against the power agendas what to do – usually he is right. F 2010 313pp B2122 of the media and the global But then his tutor is found F 1990 332pp B1275 markets and supports those dead and Jacob is accused of whom they ignore – the poor murder. House Rules is another who are getting poorer, the issue‑driven bestseller from H peoples of Iraq, Africa, Burma, Jodi Picoult. and East Timor. His immediate, F 2010 529pp B2076 Half of a Yellow Sun urgent and lucid style, and the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gripping subject matter make The Human Stain for easy reading. Stacks to WINNER talk about, probably with many Philip Roth different opinions. Orange Prize WINNER Set in 1960s Nigeria during the N 1998 687pp B1574 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction Biafran war, Adichie follows the A college professor is forced to lives of three characters caught retire when his colleagues declare up in the turbulent events of him to be a racist. Not true, but the time. As Nigerian troops the real truth about Silk would advance and they run for their have astonished even his most lives, their ideals, intimacies, self‑righteous accuser. Set in the and loyalties are severely tested. late ’90s against the backdrop Half of a Yellow Sun is an Enjoyed In the Country of Men? of the Clinton/Lewinsky affair, emotional exploration of Africa, this novel interweaves one man’s moral responsibility, race, class, Try The Kite Runner story with the wider history of and love. by Khaled Hosseini [B1860] modern America. 2006 448pp B1964 F F 2000 361pp B1618

In My Skin A Long Long Way I Kate Holden K Sebastian Barry Highly explicit and confronting In this thoughtful, moving novel, I Confess: Revelations memoir told in a vivid narrative A Kindness Cup Willie Dunne joins the Royal in Exile voice. Holden, a quiet, sensitive Thea Astley Dublin Fusiliers in 1914 and Kooshyar Karimi university graduate from a A schoolteacher returns to a is sent to the killing fields of

Growing up in the slums of comfortable middle‑class Queensland town’s reunion, and Europe. When the 1916 Easter PrevailingSurviving, Tehran, Karimi had to hide his background, spiralled into heroin attempts to force the citizens Rising in Ireland is brutally Jewish faith. Through force addiction and prostitution at the to recognise their cruelty to the quashed, he and other Irish of will, he became a surgeon age of 21. The book is beautifully town’s Aborigines in an incident in soldiers begin to wonder why and successful author, until he written in parts, but Holden’s which they took part two decades they are fighting for the Crown. was kidnapped by the Iranian attitude to sex work will enrage previously. One of Astley’s best. This is a fascinating insight into Intelligence Service, and forced some readers and intrigue others. F 1974 154pp B437 a rarely examined aspect of to betray his own people. He Love it or hate it, this book will Ireland’s troubled past. and his family fled to Turkey and generate fierce discussion, not F 2005 292pp B1927 now live in Australia. leastBook about Gr theoups relationship between female sexuality and L Look at Me B 2012 365pp B2173 self‑esteem.Favour Containsite strong The Land of Green Plums Anita Brookner The Inheritance of Loss language, sex and drug use. B 2005 285pp B1926 Herta Müller Frances Hinton, shy and clever, Kiran Desai This unusual autobiographical works by day in a medical library novel is a haunting account of a and goes back every evening BOOK GROUPS to the solitude of her London WINNER FAVOURITE group of students in Ceausescu’s Man Booker Prize totalitarian Romania. Weaving flat to write fiction. When she is adopted socially by Nick and In an isolated house at the foot back and forth between the In the Country of Men his wife, her heart is full of hope. of the Himalayas live a retired, provinces and the city, the Brookner’s poised, elegant embittered Cambridge‑educated Hisham Matar narrator traces the story of her prose is a superb vehicle for judge, his granddaughter, and survival and escape. A complex this novel, seen by one reviewer his cook. A Nepalese insurgency WINNER and poetic evocation of another as being about ‘monsters and soon disrupts their lives; while Commonwealth Writers’ Prize country, culture and politics. their victims’. in New York the cook’s son tries F 1998 242pp B1747 to stay one step ahead of US SHORTLISTED F 1983 192pp B1715 immigration services. Sometimes Man Booker Prize The Last Magician funny,Book sometimes Groups sad, the Set in Libya during 1979, Matar Janette Turner Hospital possibilityFavour for itehope or betrayal vividly evokes the brutalities of M hangs over every moment. a terrifying regime from a child’s SHORTLISTED Small print. perspective. Suleiman’s father is Miles Franklin Literary Award The Man Who Mistook away on business but Suleiman His Wife for a Hat F 2006 384pp B1967 Traces the link between a gifted is certain he sees him standing Oliver Sacks across the street. Why doesn’t photographer and the female BOOK GROUPS image which compels him and These extraordinary pieces FAVOURITE he wave? Fears and whispers intensify and in an effort to save others, as it moves between a show human beings striving his family, Suleiman may end up Queensland rainforest childhood to preserve their identity when Into the Darkest Corner betraying his friends, his parents and contemporary Sydney. things go wrong in different Elizabeth Haynes and ultimately himself. Disturbingly connects the powerful parts of the brain. The author is establishment and the desperate lovingly and respectfully curious F 2006 360pp B1965 underworld of the young, the about his patients and gifted in WINNER homeless and the vulnerable. presenting their states briefly Book of the Year (Amazon UK) F 1992 352pp B1379 and memorably. A book to make This suspenseful psychological J you wonder. thriller unfolds over two Little Bee N 1985 233pp B1260 timelines: one follows the Jackson’s Track Chris Cleave relationship between Cathy Daryl Tonkin & Carolyn Mind’s Eye and the almost‑perfect Lee; Landon Little Bee and her sister are from the other, Cathy suffering from Nigeria; Sarah O’Rourke and her Oliver Sacks obsessive compulsive disorder. Not far from Drouin in the husband are British tourists. Their Neurologist and acclaimed Dark themes are handled with Gippsland district of Victoria, meeting on a beach in Nigeria author Oliver Sacks explores the finesse and insight, drawing an almost utopian community involves a choice that impacts relationship between the eye and you in to Cathy’s world to of white and Aboriginal people all of their lives. A few years later the brain, and what happens to explore the power of obsession. lived and worked together in and Sarah and Little Bee (who our perception of the world when Contains language and themes the timber industry from the has been in a British immigration this relationship is disrupted. that may disturb. 1930s onwards - yet Daryl detention centre) meet again. Using his signature style, Sacks F 2011 416pp B2152 Tonkin’s choice of an Aboriginal Some distressing material. turns medical case studies into wife caused a serious rift in F 2008 378pp B2119 fascinating and moving human his family. This life story of a stories – particularly poignant hard‑working, principled man because, this time, he includes We had a long discussion and a vanished way of life offers his own experiences. much to discuss. about refugees and immigration policy. We N 2010 240pp B2199 B 1999 297pp B1596 enjoyed the story and really felt for all the characters. Melbourne City Readers

A Month in the Country My Left Foot The Rituals of Dinner J.L. Carr Christy Brown P Margaret Visser SHORTLISTED Christy Brown was born in The Plague Visser’s focus is on table Man Booker Prize 1932, one of the 23 children manners – the customs, of a Dublin bricklayer. Born Albert Camus expectations and proprieties Returning from the Great War, with cerebral palsy, he could A brilliant novel which examines of eating together. Subtiwtled the narrator goes to a small not control his speech or his the reactions of a town’s people The Origins, Evils, Eccentricities village to restore a historic wall movement, apart from his left to a plague which kills much of and Meaning of Table painting. He works on it, works foot. Here he tells his own story the population. It is set in Algeria Manners, this frolic will produce out its artist’s story and is drawn of learning to read, write, paint in the 1940s, and can be read animated discussion. into the local networks, making and finally type with his left foot, also as an allegory of the spread N 1991 432pp B1389 friends with another war survivor, and of his wonderfully supportive of Fascist beliefs. and piecing his own life together family. The film of the same 1947 288pp The Road Home name, starring Daniel Day Lewis F B98 during the English summer. Rose Tremain F 1980 111pp B783 as Christy, is based loosely on Pushing Time Away Surviving, Prevailing this book. Peter Singer WINNER The Multiple Effects B 1954 184pp B1301 Orange Prize of Rainshadow Singer’s biography of his Austrian grandfather David After the death of his wife, Lev Thea Astley Oppenheim before his death moves to London from his small N in the Theresienstadt ghetto town in Eastern Europe to look WINNER Nickel and Dimed traces the personal, intellectual, for work so he can support his The Age Book of the Year family and cultural richness of young daughter and elderly Barbara Ehrenreich his grandfather’s life. A portrait mother. Despite isolation and SHORTLISTED This US journalist gave up her unfolds of a complex, admirable, loneliness,Book Gr heoups finds a job at a Miles Franklin Literary Award comfortable middle‑class life surprising man. Full of important restaurant,Favour discoversite a passion for three months to live and and discussable matters. for cooking, and slowly begins to Astley is on her Queensland work for poverty level wages. A transform from dreamer to doer. home ground, earlier this century. B 2003 322pp B1812 readable book which examines 2007 365pp The narrative, woven from the enormous disproportions F B2013 many voices and viewpoints, in wealth that exist in America uncovers the extraordinary today and raises many R BOOK GROUPS nature of everyday life for both discussable issues. Does the FAVOURITE Aborigines and settlers. Poignant ‘American dream’ really apply to Reading Lolita in Tehran and revealing. all citizens of the USA? Azar Nafisi The Rugmaker of F 1996 296pp B1541 N 2001 221pp B1793 In the mid‑1990s seven young Mazar‑e‑Sharif Iranian women gathered in Najaf Mazari & Robert Hillman My Dirty Shiny Life Nafisi’s home to discuss the Lily Bragge work of forbidden Western Mazari was a shepherd in O writers. Their main focus was on Afghanistan who fled the Taliban Child of a career‑criminal father Lolita, The Great Gatsby, and regime to Melbourne, where he and a head teacher mother, Once Were Warriors novels of Henry James and Jane set up a successful rug shop. Lily became a successful Alan Duff Austen. A narrative which begins His memoir, captured in his own comedian and journalist. The Heke family’s world with secret literature classes voice by writer Robert Hillman, Uncompromisingly honest and of unemployment, racism, expands into a picture of life in a is a fascinating insight into what highly entertaining in equal dispossession, alcohol and totalitarian regime. compels people to leave behind measure, Bragge’s bumpy violence is rendered in their own their homes and histories to personal journey and the way N 2003 347pp B1839 brutalised idiom. From within this search for peace for themselves she eventually finds salvation are alienated Maori experience, Duff and their children. bound to stimulate discussion. Resilience finds the seeds of reconnection 2008 253pp B2010 Contains sex, violence and N to their own past, and shows the Anne Deveson drug use. birth of communal and individual Drawing on her own experience B 2010 272pp B2097 change, pride and hope. and her work with media and The Rules of Inheritance F 1990 198pp B1451 social justice organisations, Anne Claire Bidwell‑Smith We felt divided on this book, Deveson asks what enables This is a moving memoir of a as not everyone enjoyed individuals and communities to woman whose identity was Bragge's style. However, we An Orphan’s Escape Frank Golding cope with adversity. Her book formed amidst the illness and enjoyed her honest approach interweaves memoir and stories, death of her parents, both to telling her story, and found In 1940, three young brothers and her writing is effortlessly diagnosed with cancer when she her journey fascinating. We were admitted to the Ballarat readable, as usual. was a teen. Unconventionally wondered how we would Orphanage, but like many of the N 2003 296pp B1808 framed around the five stages of feel writing a memoir, children at the orphanage they with everybody knowing grief – denial, anger, bargaining, had living parents. Frank Golding depression, and acceptance – our secrets! recalls the twelve bleak years Hartington Books and Wine the story follows Claire’s journey of their time there and pieces as she battles to overcome and together the story of his parents’ resolve her unhappy inheritance struggle against the state to get of grief. their children back. B 2012 298 B2163 B 2005 247pp B1946

Stasiland Stormy Weather S Anna Funder Michael Meehan T In 1955 the travelling Blind Shadow Child WINNER Concert' arrives with its troupe The Tattooed Flower Rosalie Fraser Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction of vaudeville performers in Suzy Zail Born in 1958, Rosalie Fraser Forty years of communism in a tiny township in Victoria’s When Holocaust survivor was removed from her parents East Germany ended when north‑west. Meehan’s Emil is diagnosed with motor PrevailingSurviving, at two‑and‑a‑half years old. the Berlin Wall came down in atmospheric novel explores neurone disease, he gathers Her story is an eye‑opener 1989. This book blends travel, the impact of performers and his family to share the secrets about the way children could history and biography in the true townspeopleBook Groups on themselves and of his remarkable life. The book be ‘cared’ for in foster homes stories of bravery and betrayal eachFa othervour throughite one day, takes us through Emil’s past and institutions, and how under the Stasi, the omnipresent as tension mounts before the and into his present via his our governments saw to the secret police of the former East night’s performance. daughter, author Suzy Zail. This ‘welfare’ of their wards during German Government. Moving, F 2000 204pp B1768 is an inspirational story likely to Australia’s most prosperously exhilarating and at times funny. produce excellent discussion on comfortable decades. The father‑daughter relationships and N 2002 282pp B1680 BOOK GROUPS teller’s persistence, frankness FAVOURITE the extent to which we shape and enduring spirit make the Still Alice our own destinies. deprivation and brutalities of her B 2006 211pp B1939 life bearable in this ‘memoir of Lisa Genova Streets of Hope the stolen generation’. Alice is a 50‑year‑old Harvard Tim Costello The Tears of Strangers B 1998 270pp B1730 professor when she starts Reverend Tim Costello is a Stan Grant experiencing symptoms of Melbourne lawyer and minister So Much for That early‑onset Alzheimer’s disease. of religion for whom private Grant recounts the story of the Lionel Shriver She is forced to re‑evaluate her faith and social issues have Wiradjuri people of New South relationship with her husband always inter‑connected. His Wales and the landowning and three grown children. book chronicles the time leading Grants, descendants of an Irish FINALIST Genova cleverly addresses the rebel. White as well as black, National Book Award up to his election as Mayor of fundamental issue of disease St Kilda and his battle for the he has ultimately to reconcile Shep Knacker has just sold his and mental illness: what is left democratic rights of St Kilda’s that he is descended from company and decided to move of Alice? street‑workers, drug users and the oppressors as well as the to an island paradise, hoping F 2009 292pp B2098 homeless. It provides a rare oppressed and his personal his wife Glynis will move with insight into his life, his beliefs success has removed him from him. But Glynis has a bombshell The Stolen Children and his ongoing struggle on the violence, alcoholism and of her own, and reveals she behalf of others. despair experienced by many Carmel Bird of his cousins. A thoughtful has been diagnosed with a N 1998 242pp B1703 rare and aggressive form of Carmel Bird’s short book of the account of human and cancer. Personal neuroses and stolen children’s own stories sits Suite Française historical complexities. relationships are examined as alongside a copy of the formal B 2002 259pp B1681 the question arises – how much Report of the National Inquiry Irène Némirovsky is a life worth? into the separation of Aboriginal Némirovsky depicted the This book certainly stimulated F 2010 436pp B2075 and Torres Strait Islander experience of war and very interesting discussion children from their families. occupation as it affected the between our members. We The Spare Room Their unadorned accounts are people around her, writing the felt this book was well written Helen Garner anguishing, but it is necessary two sections of Suite Française and very informative. witness not only to tragedies more or less as events unfolded. Lugarno Book Club and wrongs that were hidden The first part portrays a group WINNER and suppressed but to the of Parisians as they flee the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction importance of acknowledging approaching Germans and make the truth. their way through the chaos of Helen prepares her spare room N 1998 188pp B1589 the French countryside. The for her friend Nicola, who is second concerns the inhabitants coming to town to receive of a small rural community treatment for her advanced under occupation. cancer. Helen becomes Nicola’s 2004 403pp nurse, protector, guardian angel F B1913 and stony judge in this story of compassion and rage as two women negotiate their way through gruelling treatments. A provocative novel that provides rich material for discussion on friendship, faith and death. F 2008 195pp B1999

Enjoyed Still Alice? Try Iris by John Bayley [B1736]

Three Dollars To Kill a Mockingbird The Turning The Wilderness Elliot Perlman Harper Lee Tim Winton Samantha Harvey The run‑down coastal town of WINNER WINNER Angelus in Western Australia’s SHORTLISTED The Age Book of the Year Pulitzer Prize south is the setting for seventeen Orange Prize What effect has the emphasis on Atticus Finch is a lawyer who overlapping stories, men and Jake has Alzheimer’s disease. ‘the bottom line’ – downsizing, defends a black man who women, young and old, their It’s his birthday, his wife has corporatising, consulting, has been accused of raping a hopes, longings, second passed away, his son is in outsourcing – had on the white woman. The best and thoughts, disappointments, as prison, and it is unclear where well‑educated young couples worst of life in a Southern town they scan the horizon, looking his daughter is. Told from Jake’s who are supposed to be are brought to life through to the world beyond and caught point of view, The Wilderness among its main beneficiaries? the eyes of Scout, Atticus’ at a point of change or altered sifts through his past. What really In his compassionate first young daughter. awareness. The natural world happened and what may have and human destinies within it are novel, Perlman gives a moving FL 1960 290pp B37 happened blur together until it’s and imaginative portrait of superbly evoked: this is Winton difficult to tell what is true and

Surviving, Prevailing a loving family at risk in the at his best. what is not. Beautifully written, heartless environment of All members of our group this is a compelling study of really enjoyed reading this S 2004 317pp B1896 contemporary Victoria. book – even those who human frailty. F 1998 381pp B1581 had read it before and or F 2009 328pp B2086 seen the film. We had a W Tiger’s Eye good discussion on issues The Woman Who Inga Clendinnen of racism, small-town life, Wanamurraganya Walked Into Doors prejudice and hierarchies. Sally Morgan Burning bright on every page, The book deserves its status Roddy Doyle this is the arresting story of what as a classic, and despite being Morgan met Jack McPhee while Paula Spencer’s uncensored happened to the distinguished written 65 years ago, it still searching for her extended family voice convincingly takes us into Geelong‑born historian when resonates today. in Western Australia’s North. her brave attempt to struggle serious illness in her early Lugarno Book Club Here, aged 84, he tells her his free from a violent marriage, her fifties pitched her into an life story. Of mixed Aboriginal drinking problem and her own Alice‑in‑Wonderland otherworld Touching the Void and European ancestry, he denial: ‘After all the years and of hospitals, organ transplant Joe Simpson worked from the age of seven the broken bones and teeth and hallucination. She used as an itinerant station‑hand and torture I still keep blaming writing to ‘cling to the shreds In 1985 two climbing friends and mine‑worker in the Pilbara. myself.’ Doyle’s writing pulls of self’. The publisher’s blurb succeeded in scaling the DespiteBook the Gr harshoups government no punches as she is seen in is accurate: ‘Lucid, fearless, spectacularly dangerous West policiesFav whichourite affected his life, the wider context of the poor face of the Siula Grande, a his story is told without rancour. passionate and wise, its true in Ireland. subject is being alive.’ peak in the Peruvian Andes. Photographs through the text. Catastrophe struck on the 1989 196pp B1254 F 1996 226pp B1505 B 2000 289pp B1742 descent, leaving one severely B injured, the other also in The Tiger’s Wife extreme danger. Would both BOOK GROUPS Tea Obreht perish? Could one survive? This FAVOURITE anguishing dilemma, Joe’s almost WINNER unbelievable will to persist and Well Done, Those Men Orange Prize the quality of his writing make this Barry Heard a modern classic of mountain Natalia is a doctor visiting writing – even more gripping As a young man from a small orphanages in the Balkans after than the recent documentary film Victorian country town, Barry a devastating war when she about these same events. Heard was conscripted into receives news that her beloved the army at age 21, fought in grandfather has died. As Natalia N 1988 216pp B1866 Vietnam and came back to struggles to understand his life’s cope as best he could. In his quest, Obreht spins around Traitor laconic, Aussie, blokey voice, her a series of magical tales Stephen Daisley Heard tells us simply what that bring home the tragedy of happened – during his training, chronic conflict. WINNER in action, and after his return to F 2011 336pp B2117 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards civilian life. Writing this memoir marked his emergence from the Barely released before being massive breakdown which finally swamped under awards and overtook him. Gripping, at times praise, Traitor asks the question: funny, affecting, alarming, this What would make a soldier book enlarges our understanding betray his own country? This is of the damage war can do. an important book about love, loneliness, compassion, war and B 2005 290pp B1914 the bond between two people. Both brutal and beautiful, the writing is nuanced and personal, and gently suffused with the Sufi philosophy. The writing style is unusual but stick with it and you will be rewarded. F 2011 293pp B2132

START A CONVERSATION, START A BOOK GROUP / 9652 0620 / CAE.EDU.AU / CONNECT WITH US 49 Exceptional Women These titles celebrate strong women in fiction, biography and other Textnonfiction, goes here from Book Groups intrepid and wise female detectives to Helen Garner's razor‑sharp essays. Favourite Drawn from Life A C D Stella Bowen During her art school years in Animal, Vegetable, BOOK GROUPS Desert Flower FAVOURITE England Stella Bowen met the Miracle Waris Dirie & Catherine Miller avant‑garde artists of her day Barbara Kingsolver Waris Dirie tells her life story in and, eventually, the writer Ford When bestselling author Barbara The Chase this co‑authored book. A Somali Madox Ford. The two lived Kingsolver and her family move Ida Mann desert child, she suffered her together for ten years, first in people’s customary genital Sussex where their daughter from suburban Arizona to rural To be female, born in England rituals, but aged 12 ran away was born, and later in France. Appalachia, they take on a in 1893, and to leave school at from an arranged marriage. After Witness the literary and artistic new challenge: to spend a year 16 without university entrance years of domestic service, Waris world of Paris in the 1920s eating locally‑produced food. qualifications: these seem is now an international model and 1930s, the difficulties of Part memoir, part journalistic unlikely beginnings for Oxford’s and Special Ambassador with doing work of your own while investigation, and complete first woman professor. The rare the United Nations. Direct and a handmaid to the genius of with original recipes, Kingsolver account of a woman whose without introspective profundity, another, the struggle to bring makes a passionate case for passion for her medical work is this is genuinely ‘the extraordinary up a daughter and the break‑up putting the kitchen back at central in a dauntless and long journey of a desert nomad’. after Ford’s affair with Jean Rhys. the centre of family life, and life which included travelling, a diversified farms at the centre of passionate marriage in her fifties B 1998 369pp B1744 B 1941 303pp B1811 our diet. Small print. and her work documenting and N 2007 352pp B2006 treating trachomas in Aborigines. The Diaries of 1986 217pp B1197 Jane Somers E Are You Somebody? B Doris Lessing Edna Walling and Nuala O’Faolain Chocolat The editor of a successful Her Gardens Roddy Doyle said of this Joanne Harris women’s magazine, Jane remarkable memoir: ‘Writing Somers is elegant, competent, Peter Watts about herself, Nuala O’Faolain SHORTLISTED self‑assured and self‑contained Peter Watts describes the life, has also written about Ireland. Whitbread Novel Prize until her attention is claimed by career, style and influence of It is a cruel, wounded place – a tiny, fierce old woman who Edna Walling. A writer as well and this book has become an ‘We came on the wind of the lives nearby, ill and in poverty. as a gardener, generations of important part of the cure’. This carnival.’ So begins this magical A difficult alliance develops Australians have been able to extended 1998 edition, subtitled tale of Vianne, her daughter between the two. absorb the Walling philosophy Anouk, and a chocolate The Life and Times of Nuala F 1984 510pp B1270 on plant groupings, colour, O’Faolain also includes almost boutique nestled in the tiny pathways, rockwork, and the 200 pages of her lively and French village of Lansquenet – integration of house and garden. perceptive journalism. seductive, sensual and just a There was a lot of discussion little mischievous. It’s the Church on this book. The complex N 1991 136pp B1988 B 1996 434pp B1591 versus chocolate when the relationships between Jane locals are tempted, the priest and other characters were Elizabeth David outraged. Try me ... test me ... well drawn, and Lessing Lisa Chaney B taste me ... Who can resist? expresses them warts and all! Toowoomba: The England was still in the grips F 1999 394pp B1633 Great Escape of post‑war food rationing The Bloody Chamber when Elizabeth David’s first Angela Carter The Courtesan’s Revenge books appeared, French Carter’s retelling of familiar fairy Frances Wilson Divine Secrets of the Country Cooking and A Book of tales restores their power to Ya‑Ya Sisterhood Mediterranean Food. With her Born in 1786, Harriette Wilson evocations of vibrant colours surprise and even to shock. became one of the celebrated Female or feminist? This sensual, Rebecca Wells and flavours she captured the courtesans of Regency London. imagination of a generation daring and varied collection can She entranced men with her provoke strong reaction and SHORTLISTED of cooks. Daughter of a wit and character as much Orange Prize Conservative MP, David was discussion. Small print. as her beauty. Her conquests 1979 126pp When an utterly original courageous and independent, F B1318 included royalty, at least three a complex character whom one Prime Ministers and the Lord mother‑daughter team get into a savage fight over aNew reviewer called ‘an elegant, witty, Chancellor. When her rich former charming minor monster’. lovers refused to pay her an York Times article that refers to annuity Harriette exacted her the mother as a ‘tap‑dancing B 1998 482pp B1734 own revenge on the aristocracy, child abuser,’ the fall‑out is felt eliciting the Duke of Wellington’s from Louisiana to New York to famous retort: ‘publish and be Seattle. But Vivi’s intrepid gang damned’. Small print. of life‑long girlfriends, the Ya‑Yas, unforgettable Southern belles, B 2003 359pp B1815 sashay in and conspire to bring everyone back together. F 1996 356pp B1682

Excellent Women Follow the The Full Cupboard of Life Hidden Lives Barbara Pym Rabbit‑Proof Fence Alexander McCall Smith Margaret Forster ‘... practically anything may be Doris Pilkington & The fifth book in the No. 1 Which lives are significant, and the business of an unattached Nugi Garimara Ladies’ Detective Agency series. why? Forster’s ‘family memoir’ woman with no troubles of her Nugi Garimara tells the story of Mma Ramotswe has been traces three generations of own, who takes a kindly interest three young girls who in 1931 approached by a wealthy lady women: her grandmother, in those of her friends.’ Set in escaped from the Moore River to investigate several suitors. her mother and herself – of the shabby‑genteel world of Native Settlement north of Are these men just interested in working‑class background, flats, academic societies and Perth intending to walk home her money? Alexander McCall born and raised in Carlisle, an tea rooms of London after the to the northern desert. We see Smith’s “novels are … extremely industrial town in north England, Second World War, with an the realities of social policy funny: I find it impossible to think each experiencing radically Austen‑like ear for dialogue. at that time, but the focus is about them without smiling” different circumstances and F 1952 238pp B776 on an extraordinary effort of – Mail on Sunday (UK). opportunities. ‘Let no one say willpower, knowledge, strategy F 2003 212pp B2049 that nothing has changed, that and stamina. women have it as bad as ever,’ Forster concludes. F B 1996 133pp B1756 G B 1995 309pp B1510 A Fence Around Friends, Lovers, the Cuckoo Chocolate Getting Equal The House of the Spirits Ruth Park Alexander McCall Smith Marilyn Lake Isabel Allende This ‘History of Australian This is the beautiful, touching WINNER The second novel in the Sunday story of the Trueba family, Philosophy Club series. Isabel Feminism’ is an eye‑opener, full The Age Nonfiction Book of the Year of lively, sharp and generous following their lives through the Dalhousie is an Edinburgh post-colonial social and political A lively account of Ruth Park’s portraits of significant (often philosopher, and when her niece upheavals in Chile in the Latin early years in New Zealand. forgotten) women and telling Cat decides to take a holiday, American magic realism style. We see the dense bush of (often amusing) anecdotes. Can Isabel agrees to help out at Follow volatile patriarch Esteban, Exceptional Women Exceptional that country’s isolated regions, a mother be an independent her delicatessen. One of her his wife Clara, their daughter the Maori people whose woman? Do you want to customers has recently had a Blanca and their granddaughter lives intersected with hers, be equal? Hugely readable heart transplant and is being Alba in this epic novel of love, the dramas within a battling and discussable. haunted by memories he feels magic and fate. Irish Catholic family, and the are not his own. Isabel soon N 1999 316pp B1759 intense poverty during the finds herself following another F 1985 491pp B1176 Depression years. risky investigation. The Girls BL 1992 294pp B1372 F 2005 297pp B2051 Robin Levett Levett draws on an amazing I First Lady From Strength to Strength memory and a sprightly, comic, I Don’t Know How Kay Cottee Sara Henderson forceful disposition to restore her part of the Australia of the She Does It Making this voyage was Kay Marriage to a glamorous Allison Pearson Cottee’s dream. Following her American soon became life in 1920s and ’30s and her war triumphant return after 189 days a tin shack in a sea of red dust service in the ’40s. You’ll find it Oh, the chaos of life, balancing at sea, she was named 1988 on a remote Northern Australian all here: Sorrento, South Yarra, a job as a fund manager, two Australian of the Year. Here is her cattle station. On Charlie’s death the Hermitage, Toorak College, small children, a husband and detailed account of the voyage – Sara discovered he had left her the National Gallery School, the a nanny who never listens. A its highs and lows, the extremes with massive debt and a failing WRANS and WAS(B), post‑war young mother juggles time she endured, and the dangers property which she managed England; the adventurous for her family while struggling presented by icebergs, whales, to rebuild. freedoms and startling with the ‘old boys’ network’. rocks and huge seas. constraintsBook Gr ofoups her girlhood. Will she cope? Often hilarious, BL 1992 337pp B1376 sometimes sad, this novel B 1989 226pp B1373 B 1997Fav our264ppite B1533 From the Beast portrays working motherhood in Fishing in the Styx the 21st century. to the Blonde F 2002 357pp B1785 Ruth Park Marina Warner H This second volume of Ruth Warner’s book explores the BOOK GROUPS Everyone enjoyed the Park’s popular autobiography is origin of fairy tales in women’s FAVOURITE book – ultimately, it was a set in Australia. Her warm, frank culture, using symbolic nice, light read. We felt that record reveals an admirably means such as magic castles, Hanna’s Daughters Kate was never destined productive life – as writer of impossible tasks, beasts and for motherhood as her sole ‘everything’, wife of D’Arcy blondes to address urgent life Marianne Fredriksson activity, she would have Niland, mother of five, and, issues. A difficult, stimulating and From 1871 three generations found something else to above all, a getter of wisdom in sumptuously illustrated book. of a Swedish family live through occupy her time – and the work, trouble, loss and joy. end result was a good mix N 1994 458pp B1444 marked social change: from BL 1994 302pp B1406 primitive rural life to industrialised of family responsibilities society to the information age. and her skills. As usual, a lively discussion! A complex chronicle of women’s lives, unsentimental about the Mount Eliza 6 burdens of family history, gender and character. F 1994 299pp B1617

In the Company Joan Makes History Malinche’s Conquest Nine Parts of Desire of Cheerful Ladies Kate Grenville Anna Lanyon Geraldine Brooks Alexander McCall Smith The several Joans whose stories The gifted young woman who Working in the Middle East, The sixth book in the No.1 Ladies animate this book put women translated for Cortes in his 16th Brooks learned a lot about Detective Agency series. Precious into the action of the last two century conquest of Mexico is what life is like for Islamic Ramotswe is now married to Mr. centuries of Australian history. remembered by the Mexican elite women. Focusing on individuals J.L.B. Matekoni, but life is still Vivacious, diversified vignettes as a traitor, but is celebrated in in different countries and in full of mishaps, mysteries and are set into the narrative of Joan popular legend. Lanyon uncovers various roles, professional and personality clashes. “The story and Duncan, who also appear in her ‘survival amid catastrophe’ domestic, she traces the origins unfolds at a familiar gentle pace Lilian’s Story. to see the luminous traces of of today’s practices, showing … evoking a powerful but simple F 1988 285pp B1202 a woman who was among the that oppression of women morality: that sharing our hearts founders of modern Mexico. is inconsistent with Islam in with each other improves us all” – N 1999 233pp B1739 its purest form. Informative, Sunday Times. K readable, discussable. F 2004 264pp B2050 Morality for N 1995 255pp B1543 The Kalahari Typing Beautiful Girls The Invisible Woman School for Men Alexander McCall Smith The No. 1 Ladies’ Claire Tomalin Alexander McCall Smith The third in the bestselling Detective Agency

This biography opens up the world The Kalahari Typing School for No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith Exceptional Women of Ellen ‘Nelly’ Lawless Ternan, an Men is the fourth volume of series. Precious Ramotswe has Expansive middle‑aged female actress who at eighteen met the the bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ financial worries, puzzling cases detective Precious Ramotswe older, married Charles Dickens. Detective Agency series. Precious to solve and the ethical dilemma brings her intelligence and Tomalin makes a strong case for Ramotswe has competition of a beauty pageant. intuition to bear on problems their parenting illegitimate children. from a new EX‑CID, EX‑NY, F 2001 246pp B1987 and mysteries in her small She follows Nelly’s life through the EX‑cellent detective agency and town. Far removed from the decades after Dickens’ death. Mma Makutsi, who believes in Mrs Cook darkness and blood of many B 1990 333pp B1512 ‘enterprise with compassion’, crime novels, this is a book full of runs evening classes for men. Marele Day humour, good heart and gently Before James Cook departed on We thought it was well written 2002 210pp B2009 ironic observation. F his final voyage, he had been at and the amount of research F 1998 235pp B1794 was amazing. Combined with home with his wife Elizabeth for the Dickens biography, we now L only four of their fourteen years No Place for a see him and his characters in of marriage. She raised their six Nervous Lady a different light, and found it The Little Coffee children, only to outlive them. This interesting to learn something ‘non‑fiction novel’ imaginatively Lucy Frost about an author we have read Shop of Kabul reconstructs the domestic life of Lucy Frost edits the diaries numerous times. Deborah Rodriguez the sea captain’s wife. of 19th century women Bellarine Bookies Sunny, café proprietor, needs F 2002 357pp B1775 pioneers in Australia’s outback. a plan to keep her customers Compelling and absorbing safe; Halajan, her sixty‑year‑old reading from a fascinating time landlady, is willing to risk all for N in our history, which will lead to love; young, pregnant Yazmina much discussion. J needs protection; Isabel is a NEW N 1984 279pp B18 Jane Austen: A Life journalist with a story of her own; Candace, a wealthy American, The Natural Way of Things We had a good discussion Claire Tomalin follows her Afghan lover to Charlotte Wood about this book. Most people The heroines in Austen’s six Kabul. This novel captures the enjoyed the diary entries, novels inhabit a world of stability fears and longings of each as but weren't convinced by the women make a life under the WINNER and continuity, yet Tomalin sees Stella Prize Lucy Frost's comments, and Jane Austen as a woman living watchful eyes of the Taliban. felt she was interpreting the on the margins of a competitive, F 2011 304pp B2124 diaries using too modern SHORTLISTED an approach. money‑oriented world, part Miles Franklin Literary Award of a lively, chaotic family and Nowra Evening Book a more volatile character than Two women wake Discussion Group previously thought. M to find themselves B 1997 358pp B1583 Madeleine held captive in Helen Trinca the desert with a group of eight Jane Eyre others, and slowly Charlotte Brontë WINNER Prime Minister’s Literary Awards realise they all Jane Eyre moves from a have something harsh, orphaned childhood Late‑blossoming author Madeleine in common: in to Thornfield Hall, where, as St John (The Women in Black) each of their pasts is a sexual governess, she falls in love with was brilliant and troubled. This scandal with a powerful man. But Mr Rochester, and is menaced biography follows her childhood who is punishing them, and what by the madwoman in the attic. in Sydney to years in London for? This is a stark exploration Her quest for independence, in council flats, culminating with of contemporary misogyny and romantic circumstances, has the publication of four acclaimed corporate control – and the beauty exceptional emotional power. novels in the last decade of her life. (and courage) of sisterly love. FL 1847 560pp B24 F 2013 272pp B2194 F 2015 320pp B2237

Over My Tracks The Rooms in My O Evelyn Crawford & Q Mother’s House Chris Walsh Quicksands Olga Lorenzo The 65‑year‑old Evelyn Crawford, Driven from Cuba after the born into the Baarkanji tribal Sybille Bedford revolution, Dolores, Consuelo and One Life group, goes back over her tracks From WWI Germany to 21st Ana settle in an old farmhouse in Kate Grenville to tell us her eye‑opening life century England via Europe Miami, where they battle with each One of our story. Crawford lived in the red and America, Bedford evokes a other and the ghosts that remain in favourite sandhills back of Bourke: her world of writers and diplomats, their hearts. The spirit world blends storytellers years of hard work droving and the dispossessed and the fabulously with their material one in is back with mustering, the varying contacts powerful. An elegant mosaic this vibrant novel. Contains themes this moving she made with white Australians, of lovers and tragedy, this is a that may disturb. tribute to her mother, Nance, and the ups and downs of spellbinding reflection on the F 1996 405pp B1582 a woman who was in many coping with her fourteen children. intersection between history and ways revolutionary. Grenville’s Involvement in her youngest personal experience. voice punctuates her warm son’s schooling takes her into the B 2005 369pp B1955 and heartfelt account which is training of Aboriginal teachers. S partly crafted from Nance’s own B 1993 319pp B1385 A Scandalous Life diaries. This is a story about R Mary S. Lovell Australian consciousness, and A remarkable life and book how the patterns of the past can indeed. We all enjoyed this Rebecca West At 17, a beautiful English girl be seen in the present. autobiography, and found Victoria Glendinning married an older aristocrat who B 2015 272pp B2216 it remarkable in the way Ev kept his mistress. Lady Jane tackled all that life threw at West lived from 1892 to 1983 Digby responded to this indignity her; and remarkable in the and was both an agent and a with unusual spirit and a highly The Orchard way she managed to work victim of change. She marched publicised divorce. The Austrian Drusilla Modjeska hard for her people and with the suffragettes, and had prince with whom she eloped

Exceptional Women Exceptional a ten year liaison with H.G. was succeeded by a baron, a How does a woman grow into help develop understanding Wells. An accomplished and count, and a brigand, before she her own life? Filled with stories between Aboriginal and white Australians. affectionate portrayal of a married a Bedouin sheikh 20 people, and Modjeska’s own complex woman. years her junior, and lived among meditations and life‑questions Camperdown: the Syrian desert tribes. framed by women gardeners, The Leura Literati B 1987 288pp B1578 and returning to the English B 1995 365pp B1552 spring of Modjeska’s boarding school. NEW The Secret Life of Bees N 1994 268pp B1452 P Sue Monk Kidd Paradise Return to In the deep south in the 1960s, Out of the Silence Toni Morrison the Little Lily lives with her strict father Wendy James Coffee Shop and servant Rosaleen. When The all‑black town of Ruby was racial tensions explode, Lily At the turn of the last century, of Kabul founded by ex‑slaves, determined comes to Rosaleen’s aid and the three women’s lives are on to pass on the unchanging pure Deborah two run away together, finding a collision course: Vida, the faith which had enabled them Rodriguez sanctuary with three beekeeping fiery Melbourne suffragist; to survive in the antagonistic In this much anticipated sequel, sisters. A heart‑warming and Elizabeth, far from home and American South. Morrison’s six women remain linked by their life‑affirming tale. grieving for her lost love; and explosively imagined novel experiences in a café in Kabul. the courageous young country focuses on the lives of the women F 2001 374pp B2005 Now on opposite sides of the girl, Maggie. Their experiences in and outside this fictitious town, world, each will deal with the revolve around issues that confronting the difficult issues of past in different ways as she NEW still touch us deeply today: black male violence. faces the future. This delightful single motherhood, post‑natal F 1999 318pp B1700 The depression, and the role of and poignant novel explores the Signature of women in public life. legacy of war, the trouble with The Prime of Miss culture clash, and the importance F 2005 351pp B1932 All Things Jean Brodie of friendship. Elizabeth Muriel Spark F 2016 400pp B2238 Gilbert Miss Brodie is a school teacher; Born in in the 1930s, and in her prime, Philadelphia in 1800, Alma she decides to inculcate Whittaker’s remarkable mind ‘progressive’ ideas about politics, and questing spirit reflect both sex and art into her pupils, much the rigours of 19th century to the consternation of her scientific curiosity and the Enjoyed conservative school. exploration of a dimension True Pleasures? F 1961 128pp B925 beyond the empirical. The Signature of All Things is simultaneously a book of ideas, Try Almost French a travelogue, an unconventional by Sarah Turnbull love story and a testament to [B1776] female achievement. F 2013 501pp B2208

The Stone Diaries True Stories Watched by Ancestors Carol Shields T Helen Garner Kathy Golski This evocative collection is It’s one thing for trained WINNER Tears of the Giraffe drawn from a quarter of a anthropologists to do their Pulitzer Prize Alexander McCall Smith century of Garner’s non‑fiction adventurous work, but here Daisy is born on a kitchen floor This second in the No. 1 Ladies’ writing. The topics range from an artist and her four children in 1905 in Canada, and the Detective Agency series starts the (1970s) four‑letter‑words sex accompany her second husband ordinariness of her ordinary with the engagement of Mma lesson in a secondary school to the remote highlands of Papua life is made remarkable in this Ramotswe and Mr J.L.B. They – she was sacked – to her New Guinea where they live for original and enjoyable novel. The deal with the ups and downs of accounts of 1980s marriages two years, giving other, often unforgettable first chapter opens domestic life and find themselves at the Mint in Melbourne and surprising, dimensions to the the way to further surprises with unexpected additions to of autopsies at the morgue lives of all concerned. and delights. their family. Mma Ramotswe and in 1992, to births in a labour N 1998 270pp B1732 F 1993 361pp B1460 her secretary must also deal with ward in Penrith (1995). A treasure chest. questions of right and wrong Book Groups The Whole Woman Stravinsky’s Lunch in their Botswanan detective N 1996Fav our242ppite B1501 Germaine Greer Drusilla Modjeska agency business. 2000 217pp This sequel to The Female F B1847 Eunuch, the book Germaine said

WINNER U she would never write, is vintage Exceptional Women The Age Nonfiction Book of the Year Our discussion was wide and Greer: intelligent, wide‑ranging, lively as the stories around Stella Bowen and Grace BOOK GROUPS energetic, provocative, humorous, Mma Ramotswe are universal FAVOURITE tender. Her angry thesis is that Cossington Smith were born stories of the human condition in the 1890s. One left Australia and empathy for others. McCall ‘real women are being phased before the First World War Smith writes in an easy to read The Unusual Life out’, and it is certain to stimulate and remained in Europe, the fashion appealing to many of Edna Walling strong discussion. other lived for decades on readers and so bringing the Sara Hardy N 1999 350pp B1720 the outskirts of Sydney. Their lives and problems of a small Independent and lives and work are the focus of African country, Botswana, into unconventional, Edna Walling Wicked But Virtuous this moving meditation on the the hearts of western readers. was one of the first women Mirka Mora friction between creative and Lismore 2 NSW to graduate from the Burnley domestic life. One of Melbourne’s best known School of Horticulture in 1917 artists, Mirka Mora arrived in B 1999 364pp B1623 and went on to become one Australia from Paris in 1951 with of Australia’s finest landscape The Summer Without Men True North her husband and baby. Their Brenda Niall designers. Though her gardens restaurants were a magnet for Siri Hustvedt are well documented, Hardy the artistic life of the city. The draws on memories, anecdotes, Poet Mia Fredrickson has a book glows with examples of her SHORTLISTED facts and documents to explore severe breakdown when her work and splendid photographs. Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards Edna’s private world – her family, husband leaves her. Returning to This account of an eccentric life friends, passions and sexuality, the prairie town of her childhood, This fascinating biography of lived to the utmost celebrates creating a tribute to a woman she rents a house just down sisters Mary and Elizabeth Durack Mirka’s lovers, work, family – and who was, in retrospect, way the road from her mother’s looks beyond the legacy of Mary’s the rich array of characters who ahead of her time. A must‑read retirement home and spends a classic book Kings in Grass were drawn into her world. for green thumbs as well as summer in the company of some Castles to examine the dynamics lovers of Australian biography. B 2000 331pp B1653 extraordinary women. Hustvedt of the Durack pastoralist dynasty has successfully combined the and the personal lives of these B 2005 304pp B1945 two creative, but very different, Wild Swans cerebral with the visceral to Jung Chang create this small gem. women. In particular, it focuses on their strong, life‑long ties to the F 2011 224pp B2136 Kimberley region and its people. W WINNER Australian Literature Society The Sunday B 2012 275pp B2147 Walking in the Shade Gold Medal Doris Lessing Three generations, three Philosophy Club True Pleasures women’s stories in a period Alexander McCall Smith Following Under My Skin, this when the world’s most Lucinda Holdforth second volume of Lessing’s Amateur sleuth Isabel Dalhousie populous nation endured almost Ready for a change in direction, autobiography begins with her hosts the Sunday Philosophy unimaginable change. One way Holdforth abandoned a career in 1949 arrival in grey post‑war Club and uses her philosophy to begin to comprehend the politics and diplomacy for time in London (with the manuscript of training to solve murder and recent history of China is through Paris, reading deeply about the her first novel and one of her three mayhem in Edinburgh. Warm individuals who find the courage lives of French women she had children) and takes us through to hearted with gentle humour, it is to experience and to voice the long admired and exploring the 1962. It offers a wonderful sense “the literary equivalent of herbal enormities which are the stuff of Paris locales with which they were of those times as well as insights tea and a cosy fire” –The New their everyday lives. Long, but linked. She reflects on the lives of into Lessing herself. She speaks York Times. compulsively readable. women such as Marie Antoinette, with candour about bringing up Two‑month book. F 2004 281pp B1979 Germaine de Staël, Coco Chanel, her son on her own, her love and writers such as Nancy affairs, years of psychotherapy, B 1991 696pp B1397 Mitford, Edith Wharton, Gertrude the realities of living by her writing Stein and Colette. Intelligence and and her growing disillusionment lightness of touch make her book with the Communist Party. a pleasure to read. B 1997 369pp B1705 B 2004 227pp B1940

C Crime F Fiction B Biography S Short Stories N Nonfiction L Large Print 54 Artist, Maker, Thinker This chapter deals with the creative and cerebral, examining the lives of artists, writers and performers, and the spIritual, ethical and philosophical aspects of life.

Autumn Laing Consolations of Philosophy A Alex Miller Alain de Botton E Philosophy is not just for the ivory Affluenza SHORTLISTED tower. Alain de Botton unfolds the The Elegance of Clive Hamilton Prime Minister’s Literary Awards thinking of six philosophers on the Hedgehog Looking at Australian society, Inspired by the relationship six of life’s real issues: Socrates Muriel Barbery Hamilton sees a binge of between iconic artist Sidney on unpopularity (he died for it); Renée is the concierge of consumption, associated with Nolan and his muse, Sunday Epicurus on not having enough a grand Parisian apartment a trend towards overwork, Reed, this is a skilfully drawn money; Seneca on frustration; building on the Left Bank. the stuff we accumulate fiction of how such a person as Montaigne on inadequacies Beneath her conventional facade and send to landfill, financial Sunday might have become, various; Schopenhauer on a she is passionate about culture over‑commitment, the having outlived the artists who broken heart; and Nietzsche and the arts. Meanwhile, several medications we use to help us were her peers in the 1930s. on the struggle. Occasional floors up, 12‑year‑old Paloma cope. Accompanying this he Through 85‑year‑old Autumn’s coarse language. Josse is determined to avoid identifies a range of ills such as reflections on the lives of the F 2000 265pp B1635 the predictably bourgeois future lack of time, stress, tiredness, gifted, Miller explores the laid out for her. The death of one depression, health problems. passions and ambitions of Nearly all of us enjoyed this of their privileged neighbours Instead he offers an alternative Australian art. well-researched book and the brings dramatic change and path: less attention to material F 2011 464pp B2157 engaging way that the author alters their lives forever. An goods, and greater connection popularised philosophy. We international bestseller. with community and the things enjoyed the journey through F 2008 320pp B2046 that matter. time in the development N 2005 224pp B1916 C of philosophical ideas and appreciated the slightly This book certainly stimulated Charles Dickens: A Life Booktongue-in-cheek Groups humour. We a lively discussion amongst An Artist of the Claire Tomalin thoughtFavour theite discussion notes our book club members, Floating World were excellent! though opinions on it were Kazuo Ishiguro This rich and compelling divided. Some loved the biography of ‘the inimitable’ Hawthorn Cato Bluffers novel, but others felt the Ishiguro’s elegant, restrained Charles Dickens examines author's descriptive passages prose evokes the personality, the many contradictions of his and the many references to career, family and society of complex, divided character. BOOK GROUPS philosophy were too extreme Masuji Ono, an ageing painter, Tomalin’s psychological analysis FAVOURITE and complex. However, the living through the turbulent observes with an understanding characters were well drawn post‑war shift from militarism to but unblinking eye the virtues The Crane Wife and the reader could not an Americanised democracy in and failings of both the writer Patrick Ness help but be interested in the Japan in 1948. and the man; capturing the happenings in the apartments A crane lands one day in F 1986 206pp B1228 indomitable energy, boldness of 7 Rue Grenelle. and imagination which hid a middle‑aged George’s back Toowoomba 1 U3A Author, Author tormented, tragic, undoubtedly garden in London. The next day, brilliant man. he meets artist Kumiko, and David Lodge together their art causes a public B 2011 528pp B2164 Elizabeth Costello A great writer, but a fiercely sensation. The importance of J.M. Coetzee private man: Henry James family, love, and the power of seems an unlikely subject for a Cider with Rosie storytelling are all explored in this SHORTLISTED biographical novel by a comic Laurie Lee reimagined Japanese folk tale Miles Franklin Literary Award writer. But Lodge’s novel is Chronicling the traditional village that merges the magical with the immensely lively, readable and life which disappeared with the real. Contains strong language. In the form of lectures given discussable, as he focuses on advent of developments such F 2013 320pp B2189 by an elderly Australian writer the last decades of James' life. as the motor car, this enduring on tour, this challenging novel A fascinating and informative classic is the English Cotswolds of ideas opens up questions account of the crowded setting of years ago, with Lee's bucolic of the systematic cruelties of the English literary, theatrical childhood rendered in a bright D involved in farming animals for and social world, of sibling and wryly humorous manner. A Death Sentence food; the Holocaust; the nature rivalries and love, and of the must-read. of belief and reason, of writing refined and dedicated life within. Don Watson and of humanity; spirituality BL 1959 240pp B395 and morality; Kafka and the 2004 389pp B1870 Watson defends the language F he loves (the kind with bite, with absurd. Nobel Prize winner This book was loved by flavour, with life) against the verbal Coetzee shares with his fictional most in the group. An sludge which now threatens character a reluctance to make autobiographical novel, it us from every side. Managerial public appearances. was a wonder from start to language has infiltrated the finish. Beautiful writing, and F 2003 230pp B1830 many in the group judged it English of politics, bureaucracy, 'one of those books you can't education and the media. Read, put down'. laugh, discuss, repent, abstain! Bensville Bookworms N 2003 198pp B1828

Glass After Glass Grace Crowley: The Hare with Amber Eyes F Barbara Blackman Being Modern Edmund de Waal Facing the Music Married for 27 years to the Elena Taylor painter Charles Blackman, also One of Australia’s most WINNER Andrea Goldsmith artist’s model, muse, writer, adventurous mid‑20th century Costa Biography Award For more than fifty years, mother, Blackman writes of artists, Crowley played a central After inheriting a collection of Duncan Bayle’s glorious talent the people she has known in part in introducing modern Japanese carvings (netsuke), as a composer was fed by Australia’s art world and of art to Australia. Rejecting the de Waal felt compelled to trace the women in his life. Then his day‑to‑day living. The circle of expectations of her conventional its journey through the years. daughter Anna left Melbourne for artists at Heide, her friendships Edwardian upbringing, she In doing so, he discovered his London. While her father’s gift with Joy Hester and with others, sought out a ‘modern’ life, family’s history from 19th century faltered, her creativity flowered. and her adaptation to increasing pursuing a career as an artist, Odessa to modern Tokyo. An Goldsmith portrays a toxic blindness from a young age are leaving the parochial confines engrossing and moving blend of struggle between them, and all part of these memoirs. of Australia and replacing the art and social history. family and friends are caught in B 1997 403pp B1573 convention of marriage with a 2010 354pp B2140 their destructive creativity as the series of close friendships. In B work moves to its conclusion. The Golden Mean this beautifully illustrated edition, Harland’s Half Acre F 1994 263pp B1441 Taylor paints an evocative Annabel Lyon portrait of Crowley. David Malouf Told in earthy and contemporary 2006 54pp The life story of Frank Harland, Feet of Clay prose, this is a story of Aristotle’s B B1950 Anthony Storr an artist whose first drawings relationship with the young and Great Writers, Great Loves are made at night on his Subtitled A study of gurus, this gifted Alexander whom family’s struggling dairy farm in sets some of the most notorious he tutors from boyhood. Ann‑Marie Priest Queensland. Malouf writes with gurus, including Jim Jones and Aristotle strives to impart his A fascinating, revealing journey insight about many themes: family David Koresh beside some of philosophy of the golden mean through the love lives of life; the pressures of poverty and the most respected leaders in – a balance between extremes – eight famous writers: Sylvia temperament; the vocation of the western world (Ignatius of to young Alexander. Plath, Virginia Woolf, Vita the artist; the changing patterns Loyola, Jesus) to show they F 2009 282pp B2107 Sackville‑West, D.H. Lawrence, of Australian social history; have more in common than Katherine Mansfield, Charmian the natural world of Australia, meets the eye. Why do we view Clift, Dylan Thomas and Frank rendered with poetic precision. some of them as legitimate O’Hara. Priest delves into their

1984 230pp B1043 Artist, Maker, Thinker thinkers or spiritual leaders letters and their writings, and F and others as madmen? Other The Goldfinch conjures the love, hate, pain, ‘gurus’ considered in the book Donna Tartt rapture and struggle. Their Here on Earth are Gurdjieff, Steiner, Freud and stories anticipated and reflected Tim Flannery Jung. A rich field for reflection WINNER the revolutionary rethinking of From an ecological viewpoint, and discussion. Pulitzer Prize love, sex and marriage that we have left a trail of destruction N 1996 254pp B1569 When Theo occurred during the course of as human civilisation spreads is thirteen, the 20th century. across the Earth. We will face a traumatic B 2006 298pp B1918 climate changes, decreasing G experience biodiversity, and scarcity of inextricably water and food. Flannery, a The Gift of Asher Lev entwines his palaeontologist and former H Australian of the Year, suggests Chaim Potok fate with a 17th century Dutch Half a Lifetime solutions to these problems. In this sequel to My Name is From the Stone Age to the painting. An Judith Wright Asher Lev, the painter is drawn engaging cast modern globalised world, back to the Ladover Hasidic of characters One of Australia’s finest poets, he presents a view of how community in Brooklyn. Again, moves between high society, Judith Wright was born into sustainability can be achieved he experiences the tension the world of antiques, and a a family of New South Wales through cooperation rather between his gift and the murky criminal underground pastoralists. Jack McKinney, than competition. community, now facing the death in this beautifully readable the philosopher who became N 2010 316pp B2114 of its revered Rebbe, and making exploration of love, loss and the her lover, partner, and the father strong claims on his family. messy business of being alive. of her daughter, was also her The Hours F 1990 370pp B1323 Two‑month book intellectual companion in her passionate lifelong commitment Michael Cunningham F 2014 771pp B2211 Girl with a Pearl Earring to environmental causes and justice for the Aboriginal peoples WINNER Tracy Chevalier of Australia. A poem by Wright Pulitzer Prize This fine historical fiction evokes stands as preface to each of Cunningham takes Virginia the mid‑17th century Netherlands. the chapters in this luminous Woolf’s life and work as Griet, a young servant girl, sits for memoir, an added pleasure for inspiration for this exquisite and the painter Vermeer, her employer, the reader. subtle novel. He interweaves and soon finds herself surrounded B 1999 296pp B1760 Woolf’s struggle to begin by rumour. Deeply revealing her novel Mrs Dalloway about the process of painting with that book’s effects on and haunting in its passion, two subsequent readers in outrage and perceptions about 1940s Los Angeles and in human nature. contemporary New York. F 1999 248pp B1621 F 1998 228pp B1642

How Are We to Live? Inside Out The Lost Mother Peter Singer Robert Adamson L Anne Summers The distinguished Australian Sydney poet Robert Adamson In 1933, Anne’s mother had her philosopher argues that in grew up in Neutral Bay and on The Lacuna portrait painted by a mysterious affluent Western society, the the Hawkesbury River in the Barbara Kingsolver artist. Anne inherited the portrait pursuit of material self‑interest 1950s and ’60s. Bewitched after her mother died and is is the norm, trapping people by the natural world, fishing WINNER compelled to unravel its mystery, into the sense that life is and birds, his later escapades Orange Prize exploring the difficult relationship meaningless. Is there anything led him to incarceration in Told in a mix of narrative forms she had with her mother. Anne’s to live for? Likely to prompt boys’ homes. Finally, his prison including diary entries, memoir, detailed research encompasses unstoppable discussion. encounter with the work of letters and newspaper articles. Paris, Cairo, Latvia and N 1993 262pp B1411 writers and poets set him Born in America and raised in Russia and evokes memories on the path of writing. Full of Mexico, Harrison Shepherd finds of Melbourne’s art scene in event, sensation, movement himself working for Mexican the 1900s. I and life, his memoir makes muralist Diego Rivera. He meets B 2010 385pp B2123 wonderful reading. and befriends the artist Frida I Am Melba B 2004 342pp B1833 Kahlo, goes to work for the Ann Blainey Communist Lev Trotsky, and M Isobel on the Way to becomes caught up in a world the Corner Shop of art and revolution. The second Mao’s Last Dancer WINNER half of the novel shifts to the National Biography Prize Amy Witting Li Cunxin United States where Harrison is A biography of Australia’s dragged into the public arena This is the true story of Li Cunxin, first musical superstar, Nellie SHORTLISTED through the House Un‑American a peasant boy from rural China Melba. From an early age Miles Franklin Literary Award Activities Committee. who became a world‑class ballet dancer. We follow him through Nellie dreamed of fame. Her Determined to make her way F 2009 507pp B2065 independent spirit took her from as a writer, Isobel has resigned his early training in Beijing to a Melbourne and the Queensland from her job with very little to Lola Bensky summer school in the US, his cane fields to London and live on. Acute illness brings defection to the West, and his Europe. I Am Melba captures an her to a sanatorium where Lily Brett later transition to a new life in extraordinary life. she remains for a long time, Australia. Memories of his family maintaining her autonomy LONGLISTED in China are an important thread B 2009 400pp B2063 Miles Franklin Literary Award as best she can in these in his story. claustrophobic surroundings. Lily Brett drew on her own B 2003 447pp B1821 Members largely enjoyed the experiences as a music journalist description of Nellie Melba's F 1999 352pp B1737 amazing abilities, singing in the ‘Swinging Sixties’ to Martin Boyd: A Life talent, steely determination create 19‑year‑old Lola. When Brenda Niall not meeting rock icons such as and exceptional business Martin Boyd was a member of skills. We discussed changing K Mick Jagger and Janis Joplin, gender roles, sexual mores, Lola worries about her hair, or the talented Boyd family which Killing Me Softly her weight. Like many of Brett’s included Arthur, Merric, Guy Artist, Maker, Thinker Maker, Artist, and Melba's war efforts. and Robin. Both in background Leongatha 1 Philip Nitschke & Fiona characters, she also carries the Stewart legacy of her Holocaust‑survivor and inclination Martin Boyd parents. Funny and touching, was Anglo‑Australian: many of Nitschke and Stewart take the his novels were written during The Imperfectionists view that people should have this novel evokes a time of unique social change. the restless expatriate years. A Tom Rachman the right to make informed readable account of this complex This collection of stories end‑of‑life decisions. Their F 2012 267pp B2176 and private man. book provides information told from the viewpoints of B 1988 268pp B1262 different staff members, from about the current practice of The Lost Dog the Editor‑in‑Chief to the copy slow euthanasia; what is wrong Michelle de Kretser Memoirs editor, at an international English with palliative care; anguishing decisions concerning the life or Set in contemporary Australia and Pablo Neruda language newspaper, based 20th century India, de Kretser’s in Rome. Their private lives death of very ill babies. These ‘Under the volcanoes, beside writers envisage a world where a third novel is a love story entwined overlap with work and world with a haunting mystery. Tom the snow‑capped mountains, events. Alternately hilarious and ‘peaceful pill’ could be relied on among the huge lakes ... I have to provide a peaceful, dignified Loxley, an academic, is writing heart‑wrenching. a book on Henry James in a come out of that landscape, that death. An opportunity to reflect mud, that silence, to roam, to FS 2010 274pp B2089 on and discuss the many remote bush shack when his dog goes missing. While searching go singing through the world’. questions presented by the Exuberant detail about Neruda’s euthanasia debate. for his dog, Tom revisits his emotional past and explores his life as poet, traveller and N 2005 354pp B1885 troubled present. political activist. F 2007 368pp B2028 B 1977 350pp B944

Enjoyed Killing Me Softly? Try A Good Day to Die by Lisa Birnie [B1712]

More Please North Face of Soho The River Barry Humphries Clive James R Patrice Newell Does this reveal the man behind The fourth in James’s Newell’s family lives in a close the actor, with his vulnerabilities autobiographical series, this Reading by Moonlight relationship with the river Pages including alcoholism? Or is it covers 1968 to the 1980s as Brenda Walker which runs past their New South another great performance, in James sets out to establish Wales property. She looks at the which there is less generosity himself in literary London. In WINNER river’s rich history (geological, and than sharpness? Readable and his trademark style, blending Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards in Aboriginal and settler times) often very funny. wisecracks with serious In 2005, Brenda was diagnosed and its future (with competing B 1992 334pp B1381 observation, he depicts the with breast cancer. This book demands from big business unrelenting deadlines involved follows her treatment, along with through to organic farms like My Brilliant Career in his work as reviewer, critic, meditations on books that helped her own). The condition of our essayist and commentator. An waterways and life on the land is a Miles Franklin her on her road to recovery. entertaining read with insights Referencing authors from Dante topic of great national relevance. The first novel from one of the about writing. to Donna Tartt, she writes about N 2003 244pp B1891 major Australian writers of her B 2006 264pp B1973 the consolation a of the written time, Stella Maria Sarah Miles word. This is a moving book that Most of us enjoyed this Franklin, who wrote under the resonates deeply. engaging book immensely. name Miles Franklin. Written O B 2010 240pp B2133 It was commended for being as a romance to amuse the unsentimental, hands- author’s friends, the novel follows Oscar Wilde on, scientific, well argued imaginative heroine Sybylla Religion for Atheists and well written. It was growing up in rural Australia Richard Ellmann Alain de Botton disappointing that there was in the 1890s, and many of the Wilde's witty comedies made The issue is not whether or not no resolution reached on issues it raises are still relevant him the darling of London God exists, but where to go from anything, which, of course, to women writers today. theatre‑goers, but at the here. Alain de Botton makes merely reflected the facts F 1901 232pp B62 height of his success he was a case for the usefulness of of the case. One of our imprisoned due to homosexual religion in our lives, regardless members actually wrote to Newell and received a reply practices. Physically and of whether it is believable or not. My Name Is Asher Lev which brought us up-to-date financially ruined, he declined This read will challenge your way Chaim Potok into an early death. Ellmann's with what has happened of thinking and is guaranteed to since the book was written A warm and searching account account is full of understanding spark a great discussion! of a gifted child. Asher Lev’s and humanity. in 2002. Artist, Maker, Thinker N 2012 320pp B214 4 Maleney Group 10 great artistic gift pushes him into 1987 632pp B1585 questioning essential features B of the Western artistic and Right & Wrong the Judaic traditions. Potok’s Other People’s Words Hugh Mackay A Room of One’s Own Hilary McPhee novel furthers his exploration This is a humane, thoughtful Virginia Woolf of New York’s Hasidic Jews, The story of a friendship between book about the personal, This book arose from two who become a microcosm of two women, the publishing family, sexual, legal, business, lectures presented to Oxford importantBook Gr 20thoups century issues. company they built, and its consumer, social and women’s colleges in 1928 on F 1972Favour 320ppite B1194 contribution to literature in political choices we all face. the subject of ‘women and Australia. Helen Garner, Tim Mackay’s experience as a fiction’. Woolf believed that only Winton and Drusilla Modjeska social researcher who uses privacy (a room of one’s own) N were part of McPhee Gribble’s focus groups has given him and independence (five hundred impressive list. A readable book an enviable capacity to open a year) would allow women to with much to discuss about the up complex moral issues in write freely and well. BOOK GROUPS local, the global and the future FAVOURITE a way which makes them N 1929 176pp B381 of publishing. accessible for reflection and Nice Work N 2001 312pp B1630 group discussion. David Lodge N 2004 244pp B1841 When Dr Robyn Penrose, P While we found this book temporary lecturer at the dated in some aspects, it University is volunteered by the certainly stimulated a lot English Department to shadow The Philosopher’s Dog of discussion. Mackay's Vic Wilcox, a managing director in Raimond Gaita approach really made us the industrial town of Rummidge, think, and one member it’s a culture shock for them Focusing on the creatures who thought we could discuss this both. An astute account of are part of our domestic lives book for a year. The quality of Thatcher’s England, particularly and telling stories about animals our interaction led us to give of its business and intellectual he has known, the author it a five star rating. theory and practice. We laughed of Romulus, My Father asks Mount Waverley Primers out loud. questions about how animals think and feel. This gentle enquiry F 1988 348pp B1252 into the connection between people and animals needs careful reading and discussion. N 2002 214pp B1689

The Spiral Staircase The Waterlily S Karen Armstrong W Kate Llewellyn Having left the religious life ‘A book that captures perfectly The Secret Life of Money after seven difficult years, Waging Peace the exact pace and feel of Valerie Wilson Karen Armstrong found herself Anne Deveson life – the fine tuning of one This book focuses on money in a changed world and was Waging Peace is a thematic moment and one mood into in our everyday lives and how troubled by panic attacks and memoir. Anne Deveson looks the next’ (Grenville). This ‘Blue ordinary people think and feel strange mental states. Her back on a long life, from her Mountains Journal’ covers a about it. This is a look at the memoir explores these years childhood during WW2 to her year of Kate Llewellyn’s life in the complex and contradictory role of transition, a long period experiences as a filmmaker mountains, making a garden and money plays in our social world. of unbelief, and the unusual and social commentator. She determined to be happy. N 1999 224pp B1719 path by which she became a questions our species’ urge to B 1987 192pp B1345 respected commentator on wage war, and discusses with major world religions, matters hope the promotion of peace The Weather Makers All in all, there were mixed of faith and fundamentalisms of and conflict resolution. Whether responses within the group. different kinds. or not you agree with her views, Tim Flannery Some members enjoyed this Flannery’s flair for writing for book and others thought it was B 2004 342pp B1894 this book is bound to promote a bit repetitive. It promoted a lively discussion. a general readership is put to lengthy discussion. Status Anxiety 2013 238pp excellent use here. We are the N B2184 weather makers, and Flannery Canberra 3 Alain de Botton wants to inspire all of us to do ‘This is a book about an almost Members were generally something about climate change. engrossed by this book, having NEW universal anxiety ... about He is insightful and inspiring as what others think of us; about already several of Deveson's he suggests steps we can take books and her daughter A Short History whether we’re judged a success Georgia Blain's memoir. Some to reduce our carbon footprint at or a failure, a winner or a found the graphic descriptions the level of our own households of Richard Kline loser.’ In it the author examines of violence overwhelmed the and decisions. Amanda Lohrey lovelessness, snobbery, reflections on achieving peace. N 2005 332pp B1943 expectation, meritocracy, LONGLISTED The hope she envisaged in the dependence; and offers some 'Arab spring' has unfortunately NEW Stella Prize ‘solutions’. Is this philosophy turned to chaos and violence. or does the book fall into the Mount Waverley 4 Richard Kline self‑help genre? The central The Women's Pages has always felt subject of keeping up with Debra Adelaide that something the Joneses provides plenty in his life was Walking on Water to discuss. Chester Porter LONGLISTED missing. Now Stella Prize middle‑aged and N 2004 314pp B1845 This Sydney defence lawyer’s facing cycles memoir covers controversial Having read of boredom Australian cases and Royal Wuthering and despair, T Commissions of the last fifty Heights to her

Artist, Maker, Thinker Maker, Artist, he finds himself awakening to years, but more than this, dying mother, alternative spiritual pursuits and NEW through the many unpublicised Dove finds she philosophies despite his natural cases with which its author cannot forget cynicism, searching for ‘bliss’ A Tale for the Time Being was involved, it reveals a life in the novel’s in the midst of chaos. Lohrey Ruth Ozeki the Law as experienced by a power. Instead probes the relationship between good man. Porter’s humbleness of returning to devotion and dependence in this SHORTLISTED and humanity, shining through normal life, she comic yet moving exploration of Man Booker Prize his simple prose, is a bonus, clings to a story she has begun masculinity and meaning. likely to raise the law, the police writing: Ellis is a normal ‘60s F 2015 272pp B2224 When and legal practitioners in the suburban housewife – until she 16‑year‑old reader’s estimation. decides to leave her husband. Nao’s diary B 2003 310pp B1898 A beautiful magic emerges as The Sitters washes ashore Dove teases out the secrets of Alex Miller on a lonely Ellis’s life, while she attempts to Canadian live in her own. SHORTLISTED coastline, Ruth Miles Franklin Literary Award feels compelled F 2015 305pp B2241 to read it. An ageing artist's meeting Nao’s life is with an older woman opens turbulent: her father is suicidal, the enigmas of his childhood she is tortured by schoolyard and returns him to painting. A bullies, and her only friend is complex, subtle story touching her grandmother, a Buddhist on theoretical art questions, nun. Ozeki weaves together the connections between loss philosophy, the nature of and creativity, and absence and time, cultural identity and the Enjoyed A Tale for the Time Being? presence in words and images. true meaning of courage in 1995 131pp B1459 this absorbing, beautifully F written novel. Try The Elegance of the Hedgehog F 2013 422pp B2204 by Muriel Barbery [B2046]

START A CONVERSATION, START A BOOK GROUP / 9652 0620 / CAE.EDU.AU / CONNECT WITH US 59 Obsessions, Dreams Grand visions, driving quests, and obsessive love; this chapter concentrates on the intense, the odd and the exhilarating. Mainly fiction, with a few nonfiction titles.

Cape Grimm A Child’s Book of True Crime Death of a River Guide A Carmel Bird Chloe Hooper Richard Flanagan Bird explores innocence and evil Angry White Pyjamas in a religious community on the SHORTLISTED SHORTLISTED Robert Twigger coast of Tasmania. When cult Orange Prize Miles Franklin Literary Award A 30‑year‑old Oxford poet in leader Caleb sets fire to the group A young teacher has begun her A drowning river guide is caught Japan feels his life is slipping meeting house, all but three of first job at a Tasmanian primary up in visions of the demanding away. Deciding to prove himself a the community perish. Blending school. Through her adulterous story of his family, state and man, he trains with the Tokyo Riot traditional folk tale elements affair with the father of a pupil, people. This strikingly imaginative Police. Which is more bizarre: the with contemporary events, this she begins to confront issues Tasmanian novel conveys the world of aikido in the dojo, or the explores our darker aspects and surrounding childhood and feeling of the great Franklin River, foreigner obsessed by training that the reverberations of history. adulthood. Distinctions between and the uncensored experience he cannot bear either to give up or F 2004 302pp B1825 fantasy and reality blur. What is and idiom of those who live to take seriously? the true crime here? in the physical, social and F 1997 316pp B1748 This was a moving, subtle F 2002 238pp B1670 metaphorical wilderness. story of overcoming trauma. F 1994 324pp B1473 Asleep Carmel Bird is a wonderful Closed for Winter Banana Yoshimoto writer and we loved The Devil’s Larder the way that Australia's Georgia Blain This collection of novellas links colonial past was woven What happened to 12‑year‑old Jim Crace three women sunk in a spiritual in to the story. We had an Frances on that hot summer Food is central to each of the sleep. One sleepwalks as she interesting discussion about day at the beach? The question sixty‑four brief tales in this literary mourns a lost lover; the second psychology and cult leaders. still haunts her younger sister, feast from English novelist Jim is having an affair with a man Hartington Books and Wine Elise, now in her twenties. Blain’s Crace, where meals are served whose wife lies in a coma; the evocative, well‑wrought first with lashings of passion, recipes third is haunted in her sleep by novel uncovers past and present are spiced with unexpected a woman with whom she once Capital to arrive at an unexpected truth. challenges and hopes and competed in a love triangle. John Lanchester 1998 249pp B1709 the ingredients are hilarious, Yoshimoto blends the mystical F Encompassing a cast of delightful and subversive. Full and the surreal with startling characters all connected to one of exuberant invention. tenderness in this beautiful book. The Conjuror’s Bird suburban London street – from the Martin Davies S 2001 193pp B1683 F 1992 177pp B1631 city banker and the Polish builders renovating his million pound house During Captain Cook’s second The Autograph Man to the family running the corner expedition to the South Pacific, E Zadie Smith shop – Capital reveals the state a rare and unique species of of British society at the beginning bird was captured. Cook later Alex Li‑Tandem, Chinese‑Jewish Everyman’s Rules for of the Global Financial Crisis. presented the bird to naturalist north Londoner, sells autographs Scientific Living Sprawling but highly readable, this Joseph Banks who displayed it for a living. But what does is a novel that addresses some big until 1778 when it inexplicably Carrie Tiffany he want? ‘Only the return of questions whilst remaining intimate disappeared from his collection. his father, the reinstatement and compassionate. Two centuries later, the race is SHORTLISTED of some kind of all‑powerful on to find the Mysterious Bird Miles Franklin Literary Award benevolent God‑type figure, F 2012 592pp B2170 of Ulieta. Dual narratives shift the end of religion, something between past and present to SHORTLISTED for his headache, three different We all loved this intriguing create an 18th century romance Orange Prize girls, infinite grace and the rare story of the different inside a modern day thriller. Fast autograph of ‘40s movie actress characters living in Pepys paced and enjoyable. In 1934, Jean meets and marries Road. The author cleverly soil scientist Robert. They settle Kitty Alexander with fries.’ F 2005 309pp B1921 2002 419pp created believable characters in the impoverished Mallee, F B1777 as a cross section of humanity, determined to realise Robert’s interweaving the strands of ambition to live and farm by this mystery story. We had D scientific principles. The ensuing C many lively opinions and struggle slowly chips away at discussions triggered by the Death in Venice their idealism and relationship. Cabin Fever dilemmas in the story. Thomas Mann Set against the backdrop of an Warrandyte 5 Elizabeth Jolley A lovely and disturbing evocation impending threat of world war, This second novel in the partly of life in the pre‑war period. Tiffany captures in a refreshing, autobiographical trilogy concerns An austere, mature German quirky manner the hopes and young Vera Wright and her efforts writer, Aschenbach, is forced disappointments of the era. in post‑war England to survive by failing health to go to Venice. F 2005 256pp B1906 as an unmarried mother in a In a very different culture, he world of scarcity and privation. becomes obsessed by the A memorable, quirky study of beauty of a young boy and loneliness and longing and the changes profoundly. persistence of memory. F 1912 79pp B1157 F 1990 238pp B1404

Last of the Sane Days F H Fiona Capp N Rafael achieves his ambition The Factory The Hunter to become a pilot, only to be Nocturnes Paddy O’Reilly Julia Leigh stricken by a painful illness. Kazuo Ishiguro Hilda travels to Japan to A man takes to Tasmania to He finds inspiration in the 19th Ishiguro explores love, music research The Factory, a track down the last surviving century philosopher, Nietzsche, and the passing of time in traditional arts community marsupial tiger – and soon and retraces Nietzsche’s last this collection of short stories. recently reformed by members of disappears into a world of silence journeyings in Europe. This novel Characters range from young the original group whose motives and stillness. With a small cast of of pain, philosophy and love dreamers, to café musicians are obscure. This accomplished bruised and bruising individuals, weaves the last of Nietzsche’s and faded stars. Throughout the first novel explores group the pace of this impressive first sane days into the fates of these five stories, characters struggle behaviour and the tendency of novel is sustained through to its modern Australians. to keep alive a sense of life’s closed communities to become unforgettable conclusion. F 1999 260pp B1714 romance as they grow older, hotbeds of competing passions. theirBook relationships Groups flounder, and F 1999 170pp B1628 Favourite F 2005 255pp B1905 The Line of Beauty youthful hopes fade. Alan Hollinghurst FS 2009 221pp B2043 Foxybaby K This beautifully nuanced comedy Elizabeth Jolley of manners portrays England’s Miss Alma Porch journeys Kurikka’s Dreaming rich and powerful in the 1980s BOOK GROUPS to a remote Summer School Craig Cormick at the peak of the Thatcher FAVOURITE to present a version of her In Russian‑controlled Finland at years. The narrator is a young novel‑in‑progress to the Creative the end of the 19th century, Matti man, newly arrived in London Notes on a Scandal Drama students. Jolley’s quirky Kurikka persuades his followers and mesmerised by the opulent Zoë Heller subtlety combines with her to search for a utopia where they world of his Tory hosts as he From the first day that beautiful, sense of human hurtfulness, can achieve independence and independently discovers the bohemian art teacher Sheba robustness and fragility. prosperity. In 1899, they arrive pleasures of metropolitan gay life. joins the staff of St George’s, near Cairns in Queensland, their 2004 501pp B1886 F 1985 261pp B1310 F history teacher Barbara land of ‘eternal summer’; but realises she is different from they find themselves in a strange Lovesong The French Tutor her colleagues. When Sheba is and hostile country, where dream Elizabeth Jolley caught having an affair with a Judith Armstrong becomes nightmare. SHORTLISTED pupil, Barbara appoints herself Postgraduate student Emily 2000 218pp B1644 begins an affair with a N Miles Franklin Literary Award her chief defender and closest charismatic older academic who ally. But all is not as it seems insists on keeping his options After many years in an institution, in this compelling read of open. The Albertine rose and L Dalton Foster is released into a obsession and loneliness. the work of Proust are woven Larry’s Party world he barely recognises. What F 2003 244pp B1974 into the fabric of a psychological has he done? There are disturbing novel involving obsessive love, Carol Shields indications that a child was deception and betrayal. involved. Jolley’s account of his WINNER loneliness and longings is lyrical O F 2003 301pp B1781 Orange Prize and at times disturbingly comic. Of a Boy Larry Weller was once a floral F 1997 241pp B1576 Sonya Hartnett G designer, but becomes a garden maze and landscape gardener. WINNER The Great Gatsby The book progresses episodically M The Age Book of the Year from 1977 across the next twenty F. Scott Fitzgerald years, through two failed marriages The Map That In an Australian suburb, three This is a richly textured, nuanced and into a third. Shields writes with Changed the World children set off for the milkbar – never to be seen again. exploration of the darker side her characteristic perceptiveness, Simon Winchester of the glamour of the Jazz irony and tenderness of this 9‑year‑old Adrian watches the Obsessions, Dreams Obsessions, Age. Seen through the eyes ‘ordinary’ man, as she reflects William Smith, orphan of a village goings on of his suburban world of outsider Nick, Jay Gatsby’s on what it is to be male. blacksmith, was one of the first and tries to keep his loneliness dream of the beautiful Daisy 1997 339pp B1725 to link the rock strata beneath and fears of rejection at bay. comes to symbolise the classic F the earth’s surface with the Throughout the text weaves the American dream. characteristic fossils found in aching true story of the missing F 1925 160pp B308 each layer. He worked 20 years Metford children. on an enormous geological map, F 2002 188pp B1804 only to find his ideas pirated by gentlemen of science. B 2001 338pp B1666

Enjoyed The Strays? Try Autumn Laing by Alex Miller [B2157]

The Orchid Thief Susan Orlean S T The Vintner’s Luck A nonfiction book which reads more like a novel, with The Secret Cure There’ll Be New Dreams Elizabeth Knox a wonderful oddball cast Sue Woolfe Philip McLaren Among the vines of Burgundy of fanatics whose lives and Determined to find a cure for McLaren weaves together in 1808, Sobran Jodeau, a crimes revolve around their her autistic child and motivated strands of Aboriginal experience young winemaker, has the first mania for orchids. The pacy by her own passion for science, across the ages. Lottie, the of his annual meetings with an narrative follows John Laroche, Eva takes on work as a cleaner city‑raised Aborigine, loses her angel. But this angel is not all self‑confessed orchid thief, into in a medical research laboratory. children to the welfare system he seems, and complicates life the sucking mud of Florida’s Owen is the strange reclusive in the 1950s and her husband even further. A daring, sensuous, swampy Fakahatchee Strand. man who has loved her for to a suspicious death; Matlong unconventional, addictive novel. N 1998 350pp B1622 a lifetime. This moving novel saw Cook sail by in 1770; and F 1998 241pp B1751 explores what it means to be Dundiwuy goes to New York as human, to be honourable, and, a didgeridoo player in the 1970s. P above all, what it means to love. Sophisticated and profound, W F 2003 429pp B1823 human and funny. The Picture of Dorian Gray F 2001 309pp B1667 Oscar Wilde The Service of Clouds NEW Three Cups of Tea Scandal erupted over Wilde’s Delia Falconer The World Without Us novel when it was first published Greg Mortenson as it 'violated the laws of public SHORTLISTED Mireille Juchau Miles Franklin Literary Award In 1993, Mortenson drifted into morality'; though perhaps less a village in Pakistan’s Karakoram shocking now, this psychological WINNER Set in the Blue Mountains, this Mountains. Touched by the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards thriller remains just as enticing novel is almost hallucinatory in its kindness of the villagers, he went over a hundred years later. evocation of cloud landscapes, on to build fifty‑five schools in It examines the cost of SHORTLISTED and of the heroine Eureka’s remote villages across Pakistan Stella Prize self‑indulgence, and the havoc yearning for photographer and Afghanistan while the Taliban we wreak on our souls in the Henry Kitchens. Katoomba’s life, was rising to power. Since Following their quest for satisfaction. personalities and institutions in publication, the book’s accuracy sister’s death, F 1891 247pp B112 the early 20th century are deftly, has been questioned, both in a Tess and Meg even comically presented. controversial 2011 documentary watch their devastated The Precipice F 1997 322pp B1580 and by author Jon Krakauer. Virginia Duigan family come N 2007 368pp B2057 undone. LONGLISTED NEW Their mother Miles Franklin Literary Award Evangeline The Strays V roams the A mix of literary thriller and Emily Bitto forests of their farmland; their psychological drama, with Veronika Decides to Die father, Stefan, retracts into a welcome smattering of WINNER Paulo Coelho himself. When an old car wreck tongue‑in‑cheek wit. Thea is is discovered with human a retired school principal living Stella Prize Why would a young, attractive, steadily employed woman remains inside, Evangeline is in the Blue Mountains. When a When lonely forced to confront her present from a good family take an Obsessions, Dreams young couple and their niece only‑child Lily along with secrets from her move in next door, old fears overdose? How will she feel befriends Eva when she survives only to be past life in a local commune. and paranoia begin to take over Trentham, she is her life. Thea is an engrossing, told that the damage will quickly Atmospheric and gripping. entranced by the funny and unusual protagonist, prove fatal? This accessible F 2015 320pp B2236 and there are a number of glamour of the novel by popular and uplifting provocative issues to discuss. Trentham family Brazilian writer Coelho is likely to and their circle F 2011 284pp B2134 provoke strong discussion about of avant‑garde sanity, madness, the meaning Solar artists – but their contemporary urban lives, and seemingly idyllic, bohemian way about medical and literary ethics. Ian McEwan of life is not without its costs. A 1998 185pp B1770 A Nobel Prize‑winning physicist study of isolation mingles with the F and middle‑aged philanderer, consequences of radicalism in this Michael is arrogant and selfish haunting and beautifully‑observed His career has stalled – until debut novel which draws on the he decides to claim for his legacy of Melbourne’s Heide group own another man’s work on of artists. alternative energy resources F 2014 350pp B2226 that just might save the planet. Solar spans several continents We all enjoyed this book. It as it explores the frailties of brought out a lot of discussion humankind and the threat of about social issues and climate change. parenting (or lack thereof). 2010 432pp B2066 A good discussion book for F book groups. Portarlington 1

What If Book Groups For those readers who like a twist, this chapter offers speculative fictionFav ourset iteagainst very real backgrounds, as well as more straightforward fantasy and science fiction.

BOOK GROUPS Charades A B FAVOURITE Janette Turner Hospital Brave New World SHORTLISTED The Accidental NEW Ali Smith Aldous Huxley Miles Franklin Literary Award The Bees A dystopian classic, this is a This novel interweaves an WINNER Laline Paull humorous and poignant novel Australian girl’s search for her Whitbread Novel Award with much to discuss. In a father and her origins with her future world dominated by mass Amber, a seemingly harmless SHORTLIST physicist‑lover’s mind‑play Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction production thanks to Henry about the origin of the universe, stranger, turns up at the Smarts’ Ford's innovations, genetic holiday home, and as she time and uncertainty. It ranges Flora 717 is born modification and brain washing from Queensland’s rainforests ingratiates herself with the family, a lowly worker keep the population docile. the question of who she is fades to Boston, to MIT and Toronto; bee, but unlike But Bernard Marx is distressed from apparently sheltered away. Is her presence an innocent the others of her and wants to break free from accident, or something more Australian and Canadian lives to mute caste, she this society. A readable, witty the aftermath of the Holocaust. sinister? Smith presents a modern can speak. As novel, and this edition includes reworking of Passolini’s 1968 film Flora navigates introductions by Margaret F 1988 345pp B1243 Theorem. Original, challenging the totalitarian Atwood and David Bradshaw. and experimental writing, this regime of the F 1932 229pp B2131 Cloud Atlas skilfully crafted book will raise as beehive in this David Mitchell many questions as it answers. fascinating miniature world, she Six stories explore the intersection F 2005 306pp B1915 comes to a startling realisation – C of history and humanity: an and then begins a double-life as American notary’s South Animal Farm a traitor to the hive. Illuminating Sea journals, an Englishman in its exploration of difference, of Carpentaria George Orwell Alexis Wright transcribing for a blind composer, feminism, and of institutionalised a reporter investigates a Orwell’s famous satire on mid intolerance. 20th century political reality, WINNER nuclear cover‑up, a futuristic telling how the animals revolt F 2015 352pp B2235 Miles Franklin Literary Award fast‑food robot, and a Hawaiian against the farmer and try to contemplating post‑apocalyptic run their own affairs. Orwell Alexis Wright’s second novel life. This thrillingly original ride raises issues about freedom Beyond Black “breaks all the rules of grammar spans genres and themes of and tyranny, and indicts Soviet Hilary Mantel and syntax to sweep us along colonialism, corporate culture leadership and totalitarianism. on a great torrent of language and the collapse of civilisation. SHORTLISTED that thrills and amazes with Challenging and imaginative, this F 1945 120pp B71 Orange Prize its inventiveness and humour will reward persistence. and with the sheer power 2003 529pp B1875 The Annotated Alice Mantel’s imaginative thriller offers of its storytelling. It’s brutal F Lewis Carroll a darkly comic and unsettling and confronting and it’s sad universe: polluted 1990s Britain, Cold Comfort Farm This volume contains both Alice’s and funny at the same time” where psychic medium Alison – Sydney Morning Herald. Stella Gibbons Adventures in Wonderland (1865) tours London with her sidekick, Two‑month book. A romp about Flora Poste’s and Through the Looking Glass Colette. Intricately structured, attempts to reorganise a Sussex and What Alice Found There elegant prose gives a biting F 2006 519pp B1986 farm despite the Starkadder (1872) by Lewis Carroll, with portrait of dreads and desires family who live there. A witty drawings by Tenniel. As editor, which will evoke animated This was a long read, but parody of the earthy soulful Martin Gardner has included discussion, not least about the those who loved it finished school of regional fiction popular annotations to help explain some implications of facing one’s past it within the first month. in England early last century. of Carroll’s mysteries. and demons. Contains themes We praised the unusual 1960 350pp B430 that may disturb. style and wonderful portrait F 1932 248pp B116 F of outback life, and the F 2005 451pp B1948 characters leapt from the Ape House pages. Some disliked the Sara Gruen tone, but overall, a wonderful From the bestselling author of discussion ensued. Water for Elephants comes this Bensville Bookworms gentle, funny novel. Isabel is a scientist working with bonobos, who are capable of reason, love and developing relationships. When the bonobos are stolen and turn up on a reality TV series, Isabel teams up with journalist John in the fight to save them amidst a media circus. F 2010 303pp B2126

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Dissection Handle with Care The Inn at the Edge BOOK GROUPS Jacinta Halloran Jodi Picoult of the World FAVOURITE Alice Thomas Ellis Dedicated GP and mother of Willow is born with brittle bone The Man from two boys, Anna's life begins disease, suffering hundreds of Ellis’ sympathetic yet astringent to unravel when she is sued broken bones as she grows. As portrayal touches on the Primrose Lane for medical negligence. Deeply her family struggles with medical selkies as she nicely blends James Renner ashamed of her mistake, she expenses, Willow’s mother the down‑to‑earth with As David struggles to overcome retreats into family life, only to decides to file a wrongful birth something of the ghost story his wife’s unexplained suicide, become aware of her husband’s lawsuit against her obstetrician - and the supernatural in an he finds himself entangled in a growing interest in a younger but the obstetrician she is suing easily‑read novel. complex maze involving child woman. A confronting portrayal is also her best friend. FL 1990 184pp B1412 abduction and the murder of of a woman facing personal and F 2009 477pp B2047 a mysterious man. Through professional crises. the unpredictable twists of this FBook 2008 Gr240ppoups B2033 The Handmaid’s Tale L absorbing, genre‑hopping thriller, Favourite Margaret Atwood David battles with fatherhood, The Left Hand of Darkness trauma and questions about A woman designated 'child- the future. E bearer' In a rigid society lives Ursula LeGuin F 2012 363pp B2153 in a backlash against feminist The planet Winter is much like aspirations and sexual liberation. Earth except for two things: its BOOK GROUPS A compelling depiction of Mara and Dann FAVOURITE climate is always subarctic, and society’s flaws which raises its inhabitants are all of one sex. Doris Lessing questions about the present. LeGuin is a distinguished writer of An orphaned brother and The Eyre Affair F 1986 324pp B1189 speculative fiction and this book sister journey together through Jasper Fforde makes for compelling discussion excitement and danger in a on our attitudes here on Earth. In an alternate version of London NEW future where an Ice Age covers in 1985, literary detective F 1969 205pp B1064 all of the northern hemisphere, Thursday is on the trail of criminal How to Be Both and much of Africa is dry mastermind Hades, who has Ali Smith Life After Life and famine‑stricken. Lessing been kidnapping characters Kate Atkinson opens up questions of how from works of fiction. When Jane WINNER environments can change Eyre is snatched from between Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction SHORTLIST civilisations, testing human her pages, Thursday steps in Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction decency, endurance, imagination as defender of literature in this The life of a and love. exuberant, entertaining read. Fans 15th century Ursula is born on a wintery night in F 1999 407pp B1765 of Jane Eyre will be rewarded, Renaissance 1910, and when she dies, is reborn and those unfamiliar with the artist entwines on the same day and into the with that of same family over and over. Each My Sister’s Keeper classic will want to read it. Jodi Picoult 2001 373pp B1878 teenage girl of her lives is fascinatingly different, F George in woven throughout a backdrop of Is it morally correct to do this inventive historical events including both whatever it takes to save a novel. Smith World Wars. Beautifully written, child’s life? Anna was conceived F challenges the original and moving. as a bone marrow match for convention that a story should her older sister Kate, who has Fahrenheit 451 run a reliably smooth course, F 2013 480pp B2185 leukaemia. Picoult’s portrait Ray Bradbury asking whether history can of a family on the brink will Fahrenheit 451 is the exist simultaneously in the past Life of Pi polarise readers and create temperature at which book and present. An element of Yann Martel robust discussion on parenting, paper catches fire and burns. chance determines which of the ethics and the implications In a future society where books characters you meet first in your WINNER of bioengineering. are banned by a totalitarian copy of the book – guaranteeing Man Booker Prize F 2004 423pp B1909 regime, firemen start fires in good discussion! A cargo ship carrying zoo order to burn hidden caches of F 2014 284pp B2229 animals flounders at sea, and books, and society is enslaved Pi, a 16‑year‑old Indian boy, by media, drugs and conformity. What If This book was brilliant! is stranded on a life raft with a Decades on, Bradbury’s vision We loved Smith's playful hyena, an orangutan, a zebra still has the power to dazzle and approach and the 'surprise' and a Bengal tiger. He must use shock. A science fiction classic. of which character you meet all his daring and wit to survive. first. Our reactions were so 1953 172pp B1723 An engaging, dazzling novel. F diverse because of this. Melbourne City Readers F 2001 319pp B1788

BOOK GROUPS N FAVOURITE S Only the Animals Never Let Me Go Ceridwen Dovey Picnic at Hanging Rock Saturday Kazuo Ishiguro Joan Lindsay Ian McEwan WINNER On a Valentine’s Day picnic in McEwan creates for us one Readings New Australian SHORTLISTED Writing Award 1900, a group of schoolgirls day in the life of a London Man Booker Prize neurosurgeon, a man fully The souls of vanishes with their teacher. Kathy, Ruth and Tommy Witnesses are disoriented engaged in his work and ten animals blessed with a domestic life of attended an elite school in tell captivating and confused, and the group the English countryside that are never recovered. The contentment, until one Saturday stories of their he must deal with the fall‑out sheltered its students from the lives in times of consequences of the day are outside. Why were they there? far-reaching for the community, from a minor traffic accident that human conflict, morning. Accomplished writing, Kathy narrates a retrospective drawing on the remaining characters, and journey through memory and the once-prestigious school. ‘beautifully alive to the fragility of often surprising happiness’ – The Times. fact, slowly unfolding details literary The interaction of civilisation with to a startling resolution. An connections. nature is also explored in this F 2005 279pp B1911 unsettling tale which probes Henry Lawson’s camel enduring Australian classic. moral responsibility and the witnesses the colonisation F 1967 213pp B402 A remarkable book. It was scientific ethics. of Australia, Himmler’s dog all so credible … and to think F 2005 263pp B1864 ponders the meaning of 24 hours was filled with such Buddhism, and a dolphin in R descriptive and at times Not the End of the World the US Navy composes a letter quite beautiful writing. Much to Sylvia Plath. Amusing and Republic of Women research into Huntingdon’s Kate Atkinson Chorea and the game of touching, their tales explore the Merrill Findlay ‘And now for something consequences of warfare from a squash! Our discussion was completely different.’ Imaginative unique and original perspective. Real people from history lively and plentiful. and distinctive, these twelve walk through the pages of Baxter Bookworms linked stories create an S 2014 248pp B2212 this book, and anyone who unexpected sense of what it is knows Melbourne’s St Kilda to be alive. They portray ordinary Great discussion! A clever, will recognise its threatened The Scapegoat people in confining, dangerous, highly original, extremely inner‑city environment. ‘In this Daphne du Maurier or lonely circumstances disturbing book, confronting novel of striking intellectual that unexpectedly, even humans with their subtlety and authority, Merrill After a chance meeting at a bizarrely, break into the mythic inhumanity to each other Findlay probes questions French railway station, John, experience of Greek gods and and to other animals. It was of sexual identity in a voice a lonely professor, assumes a great device to match each magical transformations. another man’s identity, and animal to a literary figure, that is radical, humane and tender’(Raimond Gaita). becomes involved in the S 2002 278pp B1774 though a few of us found it complex family relationships, too disturbing. F 1999 280pp B1752 love affairs and business life of Bithry 1 the selfish and arrogant man he O The Road is impersonating. An intriguing Cormac McCarthy and suspenseful story. FL 1957 320pp B1126 P WINNER The Ocean Pulitzer Prize at the End The Patron Saint of Eels Gregory Day A man and his young son walk of the Lane through a post‑apocalyptic Neil Gaiman Noel and Nannette are long‑time American wasteland. Danger locals of a small coastal town in and starvation lurk at every turn Neil Gaiman the grip of gentrification. When in this deeply disturbing yet explores a freak flood leaves hundreds ultimately redemptive story. A memory, of eels trapped in the ditches novel that asks what we might childhood vulnerability, and around Noel’s home, Fra Ionio, be capable of when pushed hidden trauma in this shadowy, a 300‑year‑old Italian monk, to the brink - and whether we atmospheric fairytale woven with comes to the rescue. Quirky could make it back in one piece. his trademark touch of fantasy. and likeable characters together Harrowing scenes may disturb; As the unnamed narrator revisits with lyrical evocations of bush this book will give your group a his childhood home, memories and sea shine through in this lengthy and vivid discussion. long‑obscured lead him to the delightful contemporary fable. What If What neighbouring farm where he F 2006 256pp B1977 spent time as a 7‑year‑old. He F 2005 181pp B1865 remembers Lettie, the girl who lived there, and what really happened during the summer they spent together. F 2013 248pp B2206

State of Wonder Things We Didn’t A Wild Sheep Chase Ann Patchett See Coming U Haruki Murakami Steven Amsterdam A girl with ears so exquisite SHORTLISTED The Unknown Terrorist that they improve sex a Orange Prize WINNER Richard Flanagan thousand‑fold, a runaway From the bestselling author The Age Book of the Year friend, a right‑wing politico, LONGLISTED an ovine‑obsessed professor, of Bel Canto comes this This collection of nine linked Miles Franklin Literary Award compelling, thrilling novel. narratives is set in a near‑future and a manic‑depressive in a Scientists for a pharmaceutical dystopia, recognisable and Set in post‑9/11 Sydney, a Kings sheep outfit are all implicated in company are researching an unsettling. A young boy Cross pole dancer finds she a hunt for a sheep that may or Amazonian tribe where women is caught up in worldwide has become the most wanted may not be running the world remain fertile until old age, in Y2K‑style panic, and becomes terrorist in the country, and is in this singular masterpiece hope of selling their secret. the book’s nameless narrator, caught up in a vortex of murder, from Japan’s finest novelist. When the head researcher travelling from story to story and media hype and politically Equal parts screwball comedy, disappears and the man sent negotiating the lawlessness, manipulated fear‑mongering. detective story and heroic quest. to discover the findings dies, epidemics, extreme weather, A fast moving thriller, this is F 1982 299pp B1654 pharmacologist Marina leaves relationships and politics of a also an angry portrayal of Minnesota to track down her post‑millennium world. Often contemporary Australia. former mentor in the depths of dark, sometimes funny, this F 2006 320pp B1983 Y the Amazon. intriguing book should spark F 2011 353pp B2120 discussion about issues The Unusual Life The Year of the Flood potentially facing us all. of Tristan Smith Margaret Atwood F 2009 174pp B2070 T Peter Carey At a time when the human The Tin Drum WINNER population has been decimated Tehanu by a plage, the Corporations Günter Grass The Age Book of the Year have taken over the world, Ursula LeGuin This is the autobiography of The eponymous hero and including all scientific and Beautiful, challenging, Oskar Matzerath, a 30‑year‑old narrator is born dwarfed and technological developments. In deceptively simple writing detained in a mental hospital, badly deformed, the vital this bleak dystopia, eco‑religious explores the stories of a woman and convicted of murder. It is and clever son of a beautiful, sect the God’s Gardeners try to who adopts a girl crippled taken down with the aid of his activist actress in one of the work with nature as civilisation and scarred by abuse, and a tiny drum, the chosen symbol richly imagined countries in this crumbles. The humanity and once‑great wizard who has of his way of life. A brilliant and unusual, mind‑stretching novel. friendships of the female exhausted his magic. Can they challenging work which has We follow Tristan’s struggles characters offer hope despite survive among brutal enemies been seminal in German writing. and adventures through worlds the grim atmosphere. This novel in a land rotten with evil? Two‑month book. which are new, yet disturbingly contains some of the characters LeGuin reflects on power and familiar. Not for the squeamish, from Oryx and Crake but is not powerlessness; the differing F 1961 590pp B70 a sequel. butBook full of Grwondersoups and marvels. wisdom of women and men; and 1994 422pp F 2009 528pp B2079 the possibility of healing. The Tyrant’s Novel F FavouriteB1462 F 1990 204pp B1461 Thomas Keneally In an oil‑rich country, writer Alan The Telling is asked to produce a novel W Ursula LeGuin explaining the great deeds of its tyrannical ruler and blaming BOOK GROUPS FAVOURITE On an alien planet, Sutty now the country’s difficulties on lives under the Corporation, outside forces. Facing a moral a capitalist dictatorship which dilemma and a tight deadline, Wide Sargasso Sea burns books and suppresses Alan must resolve both at the Jean Rhys evidence of the past. From the risk of his own life and those mountain people, she learns of In Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Mr around him. Keneally’s portrayal Rochester is not free to the extraordinarily diverse, vital, of the experiences of asylum integrated culture that once marry because of Bertha, his seekers is both terrifying and mad‑and‑bad wife secreted in existed here. This meditation utterly compelling. on cultural decimation and the attic. Dominican‑born Jean colonialism is part of the F 2003 292pp B1867 Rhys sympathetically re‑imagines cycle which includes The the Jamaican life of a young What If Dispossessed and The Left Creole heiress, Rochester’s Hand of Darkness. courtship and the early years of their marriage, turning many of F 2000 264pp B1806 Brontë’s values and assumptions inside out. FL 1966 156pp B809

Enjoyed The Year of the Flood? Try Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury [B1723]

C Crime F Fiction B Biography S Short Stories N Nonfiction L Large Print 66 Dark Deeds These titles explore the darker side of life with psychological thrillers, true crime, world politics, spy tales and more.

Amsterdam Black Tide The Broken Shore A Ian McEwan Peter Temple Peter Temple Two friends of many years are A ne’er‑do‑well son has fleeced Alias Grace among the mourners gathered his ageing parents, and Jack LONGLISTED Miles Franklin Literary Award Margaret Atwood at the North London funeral of Irish, AFL devotee and one‑time Molly Lane, one an esteemed solicitor, promises to look into Joe Cashin is sent to a quiet SHORTLISTED composer, the other, editor of a it. The action shifts from Fitzroy Victorian coastal town to do the Orange Prize quality broadsheet. Also present pub to Toorak and across to undemanding work of a country A large, complex fiction is the Foreign Secretary. Each, the horsetrack. Peter Temple’s cop. But a brutal attack on the combining murder mystery with it transpires, had at one time settings are masterly, his town benefactor brings him social comment on class and been Molly’s lover. Incriminating characters are convincing, and he back into the thick of things. A sexual relationships, and based revelations are made, and the writes some of the best dialogue novel about place, family, politics on historical fact: a notorious careers and destinies of the on the current Australian scene. and power which reads less murder case in Canada. Atwood three men are in question. C 1999 356pp B1853 like crime fiction and more like explores the ambiguities of A cleverly plotted, blackly literary fiction. Strong language. 16‑year‑old Grace Marks, and comic morality tale. Blood from a Stone FC 2005 345pp B1917 also brings her usual wit and F 1998 178pp B1861 Donna Leon insight to psychology, morality The Brush‑Off and the management of Another World In Venice, Commissario Brunetti Shane Maloney Victorian homes and prisons. Pat Barker looks into the case of an African A must for Atwood lovers. street vendor shot dead while From the opening sultry sex Small print. Wonderful writing combines sharp selling fake goods to tourists. scene between the ministerial observation of today’s family The man’s illegal status and his minder and the editor of a F 1996 545pp B1556 lives with resonant evocations country of origin are linked into small‑circulation arty magazine, of murders and mysteries. The the investigation, and matters this entertaining thriller deftly We were not enthusiastic power of old wounds to hurt with disturbing international mixes humour, satire and the about the length and or heal the present is explored implications are interwoven with pleasures of the whodunit, as the small print, but we in another intelligent, honest, Venetian family living. Maloney highlights the hypocrisy all enjoyed reading the generous‑spirited novel by Pat C 2005 320pp B1858 in the carryings on of politicians, book. As to whether Grace Barker. It concerns two blended the acquisitive art world and the was guilty of murder, we families, one 19th and the The Bone People greedy corporate high‑fliers. were divided. The general other late 20th century, and the consensus was that the book C 1996 314pp B1484 centenarian Geordie, who Keri Hulme was beautifully written, and although wordy and detailed, foughtBook in theGr oupsFirst World War. The Butcher’s Wife 1998 278pp B1588 WINNER was well worth the read. F Favourite Man Booker Prize Li Ang Mt Waverley Tally Ho An unusual exploration of the In a small traditional town in B lives of a woman, a child and a Taiwan, a wife kills her husband, All That I Am man. This novel portrays startling and her community cannot psychological and physical terror believe that she does not have Anna Funder BOOK GROUPS a lover. In showing what led to FAVOURITE as the characters move towards a resolution which weaves this violent act, Li Ang does not WINNER censor the crude language or Miles Franklin Literary Award together Maori spirituality and Berlin Syndrome the traditional wisdom of East the brutality of the husband. A Funder’s debut novel moves Melanie Joosten and West. Not easy to read, haunting and horrific tale, with between contemporary Sydney, A psychological thriller by a but a gripping novel with a insight into the gentle, driven Weimar Germany, and wartime debut Australian author. Clare is considerable reputation. woman at its centre. New York and London. It a young backpacker who meets F 1983 450pp B404 F 1983 142pp B1366 fictionalises the true story of native Berliner Andi at Checkpoint German revolutionary Ernst Toller Charlie. He invites her to move in and his circle of friends and Borderliners with him and a tale of obsession Peter Høeg C associates as they struggled to and psychological intrigue begins. publicise the brutality of the Nazi This is an intelligent novel with This chilling, suspenseful novel is Captivity Captive regime. A compelling exploration a masterful description of the about what we owe to our young. Rodney Hall of sacrifice, betrayal, and the loneliness and isolation that can Three abandoned, damaged need to bear witness. be found in a foreign city - and the children end up at a select SHORTLISTED F 2011 365pp B2137 potential vulnerability of a woman school where students are rigidly Miles Franklin Literary Award travelling alone. controlled in an atmosphere of subtle menace. One, a boy in his The Gatton murders on Boxing F 2011 246pp B2113 teens, has to work out why, and Day 1898 are the factual basis what can be done. of this harrowing yet absorbing FL 1993 252pp B1483 fiction, which examines the darker side of a large, ordinary, Australian pioneering family. F 1988 214pp B1272

Carry Me Down The Cove BOOK GROUPS M.J. Hyland Ron Rash FAVOURITE F In a gloomy valley in the The Dinner Farewell, My Lovely SHORTLISTED Appalachians there is a farm Herman Koch Man Booker Prize that the locals believe is cursed. Raymond Chandler The farm’s owners are Laurel, an Paul and his wife are on their Chandler is one of the most In rural Ireland in the 1970s, way to a dinner which he knows

object of derision with a port‑wine enthralling thriller writers and Deeds Dark painfully awkward and acutely neither of them will enjoy, and observant 11‑year‑old John birthmark, and her brother Hank, this, his best‑known book, maimed from war in Europe. When his satiric, humorously snide withstands the test of time. You believes he possesses a gift for observations slowly reveal lie detection, a belief that will mute stranger Walter enters her may have seen the film with life, Laurel finds happiness she the reasons for this over the Robert Mitchum and Charlotte have devastating consequences five courses of the meal. for his family. The crisp prose in has never known. But will Walter’s Rampling in the leading roles. secret destroy them? Expertly‑paced twists expose Hyland’s second novel presents dark events, and the veneer of F 1940 253pp B1060 an enthralling portrait of a family, F 2012 255pp B2158 middle‑class respectability is and a chilling study of lies questioned in the face of parental Fatal Remedies interpreted through the eyes of The Cutting Room angst, loyalty and justice. Donna Leon a boy struggling on the cusp Louise Welsh of adolescence. F 2012 309pp B2171 Police investigator Guido Brunetti Rilke discovers an old black deals with domestic tension as 2006 313pp B1919 F and white collection of sexually The Dressmaker his articulate, strong‑willed wife violent photographs. Setting out Rosalie Ham makes a stand on an issue of Case Histories to solve the murder depicted in great concern. As crime escalates Kate Atkinson the photographs, Rilke follows Tilly returns from fashionable from the local to the international Private investigator Jackson the grisly plot through Glasgow. Europe to her mother, ‘old scene, Leon deals with issues of Brodie finds himself immersed Content may offend. Small print. Mad Molly’, and to the small corruption in the local scene of in three unsolved mysteries, F 2002 294pp B2064 country town in the Victorian Venice, where she has lived for and as he traces the threads wheatbelt where she grew up. 25 years. of these interweaving tragedies In this inventive first novel, part C 1999 303pp B1855 we discover his own painful D pastoral, part Gothic, there is misfortunes. This unconventional much comic brio as Tilly brings haute couture to the backblocks. The Fig Eater detective novel focuses on Dead Man Walking Jody Shields those who are left to pick up the Helen Prejean F 2000 296pp B1638 pieces, trapped by their need to Vienna in 1910. It seems at first know the truth. Each character This passionate case against that this will be a straightforward is haunted by desperation to capital punishment comes from E historical crime novel, but it mines remember their loved ones, while a nun brought into contact with the fertile tension between morality seeking the relief of closure. violent criminals on Death Row. Emergency Sex & Other and passion that provided such Remarkable for exploring evil, rich material for Freud himself. F 2004 304pp B1873 love, and grace. Desperate Measures Beneath the imperial city’s Kenneth Cain, Heidi N 1993 358pp B1502 respectable facade are layers The Child in Time Postlewait & Andrew Thomson of deception, abuse and sexual Ian McEwan perversion. Interweaving two Excellent discussion! Helen The authors, former UN parallel investigations of a young Prejean is a passionate and employees, met on peacekeeping WINNER articulate author, and very assignment in Cambodia. The girl’s murder, Shields explores Whitbread Novel Award balanced. It is the intelligent trio cross paths in Somalia, Haiti, the nature of investigation itself. What is the role of logic, and what The only child of a young self-awareness of the author and Bosnia, and their friendship of intuition? couple suddenly disappears in which makes this book strengthens. Interweaving stories McEwan’s complex, haunting, so very powerful and it is reveal idealism, humour and F 2000 349pp B1640 almost magical interweaving these same qualities which desire, beneath accounts of war of the themes of loss, memory set the framework for a that will educate and outrage. Fingersmith and the human capacity meaningful discussion. Confronting descriptions of sex Sarah Waters for regeneration. Forbes and genocide will offend some, F 1987 220pp B1316 but this is well worth the effort for SHORTLISTED its brilliant investigation into the Man Booker Prize Diamond Dove human cost of global politics. The group found the book Adrian Hyland 2004 352pp Sue grows up in a house of thought provoking. Although N B1877 fingersmiths (petty thieves) in we were able to identify Drifting back to the Aboriginal a grimy back alley of Victorian many themes of the book, community she left years ago, Enduring Love London. Baby farming, gloomy such as grief, childhood, and Emily doesn’t know where she Ian McEwan mansions, inheritances and time, we did not feel we fully belongs. Within hours of her conspiracies, hangings, understood it. Some parts Joe becomes the object of return, an old friend is brutally obsessive attentions from a young oppressive relatives and of the book were bizarre and murdered and an old enemy is did not feel true to reality. man whom he has only seen eccentrics and lunatic asylums the only suspect. This outback once before. Under this stress, – it’s all here. Full of deceptions, However, all felt it was a crime yarn tackles issues of land, worthwhile and stimulating his previously happy marriage twists and unfolding romance, book following the tradition lore and relations between black begins to fail. A chilling study of this novel is brilliantly written. of Ian McEwan's writing. and white Australians. Enjoyable the troubling phenomenon of The lesbian love interest and and well‑paced, this is an easy Mullumbimby Huon Books the stalker, from a novelist with reference to the thriving Victorian read that raises much material an uncanny ability to portray pornography industry are for discussion. Strong language disturbing states of mind. post‑Dickensian. may offend some readers. F 1997 247pp B1710 F 2002 548pp B1807 CF 2006 322pp B1949

The Harmony Silk Factory The Invisible Ones G Tash Aw Stef Penney L In 1980s England, private‑eye The Girl with the WINNER Ray Lovell is investigating the The Legacy Dragon Tattoo Commonwealth Writers’ Prize disappearance of a young woman Kirsten Tranter Stieg Larsson A kaleidoscopic portrait of who married into a travelling Gypsy family. Meanwhile, LONGLISTED The first book in the Millennium Johnny Lim, textile merchant, Miles Franklin Literary Award trilogy. Set in Sweden, this petty crook and inventor, who Romani teenager JJ struggles to unconventional and gripping marries local beauty Snow unravel long‑held family secrets. Reimagines The Portrait of a mystery delves into social Soong. Years later, their son Inspired by film noir, this thriller Lady by Henry James. Ingrid issues, particularly about Jasper seeks to unravel the truth explores hidden secrets, and the inherits a fortune, moves to

Dark Deeds violence against women. about his parents’ relationship. lives of those on the fringes of New York, marries, becomes Disgraced journalist Mikael Dealing with loyalty, love, and society. From the author of The stepmother to teenage Fleur, Blomkvist is hired by a wealthy betrayal in 1940s Malaysia on Tenderness of Wolves. and immerses herself in the businessman to investigate the the brink of abandonment by the F 2011 438pp B2135 art scene. The morning of disappearance, of his niece British, Aw brilliantly exposes the September 11, Ingrid disappears Harriet Vanger. Lisbeth Salander, cultural tensions of an era. after an appointment downtown, an anti‑social, tattooed, F 2005 362pp B1923 and her cousin Ralph asks computer hacker becomes his J his friend Julia to find out unlikely assistant. Content may Havana Bay Joe Cinque’s Consolation what happened. offend some readers. Martin Cruz Smith Helen Garner F 2010 438pp B2095 F 2008 533pp B2067 Arkady Renko first appeared in In this ‘true story of death, The Little Stranger Gone Girl 1981 as the maverick Moscow grief and the law’ Garner policeman in Gorky Park. Now unravels the bizarre killing of Sarah Waters Gillian Flynn Arkady has arrived in Cuba an unsuspecting young man When a seemingly happy to investigate the death of a by his girlfriend. Why did those SHORTLISTED woman disappears without Russian embassy worker. A richly who knew of the murder plan Man Booker Prize a trace, convincing evidence intricate spy thriller, made more do nothing? An onlooker during In post‑war rural Warwickshire, points to the involvement of her compelling by its evocation of a the legal proceedings, Garner country GP Dr Faraday becomes oddly unemotional husband. threadbare, vibrant, dangerous also comes to know the Cinque involved in a spiralling series This well‑crafted psychological Havana with the insinuation of family, especially Maria, Joe’s of disturbing events involving thriller surprises with each turn music never far away. mother. Her book asks searching the crumbling estate of grand of the investigation, unfolding C 1999 453pp B1761 questions about the law, about local family, the Ayres. A ghost disturbing information with truth, justice and reparation. story, a family in decline, and a every twist. The unpredictable N 2004 328pp B1859 rapidly changing society make characters, absorbing storyline this compelling reading from this and creative structure are I popular author. stimulating discussion points, and questions and interview with The Ice Princess K F 2009 501pp B2038 Camilla Lackberg author Gillian Flynn are included. The Killing of Sister The Lovely Bones F 2012 496pp B2177 When writer Erica Falck returns McCormack to her hometown in Sweden, Alice Sebold she learns that her childhood Anne Henderson Fourteen‑year‑old Susie is friend Alex has died. Police are Sister Irene McCormack was the brutally murdered, and tells H treating it as a suicide, but as first Australian Catholic missionary her story looking down from The Hamilton Case Erica interviews people about to be murdered abroad. What heaven. Haunting, compelling, Alex’s death, it becomes clear prompted her to travel to a village Michelle de Kretser Book Groups and unsettling, this is an original thatFa deepervour secretsite are hiding in rural Peru, where she lived and challenging novel about beneath the surface of the small, simply and taught the children healing, recovery, and moving on WINNER idyllic town of Fjallbacka. of the poor? Henderson skilfully towards a newly defined future. Commonwealth Writers’ Prize C 2011 400pp B2145 teases out the many different F 2002 328pp B1789 This brilliant evocation of life in facets of Sister McCormack’s 1930s Ceylon, at the end of the life and death: theology, politics, BOOK GROUPS terrorism, relationships, mission British colonial period, focuses FAVOURITE on the murder of an English work, faith and passion. M tea planter and the tangled B 2002 308pp B1673 Midnight In Sicily personal life of the narrator. A In Cold Blood Ceylonese lawyer who prides Truman Capote Kittyhawk Down Peter Robb himself on being more English A Kansas farmer and his family Garry Disher A fascinating collage of Italian than the English, Sam’s complex were murdered early one art, history and travel - and the character and distorted view morning in 1959, an event that Set on the Mornington Peninsula story of the Mafia in Sicily. Robb of the world are beautifully captivated Capote’s interest. In not far from Melbourne, this claims that during the ‘season sustained. De Kretser’s historical an effort to escape subjectivism, crime novel offers dead bodies, of distinguished corpses’, the novel is complex and satisfying. he spent five years on the manhunts, suspense and ‘men of honour’ built on their intrigue. Disher’s character F 2003 369pp B1862 case, made friends of the two conservative Sicilian power murderers, and wrote this development is excellent, base, and with the support of ‘non‑fiction novel’ about it all. especially in unfolding the private the anti‑left Vatican and CIA, and professional life of his police moved into the top positions in N 1966 288pp B100 investigator, Hal Challis. Italy. A crime story like no other. C 2003 275pp B1787 N 1996 326pp B1549

Midnight In the Garden The Moonstone Nineteen Minutes Orpheus Lost of Good and Evil Wilkie Collins Jodi Picoult Janette Turner Hospital John Berendt A superb novel which has Picoult delves into small town There is an explosion on the been regarded as the first of life to explore ‘difference’ in underground, terrorists are FINALIST the modern detective stories, our society. In Sterling, New suspected, and Leela, a gifted Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction and was originally serialised in Hampshire, 17‑year‑old Peter American mathematician, is

This ornate, readable book Charles Dickens’ magazine. has endured years of verbal taken to an interrogation centre Deeds Dark transports us to the lush After a theft in a grand home, and physical abuse at the outside the city. Her childhood setting of Savannah, Georgia, Sergeant Cuff must solve a hands of classmates. One final friend, Cobb, is conducting an a city which is inward looking, mystery with as many facets as incident sends Peter over the unconventional investigation and ingrown, and caught in a time the priceless missing diamond, edge, leading him to an act reveals that Leela’s love interest warp. It’s full of eccentric people including tracking down a which forever changes the Mishka, a talented Australian and anecdotes, with a murder missing nightgown as the key town’s residents. Rich with musician, is not who he seems. and four trials for good measure. to a murder. psychological and social insight, F 2007 358pp B2008 C 1868 526pp B1170 Picoult asks: how well can we NL 1994 388pp B1476 really know someone? Morality Play F 2007 600pp B2001 P NEW Barry Unsworth We all enjoyed reading In 14th century England, a NEW The Midnight this book despite initial troupe of travelling players is Watch misgivings! The book deals beset by winter, plague and with tragic events and the The People David Dyer banditry. The players decide to author ties the experiences in the Trees On the night the replace their usual miracle‑play together dealing with the Hanya Titanic sank, with an improvisation of the relationships throughout. Yanagihara her passengers events leading up to a recent The book is fast paced, and and crew murder.Book Historical Groups novel though long, it never drags. Scientist noticed another ship nearby. and Famurdervour mysteryite blend Bensville Bookworms Norton Perina That ship was the Californian, as we witness the birth of reflects on his and as the details of the tragic modern drama. controversial Nobel Prize‑winning night emerge, reporter John 1995 188pp discovery amid a media‑storm F B1511 This was a great book which of allegations of child abuse. His Steadman is intrigued by the everyone found fascinating reactions of her crew. Based reading - a terrific page turner matter‑of‑fact viewpoint contrasts BOOK GROUPS his questionable morality, lending on true events, this gripping FAVOURITE which gave in-depth insight into novel explores the human the lasting effects of bullying. a dark psychological element failings of those who could have Brighton East 4 to a book which will leave you prevented disaster – and yet, The Mystery considering Western colonisation, stood by. of a Hansom Cab ecological disruption, and the subjective way we view ourselves F 2016 336pp B2239 Fergus Hume – and our heroes. Endlessly This handsome 1999 edition O discussable. Contains themes Miss Smilla’s restores the local Melbourne that may disturb. detail and language of the On Beulah Height F 2013 384pp B2209 Feeling for Snow original text of this early murder Reginald Hill Peter Høeg mystery, which sold 20,000 Three children are abducted copies here when it was first Perfume: The Story A small boy fell to his death from in the small Yorkshire village of a Murderer the roof of an apartment block. printed. This readable, historically of Dendale. Fifteen years later, But was this really an accidental significant example of crime Andy Dalziel, the uncouth but Patrick Süskind fiction is a period piece of death? Smilla Jaspersen, astute detective who worked on Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is late‑19th century Melbourne. descended from the Inuit people the earlier case, is called in when born with an astounding sense of Greenland, has a feeling for C 1886 309pp B408 another child goes missing. of smell, yet he himself has no snow – and she thinks not. The A haunting novel with sharply scent. He learns the art of the action moves from Denmark observed characters, humour, perfumer and creates a scent to the Arctic icecap, and snow N spirit and an aching sense of for himself that can fool people’s and ice, beauty and extremity loss. Small print. perceptions of his personality. are central to the world of this Nice Try C 1998 440pp B1727 One day, inspired to possess the unusual thriller. Shane Maloney scent of a young girl, he murders F 1992 410pp B1413 One Good Turn her, embarking on a journey to Melbourne may be the the dark side of humanity. Australian capital of performance Kate Atkinson F 1985 263pp B1453 comedy and Maloney lives At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, up to this reputation with this Jackson Brodie (from Case delightful tale. Murray Whelan’s Histories) becomes enmeshed in This novel challenged most of our involvement with Melbourne’s members, but since some found a number of murders that ripple it fascinating and most found Enjoyed The People bid to stage the Olympic Games out from a road rage incident. allows hilarious insights into it disgusting, discussion was in the Trees? An array of characters, from the vigorous. Even those who disliked 1990s politics, gym culture, and quirky to the bizarre, feature in Aboriginal activism. the book found the writing of this fast‑moving, deftly‑plotted high standard and there was high Try State of Wonder by C 1998 312pp B1577 comic novel. praise for the translation. Ann Patchett [B2120] FC 2006 396pp B1975 Tatura 1

The Poison Principle Reading in the Dark NEW Room Gail Bell Seamus Deane Emma Donoghue Enticingly subtitled A Memoir Resurrection SHORTLISTED SHORTLISTED of Family Secrets and Literary Bay Orange Prize Poisonings. Bell’s grandfather Man Booker Prize Emma Viskic was known inside the family to In the town of Derry in Northern Deaf since Five year old Jack lives in one have poisoned his two young room with his mother, and Ireland, a young boy from a childhood, sons with strychnine in 1927. believes they are the only real Catholic family is gripped with Caleb has Herself a trained pharmacist, people in a world that exists only secrets, fears, suspicions and always relied Bell spent years disentangling betrayals, all having to do with IRA within ‘Room’ – until his mother these events, and interweaves on his instincts. When his best confides her terrible secret. Jack is involvement and the police. The friend is murdered, Caleb begins Dark Deeds her discoveries with precise boy’s gradual piecing together of by turns poignantly naïve and wise detail about how arsenic, an investigation that will force beyond his years, and his story events provides chilling suspense, him to face the demons from strychnine, and cyanide work, but together with this bleakness will haunt you long after you finish and accounts of famous his past. Laced with a dark this powerful novel. Disturbing Deane renders a magical world humour, this original, fast-paced poisoners and their victims. of a child’s imaginings; of tales, content with plenty of material thriller questions what it means for discussion. N 2001 279pp B1660 songs and myths. to pass for ‘normal’ in a world F 1996 233pp B1545 where otherness is often seen F 2010 400pp B2110 Postmortem as ‘disability’, asking intriguing Patricia Cornwell Rebecca questions about identity and belonging. Set in Cornwell’s home town Daphne du Maurier S of Richmond, Virginia; the CF 2015 192pp B2232 Secrets of the Jury Room investigator is Dr Kay Scarpetta, WINNER a forensic pathologist. A serial National Book Award The Return of the Malcolm Knox killer is on the loose; three Max de Winter’s second wife Dancing Master What happens if twelve randomly women have been attacked and lives with him in a suffocating chosen men and women do killed in their own bedrooms. Henning Mankell atmosphere of mystery and not easily reach a unanimous When a fourth victim is In a remote location in northern rising menace, as she becomes decision? Prompted by his own discovered, the pressure is on Sweden, an off‑the‑job vested in the mystery of what experience of jury duty in a criminal for Scarpetta to produce results. policeman decides to find out became of his first wife, the case, Malcolm Knox (literary editor A real spine‑chiller: not for the more about the violent death of dazzling Rebecca. A classic of the Sydney Morning Herald) has faint‑hearted. Small print. a colleague. Mankell is a master thriller and still a gripping story produced a readable book about of suspense and tension, able C 1990 293pp B1422 even if you know Hitchcock’s jury trials, and their advantages to take on big ideas such as the film version. Book Groups and disadvantages. The Power and the Glory resurgence across Europe of N 2005 352pp B1956 CL 1938 397pp B1137 neo‑FaNazism.vour iteIntelligent, complex Graham Greene crime writing. The Shark Net Set in Mexico at the time of The majority had read this C 2000 520pp B1840 religious persecution in the many years before, but all Robert Drewe name of revolution, and in enjoyed reading it again. In this memoir, subtitled many ways like a thriller, the We had a very interesting BOOK GROUPS Memories and Murder, Drewe story is of the last, hunted discussion on our different FAVOURITE captures key images from his days of a whisky‑sodden priest points of view of the youth in Perth. After his family’s determined to continue the characters. Overall, a good The Robber Bride transfer from a more conservative Church’s ministry. read and good report. Margaret Atwood Melbourne he experiences the Cowwarr F 1940 288pp B139 Perth locals as strange and WINNER fascinating. There’s humour, Commonwealth Writers’ Prize perceptiveness and also dread Restless – as a serial murderer menaces R William Boyd Zenia was ‘pure, free‑wheeling the city, a figure who turns out to malevolence’, a manipulator who In the summer of 1976, Ruth be more closely connected with The Railway Station Man brilliantly exploited the generosity discovers the strange truth their family than anyone realises. and weaknesses of friends. Jennifer Johnston about her elderly mother, Sally. They attended her funeral with B 2000 358pp B1843 Helen has retreated to small Russian by birth, she worked for relief - but now she returns to town on the Irish coast as she the British Secret Service during disrupt their lives again. Atwood Silvermeadow recovers from the tragic death World War II. A suspenseful at her best: wittily observant, Barry Maitland of her husband. She begins novel of a female spy that sheds emotionally engaging, and painting again, and slowly a fascinating light into wartime A missing teenager and a sighting positive about friendship. forms a relationship with war British‑American relations and of a vicious bank robber are hero Roger who lives at the explores the consequences of F 1993 470pp B1456 both linked to Silvermeadow, nearby railway station house – betrayal and duplicity. a glitzy new shopping centre but happiness can be fleeting 2006 304pp B1976 on the outskirts of London. among the tensions of life. An F Maitland brings his architecture explosive, well-plotted novel background into play, not just with from this Whitbread Novel the design of the mall but with the Award-winning author. social psychology that underpins 1984 187pp B1234 it. Well‑written and plotted, F with convincing characters. Small print. C 2000 346pp B1856

Snow Falling on Cedars The Suspicions of The Thirteenth Tale David Guterson Mr Whicher T Diane Setterfield Kate Summerscale Angelfield House was once the FINALIST NEW home of the March family – the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction WINNER manipulative Isabelle, her brutal In 1954 on an island off the Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction brother Charlie, and wild twins

Emmeline and Adeline. But now Deeds Dark Pacific coast of America, The murder of a child lies at The Tainted the house stands forgotten, a fisherman is found dead, the heart of this biography of Trial of Farah its chilling secrets hidden from and a second‑generation a middle class Victorian family, Jama view - until a biographer begins Japanese‑American is accused Summerscale’s meticulous Julie Szego investigating Angelfield’s past. of murdering him. This novel research turns a mystery into about a small community A Somali teen 2006 459pp B1994 an accessible social history of in Melbourne F examines prejudice, racial Britain's 19th century love affair injustice, war, love and was convicted of the rape of with detectives, and the birth of an Australian woman – but the conscience. A page‑turner the detective novel. offering much to discuss. tireless efforts of his lawyer NC 2008 372pp B2085 led to shocking revelations 18 This House F 1994 404pp B1497 months later. Raising questions of Grief Sucked In about justice, migration, cultural Helen Garner The Snowman Shane Maloney taboos, prejudice and gender Jo Nesbo politics, this is a confronting Garner was The discovery of a body in shocked by the The first day of snow has fallen story about the legal system a recently drained lake in in Australia. tragic story of on Oslo, and police investigator country Victoria sends Murray a man whose Harry Hole is involved in solving Whelan into investigation NF 2014 242pp B2213 three children drowned when a series of brutal murders. Hole mode. Are these the remains his car plunged into a dam on finds himself trapped in the of a union leader, drowned The Tall Man Father’s Day in 2005. Here, she killer's evil game, which will bring twenty years back? Maloney follows the engrossing twists him to the verge of insanity. brings us a sharp‑witted Chloe Hooper of the man’s court case and Content may disturb. picture of Melbourne during the In 2004, Cameron Doomadgee various appeals in this true‑crime C 2010 576pp B2154 late 1990s. was arrested for swearing at a story, watching as the theatre of CF 2007 276pp B1978 white police officer. Within 45 the law tries to determine: was Something Fishy minutes he was dead in a watch this accidental, or deliberate? Shane Maloney The Surgeon of house cell, the main suspect NF 2014 288pp B2223 well‑respected Senior Sergeant It may be summer at the beach, Crowthorne Christopher Hurley. Hooper tells but the Hon. Murray Whelan MP Simon Winchester the full story of the subsequent This Is How is onto something: criminality in The Oxford English Dictionary, trial and its repercussions. Her M.J. Hyland one area of the fishing industry. reports won her a Walkley Award There are sharply observed a massive work which took 70 years to complete, was and were published around LONGLISTED scenes of Lorne, and Maloney’s the world. usual liking for fast, funny action. based on the contributions of Orange Prize thousands of volunteers, but a B 2008 288pp B2062 C 2002 242pp B1844 mystery surrounded W.C. Minor, This is a vividly imagined one of the most prolific and novel about a young man on Started Early, The Tenderness of Wolves the edge of sanity. Patrick helpful of these. Winchester’s Stef Penney Took My Dog bestsellingBook Gr bookoups sets out the is moving in to a boarding Kate Atkinson bizarreFa vtaleour ofite Minor and his house on the English seaside, torments, and also offers a WINNER leaving behind his parents, an The fourth Jackson Brodie book diverting account of dictionaries. Costa Book of the Year unfinished university degree, in the bestselling series that 1867, Canada. As winter grips and a failed engagement. There began with Case Histories and B 1998 207pp B1704 is a mounting sense of unease was followed by One Good Turn the isolated settlement of Dove River, a man is brutally as we follow the emotionally and When Will There Be Good BOOK GROUPS murdered and a 17 year‑old boy inarticulate Patrick in this study News? This gripping mystery is FAVOURITE in claustrophobia and loneliness. as compelling as its precursors. disappears. Tracks outside the dead man’s cabin head north. F 2009 320pp B2056 F 2010 400pp B2088 Surrender One by one journalists, trappers, Sonya Hartnett and traders set out across Stupid White Men Gabriel once did a thing a desolate and dangerous Mike Moore unforgivable in the eyes of his landscape; pursuing the tracks before the snow erases the past A polemic on American community. Now 20 years old for good. But do they want to society and American politics, and dying, he has only his faithful solve the crime or exploit it? Moore’s rage converts to dog and his childhood friend outrageousness: ‘old white men Finnigan with whom he made a F 2006 440pp B1980 wielding martinis and wearing chilling pact. This demanding, dickies have occupied our disturbing and exhilarating nation’s capital’. Not for the psychological thriller explores reader looking for subtlety, this the impact of suffering on a noisy diatribe will offer much to child’s mind. discuss. Do we see any trace of F 2005 245pp B1895 what he portrays in Australia? N 2001 281pp B1809

Trespass The White Tiger Rose Tremain U W Aravind Adiga Antiques dealer Anthony escapes his fading London life The Untouchable We Need to Talk WINNER to his sister’s house in France, John Banville About Kevin Man Booker Prize where his presence disrupts her Quintessential member of the Lionel Shriver The son of a rickshaw‑puller, life and relationship. When he English Establishment, Anthony Balram leaves school to work in decides to buy the run‑down Blunt was disgraced in 1979 WINNER a teashop. When a rich village family home of local siblings when he was revealed as one of Orange Prize landlord hires him as a chauffeur Aramon and Audrun, he the Cambridge spies recruited When her son commits in Delhi, Balram’s re‑education becomes entangled in a struggle in the 1930s. The central figure mass murder days before begins, but to access the wealth

Dark Deeds between brother and sister in Banville’s exploration of the his sixteenth birthday, Eva is and opportunity of the city he which runs deeper than he can spy’s mentality is loosely based robbed of everything important must embrace a new morality. know. Tremain explores family on Blunt, with a supporting to her. In a series of letters to Provincialism and the caste history and what it means to cast of randy, heavy‑drinking her estranged husband, Eva system clash with the economic ‘trespass’ in this haunting novel. dissemblers. A dazzling read: revisits the events that led to the glitter of the techno-boom, F 2010 253pp B2072 cool, ironic, sad and funny. horrific incident. This chilling, where murder is sometimes the F 1997 405pp B1566 deeply psychological novel asks best option. Truth controversial questions about F 2008 336pp B2030 Peter Temple parenting and family in the V modern age. The Woman in White WINNER F 2005 468pp B1942 Wilkie Collins Miles Franklin Literary Award The Verge Practice One of the first mystery novels Inspector Stephen Villani is head Barry Maitland When Will There Be and still a fine example of the of the Victoria Police Homicide The glamorous world of architect Good News? genre one hundred and fifty Squad and he faces a series of Charles Verge is disturbed when Kate Atkinson years after it was written. Walter new murders to solve. A dark his second wife is murdered, helps a distressed young woman From the bestselling author of dressed in white, then realises novelBook that Gr exploresoups corruption, and he disappears. Is Verge Case Histories and One Good deceit and truth. “Truth is both the killer, now on the run, or that she had escaped from a Favourite Turn comes the third literary nearby asylum. This sets up a confronting and electrifying. It is has someone killed both Verge mystery with Jackson Brodie. Temple’s best book” – Age. and his wife? The action moves surprising plot involving insanity, Dr Hunter is missing and Reggie hidden identities and illegitimate FC 2009 387pp B2083 between London, Barcelona and raises the alarm. In a series of the British countryside as police children. It is said that politician deadly coincidences, Jackson William Gladstone cancelled an investigators Kolla and Brock joins Reggie’s search and BOOK GROUPS follow the trail. Small print. evening at the theatre to read FAVOURITE reconnects with Detective Chief 2003 313pp B1854 it; novelist William Makepeace C Inspector Louise Monroe. With Thackery sat up all night to finish Two Caravans strong character development it – and it may produce a similar Vernon God Little and multiple plot twists response in you. Small print. Marina Lewycka D.B.C. Pierre accompaning Atkinson’s dark, From the author of the humorous style. C 1859 648pp B1059 international bestseller A Short WINNER F 2008 348pp B2029 History of Tractors in Ukrainian Man Booker Prize 1984 comes a hilarious, yet gritty look White Dog George Orwell at what lies behind the arrival of Presents the classic dystopia, food at our tables. Lewycka’s WINNER Peter Temple Whitbread Novel Award and a state in which the depiction of the exploitation Jack Irish, gambler, cook, government has almost involved in the global labour The riotous adventures of cabinet‑maker and one‑time complete thought control. market is just one part of a 15 year‑old Vernon Gregory lawyer has a quiet, understated Orwell’s ideas about totalitarian picaresque tale involving itinerant Little in small‑town Texas and appeal. In a rainy autumn he methods and speech are now migrant workers, young love beach‑front Mexico mark one of moves in a world of shady part of the common language, and a caravan journey from the the most spectacularly irreverent, property deals, the squalid and his depiction of suffering strawberry fields of Kent. satirically acute and critically exploitation of young women, under totalitarian regimes F 2007 310pp B1982 acclaimed debuts of the 21st and untimely death. Peter is insightful. century. Strong language. Temple is admired for his superb 1949 312pp B29 F 2003 279pp B1941 ear for dialogue and Australian FL idiom and his unillusioned portrayal of the Melbourne and Australian scene. C 2003 337pp B1799

Enjoyed White Dog? Try Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic [B2232]

START A CONVERSATION, START A BOOK GROUP / 9652 0620 / CAE.EDU.AU / CONNECT WITH US 73 Art Mostly nonfiction titles that deal with an artist's life and body of work. These books contain beautiful artwork and explore the historical context of the artist or artists with biographic detail.

Aboriginal Art of Frank Lloyd Wright Kandinsky: Wassily O’Keeffe: Georgia the Kimberley Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer Kandinsky, 1866–1944 O’Keeffe The vibrant, colourful images From early prairie homes to Hajo Düchting Nancy Frazier in this exhibition catalogue are the Guggenheim Museum, Kandinsky O’Keeffe is best known for her accompanied by nine essays architect Frank Lloyd Wright which examine the profound and was one of the near‑abstract paintings based on saw human beings as the focal most important enlargements of flower and plant exuberant contemporary art of point of an architecture closely far north‑west Australia. pioneers of forms – works of great elegance, bound up with human nature . abstract art, rhythmic vitality and sensuality. 1993 132pp B1607 This presents the whole range expressing This book captures the haunting of Wright’s prolific output and feelings through quality of her unique vision. The Boyds: explains his unique influence on a distinctive use of geometric 1992 112pp B694 The Art of the Boyds modern architecture. shapes, brilliantly coloured and Patricia Dobrez & Peter Herbst 1991 182pp B1608 superbly disposed in space. Toulouse‑Lautrec: Henri Six generations of Boyds 1991 96pp B716 de Toulouse‑Lautrec have been involved in the arts. Gaudí, 1852–1926 Matthias Rainer Zerbst Klimt: Gustav Klimt, This folio of lavish illustrations Arnold reflects the diversity of talent Anyone who visits Barcelona 1862–1918 – pottery, writing, architecture, today will come across the Gottfried Fliedl Toulouse‑ painting, sculpting, ceramics – Lautrec’s bold works of Antoni Gaudí. This The apocalyptic atmosphere in ‘Australia’s most visible and beautiful text shows how Gaudí and arresting distinguished artistic family’. of Vienna’s upper middle‑class images were made a political statement society at the turn of the century through his neo‑gothic instrumental 1990 232pp B656 found expression through the in gaining splendour – ‘soothing oases in a art of Gustav Klimt. Klimt’s art desert of functional buildings’. acceptance Cézanne: Paul Cézanne, and the Viennese Secession for both lithography and the 1839–1906 1985 239pp B684 movement are explored in this poster as major art forms. This Hajo richly illustrated book. tells Lautrec’s story and gives a Düchting Gogh: Vincent van 1991 239pp B683 vibrant picture of Parisian life. Gogh, 1853–1890 1988 96pp B715 A recluse Monet: Claude Monet, who shunned Ingo Walther 1840–1926 the art world A complex and Whiteley: Brett Whiteley of Paris, obsessive man, Karin Sagner‑Düchting Sandra McGrath Cézanne van Gogh was Monet was both the most typical Whiteley met never one of the great and the most individual French with early identified himself with the forerunners of Impressionist painter. His long success Impressionist group. This the modern life, extraordinary capacity for which brought beautiful, full‑colour text explores age. This text work and furious perfectionism excitement, Cézanne’s great achievements in presents van are explored in this large volume. glamour and the his ever more subtle analysis of Gogh’s paintings as testimony 1990 228pp B1609 disadvantages colour and tone, and synthesis to a heroic quest for new colour, of world of reality and abstraction. line and life. Moore: In Irina’s publicity. A 1991 239pp B678 1987 96pp B679 Garden with Henry self‑destructive Moore’s Sculpture urge connected with absolute Clarice Beckett Kahlo: Frida Kahlo freedom in self‑expression Rosalind Hollinrake Stephen proved important in Whiteley’s Hayden Herrera life and work. After her death in 1935, Clarice Spender These photographs, sketches 1979 232pp B668 Beckett was a forgotten and paintings document Kahlo's This is both artist. One of Australia's great turbulent life (1907–1954). the story of modernist painters, Beckett’s Her direct and uninhibited art a sculpture lyrical, delicate studies evoke the is identified with the lyrical garden and an spirit of a past Melbourne – its primitivism of Mexican folklore in account of an city, suburbs and beaches – in which all life forces participate in extraordinary an application of colour, tone a single energy flow. relationship. and form beyond anything of Irina Moore’s garden is a thing her time. 1992 255pp B1611 of beauty, and is inseparable 1999 77pp from its purpose: to provide the B1615 ideal spatial setting for the work of one of the 20th century’s greatest sculptors. 1986 128pp B1604

C Crime F Fiction B Biography S Short Stories N Nonfiction L Large Print 74 Index by Author Index by Author

A Berendt, John 69 Chick, Suzanne 32 Dessaix, Robert 15, 31 Fitzpatrick, Kathleen 9 Berger, John 26 Clark, Imogen 9 Deveson, Anne 10, 46, 58 Flanagan, Richard Adamson, Robert 56 Claire Bidwell‑Smith 46 Clark, Manning 9 de Waal, Edmund 55 18, 36, 59, 65 Adelaide, Debra 14, 58 Flannery, Tim 33 55 58 Birch, Tony 7, 9 Cleave, Chris 45 deWitt, Patrick 32 , , Adichie, Chimamanda Bird, Carmel 47 59 Clendinnen, Inga 35 48 Diamant, Anita 39 Flaubert, Gustave 24 Ngozi 9, 44 , , Fliedl, Gottfried 73 Adiga, Aravind 72 Birnie, Lisa 43 Clift, Charmian 31 Diamond, Jared 36 Flynn, Gillian 68 Albom, Mitch 33 Bitto, Emily 61 Clode, Danielle 33 Dickens, Charles 6, 7 Foer, Jonathan Safran 6 Ali, Monica 28 Blackman, Barbara 55 Coelho, Paulo 61 Dirie, Waris 49 Blainey, Ann 56 Coetzee, J.M. 42 54 Disher, Garry 68 Fonseca, Isabel 42 Allende, Isabel 24, 25, 50 , Ford, Richard 10 Allin, Michael 33 Blain, Georgia 11, 20, 59 Collins, Christy 29 Do, Anh 44 Forster, Deborah 11 Amsterdam, Steven 65 Bouras, Gillian 11, 13, 26 Collins, Wilkie 69, 72 Doerr, Anthony 34 Bowen, Stella 49 Conrad, Joseph 17 30 Donoghue, Emma 70 Forster, E.M. 38 Anderson, Jessica 8, 10 , Forster, Margaret 14, 50 Ang, Li 66 Boyd, William 39, 70 Conway, Jill Ker 9 Dovey, Ceridwen 64 Bradbury, Ray 63 Cormick, Craig 60 Dowling, Bary 8 Fowler, Karen Joy 19, 23 Annear, Robyn 34, 37, 38 Franklin, Miles 57 Armanno, Venero 22 Bradley, James 21, 27 Cornwell, Patricia 70 Doyle, Roddy 9, 48 Franzen, Jonathan 12, 13 Armstrong, Judith 60 Bragge, Lily 46 Costello, Tim 47 Drabble, Margaret 16 Fraser, Rosalie 47 Armstrong, Karen 58 Brett, Lily 19, 56 Cottee, Kay 50 Drewe, Robert 31, 70 Frayn , Michael 10 Ash, Romy 29 Brontë, Charlotte 51 Courtenay, Bryce 20 Düchting, Hajo 73 Frazier, Charles 21 Ashworth, Andrea 16 Brontë, Emily 27 Crace, Jim 59 Duff, Alan 46 Brookner, Anita 23 45 Cracknell, Ruth 23 Duigan, Virginia 61 Frazier, Nancy 73 Astley, Thea 6, 33, 45, 46 , Fredriksson, Marianne 50 Atkinson, Kate Brooks, Geraldine Craven, Margaret 30 du Maurier, Daphne 64, 70 35 38 40 51 Friedan, Betty 29 11, 36, 63, 64, 67, 69, 71, 72 , , , Crawford, Evelyn 52 Duncan, Susan 32 Atwood, Margaret Brown, Christy 46 Cunningham, Michael 55 Durrell, Gerald 15 Frost, Lucy 51 6, 11, 63, 65, 66, 70 Bryson, Bill 8, 29, 31, 34 Cunxin, Li 56 Fu, Kim 6 Austen, Jane 21, 23, 24, 25 Burroughs, Augusten 17 Cusack, Dymphna 35 E Funder, Anna 47, 66 Aw, Tash 68 C Cusk, Rachel 20 Earls, Nick 25 G Edwards, Kim 15 B Cahalan, Susannah 41 Gaiman, Neil 64 D Egan, Jennifer 25, 27 Bail, Murray 22 Cain, Kenneth 67 Daisley, Stephen 48 Ehrenreich, Barbara 46 Gaita, Raimond 9, 57 Bainbridge, Beryl 34 Cameron, Anson 32 D’Alpuget, Blanche 36 Eliot, George 8 Gardam, Jane 15, 16 Baker, Mark Raphael 43 Camus, Albert 46 Dalrymple, William 28 Elizabeth, Costello 54 Garner, Helen 12, 22, 23, 24, 43, 47, 53, 68, 71 Banville, John 72 Capote, Truman 21, 22, 68 Danziger, Danny 40 Elliott, Sumner Locke 27 Gaskell, Elizabeth 35, 38 Barbery, Muriel 54 Capp, Fiona 32, 60 David, Elizabeth 49 Ellis, Alice Thomas 63 Gee, Sue 17 Barfoot, Joan 25 Carey, Peter Davidson, Robyn 33 Ellmann, Richard 57 7, 26, 37, 38, 40, 65 Gelbach, Igor 42 Barker, Pat 66 Davies, Martin 59 Enright, Anne 13 Carr, J.L. 46 Genova, Lisa 47 Barnes, Julian 25, 36 Day, Gregory 64 Eugenides, Jeffrey 8 Carroll, Lewis 62 Ghosh, Amitav 30, 39 Barry, Sebastian 45 Day, Marele 51 Evans, William 29 Carroll, Steven 11, 18 Gibbons, Stella 62 Barton, Mary 38 Dean, Debra 37 Carter, Angela 49 Gilbert, Elizabeth 29, 52 Bauby, Jean-Dominique 42 Deane, Seamus 70 F Carver, Robert 28 Gildiner, Catherine 10 Bayley, John 23 de Bernières, Louis 21, 41 Facey, A.B. 6 Case, Jo 41 Gillian, Mears 13 Clarice Beckett 73 de Botton, Alain 54, 57, 58 Falconer, Delia 61 Catton, Eleanor 37 Gill, Isabel ‘Spark’ 37 Bedford, Sybille 52 de Hennezel, Marie 32 Farmer, Beverley 14 Chandler, Raymond 67 Glendinning, Victoria 35, 52 Behrendt, Larissa 14 de Kretser, Michelle Fforde, Jasper 63 Chaney, Lisa 49 Golden, Arthur 38 Behrens, Peter 37 32, 56, 68 Findlay, Merrill 64 Chang, Jung 53 Golding, Frank 46 Bell, Gail 70 Desai, Kiran 45 Fitzgerald, F. Scott 60 Chevalier, Tracy 55 Goldsmith, Andrea 8, 55 75 Index by Author

Goldsworthy, Peter 14, 26 Higgins, Fiona 24 Johnston, Dorothy 38 Landon, Carolyn 45 Mann, Thomas 59 Golski, Kathy 53 Hillman, Robert 5, 46 Johnston, Jennifer 70 Lanyon, Anna 51 Mantel, Hilary 34, 40, 62 Gooneratne, Yasmine 28 Hill, Reginald 69 Jolley, Elizabeth Larsson, Stieg 68 Márquez, Gabriel García 24 16 26 59 60 Grant, Stan 47 Høeg, Peter 66, 69 , , , Lawson, Mary 16 Marr, David 42 Jones, Caroline 28 Grass, Günter 65 Holden, Kate 45 Lee, Harper 36, 48 Martel, Yann 63 Jones, Gail 22 Greene, Graham 33, 70 Holden, Robert 38 Lee, Laurie 34, 54 Martin, Valerie 19 Jones, Lloyd 8 44 Green, John 43 Holdforth, Lucinda 53 , LeGuin, Ursula 63, 65 Matar, Hisham 45 Green, Penelope 33 Hollinghurst, Alan 60 Jones, Sadie 9 Leigh, Julia 60 Matthews, Gordon 5 Greer, Germaine 53 Hollinrake, Rosalind 73 Joosten, Melanie 66 Le, Nam 41 Mawer, Simon 36 Jordan, Mary Ellen 28 Grenville, Kate Hollows, Fred 43 Leon, Donna 66, 67 Mayes, Frances 33 8, 12, 23, 37, 39, 51 Holmes, Richard 29 Jordan, Toni 15, 16, 20 Lessing, Doris Mazari, Najaf 46 Gruen, Sara 40, 62 Holroyd, Michael 11 Joyce, James 9 10, 13, 23, 44, 49, 53, 63 Mazya, Edna 22 Guterson, David 71 Homer 31 Joyce, Rachel 33 Levett, Robin 50 McBride, James 12 Gyatso, Palden 35 Homes, A. M. 33 Levi, Primo 43 McCall Smith, Alexander 53 K Levy, Andrea 37 Hooper, Chloe 59, 71 McCarthy, Cormac 5, 64 H Lewycka, Marina Hornby, Nick 5, 23 Kaplan, Alice 29 McCourt, Frank 11 17, 19, 27, 72 Haddon, Mark 16, 17, 18, 42 Hosseini, Khaled 8, 11, 18 Karimi, Kooshyar 45 McDonald, Meme 24 Liebenberg, Lauren 10 Haikal, Loubna 17 Hotham, Charles 35 Keenan, Brian 43 McDonald, Roger 38 Lindsay, Joan 64 Halligan, Marion 15 Howard, John 37 Keenan, Michael 44 McEwan, Ian Lively, Penelope 12, 16, 23 Halloran, Jacinta 63 Hulme, Keri 66 Keneally, Thomas 34, 65 20, 24, 40, 61, 64, 66, 67 Llewellyn, Kate 58 Hall, Rodney 42, 66 Hume, Fergus 69 Kenneally, Christine 37 McGahan, Andrew 19 Lodge, David 26, 54, 57 Hamilton, Clive 54 Humphries, Barry 57 Kennedy, Cate 32 McGirr, Michael 32 Lohrey, Amanda 3, 25, 58 Ham, Rosalie 18, 67 Huston, Nancy 13 Kent, Hannah 30, 35, 36 McGrath, Sandra 73 London, Joan 13, 29, 43 McGregor, Fiona 14 Hanff, Helene 19 Hustvedt, Siri 27, 53 Kidd, Sue Monk 37 Loos, Noel 43 Harding, Paul 18 Hutcheon, Jane 29 Kingsolver, Barbara McKay, Ami 34 5, 16, 25, 29, 49, 56 Lorenzo, Olga 52 Hardy, Sara 53 Huxley, Aldous 62 McLaren, Philip 61 Kinnane, Stephen 25 Lovell, Mary S. 52 Hardy, Thomas 40 Hyland, Adrian 67 McLarty, Ron 31 Kissane, Andy 40 Lunn, Hugh 9, 40 McPhee, Hilary 57 Harrer, Heinrich 32 Hyland, M.J. 7, 67, 71 Harris, Joanne 49 Knox, Elizabeth 20, 61 Lynch, Jim 7 Mears, Gillian 24 Hartley, L.P. 7 I Knox, Malcolm 16, 70 Lyon, Annabel 55 Meehan, Michael 47 Kocan, Peter 6 Hartnett, Sonya 5, 60, 71 Ishiguro, Kazuo Michaels, Anne 27 Koch, Christopher 31 M Harvey, Samantha 48 10, 39, 54, 60, 64 Miller, Alex Hastrich, Vicki 18 Koch, Christopher J. 30 Mabo, Koiki 43 15, 28, 30, 54, 58 Haynes, Elizabeth 45 J Koch, Herman 67 Macdonald, Sarah 30 Miller, Andrew 38, 39 Hay, Trevor 40 Jacobson, Howard 22 Koiki, Edward Mabo 43 Mackay, Hugh 36, 57 Miller, Catherine 49 Kristof, Nicholas 44 MacLeod, Alistair 15 Miller, Derek B. 31 Hazzard, Shirley 22, 26 James, Clive 57 Maggs, Jack 37 Mistry, Rohinton 13, 43 Heard, Barry 48 James, Florence 35 L Heller, Zoë 60 James, Kate 33 Mah, Adeline Yen 13 Mitchell, David 40, 62 Lacey, Robert 40 Mahood, Kim 12 Modjeska, Drusilla Hemingway, Ernest 31 James, Wendy 24, 52 17, 52, 53 Henderson, Anne 68 Jeffs, Sandy 43 Lacey, Stephen 10 Maitland, Barry 70, 72 Moore, Lorrie 6 Henderson, Sara 50 Jenkins, Robin 21 Lackberg, Camilla 68 Makler, Irris 32 Moore, Mike 71 Herrera, Hayden 73 Jennings, Kate 24 Lahiri, Jhumpa 30, 31, 33 Malamud, Bernard 41 Mora, Mirka 53 Hesse, Hermann 32 Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer 22 Lake, Marilyn 50 Maloney, Shane 66, 69, 71 Morgan, Sally 48 Hessler, Peter 32 Jin, Ha 27 Lam, Vincent 28 Malouf, David 7, 39, 44, 55 Morrison, Sally 23 Hewett, Dorothy 26 Johnson, Susan 15 Lanchester, John 59 Mankell, Henning 70 Mann, Ida 49 Morrison, Toni 41, 52 76 Index by Author

Mortenson, Greg 61 Pepys, Samuel 39 S St Aubyn, Edward 15 V Morton, Kate 36 Perlman, Elliot 48 Stedman, M.L. 37 Sacks, Oliver 10, 41, 45 Vaite, Célestine Hitiura 13 Müller, Herta 45 Petterson, Per 8 Stegner, Wallace 21 Sage, Alex 43 Vickers, Salley 23, 31 Munro, Alice 22, 26 Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks 73 Steinbeck, John 39 Sage, Lorna 5 Visser, Margaret 46 Murakami, Haruki 65 Pham, Andrew X. 28 St John, Madeleine 27 Sagner-Düchting, Karin 73 Picoult, Jodi 44, 63, 69 Stockett, Kathryn 36 Said, Kurban 20 W N Pierre, D.B.C. 72 Storr, Anthony 55 Salinger, J.D. 6 Walker, Brenda 57 Nafisi, Azar 46 Pilger, John 44 Stout, Mira 31 Sallis, Eva 30 Walker, Shirley 9 Némirovsky, Irène 47 Pilkington, Doris 50 Strout, Elizabeth 11, 12, 24 Salzman, Mark 30 Walker, Vanessa 31 Neruda, Pablo 56 Plath, Sylvia 5 Summers, Anne 56 Schlink, Bernhard 22, 25 Walls, Jeannette 13 Nesbo, Jo 71 Porter, Chester 58 Süskind, Patrick 69 Scott, Denise 11 Walsh, Chris 52 Ness, Patrick 54 Postlewait, Heidi 67 Swift, Graham 18, 23 Scott, Kim 40 Walther, Ingo 73 Newell, Patrice 57 Potok, Chaim 6, 55, 57 Szego, Julie 71 Seal, Jeremy 29 Warner, Marina 50 Niall, Brenda 53, 56 Power, Robert 30 Sebold, Alice 68 Waters, Sarah 38, 67, 68 Nicolson, Nigel 25 Prejean, Helen 67 T Sepúlveda, Luis 31 Waterstreet, Charles 16 Niffenegger, Audrey 26 Prichard, Katharine Tan, Amy 7, 14 Seth, Vikram 21, 26 Watson, Don 54 Nitschke, Philip 56 Susannah 42 Tartt, Donna 55 Setterfield, Diane 71 Watson, Jane 44 Priest, Ann-Marie 55 Taylor, Elena 55 Shaffer, Mary Ann 36 Watts, Peter 49 Proulx, Annie 17 32 42 O , , Temple, Peter 66, 72 Shamsie, Kamila 42 Waugh, Evelyn 11 Oats, William Nicolle 35 Pung, Alice 10 Tennant, Kylie 9 Sherborne, Craig 7 Wells, Rebecca 49 Obreht, Tea 48 Pym, Barbara 50 Teo, Hsu-Ming 15 Shields, Carol 19, 22, 53, 60 Welsh, Louise 67 O’Connor, Andrew 10 Theroux, Paul 30 R Shields, Jody 67 West, Rebecca 52 O’Faolain, Nuala 49 Thomson, Andrew 67 Shriver, Lionel 20, 47, 72 Wharton, Edith 20 Rachman, Tom 56 O’Farrell, Maggie 14, 33 Thubron, Colin 28, 30, 32 Sijie, Dai 5, 31 White, Patrick 7 Rash, Ron 67 O’Flynn, Catherine 10 Tiffany, Carrie 24, 59 Silvey, Craig 7 Wilde, Oscar 61 Okri, Ben 42 Rees, Siân 36 Tindall, Gillian 35 Simonson, Helen 24 Wilkinson, Marian 42 Ondaatje, Michael Remarque, E.M. 41 Toews, Miriam 6 Simpson, Joe 48 Williams, Niall 22 17, 21, 41 Renner, James 63 Tóibín, Colm 28 Simsion, Graeme 25 Wilson, Frances 49 O’Reilly, P.A. 13 Rhys, Jean 65 Toltz, Steve 13 Singer, Peter 46, 56 Wilson, Valerie 58 Richardson, Henry Handel 6 O’Reilly, Paddy 60 Tomalin, Claire 39, 51, 54 Sittenfeld, Curtis 20, 21 Winchester, Simon Orlean, Susan 61 Riemer, Andrew 30 Tonkin, Daryl 45 Skelton, Kathy 8 34, 60, 71 Orwell, George 62, 72 Robb, Peter 29, 68 Tranter, Kirsten 68 Slovo, Gillian 13 Winch, Tara June 18 Robertson, Deborah 12 26 Oz, Amos 18 , Tremain, Rose 46, 72 Smiley, Jane 5, 18, 25 Winterson, Jeanette 8, 38 Roberts, Shirley 35 Ozeki, Ruth 58 Trinca, Helen 51, 52 Smith, Alexander McCall Winton, Tim Robinson, Marilynne 13, 14 19, 50, 51, 53 Trollope, Joanna 16, 17 5, 12, 17, 18, 21, 22, 26, 48 P Rodriguez, Deborah 51 Smith, Ali 62, 63 Tsiolkas, Christos 5, 18 Witting, Amy 7, 21, 56 Packer, ZZ 6 Roorbach, Bill 9 Smith, Bob 14 Tumarkin, Maria 32 Wolff, Tobias 8 Painter, Shirley 41 Rose, Peter 17 Smith, Dodie 23 Turnbull, Sarah 28 Womersley, Chris 34 Park, Ruth 14 50 Roth, Philip 44 , Smith, Martin Cruz 68 Twain, Mark 28 Wood, Charlotte 12, 26, 51 Parrett, Favel 9, 10 Rowling, J.K. 12 Smith, Zadie 16w, 19, 59 Twigger, Robert 59 Woolfe, Sue 61 Pascoe, Judy 16 Roy, Arundhati 13 Sobel, Dava 36 Tyler, Anne Woolf, Virginia 57 Patchett, Ann 20 65 Rushdie, Salman 15, 22, 38 11, 12, 14, 15, 20 , Solomons, Natasha 38 Wright, Alexis 62 Paxman, Jeremy 29 Russo, Richard 35 Sontag, Susan 27 Wright, Judith 55 Pearson, Allison 50 U Spark, Muriel 52 WuDunn, Sheryl 44 Penney, Stef 68 71 Unsworth, Barry 69, 73 , Spender, Stephen 73 Wyld, Evie 41 77 Index by Index by Title Title

Y Annotated Alice, The 62 Beloved 41 Butcher’s Wife, The 66 Anonymous 21 Bereft 34 Butterfly 5 Yanagihara, Hanya 69 44 Scotland Street 19 Another World 66 Berlin Syndrome 66 Yates, Richard 17 84 Charing Cross Road 19 Anthropologist on Mars, Between a Wolf and a C Yoshimoto, Banana 59 1852–1926 73 An 41 Dog 20 Cabin Fever 59 1984 72 Z Ape House 62 Beyond Black 62 Cafe Scheherazade 42 Aphrodite and the Others 11 Big Brother 20 Caleb’s Crossing 35 Zable, Arnold 29, 42 A April Fool’s Day 20 Billie’s Kiss 20 Cape Grimm 59 #Zail, Suzy 47 Aboriginal Art of the Are You Somebody? 49 Birds Without Wings 41 Capital 59 #Zerbst, Rainer 73 Kimberley 73 Arnold, Matthias 73 Birth House, The 34 Captain Corelli’s #Zusak, Markus 34 About a Boy 5 Artist of the Floating World, Births Deaths Marriages 11 Mandolin 21 Accidental, The 62 An 54 Black Tide 66 Captivity Captive 66 Accidental Tourist, The 20 Art of the Engine Driver, Blind Assassin, The 11 Careless 12 According to Queeney 34 The 11 Blindfold, The 62 Carpentaria 62 Accursed Mountains, A Short History of Richard Blood from a Stone 66 Carry Me Down 67 The 28 Kline 58 Bloodletting & Miraculous Case Histories 67 Addition 20 A Short History of Tractors in Cures 28 Casual Vacancy, The 12 Adventures of Huckleberry Ukrainian 17 Bloody Chamber, The 49 Finn, The 28 As I Walked Out One Catcher in the Rye, The 6 Boat, The 41 Affluenza 54 Midsummer Morning 34 Catfish & Mandala 28 Bomb, Book and Compass: Aftermath 20 Asleep 59 Cat’s Eye 6 Joseph Needham & the Assistant, The 41 Célestine 35 After the Fire, A Still Small Great Secrets of China 34 Voice 41 At Home 34 Cézanne: Paul Cézanne, Bone People, The 66 Age of Innocence, The 20 Atonement 20 1839–1906 73 Book of Emmett, The 11 Ali and Nino 20 Australian Son, An 5 Change in the Lighting, A 21 Book Thief, The 34 Alias Grace 66 Authentic Life, An 28 Change of Skies, A 28 Boomer & Me 41 All Quiet on the Western Author, Author 54 Charades 62 Borderliners 66 Front 41 Autograph Man The 59 Charles Dickens: A Life 54 Boyds: The Art of the Boyds, All That Happened at Chase, The 49 Autumn Laing 54 The 73 Number 26 11 Child in Time, The 67 Boy in the Green Suit, The 5 All That I Am 66 B Childish Things 21 Brain on Fire 41 All the Birds, Singing 41 Children Act, The 12 Bad Blood 5 Breakfast at Tiffany’s 21 All the Light We Cannot Balanda 28 Children’s Bach, The 12 See 34 Breath 5 Balzac and the Little Children, The 12 All the Pretty Horses 5 Breathing Lessons 11 Chinese Seamstress 5 Child’s Book of True Crime, Almost French 28 Brick Lane 28 Barn Blind 5 A 59 Aman 41 Brideshead Revisited 11 Basil Street Blues 11 Chocolat 49 Amateur Marriage, The 20 Bride Stripped Bare, The 21 Baynton, Barbara 35 Choose Your Dilemma 35 American Wife 20 Bring Larks and Heroes 34 Bean Patch, The 41 Chosen, The 6 Amsterdam 66 Bring Up the Bodies 34, 36 Bean Trees, The 5 Cider with Rosie 54 And the Mountains Broken Shore, The 66 Bearbrass 34 City of Djinns 28 Echoed 11 Brooklyn 28 Bees, The 62 City of the Mind 12 Angela’s Ashes 11 Brush-Off, The 66 Behind the Scenes at the Closed for Winter 59 Angry White Pyjamas 59 Burial Rites 35, 36 Museum 11 Close Range: Wyoming Anil’s Ghost 41 Burnt Shadows 42 Behind the Wall 28 Stories 42 Animal Farm 62 Bury Me Standing 42 Bel Canto 20 Cloud Atlas 62 Anna Karenina 20 Bush Studies 34, 35 Bell Jar, The 5 Cloudstreet 12 78 Index by Title

Coda 6 Dinner at the Homesick Eyrie 22 Fountain of Age, The 29 God of Small Things, The 13 Cold Comfort Farm 62 Restaurant 12 Four Letters of Love, The 22 Gogh: Vincent van Gogh, Cold Mountain 21 Dinner, The 67 F Foxybaby 60 1853–1890 73 Color of Water, The 12 Dirt Music 21 Facing the Music 55 Fraction of the Whole, A 13 Golden Age, The 43 Come in Spinner 35 Disgrace 42 Factory, The 60 Frangipani 13 Golden Mean, The 55 Complicated Kindness, A 6 Dissection 63 Fahrenheit 451 63 Fred Hollows: An Goldfinch, The 55 Conditions of Faith 28 Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Falling Leaves 13 Autobiography 43 Gone Girl 68 Sisterhood 49 Confessions of a Clay Family Matters 13 Freedom 13 Good Day to Die, A 43 Diving-Bell and the Butterfly, Man 42 Farewell, My Lovely 67 French Lessons 29 Good Parents, The 13 The 42 Conjuror’s Bird, The 59 Fatal Remedies 67 French Tutor, The 60 Go Set a Watchman 36 Down and Out in Paris & Consolations of Fresh Fields 6 Goya 73 London 29 Fault in our Stars, The 43 Philosophy 54 Friends, Lovers, Grace Crowley: Being Down Under 29 Fault Lines 13 Coonardoo 42 Chocolate 50 Modern 55 Drawn from Life 49 Feel of Steel, The 22 Corrections, The 12 Fringe of Leaves, A 43 Grass Harp, The 22 Dressmaker, The 67 Feet of Clay 55 Courtesan’s Revenge, From Rice to Riches 29 Grass Is Singing, The 44 Fence Around the Cuckoo, The 49 Drinking Coffee Elsewhere 6 A 50 From Strength to Great Expectations 7 Drowned and the Saved, Cove, The 67 Strength 50 Great Fire, The 22 The 43 Fez of the Heart, A 29 Craft for a Dry Lak 12 From the Beast to the Great Gatsby, The 60 Dyer, David 69 Fiftieth Gate, The 43 Crane Wife, The 54 Blonde 50 Fig Eater, The 67 Great World, The 44 Crossing to Safety 21 Full Catastrophe, The 22 E Fig Tree, The 29 Great Writers, Great Culture of Complaint 35 Full Cupboard of Life, Loves 55 Fifth Child, Th 13 Fine Balance, A 43 The 50 Cutting Room, The 67 Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fine Colour of Rust, The 13 Eat Pray Love 29 The 22 Fingersmith 67 G D Edna Walling and Her Guernsey Literary and Gardens 49 Finkler Question, The 22 Galileo’s Daughter 36 Potato Peel Pie Society, Dancing with Strangers 35 Electricity 35 Firehead 22 Gate at the Stairs, A 6 The 36 Dangerous Love 42 Elegance of the Hedgehog, Fire Under the Snow 35 Gathering, The 13 Guns, Germs and Steel 36 Dark Places 12 The 54 First Lady 50 Gaudí, 1852–1926 73 Dark Victory 42 Eligible 21 H First Stone, The 43 Generations 36 David Copperfield 6 Emergency Sex & Other Fishing in the Styx 50 Getting Equal 50 Half a Lifetime 55 Day We Had Hitler Home, Desperate Measures 67 Five Bells 22 Getting of Wisdom, The 6 Half of a Yellow Sun 44 The 42 Empire Falls 35 Flight Behaviour 29 Ghost River 7 Half the Sky 44 Dead Man Walking 67 End of Seeing, The 29 Flights of Love 22 Gift of Asher Lev, The 55 Hamilton Case, The 68 Death in Brazil, A 29 Enduring Love 67 Floating Brothel, The 36 Gilead 13 Hamlet’s Dresser 14 Death in Venice 59 English Patient, The 21 Floundering 29 Gilgamesh 29 Handle with Care 63 Death of a River Guide 59 English, The 29 Flying with Paper Wings 43 Girls, The 50 Handmaid’s Tale, The 63 Death Sentence 54 Equal Music, An 21 Foal’s Bread 13 Girl with a Pearl Earring 55 Hand Me Down World 44 Deep Field, The 21 Eucalyptus 21, 22 Follow the Rabbit‑Proof Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hand That First Held Mine, Desert Flower 49 Everyman’s Rules for Fence 50 The 68 The 14 Devil’s Larder, The 59 Scientific Living 59 Footsteps 29 Glade Within the Grove, Hanging Garden, The 7 Diamond Dove 67 Every Secret Thing 13 Foreign Wife, A 13 The 60 Hanna’s Daughters 50 Diaries of Jane Somers, Evil Cradling, An 43 For Esther 43 Glass After Glass 55 Happenstance 22 The 49 Excellent Women 50 Forgiveness and Other Acts Glass Castle, The 13 Happiest Refugee, The 44 Diary of A Welshm Extremely Loud and of Love 55 Glass Room, The 36 Hare with Amber Eyes, Swagman, 1869–1894 29 Incredibly Close 6 Forgotten Garden, The 36 Go-Between, The 7 The 55 Digging to America 12 Eye of the Sheep, The 43 For Today I Am a Boy 6 God in Ruins, A 30 Harland’s Half Acre 55 Eyre Affair, The 63 Fortunate Life, A 6 79 Index by Title

Harmony Silk Factory, I Jane Austen Book Club, Last Friends 15 Malinche’s Conquest 51 The 68 The 23 Last Magician, The 45 Man from Primrose Lane, I Am Melba 56 Harp in the South, The 14 Jane Eyre 51 Last of the Sane Days 60 The 63 I Capture the Castle 23 Hateship, Friendship, Jasper Jones 7 Last Orders 23 Man in the Wooden Hat, Courtship, Loveship, Ice Princess, The 68 The 15 Jesus Wants Me for a Lazarus Rising 37 Marriage 22 I Confess 45 Sunbeam 14 Mansfield Park 24 Left Hand of Darkness, Havana Bay 68 Idea of Perfection, The 23 Joan Makes History 51 The 63 Mantras & Hawke: The Prime I Don’t Know How She Does Misdemeanours 31 Joe Cinque’s Legacy, The 68 Minister 36 It 50 Consolation 68 Man Who Lost Himself, Lieutenant, The 37 Heart of Darkness 30 I for Isobel 7 Johnno 7 The 37 Life After Life 63 Heat and Dust 22 I Heard the Owl Call My John Peter Russell: The Art Man Who Mistook His Wife Life and Times of the Heat Wave 23 Name 30 of John Peter Russell 73 for a Hat, The 45 Thunderbolt Kid, The 8 Herbst, Patricia Dobrez & Imperfectionists, The 56 Journey from Venice 23 Many-Coloured Land, Life in Seven Mistakes 15 The 31 Peter 73 In Cold Blood 68 Journey to the Stone Life of Pi 63 Here on Earth 55 Indelible Ink 14 Country 30 Mao’s Last Dancer 56 Life, One 52 Hidden Agendas 44 Inheritance of Loss, The 45 Joy Luck Club, The 14 Map That Changed the Light Between Oceans, World, The 60 Hidden Lives 50 In My Skin 45 Juchau, Mireille 61 The 37 Mara and Dann 63 Highest Tide, The 7 Inn at the Edge of the World, Jude the Obscure 23 Lilian’s Story 8 March 38 Highways to a War 30 The 63 Line of Beauty, The 60 Martin Boyd: A Life 56 Hindustan Contessa 44 Insatiable Desire of Injured K Love, The 23 Little Bee 45 Mateship with Birds 24 His Illegal Self 7 Kalahari Typing School for In Search of the Blue Little Coffee Shop of Kabul, Mayor of Casterbridge History of the World in 10 ½ Men, The 51 Tiger 30 The 51 The 38 Chapters, A 36 Kandinsky: Wassily In Siberia 30 Little Stranger, The 68 Memoirs 56 Hoi Polloi 7 Kandinsky, 1866–1944 73 Inside Out 56 Lola Bensky 56 Memoirs of a Dutiful Holy Cow! 30 Kennedy, Cate 19 Inside Outside 30 Long Long Way, A 45 Daughter 8 Home 14 Killing Me Softly 56 Instances of the Number Long Song, The 37 Memoirs of a Geisha 38 Honour and Other People’s Killing of Sister McCormack, 3 23 Look at Me 45 Memory Keeper’s Daughter, Children 23 The 68 Instructions for a Lost Dog, The 56 The 15 Horses Too Are Gone, Kindness Cup, A 45 Heatwave 14 Memory of Running, The 31 The 44 Kingdom by the Sea, The 30 Lost Mother, The 56 Interpreter of Maladies 30 Mermaid Singing; Peel Me a Hospital, Janette Turner Kitchen God’s Wife, The 14 Love, Again 23 In the Company of Cheerful Lotus 31 18, 23, 45, 62, 69 Kite Runner, The 8 Love and Vertigo 15 Ladies 51 Metamorphosis 63 Hotel du Lac 23 Kittyhawk Down 68 Love in the Time of In the Country of Men 45 Cholera 24 Middlesex 8 Hours, The 55 Klimt: Gustav Klimt, Into the Darkest Corner 45 Midnight In Sicily 68 House in the Light, The 14 1862–1918 73 Love like Water 24 Invention of Wings, The 37 Midnight In the Garden of Housekeeping 14 Kurikka’s Dreaming 60 Lovely Bones, The 68 Invisible Ones, The 68 Good and Evil 69 House of the Spirits, The 50 Lovers’ Knots 15 Invisible Woman, The 51 Midnight’s Children 38 House Rules 44 L Lovesong 15, 60 Iris 23 Mill on the Floss, The 8 How Are We to Live? 56 Lacuna, The 56 Luminaries, The 37 Iron & Silk 30 Mind’s Eye 45 How the Light Gets In 7 Ladder of Years 14 Isa & May 14 M Mint Lawn, The 24 How to Be Both 63 Lady Susan, The Watsons Isobel on the Way to the Miss Garnet’s Angel 31 How to Be Good 23 and Sanditon 23 Madame Bovary 24 Corner Shop 56 Miss Gymkhana, R.G. Human Croquet 36 Lake House, The 15 Madeleine 51 Ivory Swing, The 23 Menzies and Me 8 Lamp Still Burns, The 37 Madonnas of Leningrad, Human Stain, The 44 Miss Smilla’s Feeling for The 37 Hundred Secret Senses, J Land of Green Plums, Snow 69 The 45 Mahjar 30 The 7 Mistake, The 24 Jackson’s Track 45 Larry’s Party 60 Major Pettigrew’s Last Hunter, The 60 Mister Pip 8 Jane Austen: A Life 51 Stand 24 80 Index by Title

Modern Interiors 8 Never Let Me Go 64 One Good Turn 69 Perfume 69 Reading Lolita in Tehran 46 Monet: Claude Monet, Nice Try 69 One of the Wattle Birds 8 Perfume: The Story of a Rebecca 70 1840–1926 73 Nice Work 57 One Thousand Chestnut Murderer 69 Rector’s Wife, The 17 Monk Kidd , Sue 52 Nickel and Dimed 46 Trees 31 Persuasion 25 Red House, The 17 Monkey Grip 24 Night Letters 31 Only the Animals 64 Philosopher’s Dog, The 57 Red Tent, The 39 Montebello 31 Night Watch, The 38 Oranges Are Not the Only Philosopher’s Doll, The 25 Religion for Atheists 57 Fruit 8 Month in the Country, A 46 Nine Days 15 Picnic at Hanging Rock 64 Remains of the Day, The 39 Orchard, The 52 Moonstone, The 69 Nine Parts of Desire 51 Picture of Dorian Gray, Remembering Babylon 39 Orchard Thieves, The 16 The 61 Moore: In Irina’s Garden with Nineteen Minutes 69 Republic of Women 64 Henry Moore’s Sculpture 73 Orchid Thief, The 61 Plague The 46 No.1 Ladies’ Detective Resilience 46 Moore’s Sculpture 73 Orphan’s Escape, An 46 Plain Jane 25 Agency, The 51 Restless 70 Moor’s Last Sigh, The 15 Orphans of History 38 Poet’s Wife, The 25 Noah’s Compass 15 Resurrection Bay 70 Moral Hazard 24 Orpheus Lost 69 Poison Principle, The 70 Nocturnes 60 Return to the Little Coffee Morality for Beautiful No Great Mischief 15 Oscar Wilde 57 Poisonwood Bible, The 16 Shop of Kabul 52 Girls 51 No Place for a Nervous Otherland 31, 32 Portrait of a Marriage 25 Revolutionary Road 17 Morality Play 69 Lady 51 Other People’s Children 16 Portrait of the Artist as a Richard 38 More Please 57 Young Man, A 9 Northanger Abbey 24 Other People’s Words 57 Ride on Stranger 9 Mother’s Disgrace, A 15 Postcards 32 North Face of Soho 57 Other Side of the Bridge, Riders, The 17 Mothers’ Group, The 24 The 16 Postmortem 70 Norwegian by Night 31 Right & Wrong 57 Mother’s Milk 15 Our Father Who Art in the Power and the Glory, Notes from a Small Rituals of Dinner, The 46 Mr Darwin’s Shooter 38 Island 31 Tree 16 The 70 River, The 57 Mr Muo’s Travelling Notes on a Scandal 60 Our Tiny, Useless Hearts 16 Precious Bodily Fluids 16 River Town 32 Couch 31 Nothing But Gold 38 Our Woman in Kabul 32 Precipice, The 61 Road from Coorain, The 9 Mr Rosenblum’s List 38 Not the End of the Outcast, The 9 Pride and Prejudice 25 Road Home, The 46 Mrs Cook 51 World 64 Out of the Silence 52 Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Road, The 64 Mudeye 8 Out Stealing Horses 8 The 52 Robber Bride, The 70 Multiple Effects of O Over My Tracks 52 Private Life 25 Rodriguez, Deborah 52 Rainshadow, The 46 Ocean at the End of the Over the Top with Jim 9 Private Man, A 16 Munch: Edvard Munch, Lane, The 64 Prodigal Summer 25 Romulus, My Father 9 1863–1944 73 That Oceanic Feeling 32 P Pure 39 Room 70 My Brilliant Career 57 Room of One’s Own, A 57 Odyssey, The 31 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha 9 Purple Hibiscus 9 My Dirty Shiny Life 46 Rooms in My Mother’s Of a Boy 60 Paradise 52 Pushing Time Away 46 My Family and Other House, The 52 Of Love and Shadows 24 Parrot and Olivier in Puzzles of Childhood, The 9 Animals 15 Rose Boys 17 O’Keeffe: Georgia America 38 My Left Foot 46 Rosie Effect, The 25 O’Keeffe 73 Passage to India, A 38 Q My Name Is Asher Lev 57 Rosie Project, The 25 Old Filth 16 Passing On 16 Questions of Travel 32 My Sister’s Keeper 63 Roundabout at Bangalow 9 Old Man and the Sea, Passion, The 38 Quicksands 52 Mystery of a Hansom Cab, The 31 Rugmaker of Mazar-e- Past the Shallows 9 The 69 Old Man Who Read Love Sharif, The 46 Patrick White: A Life 57 R Stories, The 31 Rules of Inheritance, Patron Saint of Eels, The 64 Railway Station Man, N Old School 8 The 46, 47 Paula 25 The 70 Name of the Rose, The 69 On Beauty 16 Running in the Family 17 Paull, Laline 62 Ransom 39 Namesake, The 31 On Beulah Height 69 Running with Scissors 17 Peel Me a Lotus 32 Reader, The 25 Narrow Road to the Deep Once in a House on Fire 16 People in the Trees, The 69 Reading by Moonlight 57 North, The 38 Once Were Warriors 46 S People of the Book 38 Reading in Bed 17 Natural Way of Things, On Chesil Beach 24 Saint Maybe 17 The 51 Perfect Skin 25 Reading in the Dark 70 One for the Master 38 Salt Creek 39 81 Index by Title

Salvation Creek 32 Solid Bluestone Swimming with the Thousand Autumns of Jacob Under the Tuscan Sun 33 Sarah Thornhill 39 Foundations 9 Jellyfish 18 De Zoet, The 40 Unknown Terrorist, The 65 Saturday 64 Something Fishy 71 Thousand Splendid Suns, Unless 19 T A 18 Saving Jessie 9 So Much for That 47 Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Three Cups of Tea 61 Sayer, Mandy 25 Sooterkin, The 65 Tainted Trial of Farah Jama, Fry, The 33 The 71 Three Dog Night 26 Scandalous Life, A 52 Sound of One Hand Unpolished Gem 10 Clapping, The 18 Take Me to Paris, Johnny 26 Three Dollars 48 Scapegoat, The 64 Untouchable, The 72 Spare Room, The 47 Tale for the Time Being, A 58 Throwim Way Leg 33 Sea of Poppies 39 Unusual Life of Edna Walling, Spies 10 Tale of Love and Darkness, Tiger in the Tiger Pit, The 18 The 53 Searching for Charmian 32 Spiral Staircase, The 58 A 18 Tiger’s Eye 48 Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, Secret Agent, The 17 Spot of Bother, A 18 Talking It Over 26 Tiger’s Wife, The 48 The 65 Secret Cure, The 61 Started Early, Took My Tall Man, The 71 Time Traveler’s Wife, The 26 uthering Heights 27 Secret Life of Bees, The 52 Dog 71 Tartar City Woman 40 Time We Have Taken, The 18 Secret Life of Money, The 58 V Stasiland 47 Tattooed Flower, The 47 Tin Drum, The 65 Secret River, The 39 Status Anxiety 58 Tears of Strangers, The 47 Tinkers 18 Vanishing Points 33 Secrets of the Jury Still Alice 47 Tears of the Giraffe 53 Various Pets Alive and Room 70 Tirra Lirra by the River 10 Stolen Children, The 47 Tehanu 65 Dead 19 Seducing Mr Maclean 17 To Kill a Mockingbird 48 Stone Diaries, The 53 Tell Me I’m Here 10 Verge Practice, The 72 Seize the Day 32 Too Close to the Falls 10 Stormy Weather 47 Tenderness of Wolves, Vernon God Little 72 Sense and Sensibility 25 Too Much Happiness 26 Stranger Here, A 26 The 71 Veronika Decides to Die 61 Sense of an Ending, The 25 To the Wedding 26 Stravinsky’s Lunch 53 Tess of the D’Urbervilles 40 Vintner’s Luck, The 61 Service of Clouds, The 61 Toucher, The 26 Strays, The 61 That Deadman Dance 40 Visit from the Goon Squad, Seven Years in Tibet 32 Touching the Void 48 That Eye, the Sky 18 A 27 Streets of Hope 47 Toulouse‑Lautrec: Henri de Shadowboxing 9 Viskic, Emma 70 Stupid White Men 71 That Old Ace in the Hole 32 Toulouse‑Lautrec 73 Shadow Child 47 Volcano Lover, The 27 Submerged Cathedral, The Burgess Boys 11 Tracks 33 Shadow Lines 25 Voluptuous Delights of The 26 The Curious Incident of the Traitor 48 Shadow of the Silk Road 32 Dog in the Night‑Time 42 Peanut Butter and Jam, Sucked In 71 Transit of Venus, The 26 Shallows 26 The 10 Sugar Mother, The 26 Theft 26 Travels with My Aunt 33 Voyages to the South Shark Net, The 70 The Pure Gold Baby 16 A Suitable Boy 26 Treloar, Lucy 39 Seas 33 Shipping News, The 17 Suite Française 47 There’ll Be New Dreams 61 Trespass 19, 71, 72 Short Reign of Pippin IV, There Should Be More Summer at Mount Hope 18 True History of the Kelly W The 39 Dancing 18 Summerscale, Kate 71 Gang 40 Waging Peace 58 Siddhartha 32 The Return of the Dancing Summer Without Men, True North 53 Signature of All Things, Master 70 Waiting 27 The 53 True Pleasures 53 The 52 The Tin Moon 10 Walking in the Shade 53 Sunday Philosophy Club, Silences Long Gone 32 True Stories 53 Walking on Water 58 The 53 Things We Didn’t See Silvermeadow 70 Coming 65 Truth 72 Wanamurraganya 48 Surgeon of Crowthorne, Tuesdays with Morrie 33 Sing and Don’t Cry 32 The 71 Things You Get for Free 32 Washington Square 10 Turning, The 48 Singing 41 Surrender 71 Thinks . . . 26 Watched by Ancestors 53 Tuvalu 10 Sisters 17 Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Thirteenth Tale, The 71 Water for Elephants 40 Sisters Brothers, The 32 The 71 This Book Will Save Your Two Caravans 72 Waterlily, The 58 Sitters, The 58 Swallow the Air 18 Life 33 U Water Under the Bridge 27 Slap, The 18 Sweet Caress 39 This House of Grief 71 Watkin Tench’s 1788 33 Smallest Color, The 9 Sweet Old World 26 This Is How 71 Unaccustomed Earth 33 Way We Live Now, The 40 Snow Falling on Cedars 71 Sweet-Shop Owner, The 18 This Must Be the Place 33 Uncle Tungsten 10 We Are All Completely Snowman, The 71 Sweet Tooth 40 Thousand Acres, A 18 Under My Skin 10 Beside Ourselves 19 Solar 61 Under the Same Sun 40 We Are All Made of Glue 27 82 Index by Title / Large Print Index by Large Print

Weather Makers, The 58 1984 72 Well Done, Those Men 48 Angela's Ashes 11 We Need to Talk About Barn Blind 5 Kevin 72 Borderliners 66 What I Loved 27 Cider with Rosie 54 What Was Lost 10 Cold Mountain 21 When Gods Collide 33 Dark Places 12 When in Rome 33 Fence Around the Cuckoo, When the Night Comes 10 A 50 When We Were Orphans 10 Fishing in the Styx 50 When Will There Be Good Fountain of Age, The 29 News? 72 Fred Hollows: An White Dog 72 Autobiography 43 White Earth, The 19 From Strength to Whiteley: Brett Whiteley 73 Strength 50 White Teeth 19 Go‑Between, The 7 White Tiger, The 72 Great Expectations 7 Whole Woman, The 53 Heat and Dust 22 Wicked But Virtuous 53 Inn at the Edge of the World, The 63 Wide Sargasso Sea 65 Jane Eyre 51 Wilderness, The 48 Lilian’s Story 8 Wildlife 10 Love, Again 23 Wild Sheep Chase, A 65 Midnight In the Garden of Wild Surmise 27 Good and Evil 69 Wild Swans 53 My Family and Other Winter Vault, The 27 Animals 15 Wolf Hall 40 Over the Top with Jim 9 Woman in White, The 72 Passage to India 38 Woman Who Walked Into Rebecca 70 Doors, The 48 Rector's Wife, The 17 Women in Black, The 27 Remembering Babylon 39 Women's Pages, The 58 Riders, The 17 Working for Rupert 40 Scapegoat, The 64 World Beneath, The 19 Sing and Don't Cry 32 World Without Us, The 61 Tess of the D'Urbervilles 40 Wrack 27 That Eye, the Sky 18 Frank Lloyd Wright 73 To Kill a Mockingbird 48 Y Wide Sargasso Sea 65

Year 1000, The 40 Year of the Flood, The 65 Year of Wonders 40 You Gotta Have Balls 19 Z

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