May Reading Guide | Page 4

fiction book of the month

RYTUAŁ Chloe Elisabeth Wilson
$ 34.99 $ 29.99 available may 6
Our Fiction Book of the Month is Rytuał by Chloe Elisabeth Wilson. Marnie Sellick is adrift when she lands a job at the coveted, mysterious beauty brand rytuał cosmetica. The enigmatic founder and CEO, Luna Peters, takes a liking to Marnie, and as the two grow closer Marnie becomes intoxicated by the life that Luna, and rytuał, can offer her. But all is not what it seems at rytuał. Luna has a cult-like hold over the all-female staff. Both a darkly funny deconstruction of the beauty industry and a gripping examination of identity, beauty and desire, Rytuał asks the question – what if your favourite cult beauty brand... was actually a cult? With a propulsive narrative from start to finish, this is a novel that’ s impossible to put down. We hope you enjoy the Q & A below!
Congratulations on being the Fiction Book of the Month! Can you tell us a bit about the book?
I describe Rytuał as a dark comedy / thriller about a beauty brand with some... sinister secrets. I started writing it while I was working for an Australian cosmetics company with a reputation for being‘ a bit of a cult’ – I wanted to write something that spoke to the absurdity of selling $ 50 soap like it was a religion, as well as the relationship between power and desire. We pitched it to publishers as The Devil Wears Prada meets Fight Club, but sexy! Okay, I added the sexy bit just now. But it is sexy, and I want people to know that.
We love the play on the concept of a cult beauty brand. What made you decide to take this idea to its literal extreme?
I took the absurd, very theatrical things that were happening at my real job, and began to imagine what would happen if you turned the dial up to 11. I love a book that starts in a grounded place and ends up somewhere totally bonkers, so I wanted to have a go at crafting a story like that myself.
Marnie and Luna are strikingly different characters, yet both feel incredibly authentic and relatable. How did these two women allow you to explore modern female identity?
Luna is an amalgamation of a number of women I’ ve met in my real life, mixed with stories I read about maniacal start-up founders who were part of the # girlboss era( non-derogatory). I got really interested in picking apart what it was about these women that could cause people
to abandon their own values in support of them – aside from physical beauty or attraction. Ultimately, I think the feelings my younger self had towards women like Luna( charismatic, confident and manipulative), were always a reflection of my own internal state. Which is why someone like Marnie, who’ s searching for something to believe in, falls so hard for Luna. They’ re two sides of the same coin, in a way.
Are there any real-world events or trends that influenced the plot of Rytuał?
No. None. The book is a complete work of fiction and any resemblance to actual persons or companies is entirely coincidental.
That being said, yes. I was definitely inspired by my own experiences working in the cosmetics industry. While I was writing, I read a lot about the founder of Thinx period underwear, Miki Agrawal, and the allegations that came out against her before she left the company. I also did a really weird women-only yoga teacher training in Bali in 2017, and it has only just occurred to me that it ended up influencing the book quite a lot.
Rytuał is your debut novel. Can you share anything about what you’ d like to do next?
I have a second book that I’ ve been working on for a year or so, and it’ s due to my publisher later this year. It’ s unrelated to Rytuał plot-wise, but the tone / genre is quite similar. I also have a couple of screen projects I want to dedicate more of my time to – I’ d really love to write more for TV in the next couple of years. I also want to get better at Spanish and surfing, but those desires are unrelated to writing novels.

fiction

LONELY MOUTH
Jacqueline Maley
$ 34.99
Matilda and Lara are half-sisters who share an unreliable mother and a chaotic past. In every other way, though, they are very different from each other. Lara, 10 years younger than Matilda, is a model, living and working in Paris – for her, life is expansive, carefree, beautiful. Matilda’ s life, in contrast, is solitary, contained, ordered. But when Lara’ s father, the long-absent, erratic Angus Dante, comes back into the sisters’ lives, Matilda’ s compartmentalised life goes seriously awry. As everything blows apart, Matilda is forced to come to a reckoning with who she is, and how to satisfy the hunger she wants to deny. From bestselling author Jacqueline Maley, Lonely Mouth is a tender, vivid and fiercely relatable novel about the conflicted way women think about their
bodies, their appetites, and themselves in the world, about the loneliness of girls and women, and the way we believe ourselves to be worthy – or not – of love.
THE RE- MARKABLE TRUTHS OF ALFIE BAINS
Sarah Clutton
$ 34.99
Alfie’ s mum, Emilia, has been lying to him forever. It’ s only been the two of them in Ireland, but when Emilia’ s appendix explodes, she drops a bombshell: they have a family back in Australia, and she and Alfie are going to meet them. When Penny Bains opens the door of her Tasmanian farmhouse to a boy with an Irish accent claiming to be the son of her missing daughter, Emilia, her life is turned upside down. As Alfie starts to uncover secrets his family would prefer to keep buried, he discovers that no one is willing to tell him the truth. Unforgettable, funny, life affirming and deeply moving, The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains is an absolute joy.
I WANT EVERYTHING
Dominic Amerena
$ 34.99
The legendary career of reclusive cult author Brenda Shales remains one of Australia’ s last unsolved literary mysteries. Her books took the world by storm before she disappeared from the public eye after a mysterious plagiarism case. But when an ambitious young writer stumbles across Brenda at a Melbourne pool, he realises the scoop of a lifetime is floating in front of him. The only problem? He must pretend to be someone he’ s not to trick the story out of her. It starts with a lie. But one lie leads to another. To write the book that will make his name, he must balance his ethics and ambition and decide what he’ s willing to sacrifice to become the next great Australian writer. This debut, full of delicious twists and wicked insights, is a dazzling novel of desire and deception, authorship and authenticity, and the costs of creative ambition.
THE NAMES Florence Knapp
$ 32.99
available may 13
It is 1987, and Cora sets out with her nine-year-old daughter to register the birth of her son. Her husband intends for her to follow a long-standing family tradition and call the baby after him. Going against his wishes is a risk that will have consequences, but is it right for her child to inherit his name from generations of domineering men? The choice she makes will shape the course of their lives. Seven years later, her son is Bear, a name chosen by his sister, and one that will prove as cataclysmic as the storm from which it emerged. Or he is Julian, the name his mother chose, believing it will enable him to become his own person. Or he is Gordon, named after his father – but is there still a chance to break the mould? This is the story of three names, three versions of a life, and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark. It is the story of one family, and love’ s capacity to endure.
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