RECOMMENDED FICTION FOR WIDE READING YEARS 11 & 12

www.harpercollins.com.au

25 RYDE ROAD, PYMBLE, NSW, 2073 GIRL MADE OF DUST Nathalie Abi-Ezzi 9780007259038 Ten–year–old Ruba lives in a village outside Beirut. From her family home, she can see the buildings shimmering on the horizon and the sea stretched out beside them. She can also hear the rumble of the shelling – this is Lebanon in the 1980s and civil war is tearing the country apart. Ruba however has her own worries. Her father hardly ever speaks and spends most of his days sitting in his armchair, avoiding work and family. Her mother looks so sad that Ruba thinks her heart might have withered in the heat like a fig. Her elder brother, Naji, has started to spend his time with older boys – and some of them have guns. When Ruba decides she has to save her father, and when she uncovers his secret, she begins a journey which takes her from childhood to the beginnings of adulthood. As Israeli troops invade and danger comes ever closer, she realises that she may not be able to keep her family safe. This is a first novel with tremendous heart, which captures both a country and a childhood in turmoil.

HALF OF A YELLOW SUN Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 9780007200283

Set in Nigeria during the 1960s at the time of a vicious civil war in which a million people died and thousands were massacred in cold blood. The three main characters in the novel are swept up in the violence during these turbulent years. One is a young boy from a poor village who is employed at a university lecturer's house. The other is a young middle–class woman, Olanna, who has to confront the reality of the massacre of her relatives. And the third is a white man, a writer who lives in Nigeria for no clear reason, and who falls in love with Olanna's sister, a remote and enigmatic character. As these people's lives intersect, they have to question their own responses to the unfolding political events. This extraordinary novel is about Africa in a wider sense: about moral responsibility, about the end of colonialism, about ethnic allegiances, about class and race; and the ways in which love can complicate all of these things. * WINNER: 2007 ORANGE PRIZE * Reading Notes available.

PURPLE HIBISCUS Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 9780007189885

The limits of fifteen–year–old Kambili's world are defined by the high walls of her family estate and the dictates of her repressive and fanatically religious father. Her life is regulated by schedules: prayer, sleep, study, and more prayer. When Nigeria begins to fall apart during a military coup, Kambili's father, involved mysteriously in the political crisis, sends Kambili and her brother away to live with their aunt. In this house, full of energy and laughter, she discovers life and love – and a terrible, bruising secret deep within her family. Centering on the promise of freedom and the pain and exhilaration of adolescence, Purple Hibiscus is the extraordinary debut of a remarkable new talent. *WINNER: COMMONWEALTH WRITERS’ PRIZE. * Teaching Notes available. Reading Group Notes available.

LOST CITY RADIO Daniel Alarcon 9780007200528

Ever since the civil war that took her husband ended, Norma has been the voice of consolation to a people broken by violence. Every week, bereft families listen to her radio show as she reads out the names of the missing, those who vanished in the clamour and brutality of the drawn–out conflict, with the hope of reuniting the few survivors with their families. Successes are few; her true gift is the offer of hope. Although her face is unknown to her listeners, her name and spirit are celebrated by a wayward nation searching for a guiding force. But her life is forever changed when a young boy from a jungle village enters her radio studio and provides a connection to the husband she thought lost – the husband she has not seen for ten years since departing for the war. Stunning, timely, powerful and absolutely mesmerizing, 'Lost City Radio' probes the deepest questions of war: from its wide reaching effect on a society to its intimate emotional impact on every person involved. This searing yet tender first novel marks Alarcón's emergence as a new voice in American fiction, fully–formed and ready to be heard.

NOCTURNE Diane Armstrong 9780732284305

She closed her eyes and listened to the forbidden Chopin nocturne ... its magic hung in the air. It is Warsaw, 1939, and Elzunia is an indulged teenager who longs for a heroic life filled with romance. But the outbreak of war shatters all her dreams. As bombs fall, she meets Adam, a taciturn airman whose fate becomes entwined with hers. In despair over the occupation, Adam joins the Polish resistance, then flies bombers for the RAF. Forced into the Warsaw Ghetto, Elzunia learns that even children must create their own rules to survive. When the Ghetto defies the invaders, and later the entire city of Warsaw rises up, Elzunia finds strength in ways she never imagined. Nocturne is a powerful and inspiring testament to resilience and courage in the face of cruelty and betrayal. * Reading Notes available.

WINTER JOURNEY Diane Armstrong 9780732276959 A community bound by a terrible secret ... and an extraordinary sacrifice to save a child. Polish–born Halina Shore is a forensic dentist working in Sydney. Her mother has just died, and while going through her papers she comes across a letter from a woman she has never heard of, asking about a strange child. Intrigued, Halina sets out to learn more. Meanwhile, a war crimes tribunal is about to undertake an investigation into a mass grave in Poland, believed to be the site of the massacre of the entire Jewish population of a village during the war. Halina is asked to assist.

As Halina's story unfolds, she must confront not only the grimmest of evils, but the truth about her own past – and that the human spirit is a far bolder and more courageous thing than she could ever have imagined ... *Reading Notes available.

HARMONY SILK FACTORY Tash Aw 9780007232284 Set in Malaysia in the 1930s and 40s, with the rumbling of the Second World War in the background and the Japanese about to invade, The Harmony Silk Factory is the story of four people: Johnny, an infamous Chinaman – a salesman, a fraudster, possibly a murderer – whose shop house, The Harmony Silk Factory, he uses as a front for his illegal businesses; Snow Soong, the beautiful daughter of one of the Kinta Valley's most prominent families, who dies giving birth to one of the novel's narrators; Kunichika, a Japanese officer who loves Snow too; and an Englishman, Peter Wormwood, who went to Malaysia like many English but never came back, who also loved Snow to the end of his life. A journey the four of them take into the jungle has a devastating effect on all of them, and brilliantly exposes the cultural tensions of the era. Haunting, highly original, The Harmony Silk Factory is suspenseful to the last page. * Reading Notes available

EMPIRE OF THE SUN J.G. Ballard 9780007221523

Based on J. G. Ballard's own childhood, this is the extraordinary account of a boy's life in Japanese– occupied wartime Shanghai – a mesmerising, hypnotically compelling novel of war, of starvation and survival, of internment camps and death marches. It blends searing honesty with an almost hallucinatory vision of a world thrown utterly out of joint. Rooted as it is in the author's own disturbing experience of war in his own time, it is one of a handful of novels by which the twentieth century will be not only remembered but judged.

THE LACE READER Brunonia Barry 9780007287093 Towner Whitney comes from a family of Salem women who can read the future in the patterns in lace, and who have guarded a history of secrets going back for generations. Exiled in California, she receives a phone call telling her that her beloved Great Aunt Eva has disappeared and Towner must return to her home after an absence of 17 years... A literary page–turner with depth, narrative power and a story that novels like 'The Thirteenth Tale' can only dream of, 'The Lace Reader' is a bewitching and tightly plotted read.

BUSH STUDIES Barbara Baynton 9780207196423

Written during the 1890's, Bush Studies presents a bleak and uncompromising, yet poignant and revealing image of life in the Australian bush. These are not the stories of mates gathered round the fire, but of the dark loneliness of women. Not only are there fences to be built and a living to be coaxed from the land, but babies to be born – or buried – and the dangers of profound isolation to be endured, as well as the cruelties, or plain disappointments of men. *Teaching Notes available

GALLIPOLI Jack Bennett 9780732282271 Novel based on David Williamson's screenplay for Peter Weir's classic Australian film, Gallipoli (originally released in 1981, starring Mel Gibson).

On the morning of 25 April 1915, the first wave of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula under intense Turkish fire. When the Anzacs crept away, defeated, eight months later, 7594 Australians had been killed and more than 19,000 had been wounded. About one–fifth of the men engaged in this tragic and mismanaged encounter were under the age of 21 – boys who were fired with loyalty for a nation itself not yet 15 years old. ‘This is the story of two of those boys.’

CAPE GRIMM Carmel Bird 9780732269937

On the far northwest coast of Tasmania at Cape Grimm lies the isolated community of Skye, which practises a religion that reveres the imagination. When Caleb Mean is born, his grandmother has a vision telling her he is the Chosen One. On Caleb's 33rd birthday, he locks the whole community into the meeting hall and incinerates them. The only survivors are Caleb, his lover Virginia, and their baby daughter, Golden.

How could such a thing happen? Do the answers lie in the history of Skye itself, founded by the unlikely survivors of a 19th–century shipwreck? Or do the only real clues lie in the dark truths of fairytales? Cape Grimm is a chilling and bewitching novel about the terrible power of faith, and confirms Carmel Bird as one of our finest and most original writers.

THE ESSENTIAL BIRD Carmel Bird 9780732269913

This collection brings together the best of Carmel Bird’s short stories to date. Stories to beguile, bedazzle, disturb and amuse. Stories that nudge reality's farthest borders, explore history's darkest moments, and redefine the human spirit's infinite capacity for wonder – and love.

Through the shimmering veil of fiction, Carmel Bird gives us a world that is both whimsical and profound, and unquestionably her own. *Teaching Notes available.

MARCH Geraldine Brooks 9780732278427

Acclaimed author Geraldine Brooks gives us the story of the absent father from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women – and conjures a world of brutality, stubborn courage and transcendent love.

An idealistic abolitionist, March has gone as chaplain to serve the Union cause. But the war tests his faith not only in the Union – which is also capable of barbarism and racism – but in himself. As he recovers from a near–fatal illness, March must reassemble and reconnect with his family, who have no idea of what he has endured. A love story set in a time of catastrophe, March explores the passions between a man and a woman, the tenderness of parent and child, and the life–changing power of an ardently held belief. *Contains PS section. * WINNER OF THE 2006 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION. *Reading Notes available.

PEOPLE OF THE BOOK Geraldine Brooks 9780732280376

When Hanna Heath gets a call in the middle of the night in her Sydney home about a precious medieval manuscript that has been recovered from the smouldering ruins of war–torn Sarajevo, she knows she is on the brink of the experience of a lifetime. A renowned book conservator, she must now make her way to Bosnia to start work on restoring the Sarajevo Haggadah – a Jewish prayer book – to discover its secrets and piece together the story of its miraculous survival. But the trip will also set in motion a series of events that threaten to rock Hanna's orderly life, including her encounter with Ozren Karamen, the young librarian who risked his life to save the book. As meticulously researched as all of Brooks' previous work, People of the Book is a gripping and moving novel about war, art, love and survival. *Teaching notes available *Reading notes available

YEAR OF WONDERS Geraldine Brooks 9781841154589

A young woman's struggle to save her family and her soul during the most extraordinary year of 1666, when plague suddenly visited a small Derbyshire village and the villagers, inspired by a charismatic preacher, elected to quarantine themselves to limit the contagion.

In 1666, plague scorched London, driving the King and his court to Oxford, and Samuel Pepys to Greenwich, to escape contagion. The north of England remained untouched until, in a small community of lead miners and hill farmers, a bolt of cloth arrived from the capital. The tailor who cut the cloth had no way of knowing that the damp fabric carried with it bubonic infection.

So begins the Year of Wonders, in which a Pennine village of 350 souls confronts a scourge beyond remedy or understanding. Desperate, the villagers turn to sorcery, herb lore, and murderous witch–hunting. Then, led by a young and charismatic preacher, they elect to isolate themselves in a fatal quarantine. The story is told through the eyes of Anna Frith who, at only 18, must contend with the death of her family, the disintegration of her society, and the lure of a dangerous and illicit attraction. *Reading Notes available

ART OF THE ENGINE DRIVER Steven Carroll 9780732288983

On a hot summer′s night in the 1950s‚ the old and the new‚ diesel and steam‚ town and country all collide −− and nobody will be left unaffected

As a passenger train leaves Spencer Street Station on its haul to Sydney‚ a family of three −− Vic‚ Rita and their son Michael −− are off to a party. George Bedser has invited the whole neighbourhood to celebrate the engagement of his daughter. Vic is an engine driver‚ with dreams of being like his hero Paddy Ryan and becoming the master of the smooth ride. As the neighbours walk to the party‚ we are drawn into the lives of a bully‚ a drunk‚ a restless girl and a young boy forced to grow up before he is ready. SHORTLISTED FOR THE MILES FRANKLIN LITERARY AWARD‚ 2002 SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX FEMINA ETRANGER‚ 2005

GIFT OF SPEED Steven Carroll 9780732288990

The history of his summer is written in the grass ... In 1960 the West Indies arrive in Australia‚ bringing with them a carnival of music‚ colour and possibility. Michael‚ who is sixteen‚ is enthralled. If‚ like his heroes‚ he has the gift of speed‚ he will move beyond his suburb into the great world ... And yet‚ as his summer unfolds‚ Michael realises that there are other ways to live. When the calypso chorus accompanying Frank Worrell and his team fades‚ Michael has learnt many things ... about his parents‚ his suburb‚ a girl called Kathleen Marsden‚ and about himself. SHORLISTED FOR THE MILES FRANKLIN LITERARY AWARD‚ 2005 THE TIME WE HAVE TAKEN Steven Carroll 9780732278373

One summer morning in 1970‚ Peter van Rijn‚ proprietor of the television and wireless shop‚ pronounces his Melbourne suburb one hundred years old.

That same morning‚ Rita is awakened by a dream of her husband′s snores‚ yet it is years since Vic moved north. Their son‚ Michael‚ has left for the city‚ and is entering the awkward terrain of first love. As the suburb prepares to celebrate progress‚ Michael′s friend Mulligan is commissioned to paint a mural of the area′s history. But what vision of the past will his painting reveal? Meanwhile‚ Rita′s sometime friend, Mrs Webste, confronts the mystery of her husband′s death. And Michael discovers that innocence can only be sustained for so long.

The Time We Have Taken is both a meditation on the rhythms of suburban life and a luminous exploration of public and private reckoning during a time of radical change. SHORTLISTED 2007 AGE BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD (FICTION) SHORTLISTED 2007 VICTORIAN PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARDS, VANCE PALMER PRIZE FOR FICTION WINNER OF THE 2008 MILES FRANKLIN AWARD WINNER OF THE 2008 C’WEALTH WRITERS’ PRIZE FOR BEST NOVEL FOR THE STH-EAST ASIA AND STH PACIFIC REGION

AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY Michael Chabon 9781841154930

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a heart−wrenching story of escape‚ love and comic−book heroes set in Prague‚ New York and the Arctic. One night in 1939‚ Josef Kavalier shuffles into his cousin Sam Clay′s cramped New York bedroom‚ his nerve−racking escape from Prague finally achieved. Little does he realise that this is the beginning of an extraordinary friendship and even more fruitful business partnership. Together they create a comic strip called ′The Escapist′‚ its superhero a Nazi−busting saviour who liberates the oppressed around the world. The Escapist makes their fortune‚ but Joe can think of only one thing: how can he effect a real−life escape‚ and free his family from the tyranny of Hitler? Michael Chabon′s exceptional novel is a thrilling tight−rope walk between high comedy and bitter tragedy‚ *WINNER OF THE 2001 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION.

FINAL SOLUTION Michael Chabon 9780007196036

In deep retirement in the English countryside‚ an 89−year−old man‚ vaguely remembered by locals as a once−famous detective‚ is more concerned with his beekeeping than with other people. Into his life wanders Linus Steinman‚ nine years old and mute‚ who has escaped from Nazi Germany with his sole companion: an African grey parrot. What is the meaning of the mysterious strings of German numbers the bird spews out − a top−secret SS code, the keys to a series of Swiss bank accounts perhaps, or something more sinister? Is the solution to this last case − the real explanation of the mysterious boy and his parrot − beyond even the reach of the once−famed sleuth? Subtle revelations lead the reader to a wrenching resolution. This brilliant homage is the work of a master storyteller at the height of his powers.

BURNING BRIGHT Tracy Chevalier 9780007178360

The Kellaways were chair−makers and had always lived in Dorset. Personal tragedy brought them to London‚ to work for the famous Astley′s Circus. The change to the tumultuous street−life of Lambeth was amazing to the whole family‚ but it was their son‚ Jem‚ always the quickest‚ the most questioning‚ who discovered not only his guide to London − and much else − in Maggie Butterfield but also the extraordinary ways of their neighbour‚ William Blake.

The interweaving lives of the innocent country Kellaways‚ the experienced London Butterfields‚ the strange but passionate man of conscience‚ William Blake‚ meant that none of them was unchanged‚ and some paid a heavy price for their resistance or support in a time of high social unrest. ′Burning Bright′ is not only a brilliant portrait of a time of revolution in Britain but it is also Tracy Chevalier′s most powerful and moving novel‚ full of extraordinary characters‚ and remarkable insight into the qualities of innocence and experience.

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING Tracy Chevalier 9780007232161

Griet‚ the young daughter of a tilemaker in seventeeth century Holland‚ obtains her first job‚ as a servant in Vermeer′s household. Tracy Chevalier shows us‚ through Griet′s eyes‚ the complicated family‚ the society of the small town of Delft‚ and life with an obsessive genius. Griet loves being drawn into his artistic life‚ and leaving her former drudgery‚ but the cost to her own survival may be high. *Teaching Notes available.

THE LADY AND THE UNICORN Tracy Chevalier 9780007172313

The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries are a set of six medieval tapestries. Beautiful‚ intricate and expertly made‚ they are also mysterious in their origin and meaning. Tapestries give an appearance of order and continuity‚ as if designed and made by one person‚ belying the complicated process required to create them. Weavers‚ patrons‚ designers‚ artists‚ merchants and apprentices were involved in their making‚ and behind them were the wives‚ daughters and servants who exercised influences over their men. Like the many strands of wool and silk woven together into one cloth‚ so these people came together in a complex dance to create the whole picture.

Jean le Viste‚ a newly wealthy member of the French court‚ commissions the tapestries to hang in his chateau. Nicolas‚ his chosen designer‚ meets le Viste′s wife Genevieve and his daughter Claude‚ both of whom take a keen interest in the tapestries. From Paris‚ Nicolas moves to a weaver′s workshop in Brussels in order to complete the commission. The creation of the tapestries brings together people who would not otherwise meet − their lives become entangled‚ and so do their desires. As they fall in love‚ are shunned‚ take revenge‚ find unrequited love‚ turn to the church or to pagan ideals‚ the tapestries become to each an ideal vision of life − yet all discover that they are unable to make this ideal world their own.

FALLING ANGELS Tracy Chevalier 9780007217236

1901‚ the year of Queen Victoria′s death. The two graves stood next to each other‚ both beautifully decorated. One had a large urn − some might say ridiculously large − and the other‚ almost leaning over the first‚ an angel − some might say overly sentimental.

The two families visiting the cemetery to view their respective neighbouring graves were divided even more by social class than by taste. They would certainly never have become acquainted had not their two girls‚ meeting behind the tombstones‚ become best friends. And furthermore − and even more unsuitably − become involved in the life of the gravedigger′s son. As the girls grow up‚ as the century wears on‚ as the new era and the new King change social customs‚ the lives and fortunes of the Colemans and the Waterhouses become more and more closely intertwined − neighbours in life as well as death.

VIRGIN BLUE Tracy Chevalier 9780007241460

The compelling story of two women‚ born four centuries apart‚ and the ancestral legacy that binds them. Ella Turner does her best to fit in to the small‚ close−knit community of Lisle−sur−Tarn. She even changes her name back to Tournier‚ and knocks the rust off her high school French. But it is all in vain. Isolated and lonely‚ she is drawn to investigate her Tournier ancestry‚ which leads to her encounter with the town′s wolfish librarian.

Isabelle du Moulin‚ known as Le Rousse due to her fiery red hair‚ is tormented and shunned in the village − suspected of witchcraft and reviled for her association with the Virgin Mary. Falling pregnant‚ she is forced to marry into the ruling family: the Tourniers. Tormentor becomes husband‚ and a shocking fate awaits her. Plagued by the colour blue‚ Ella is haunted by parallels with the past‚ and by her recurring dream. Then one morning she wakes up to discover that her hair is turning inexplicably red

FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE Marcus Clarke 9780207198397 The grim story of life in an Australian penal colony.

Told with great force‚ For The Term Of His Natural Life is a narrative of great suffering − of whips‚ chains and man′s inhumanity. There is no attempt to soften the truth of degradation and dark cruelty in convict Australia. And yet the novel is filled with life and peopled with vivid characters. Rufus Dawes‚ condemned to transportation for a crime he did not commit‚ is one of the most unforgettable characters of Australian literature. This is perhaps Australia′s most significant and most famous 19th−century colonial novel and it has found success both in Australia and abroad − it has been translated into German‚ Dutch‚ Swedish and Russian. It was serialised from 1870 to 1872 and published as a work for the first time in Australia in 1874.

BROKEN Daniel Clay 9780007270132

Skunk Cunningham is an eleven−year−old girl in a coma. She has a loving dad‚ an absent mother and a brother who plays more X−Box than is good for him. She also has the neighbours from hell: the five Oswald girls and their thuggish father Bob‚ vicious bullies all of them‚ whose reign of terror extends unchallenged over their otherwise quiet suburban street.

And yet terrifying though they undoubtedly are‚ the stiletto−wearing‚ cider−swilling Oswald girls are also sexy − so when Saskia asks shy‚ virginal Rick Buckley for a ride in his new car‚ he can′t believe his luck. Too bad that Saskia can′t keep her big mouth shut. When‚ after a quick fumble‚ she broadcasts Rick′s deficiencies to anyone who will listen‚ it puts ideas into her younger sister′s silly head − ideas that will see Rick dragged off to prison‚ humiliated‚ and ultimately‚ in his father′s words‚ ′broken′ by the experience.

From her hospital bed‚ Skunk guides us through the events that follow‚ as Saskia′s small act of thoughtlessness slowly spreads through the neighbourhood in a web of increasing violence. Skunk watches as her shabby‚ hardworking father finds love‚ only for her courageous‚ idealistic teacher to lose it; as poor ′Broken′ Buckley descends into madness‚ while across the street her brother Jed makes his first adolescent forays into sex; and as her own gentle romance with soft−hearted‚ tough−talking Dillon struggles to survive against a backdrop that seamlessly combines the sublime and the ridiculous. As we inch ever closer to the mystery behind her coma‚ Skunk′s innocence becomes a beacon by which we navigate a world as comic as it is tragic‚ and as effortlessly engaging as it is ultimately uplifting‚ in this brilliant and utterly original debut novel.

MERMAID SINGING & PEEL ME A LOTUS Charmian Clift 9780732268862

These two classic travel works by Charmian Clift describing the life she and her Australian family led in Greece in the 1950′s are re−released here in one volume to coincide with the publication of Nadia Wheatley′s landmark biography of Charmian.

SELECTED ESSAYS Charmian Clift 9780732268879

A new selection of the essays Charmian Clift wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald during the 1960′s. For thousands of readers‚ Thursday′s Herald and its Clift column were compulsory reading.

Passionate‚ insightful‚ warm − when Charmian died in 1969 the paper was flooded with letters from her readers who mourned the death of ′a true friend.′

This selection is taken from the four volumes previously published by Harper Collins‚ The World of Charmian Clift‚ Images in Aspic‚ On Being Alone with Oneself‚ and Trouble in Lotus Land‚ edited and with a new introduction by Charmian Clift′s biographer‚ Nadia Wheatley.

THE ALCHEMIST Paulo Coelho 978006122415

Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. With over a million and a half copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has already established itself as a modern classic, universally admired. Paulo Coelho's charming fable will enchant and inspire readers for generations to come.

The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert to a fateful encounter with the alchemist. The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories have done, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, above all, following our dreams. *Teaching Notes available *Reading Group notes available.

VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE Paulo Coelho 9780732267636

Veronika has everything she could wish for. She is young and pretty‚ has plenty of boyfriends‚ a steady job‚ a loving family. Yet she is not happy; something is lacking in her life‚ and one morning she decides to die. She takes an overdose of sleeping pills‚ only to wake up some time later in the local hospital. There she is told that her heart is damaged and she has only a few days to live. The story follows Veronika through these intense days as to her surprise she finds herself experiencing feelings she has never really felt before. Against all odds she finds herself falling in love and even wanting to live again ... *Reading Group notes available

ZOOKEEPER’S WAR Steven Conte 9780732285160

In Berlin‚ who can you trust? A story of passion and sacrifice in a city battered by war ...

It is 1943 and each night in a bomb shelter beneath the Berlin Zoo an Australian woman‚ Vera‚ shelters with her German husband‚ Axel‚ the zoo′s director. Together‚ they struggle to look after the animals through the air raids and food shortages. When the zoo′s staff is drafted into the army‚ forced labourers are sent in as replacements. At first‚ Vera finds the idea abhorrent‚ but gradually she realises that the new workers are the zoo′s only hope‚ and forms an unlikely bond with one of them. This is a city where a foreign accent is a constant source of suspicion‚ where busybodies report the names of neighbours′ dinner guests to the Gestapo. As tensions mount in the closing days of the war‚ nothing‚ and no one‚ it seems‚ can be trusted. The Zookeeper′s War is a powerful novel of a marriage‚ and of a city collapsing. It confronts not only the brutality of war but the possibility of heroism − and delivers an ending that is both shocking and deeply moving.

*WINNER OF THE INAUGURAL PRIME MINISTER’S AWARD FOR FICTION 2008

TIMELESS LAND Eleanor Dark 9780207198779

An outstanding literary achievement‚ meticulously researched and deeply felt‚ its portrait of the earliest days of the European settlement of Australia remains unrivalled.

1788: the very beginning of European settlement. These were times of hardship‚ cruelty and danger. Above all‚ they were times of conflict between the Aborigines and the white settlers. Eleanor Dark brings alive those bitter years with moments of tenderness and conciliation amid the brutality and hostility. The cast of characters includes figures historical and fictional‚ black and white‚ convict and settler. All the while‚ beneath the veneer of British civilisation‚ lies the baffling presence of Australia‚ the ′timeless land′.

ZOOLOGY Ben Dolnick 9780007250394

Henry likes to think of himself as a promising jazz musician. The truth‚ however‚ is slightly less glamorous. At 18‚ he′s dropped out of university‚ lives at home with his bickering parents‚ and spends most of his time with the family dog. The outlook‚ it seems‚ is bleak. So when his brother offers to put him up for the summer in his New York City apartment‚ Henry leaps at the chance to start living the life of his dreams.

But jazz gigs are not immediately forthcoming so Henry lands a job at the Central Park Children′s Zoo. Over weeks spent chopping vegetables and shoveling dung‚ his world gradually expands to include a motley crew of zoo keepers‚ doormen and animals of every description. Amongst these‚ the undisputed star is Newman‚ the zoo′s stoic Nubian goat‚ in whom Henry confides his growing love for Margaret‚ the girl upstairs‚ like him in town for the summer. As the months unfolds in a haze of jazz bars‚ ill−advised romance and hard truths about family‚ Henry learns what it is to love − and to lose − in this hilarious‚ inventive and touching debut novel.

MY BRILLIANT CAREER & MY BRILLIANT CAREER GOES BUNG Miles Franklin 9780732280277

‘I am given to something which a man never pardons in a woman. You will draw away as though I were a snake when you hear.′ With this warning‚ Sybylla confesses to her rich and handsome suitor that she is given to writing stories and bound‚ therefore on a brilliant career. In this ironically titled and riotous first novel by Miles Franklin‚ originally published in 1901‚ Sybylla tells the story of growing up passionate and rebellious in rural NSW‚ where the most that girls could hope for was to marry or to teach. Sybylla will do neither‚ but that doesn′t stop her from falling in love‚ and it doesn′t make the choices any easier.

A WAR FOR GENTLEMEN Jackie French 9780732277765

Charles Fitzhenry wanted to be a hero‚ and left his home in New South Wales to fight for freedom in the American Civil War − on the side of the South. Gentlemen like Charles fought for the ideals of their class‚ for honour and glory. But it was not a war of honour. It was simply endless battles‚ starvation and hardship in an increasingly bitter war. Was Charles a hero‚ even if the war he went to fight was not the one he found.

Based on a true story‚ A War for Gentlemen follows Charles Fitzhenry to battle; to his escape with Caroline‚ his uncle′s slave‚ and their new life together; and the echoes of the war in the lives of their children and grandchildren. It is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal‚ unexpected happiness‚ and the terrible consequences of ideals − a story that still echoes in the wars Australians fight today.

GLASS PALACE Amitav Ghosh 9780006514091

Rajkumar is only another boy helping on a market stall in the dusty square outside the royal palace‚ when the British force the Burmese King‚ Queen and all the Court into exile. He is rescued by a far−seeing Chinese merchant‚ and with him builds up a logging business in upper Burma. However‚ haunted by his vision of the Royal Family‚ he journeys to the obscure town in India where they have been exiled. The picture of the tension between the Burmese‚ the Indian and the British is excellent. Among the great range of characters are one of the court ladies‚ Miss Dolly‚ whom he marries‚ and the redoubtable Jonakin‚ part of the British−educated Indian colony‚ who with her husband has been put in charge of the Burmese exiled court. The story follows the fortunes − rubber estates in Malaya‚ businesses in Singapore‚ estates in Burma − which Rajkumar‚ with his Chinese‚ British and Burmese relations‚ friends and associates‚ builds up − from 1870 through World War II to the scattering of the extended family to New York and Thailand‚ London and Hong Kong in the post−war years.

HUNGRY TIDE Amitav Ghosh 9780007141784

A rich‚ exotic saga set in Calcutta and in the vast archipelago of islands in the Bay of Bengal. An Indian myth says that when the river Ganges first descended from the heavens‚ the force of the cascade was so great that the earth would have been destroyed if it had not been for the god Shiva‚ who tamed the torrent by catching it in his dreadlocks. It is only when the Ganges approaches the Bay of Bengal that it frees itself and separates into thousands of wandering strands. The result is the Sundarbans‚ an immense stretch of mangrove forest‚ a half−drowned land where the waters of the Himalayas merge with the incoming tides of the sea. It is this vast archipelago of islands that provides the setting for Amitav Ghosh′s new novel. This is the only place on earth where man is more often prey than predator. And it is in this terrain that an eccentric‚ wealthy Scotsman named Daniel Hamilton tried to create a utopian society of all races and religions and conquer the might of the Sundarbans. In January 2001‚ a small ship arrives to conduct an ecological survey of this vast but little−known environment‚ and the scientists on board begin to trace the journeys of the descendants of this society.

MAESTRO Peter Goldsworthy 9780732281489

Against the backdrop of Darwin‚ that small‚ tropical hothouse of a port‚ half−outback‚ half−oriental‚ lying at the tip of northern Australia‚ a young and newly arrived southerner encounters the ′maestro′‚ a Viennese refugee with a shadowed past. The occasion is a piano lesson‚ the first of many...

The necessary elusiveness of perfection‚ the unplumbed ocean beneath articulateness‚ the ambivalence of beauty : these are the revolving concerns of Peter Goldsworthy‚ and handled not just with irony‚ but with an effervescent‚ compassionate wit. He can′t help being funny‚ but he′s wise too.′ Gerard Windsor‚ AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW * Teaching Notes available

TWO PEARLS OF WISDOM Alison Goodman 9780732288006

Eon is a potential Dragoneye‚ able to manipulate wind and water to nurture and protect the land. But Eon also has a dark secret. He is really Eona‚ found by a power−hungry master of the Dragon Magic in a search for the new Dragoneye. Because females are forbidden to practise the Art‚ Eona endures years of study concealed as a boy. Eona becomes Eon‚ and a dangerous gamble is put into play. Eon′s unprecedented display of skill at the Dragoneye ceremony places him in the centre of a power struggle between the Emperor and his High Lord brother. The Emperor immediately summons Eon to court to protect his son and heir. Quickly learning to navigate the treacherous court politics‚ Eon makes some unexpected alliances‚ and a deadly enemy in a Dragoneye turned traitor. Based on the ancient lores of Chinese astrology and Feng Shui‚ The Two Pearls of Wisdom is compelling, Watch for the sequel: ‘Necklace of the Gods’. * Teaching Notes available.

SOMEONE KNOWS MY NAME Lawrence Hill 9780732288921

The abolitionists say they have brought me to England to help them change the course of history. Well. We shall see about that. But if I have lived this long‚ it must be for a reason. Abducted from Africa as a child and enslaved in South Carolina‚ Aminata Diallo thinks only of freedom −− and of the knowledge she needs to get home. Sold to an indigo trader who recognizes her intelligence‚ Aminata is torn from her husband and child and thrown into the chaos of the Revolutionary War. In Manhattan‚ Aminata helps pen the Book of Negroes‚ a list of blacks rewarded for service to the king with safe passage to Nova Scotia. There Aminata finds a life of hardship and stinging prejudice. When the British abolitionists come looking for ′adventurers′ to create a new colony in Sierra Leone‚ Aminata assists in moving 1‚200 Nova Scotians to Africa and aiding the abolitionist cause by revealing the realities of slavery to the British public. This captivating story of one woman′s remarkable experience spans six decades and three continents and brings to life a crucial chapter in world history. WINNER OF THE 2008 COMONWEALTH WRITERS’ PRIZE

DUE PREPARATIONS FOR THE PLAGUE Janette Turner Hospital 9780732277314

Lowell tries not to think about the past‚ about the hijacking that killed his mother. Samantha‚ on the other hand‚ cannot let the past go. As a child she survived the hijacking of Air France 064‚ and as an adult she obsessively digs for answers. Specifically‚ she wants to find a shadowy figure called Salamander‚ a man she believes was a key player in the unravelling of the tragedy. It is the death of Lowell′s father‚ and his legacy of a blue sports bag crammed with documents and videotapes‚ that finally brings Lowell and Samantha together and reveals the interconnections between victims and perpetrators‚ saved and damned .But in this murky world of endless aliases and surveillance‚ who can be trusted? When does the quest for truth become a dangerous obsession? And what difference can the truth make?

ORPHEUS LOST Janette Turner Hospital 9780732284428

Leela is a gifted mathematician who has escaped her small Southern town to study in Boston. From the first moment she hears Mishka‚ a young Australian musician‚ playing his violin in a subway‚ his music grips her‚ and they quickly become lovers. Their souls‚ bodies‚ lives are fused‚ and love offers protection of sorts from the violence and anxiety around them‚ until Leela is taken off the street to an interrogation centre somewhere outside the city. There has been an ′incident′‚ an explosion on the underground; terrorists are suspected‚ security is high. And her old childhood friend Cobb is conducting a very questionable investigation. Now he reveals to her that Mishka may not be all he seems. Leela has already discovered that there may be more to his past than his story of growing up in the Daintree with an eccentric musical family; that Mishka is spending some evenings not at the Music Lab but at a cafe. A cafe‚ Cobb tells her‚ known to be a terrorist contact point. Who can she believe? In this compelling re−imagining of the Orpheus story‚ Leela travels to an underworld of kidnapping‚ torture and despair in search of the truth −− and the man she loves. *Teaching Notes available.

WOLF OF THE PLAINS Con Iggulden 9780007201754

‘I am the land and the bones of the hills. I am the winter.′ Temujin‚ the second son of the khan of the Wolves tribe‚ was only eleven when his father died in an ambush. His family were thrown out of the tribe and left alone‚ without food or shelter‚ to starve to death on the harsh Mongolian plains. It was a rough introduction to his life‚ to a sudden adult world‚ but Temujin survived‚ learning to combat natural and human threats. A man‚ a small family‚ without a tribe was always at risk but he gathered other outsiders to him‚ creating a new tribal identity. It was during some of his worst times that the image of uniting the warring tribes and bringing the silver people together came to him. He will become the khan of the sea of grass‚ Genghis.

LORDS OF THE BOW Con Iggulden 9780007201778

The gathering of the tribes of the Mongols has been a long time in coming but finally‚ triumphantly‚ Temujin of the Wolves‚ Genghis Khan‚ is given the full accolade of the overall leader and their oaths. Now he can begin to meld all the previously warring people into one army‚ one nation. But the task Genghis has set himself and them is formidable. He is determined to travel to the land of the long−time enemy‚ the Chin and attack them there. The distances and terrain − the wide deserts‚ the impenetrable mountains − make it a difficult venture even for the legendary Mongolian speed of movement‚ but the greatest problem is that of the complex fortifications‚ a way of fighting wars of a settled urban population which the nomadic Mongolians have never come across. Finding ways to tackle that and keeping his tribes together in a strange environment presents another new and exciting challenge for Genghis Khan.

Not only must Genghis succeed in this incredible campaign‚ but he must also reconcile the restless factions among his own generals‚ mediate between his ambitious brothers and cope with his own reactions to his growing sons. The young warrior has become a notable and victorious military commander of thousands: he must now learn to become a great leader of peoples of many different races and religions.

Lords of the Bow is a deeply satisfying novel. It is epic in scope‚ convincing‚ and fascinating in the narration of an extraordinary story. Above all Genghis Khan continues to dominate the scene as he matures from the young boy of Wolf of the Plains to the great Conqueror.

BONES OF THE HILLS Con Iggulden 9780007282036

The fatherless boy‚ exiled from his tribe‚ whom readers have been following in Wolf of the Plains and Lords of the Bow‚ has grown into the great king‚ Genghis Khan. He has united the warring tribes and even taken his armies against the great cities of their oldest enemies. Now he finds trouble rising west of the Mongolian plains. His emissaries are mutilated or killed; his trading gestures rebuffed. So‚ dividing his armies‚ using his sons as generals of the various divisions‚ he sends them out simultaneously in many directions‚ ranging as far as modern Iran and Iraq.

As well as discovering new territories‚ exacting tribute from conquered peoples‚ laying waste the cities which resist‚ this policy is also a way of diffusing the rivalries between his sons and heirs and working out who should succeed the khan.

This‚ the third book in the Conqueror series‚ is once more an epic story. Genghis Khan is an exhilarating and heroic figure. The sense of his ambition and his power‚ the relationships with his wives‚ sons and trusted aides‚ the sweep of his conquests‚ is all brought together by a masterful storytelling. It is a compelling read. With each book‚ you are left‚ even more‚ longing for the next.

INFERNAL OPTIMIST Linda Jaivin 9780732282752

19 year old Zeke was born in the Old Country but has been in Australia since he was six months old and considers himself as Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi as the next bloke. But due to a mix−up at the naturalisation ceremony (Zeke was in the pub when the rest of his family were getting their certificates and sprigs of wattle) and some unfortunate brushes with the law‚ Zeke finds himself awaiting deportation from Sydney′s Villawood Detention Centre.

So Zeke finds himself locked up with the other crims‚ asylum seekers‚ sex slaves‚ illegal workers and visa overstayers. He loves Marlena‚ ‘She Who Loves‚ Honours and Obeys Most a the Time Anyway’‚ but he′s having a hell of a time proving it from the wrong side of a double fence. His new friends the ′asylums′ aren′t doing so well either. Hamid loves Angel but she needs more than love. April thinks she loves Azad‚ but Azad thinks he loves April′s daughter Marley. Thomas loves anyplace but where he is. Everyone loves freedom. Not everyone gets it. Everyone wants to survive. Not everyone will.

MY BROTHER JACK George Johnston 9780732288471

The thing I am trying to get at is - what made Jack different from me? Different, all through our lives I mean‚ and in a special sense - not just older or nobler or braver or less clever.

David and Jack Meredith grow up in a patriotic suburban Melbourne household during the First World War‚ and go on to lead lives that could not be more different. Through the story of the two brothers‚ George Johnston created an enduring exploration of two Australian myths: that of the man who loses his soul as he gains worldly success‚ and that of the tough‚ honest Aussie battler‚ whose greatest ambition is to serve his country during the war. Acknowledged as one of the true Australian classics‚ My Brother Jack is a deeply satisfying‚ complex and moving literary masterpiece.

CLEAN STRAW FOR NOTHING & CARTLOAD OF CLAY George Johnston 9780207197482

Clean Straw for Nothing traces the journey of successful war correspondent and journalist David Meredith as he abandons his career to live in exile on a Greek island with his beautiful wife Cressida. Johnston focuses on the developing relationship between David and Cressida and David emerges as a complex and reflective character‚ unable to find the freedom and answers he craves.

A Cartload of Clay brings David back to Australia. He rediscovers his deep affection for his native land after having been so long in exile. It is an affection however, which encompasses the country′s deep faults and failings as well as its virtues. Here he reviews his life‚ and finds it wanting. Unable to arrive at any conclusions‚ he philosophically accepts that the meaning of life is the journey‚ and is not a prize to be given at the end. *Teaching Notes available

CHANT OF JIMMIE BLACKSMITH Thomas Keneally 9780732281496

When Jimmie Blacksmith marries a white woman the backlash from both Jimmie′s tribe and white society initiates a series of dramatic events. As Jimmie tries to survive between two cultures‚ tensions reach a head when the Newbys‚ Jimmie′s white employers‚ try to break up his marriage. The Newby women are murdered and Jimmie flees‚ pursued by police and vigilantes. The hunt intensifies as further murders are committed‚ and concludes with tragic results.

Thomas Keneally′s fictionalised account of the 1900 killing spree of half−Aboriginal Jimmy Governor is a powerful story of a black man′s revenge against an unjust and intolerant society. *Teaching Notes available. HOMECOMING Adib Khan 9780732277079

Some wars are never over. From an award−winning author‚ a breathtaking new novel that holds up a mirror to contemporary Australia.

Martin Godwin is a man alone. Divorced from his wife; in an uneasy relationship with his son; with complicated‚ guilty feelings towards his lover‚ Nora; he is also a veteran of Vietnam. He is haunted by the fear that his exposure to dangerous chemicals, such as Agent Orange, has triggered his son′s depression and haunted too, by the events of one sweltering afternoon during a raid on a village. These memories become more urgent when an old soldier comes calling‚ asking for Martin′s silence as he establishes a political career.

This powerful novel winds the strands of Martin′s life − father‚ comrade‚ lover‚ unwilling conspirator and reluctant spiritual searcher − into a seamless and compelling whole. Through its lens we are given a snapshot of contemporary Australia‚ groping towards meaning in a rapidly changing world.

DREAMHUNTER Elizabeth Knox 9780732281939

Set in 1906‚ Dreamhunter describes a world very similar to ours‚ except for a special place‚ known simply as The Place‚ where only a select group of people can go. These people are called Dreamhunters and they harvest dreams which are then transmitted to the general public for the purposes of entertainment‚ therapy − or terror and political coercion.

Fifteen−year−old cousins Laura Hame and Rose Tiebold both come from famous dreamhunting families‚ but only Laura proves to be blessed with the gift and once inside The Place she finds out what happened to her missing dreamhunter father and reveals how the government has used dreams to control an ever−growing population of convicts and political dissenters.

DREAMQUAKE Elizabeth Knox 9780732281946

Following on from the mesmerising Dreamhunter‚ the story continues dramatically as Grace‚ ′overdreamt′ by Laura‚ introduces a nightmare‚ instead of the happy holiday dream programmed‚ to a packed Opera House audience‚ with chaotic results.

Laura has collected and dreamt the nightmare in response to a letter she thinks is from her dead father‚ Tziga‚ who has been forced by the government to dream it to keep prisoners frightened and subdued. Laura takes Nown‚ the sandman she created‚ with her on a journey to discover what purpose the Depot in the Place is being used for‚ and finds a far greater secret behind the existence of the Place Itself. Meanwhile Laura has to come to terms with her feelings for Sandy‚ a young dreamcatcher. She and Rose must accept their changing relationship.

THE INVISIBLE ROAD Elizabeth Knox 9780732287313

This edition contains both Dreamhunter and Dreamquake.

INTERPRETER OF MALADIES Jhumpa Lahiri 9780006551799

A couple exchange unprecedented confessions during nightly blackouts in their Boston apartment as they struggle to cope with a heartbreaking loss; a student arrives in new lodgings in a mystifying new land and‚ while he awaits the arrival of his arranged−marriage wife from Bengal‚ he finds his first bearings with the aid of the curious evening rituals that his centenarian landlady orchestrates; a schoolboy looks on while his childminder finds that the smallest dislocation can unbalance her new American life all too easily and send her spiraling into nostalgia for her homeland.

Jhumpa Lahiri′s prose is beautifully measured‚ subtle and sober. She is a writer who leaves a lot unsaid‚ but this work is rich in observational detail‚ evocative of the yearnings of the exile (mostly Indians in Boston here) and full of emotional pull and reverberation. *WINNER PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION 2000

THE NAMESAKE Jhumpa Lahiri 9780006551805

When her grandmother learned of Ashima′s pregnancy‚ she was particularly thrilled at the prospect of naming the family′s first sahib. And so Ashima and Ashoke have agreed to put off the decision of what to name the baby until a letter comes

For now‚ the label on his hospital cot reads simply BABY BOY GANGULI. But as time passes and still no letter arrives from India‚ American bureaucracy takes over and demands that ‘Baby boy Ganguli′ be given a name. In a panic‚ his father decides to nickname him Gogol − after his favourite writer. Brought up as an Indian in suburban America, Gogol Ganguli soon finds himself itching to cast off his awkward name, just as he longs to leave behind the inherited values of his Bengali parents. And so he sets off on his own path through life‚ a path strewn with conflicting loyalties‚ love and loss ...

BLOODLETTING AND MIRACULOUS CURES Vincent Lam 9780007263806

In this beautifully written collection‚ Vincent Lam weaves together black humour‚ investigations of both common and extraordinary moral dilemmas‚ and a sometimes shockingly realistic portrait of today′s medical profession. Twelve interlinked stories introduce us to a group of medical students over ten years‚ as they make the transition from medical school to hospital life.

The stories span the unique challenges faced by young‚ inexperienced doctors − having to decide during a first human dissection whether it is more important to follow the anatomy textbook or keep a tattoo intact − but also delve into their private lives‚ their relationships and family histories‚ their fears and motivations.

Riveting‚ convincing and precise‚ ′Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures′ looks with rigorous honesty at the specificities of the lives of doctors and their patients and brings us to a deeper understanding of the challenges and temptations that surge around us all.

WINNER OF THE 2006 GILLER PRIZE

SELECTED STORIES Henry Lawson 9780207197086

This collection showcases some of the very best of Henry Lawson′s short fiction. All the favourites are here‚ essential selections from the books While the Billy Boils; On the Track; Over the Sliprails; Joe Wilson; Joe Wilson′s Mates; The Romance of the Swag; The Rising of the Court; and Send Round the Hat including such memorable stories as ′The Drover′s Wife′ ′His Father′s Mate′ ′Water Them Geraniums′ and ′The Loaded Dog′.

These are tales dealing with Lawson′s perennially popular themes − love‚ adventure‚ humour and the home‚ and they affirm his reputation as one of the world′s greatest short story writers. * Teaching Notes available

THE GOOD TERRORIST Doris Lessing 9780007247219 In a London squat a band of bourgeois revolutionaries are united by a loathing of the waste and cruelty they see around them. These maladjusted malcontents try desperately to become involved in terrorist activities far beyond their level of competence. Only Alice seems capable of organising anything. Motherly‚ practical and determined‚ she is also easily exploited by the group and ideal fodder for a more dangerous and potent cause. Eventually their naïve radical fantasies turn into a chaos of real destruction‚ but the aftermath is not as exciting as they had hoped. Nonetheless‚ while they may not have changed the world‚ their lives will never be the same again.

CHILDREN OF FREEDOM Mark Levy 9780007274956

Early in 1942‚ two young brothers join a Resistance group. All the members of the group are young‚ most of their families came from elsewhere in Europe or North Africa and all of them are passionately committed to the freedom of France and Europe. They find they are not welcomed by other French groups and thus Brigade 35 is formed. For most of them‚ their growing up‚ their falling in love‚ their sense of friendship and family are formed by their time with the group‚ and between moments of extreme danger and fear‚ a lifestyle of a kind of normality develops.

But tragedy follows when the brothers are arrested‚ a number of members of the Brigade 35 are killed and a traitor is suspected. The tensions between former comrades and other Resistance fighters mounts and all this against the desperate hope that the invasion by the allies is really drawing near and will rescue them all.

A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS Yiyun Li 9780007196630

In this extraordinary first collection‚ Yiyun Li brings us a modern China facing up to a complex history of repression and guilt. In Immortality‚ winner of the Paris Review prize‚ a young man bears a striking resemblance to the dictator‚ and so finds a strange kind of calling. In Extra‚ first published in the New Yorker‚ a Chinese woman‚ alone in middle age‚ befriends a young boy who has become an outcast in a remote country school. In their friendship‚ we see how love can begin to overcome the strictures that dominate their lives. In turn horrifying and breathtakingly lyrical‚ Yiyun Li‚ a new and talented young Chinese writer‚ confronts the silence that dominated the history of her country‚ and illuminates how mythology‚ politics‚ history and culture intersect with personality. She leaves us with an enduring vision of a country undergoing tremendous change.

WICKED Gregory Maguire 9780061350962

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

POMEGRANATE SOUP Marsha Mehran 9780732284046

It has been seven years since Marjan Aminpour fled Iran with her younger sisters Bahar and Layla. In a sleepy Irish town beneath the holy mountain Croagh Patrick she hopes they might finally find a home.

The sisters open The Babylon Café right at the heart of Ballinacroagh′s Main Mall‚ sending the spicy‚ sensuous wafts of traditional Persian cooking to work their magic on the townsfolk. Soon‚ business is booming and Marjan is thrilled with the demand for her cooking and with the transformation in her sisters − young Layla finds first love‚ and even tense‚ haunted Bahar seems less nervous. But then the lives they left behind in Iran begin to bleed into the present and everything the sisters have worked for is under threat.

ROSEWATER AND SODA BREAD Marsha Mehran 9780732287597

More than a year has passed since Marjan‚ Bahar‚ and Layla‚ the beautiful Iranian Aminpour sisters‚ sought refuge in the quaint Irish town of Ballinacroagh. Opening the beguiling Babylon Café‚ they charmed the locals with their warm hearts and delectable Persian cuisine‚ bringing a saffron−scented spice to the once−sleepy village.

But when a young woman with a dark secret literally washes up on Clew Bay Beach‚ the sisters′ world is once again turned upside down. With pale skin and webbed hands‚ the girl is otherworldly‚ but her wounds tell a more earthly (and graver) story −− one that sends the strict Catholic town into an uproar. The Aminpours rally around the newcomer‚ but each sister must also contend with her own transformation −− Marjan tests her feelings for love with a dashing writer‚ Bahar takes on a new spiritual commitment with the help of Father Mahoney‚ and Layla matures into a young woman when she and her boyfriend‚ Malachy‚ step up their hot and heavy relationship. WILDCAT FALLING Mudrooroo 9780207197321

Wild Cat Falling is the story of an Aboriginal youth‚ a ′bodgie′ of the early sixties who grows up on the ragged outskirts of a country town‚ falls into petty crime‚ goes to gaol‚ and comes out to do battle once more with the society who put him there.

Its publication in 1965 marked a unique literary event‚ for this was the first novel by any writer of Aboriginal blood to be published in Australia. As well‚ it is a remarkable piece of literature in its own right‚ expressing the dilemmas and conflicts of the young Aboriginal in modern Australian society with its memorable insight and stylishness. *Teaching Notes available

IN THE LAKE OF THE WOODS Tim O’Brien 9780006543954

An exciting novel, with a strong narrative which unfolds backwards and forwards in time. Moving from the starting point of his wife Kathy’s disappearance, we read of John Wade’s childhood, his political career, his marriage and, most striking of all, his Vietnam experiences. Running alongside this are two other elements: “Hypothesis” speculations about what has happened to Kathy (did she stop loving the deceitful, mysterious John and walk out, or did he kill her?) and “Evidence”, collections of statements from people in the story and fragments of factual texts that relate to the range of John’s experiences, This is a complex, challenging, multi layered book which is at once a thriller, a war story and a study of relationships. There are few answers given, and so there is much to be discussed in this fascinating, compulsively readable text.

IF I DIE IN A COMBAT ZONE Tim O’Brien 9780007204977

First published in 1973‚ this intensely personal novel about one foot soldier′s tour of duty in Vietnam established Tim O′Brien′s reputation as the outstanding chronicler of the Vietnam experience for a generation of Americans. From basic training to the front line and back again‚ he takes the reader on an unforgettable journey − walking the minefields of My Lai‚ fighting the heat and the snipers in an alien land‚ crawling into the ghostly tunnels − as he explores the ambiguities of manhood and morality in a war no one believes in.

THINGS THEY CARRIED Tim O’Brien 978006543944

Drawing upon his own experience as an infantryman in Vietnam, Tim O’Brien has written a multi- layered text which defies any clear distinctions between the short story and the novel. Recurring characters and interwoven tales take the reader into the lives of those soldiers involved in the appalling carnage of the war zone, where the writer’s concerns focus not only on the military and political aspects of the Vietnam experience but, moreover, the mental and emotional anguish that the American soldiers carried with them throughout the war and beyond. As with the poet Wilfred Owen, O’Brien’s subject is the horror and the pity of war.

GRASS DOGS Mark O’Flynn 9780732283346

They were a river of dogs. Loose skeins of cloud drifted high above‚ floating to the east‚ foretelling of cold nights. The paddocks rolled smoothly beneath his feet ... They rested against the windbreaks of fallen trees. They slept in the lee of a half−built haystack; left the next day at dawn before its builder returned. While he was daunted by the demands of his responsibilities‚ Edgar loved this companionable‚ aimless end. He wished it might never finish.

Tony Tindale is a young lawyer sent on a mission to rescue an uncle he barely knows from prison. What he discovers is Edgar: a man innocent in the ways of the world‚ brought up on a desperate farm in the west of New South Wales and orphaned too soon‚ whose only solace is the dogs who find him. A natural target for suspicion in the small‚ isolated community‚ inevitably one day Edgar is found in the wrong place at the wrong time ... Where can he be truly free″

THE LAMPLIGHTER Anthony O’Neill 9780732275686

A religious academic is mutilated on one of the city′s finest streets. The grave of a famous colonel is ravaged. A shady entrepreneur is slaughtered while dashing for a train. A retired lighthouse−keeper is ripped to shreds while walking his dog.What monster is responsible? Is there a connection between the victims? And what of Evelyn Todd‚ the anguished young woman who claims to have dreamed the atrocities in detail‚ and repeatedly blames ′the lamplighter’?

Leading the official investigation is the barely competent Inspector Carus Groves. Pursuing more ′unofficial′ lines of inquiry are Thomas McKnight‚ a jaded philosophy professor‚ and his compassionate young assistant‚ Joseph Canavan. Using every resource at their disposal − reason‚ logic‚ intuition and sheer luck − these men must find the killer before the diabolical force is unleashed once again.

NETHERLAND Joseph O’Neill 9780007275007

In London‚ a Dutch banker named Hans van den Broek hears the news‚ and remembers his unlikely friendship with Chuck and the off−kilter New York in which it flourished: the New York of 9/11‚ the powercut and the Iraq war. Those years were difficult for Hans − his English wife Rachel left with their son after the attack‚ as if that event revealed the cracks and silences in their marriage‚ and he spent two strange years in the Chelsea Hotel‚ passing stranger evenings with the eccentric residents.

Lost in a country he′d regarded as his new home‚ Hans sought comfort in a most alien place − the thriving but almost invisible world of New York cricket‚ in which immigrants from Asia and the West Indies play a beautiful‚ mystifying game on the city′s most marginal parks. It was during these games that Hans befriended Chuck Ramkissoon‚ who dreamed of establishing the city′s first proper cricket field. Over the course of a summer‚ Hans grew to share Chuck′s dream and Chuck′s sense of American possibility − until he began to glimpse the darker meaning of his new friend′s activities and ambitions.

′Netherland′ is a novel of belonging and not belonging‚ and the uneasy state in between. It is a novel of a marriage foundering and recuperating‚ and of the shallows and depths of male friendship. With it‚ Joseph O′Neill has taken the anxieties and uncertainties of our new century and fashioned a work of extraordinary beauty and brilliance. BEL CANTO Ann Patchett 9781841155838

Latin terrorists storm an international gathering hosted by an underprivileged country to promote foreign interest and trade‚ only to find that their intended target‚ the President‚ has stayed home to watch his favourite soap opera on TV. Among the hostages are a world−class opera singer and her biggest fan‚ a Japanese tycoon who has been persuaded to attend the party on the understanding that she will perform half a dozen arias after dinner.

The tycoon′s engaging and sympathetic translator plays a vital role in the subsequent relationships between so many different nationalities closeted together‚ interpreting not only the terrorists′ terms but also the language of love between lovers who cannot understand what each other is saying. Ultimately‚ it is the terrorist strike that does more to promote foreign relations than anyone could have hoped to achieve with the party.

GREAT SHORT WORKS OF EDGAR ALLEN POE 9780060727857

The classic poems and spine-tingling stories of a Gothic American master collected in one volume.

Born in Boston in 1809, and dead at the age of 40, Poe wrote across several fields during his life, noted for his poetry and short stories as well as his criticism. The best of each of these is collected here, including the classic poem The Raven, and timeless stories like The Tell-Tale Heart. In his introduction to this volume, G. R. Thompson argues that Poe was a great satirist and comedic craftsman, as well as a formidable Gothic writer. "All of Poe's fiction," Thompson writes, "and the poems as well, can be seen as one coherent piece—as the work of one of the greatest ironists of world literature."

COONARDOO Katherine Susannah Prichard 9780207198472

A tough‚ uncompromising novel about the difficult love between a white man and a black woman.

Coonardoo is the moving story of a young Aboriginal woman trained from childhood to be the housekeeper at Wytaliba station and‚ as such‚ destined to look after its owner‚ Hugh Watt. The love between Coonardoo and Hugh‚ which so shocked its readers when the book was first published in 1929‚ is never acknowledged and so‚ degraded and twisted in on itself‚ destroys not only Coonardoo‚ but also a community which was once peaceful.

Introduced by Drusilla Modjeska‚ this frank and daring novel set on the edge of the desert still raises difficult questions about the history of contact between black and white‚ and its representation in Australian writing.

GOLDENGROVE Francine Prose 9780061711343

At the center of Francine Prose′s profoundly moving new novel is a young girl facing the consequences of sudden loss after the death of her sister. As her parents drift toward their own risky consolations‚ thirteen−year−old Nico is left alone to grope toward understanding and clarity‚ falling into a seductive‚ dangerous relationship with her sister′s enigmatic boyfriend.

Over one haunted summer‚ Nico must face that life−changing moment when children realize their parents can no longer help them. She learns about the power of art‚ of time and place‚ the mystery of loss and recovery. But for all the darkness at the novel′s heart‚ the narrative itself is radiant with the lightness of summer and charged by the restless sexual tension of teenage life.

Goldengrove takes its place among the great novels of adolescence‚ beside Henry James′s The Awkward Age and L. P. Hartley′s The Go−Between.

FINE JUST THE WAY IT IS Annie Proulx 9780007282739

In ′A Family Man′‚ an old man nearing the end of his life unburdens himself of the weighty family secrets that were his father′s unwelcome legacy. ′Them Old Cowboy Songs′ follows Archie and Rosie‚ a young pioneer couple‚ and their hardships in their attempt to homestead in the exposed wintry expanses of the prairie‚ and ′Testimony of the Donkey′ finds a young international couple‚ Marc and Caitlin‚ struggling with much more modern concerns‚ and confronting uncertainty as their relationship comes to its end.

These are stories of desperation and hard times‚ often marked by an inescapable sadness‚ set in a landscape both brutal and magnificent. Enlivened by folk tales‚ flights of fancy‚ and details of ranch and rural work‚ they juxtapose Wyoming′s traditional character and attitudes − confrontation of tough problems‚ prejudice‚ persistence in the face of difficulty − with the more benign values of the new west. These are bold‚ elegant and memorable pieces‚ and once more confirm Annie Proulx as one of the most talented‚ unique short story writers in the language.

SHIPPING NEWS Annie Proulx 9781857022421

Quoyle is a hapless‚ hopeless hack journalist, living and working in New York. When his no−good wife is killed in a spectacular road accident‚ Quoyle heads for the land of his forefathers − the remotest corner of far flung Newfoundland. With ′the aunt′ and his delinquent daughters − Bunny and Sunshine − in tow‚ Quoyle finds himself part of an unfolding‚ exhilarating Atlantic drama.

The Shipping News is an irresistible comedy of human life and possibility.

′To read The Shipping News is to yearn to be sitting in The Flying Squid Lunchstop‚ eating Seal Fin curry‚ watching the icebergs clink together in the bay.′ The Times

GOD OF SMALL THINGS Arundhati Roy 9780006550686

Arundhati Roy has written an astonishingly rich‚ fertile novel‚ teeming with life‚ colour‚ heart−stopping language‚ wry comedy and a hint of magical realism.

Set against a background of political turbulence in Kerala‚ Southern India‚ ′The God of Small Things′ tells the story of twins Esthappen and Rahel. Amongst the vats of banana jam and heaps of peppercorns in their grandmother′s factory‚ they try to craft a childhood for themselves amidst what constitutes their family − their lonely‚ lovely mother‚ their beloved Uncle Chacko (pickle baron‚ radical Marxist and bottom−pincher) and their avowed enemy Baby Kochamma (ex−nun and incumbent grand−aunt). ∗ WINNER BOOKER PRIZE 1997

EVENING IS THE WHOLE DAY Preeta Samarasan 9780732287528

Set in Malaysia‚ this spellbinding first novel introduces us to the prosperous Rajasekharan family as it slowly peels away its closely guarded secrets.

When the family′s rubber−plantation servant girl is dismissed for unnamed crimes‚ it is only the latest in a series of precipitous losses that have shaken six−year−old Aasha′s life. In the space of several weeks her grandmother has died under mysterious circumstances and her older sister‚ Uma‚ has left for Columbia University‚ gone forever. Circling through years of family history to arrive at the moment of Uma′s departure −− stranding her worshipful younger sister in a family‚ and a country‚ slowly going to pieces −− Evening is the Whole Day illuminates in heartbreaking detail one Indian immigrant family′s layers of secrets and lies‚ while exposing the complex underbelly of Malaysia itself. Sweeping in scope‚ exuberantly lyrical‚ and masterfully constructed‚ Preeta Samarasan′s debut is a mesmerising and vital achievement.

NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES Mandy Sayer 9780732286019

Sometimes‚ all you can do is run . . .

When Mark Stamp fires an air gun through the window of his father′s shed‚ he′s afraid he may have damaged something. But what he discovers is far worse. Peering through the broken window‚ he sees such a horrifying sight that he has to flee for his life. His older sister‚ Ruby‚ may not be officially old enough to drive‚ but she can handle the family′s van‚ and Mark‚ Ruby and the baby set off on a hair−raising adventure across country‚ escaping the past and their violent father. In her electrifying new novel of family secrets and small−town scandals‚ Mandy Sayer deftly weaves raw suspense with exquisite prose. The Night Has a Thousand Eyes is a vivid and haunting tale of three kids on the run − and of rumours that spread like wildfire while the truth hides closer to home . . . Mandy Sayer won The Australian/Vogel Literary Award with her first novel‚ Mood Indigo. Since then‚ she has been named one of Australia′s Best Young Novelists by the Sydney Morning Herald and has published seven books‚ Mandy Sayer won the 2008 Davitt Award (young adult fiction) for The Night Has a Thousand Eyes. A THOUSAND ACRES Jane Smiley 9780006544821

Larry Cook′s farm is the largest in Zebulon County‚ Iowa‚ and a tribute to his hard work and single−mindedness. Proud and possessive‚ his sudden decision to retire and hand over the farm to his three daughters is disarmingly uncharacteristic. Ginny and Rose‚ the two eldest‚ are startled yet eager to accept‚ but Caroline‚ the youngest daughter‚ has misgivings. Immediately‚ her father cuts her out.In A Thousand Acres‚ Jane Smiley transposes the King Lear story to the modern day‚ and in so doing at once illuminates Shakespeare′s original and subtly transforms it. WINNER PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION WINNER NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS’ CIRCLE AWARD

ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN Garth Stein 9780007284764

Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: he thinks and feels in nearly human ways. He has educated himself by watching extensive television‚ and by listening very closely to the words of his master‚ Denny Swift‚ an up−and−coming race car driver. Through Denny‚ Enzo realizes that racing is a metaphor: that by applying the techniques a driver would apply on the race track‚ one can successfully navigate the ordeals and travails one encounters in life. The Art of Racing in the Rain is a testament to a man′s life‚ given by his dog. But it is also a testament to the dog‚ himself. Though Enzo cannot speak‚ he understands everything that happens around him as he bears witness to his master′s ordeal. His enforced muteness only refines his listening ability‚ and allows him to understand many of life′s nuances that are lost on most humans. With humour‚ sharp observation‚ and a courageous heart‚ Enzo guides the reader to the bittersweet yet ultimately satisfying conclusion: there are no limitations to what we can achieve‚ if we truly know where we want to be.

BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER Amy Tan 9780006550433

LuLing Young is now in her eighties‚ and finally beginning to feel the effects of old age. Trying to hold on to the evaporating past‚ she begins to write down all that she can remember of her life as a girl in China. Meanwhile‚ her daughter Ruth‚ a ghostwriter for authors of self−help books‚ is losing the ability to speak up for herself in front of the man she lives with. LuLing can only look on‚ helpless: her prickly relationship with her daughter does not make it easy to discuss such matters. In turn‚ Ruth has begun to suspect that something is wrong with her mother: she says so many confusing and contradictory things.

Ruth decides to move in with her ailing mother‚ and while tending to her discovers the story LuLing wrote in Chinese‚ of her tumultuous life growing up in a remote mountain village known as Immortal Heart. LuLing tells of the secrets passed along by her mute nursemaid‚ Precious Auntie; of a cave where dragon bones are mined and where Peking Man was discovered; of the crumbling ravine known as the End of the World‚ where Precious Auntie′s bones lie‚ and of the curse that LuLing believes she released through betrayal. Like layers of sediment being removed‚ each page unfolds into an even greater mystery. Set in contemporary San Francisco and pre−war China‚ The Bonesetter′s Daughter is an excavation of the human spirit. With great warmth and humour‚ Amy Tan gives us a mesmerising story of a mother and daughter discovering together that what they share in their bones through history and heredity is priceless beyond measure. KITCHEN GOD’S WIFE Amy Tan 9780007179978

Pearl Louie Brandt has a terrible secret which she tries desperately to keep from her mother‚ Winne Louie. And Winnie has long kept her own secrets − about her past and the confusing circumstances of Pearl′s birth. Fate intervenes in the form of Helen Kwong‚ Winnie′s so−called sister−in−law‚ who believes she is dying and must unburden herself of all hoods before she flies off to heaven. But‚ unfortunately‚ the truth comes in many guises‚ depending on who is telling the tale...

Thus begins a story that takes us back to Shanghai in the 1920s‚ through World War II‚ and the harrowing events that led to Winnie′s arrival in America in 1949. The story is one of innocence and its loss‚ tragedy and survival and‚ most of all‚ the enduring qualities of hope‚ love and friendship.

MOSQUITO Roma Tearne 9780007233663

When author Theo Samarajeeva returns to his native Sri Lanka after his wife′s death‚ he hopes to escape his gnawing loss amid the lush landscape of his increasingly war−torn country. But as he sinks into life in this beautiful‚ tortured land‚ he also finds himself slipping into friendship with an artistic young girl‚ Nulani‚ whose family is caught up in the growing turmoil. Soon friendship blossoms into love. Under the threat of civil war‚ their affair offers a glimmer of hope to a country on the brink of destruction... But all too soon‚ the violence which has cast an ominous shadow over their love story explodes‚ tearing them apart. Betrayed‚ imprisoned and tortured‚ Theo is gradually stripped of everything he once held dear − his writing‚ his humanity and‚ eventually‚ his love. Broken by the belief her lover is dead‚ Nulani flees Sri Lanka to a cold and lonely life of exile. As the years pass and the country descends into a morass of violence and hatred‚ the tragedy of Theo and Nulani′s failed love spreads like a poison among friends sickened by the face of civil war‚ and the lovers must struggle to recover some of what they have lost and to resurrect‚ from the wreckage of their lives‚ a fragile belief in the possibility of redemption.

AFFECTION Ian Townsend 9780732286279

Townsville, 1900: At the end of a sweltering North Queensland summer, a steamer arrives in this tropical outpost carrying 52 passengers and a case of the plague.

In this frontier town most people are too busy to be bothered with any damned foreign disease. Colonial Queensland is on the cusp of a new century and a new nation. The north is ruled by men with empires and railway lines to build. The passengers and crew of the SS Cintra are quarantined on an island and ignored. A worried Queensland Government dispatches Dr Alfred Jefferis Turner - small, refined and immaculately dressed - to assess the situation. Armed with a microscope, a butterfly net and a dangerous habit of speaking his mind, Turner tries to prepare Townsville for the worst. His ally is Dr Linford Row, a man who has come North to escape his past.

When Dr Row delivers a letter from a quarantined man to his hauntingly beautiful wife, he ensnares himself and the eccentric Dr Turner in a tightening net of scandal and fear.

Written with wit and wonder‚ Affection uncovers a unique period in Australian history. A novel based on a true story of shonky politics‚ courageous medicos‚ and humidity‚ it′s also a mystery of heart and mind. DEVIL’S EYE Ian Townsend 9780732283667

It is 1899‚ and one of the fiercest storms in history is brewing −− a hurricane named Mahina.

To a remote part of the Queensland coast come the hundreds of sails of the northern pearling fleets‚ and a native policeman trying to solve a murder. Nearly two thousand men‚ women and children are gathering around Cape Melville‚ right in the path of the storm that is about to cause Australia′s deadliest natural disaster. Based on real events‚ this is the story of an unstoppable force of nature and the birth and death of an Australian dream.

MISS GARNET’S ANGEL Salley Vickers 9780006514213

Julia Garnet is a teacher. Just retired‚ she is left a legacy which she uses by leaving her orderly life and going to live − in winter − in an apartment in Venice. Its beauty‚ its secret corners and treasures‚ and its people overwhelm a lifetime of reserve and caution. Above all‚ she′s touched by the all−prevalent spirit of the Angel‚ Raphael. The ancient tale of Tobias‚ who travels to Media unaware he is accompanied by the Archangel Raphael‚ unfolds alongside Julia Garnet′s contemporary journey.

The two stories interweave with parents and landladies‚ restorers and priests‚ American tourists and ancient travellers abounding. The result is an enormously satisfying journey of the spirit − and Julia Garnet is a character to treasure.

OTHER SIDE OF YOU Salley Vickers 9780007165452

There is no cure for being alive.′ Thus speaks Dr David McBride‚ a psychiatrist for whom death exerts an unusual draw. As a young child he witnessed the death of his six−year−old brother and it is this traumatic event which has shaped his own personality and choice of profession. One day a failed suicide‚ Elizabeth Cruikshank‚ is admitted to his hospital. She is unusually reticent and it is not until he recalls a painting by Caravaggio that she finally yields up her story.

We learn of Elizabeth Cruikshank′s dereliction of trust‚ and the man she has lost‚ through David′s narration. As her story unfolds David finds his own life being touched by her account and a haunting sense that the ′other side′ of his elusive patient has a strange resonance for him‚ too.

Set partly in Rome‚ The Other Side of You explores the theme of redemption through love and art‚ which has become a hallmark of Salley Vickers′s acclaimed work. As with her other highly popular novels this is a many−layered and subtly audacious story‚ which traces the boundaries of life and death and the difficult possibilities of repentance.

STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE David Wroblewski 9780007265022

On a farm in remote northern Wisconsin the mute and brilliant Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents Gar and Trudy. For generations‚ the Sawtelles have raised and trained a breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomised by Almodine‚ Edgar′s lifelong companion. But when his beloved father mysteriously dies‚ Edgar blames himself‚ if only because his muteness left him unable to summon help.

Grief−stricken and bewildered by his mother′s desperate affair with her dead husband′s brother‚ Edgar′s world unravels one spring night when‚ in the falling rain‚ he sees his father′s ghost. After a botched attempt to prove that his uncle orchestrated Gar′s death‚ Edgar flees into the Chequamegon wilderness leading three yearling dogs. Yet his need to face his father′s murderer‚ and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs‚ turn Edgar ever homeward. When he returns‚ nothing is as he expects‚ and Edgar must choose between revenge or preserving his family legacy.

CASE FOR LITERATURE Gao Xingjian 9780732284053 Translated from the Chinese by Mabel Lee

When Gao Xingjian was crowned Nobel Laureate in 2000‚ it was the first time in the hundred−year history of the Nobel Prize that this honour had been awarded to an author for a body of works written in Chinese. His plays‚ novels and short fiction have undeniably won a victory for Chinese literature.

Written between 1990 and 2002‚ these bold and extraordinary essays include Gao′s Nobel Lecture‚ ′The Case for Literature′‚ and embody his argument for literature as a universal human endeavour rather than one solely defined by national boundaries. The essays deal with history‚ politics‚ philosophy‚ archaeology‚ anthropology and linguistics‚ in addition to presenting Gao′s innovative ideas on narrative and theatre aesthetics‚ and constitute the kernel of his thinking on literary creation.

SOUL MOUNTAIN Gao Xingjiang 9780732281373 Translated from the Chinese by Mabel Lee

The worldwide bestselling novel by the winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature. Soul Mountain is a picaresque novel of immense wisdom and sparse beauty‚ bursting with knowledge and experience and portraying a culture as vast and fascinating as the history of humankind itself.

In China in the early eighties‚ the book′s central character embarks on a cross−country journey in search of the mysterious ′Mountain′. Along the way he collects stories‚ lovers‚ spiritual wisdom and undergoes myriad experiences that are sometimes violent‚ sometimes frightening‚ sometimes funny‚ but always enriching. He researches the origins of humankind and Chinese culture‚ and explores philosophical issues such as truth‚ knowledge and how one′s childhood affects later life. At the end of the book‚ he realises that all along what was important was not finding the elusive Soul Mountain‚ but rather the journey itself.

Part love story‚ part fable‚ part philosophical treatise and part travel journal‚ this is one of the most challenging‚ rewarding and inventive works of fiction since Ulysses. GHOST TIDE YoYo Translated by Ben Carrdus

In the tradition of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress comes an earthy‚ wildly imaginative and tragi−comic love story set in a remote mountain village in northwestern China.

Xiezi (meaning ′peg′) is the eldest of four girls − tall‚ athletic and dark skinned. Living with her downtrodden mother and her tyrannical party official father‚ she daily suffers the scorn of being born female‚ and if this isn′t enough‚ must also live with the tragic deaths of her three younger brothers Next door lives Dandan‚ born a boy but‚ according to ancient tradition‚ raised by his grandmother as a girl till the age of 12. After suffering endless schoolyard taunts for his feminine ways‚ he is then initiated into ′manhood′ in an ancient and bizarre ritual. Of course 12 years as a girl can′t be shaken off so easily‚ and Dandan struggles with his new identity. As the madness of the Cultural Revolution conspires with mother nature and sweeps through the village‚ Xiezi‚ Dandan and their families suffer and triumph‚ laugh and cry‚ and try as best they can to make sense of the new world order. And then‚ incredibly‚ after flood and famine‚ violence and hypocrisy‚ denunciation and recrimination‚ a tender love blooms between two outcasts − as yin and yang are miraculously fused.

MY ENEMY’S CRADLE Sara Young 9780007268535

Cyrla′s neighbours have begun to whisper. Her cousin‚ Annika‚ is pregnant and has passed the rigorous exams for admission to the Lebensborn‚ a maternity home for Aryan girls carrying German babies. Annika′s soldier has disappeared; the Nazis confiscate fatherless children. Cyrla‚ sent from Poland to hide with her Dutch relatives‚ has been warned that her neighbours know she is half Jewish. She won′t be safe for long.

A cruel twist of fate places Cyrla with the terrible choice between certain discovery in her cousin′s home and taking Annika′s place in the Lebensborn. If she takes refuge in the enemy′s lair‚ can Cyrla fool the doctors‚ nurses‚ guards and other mothers−to−be? How will she escape before they discover she is not who she claims?