May Reading Guide | Page 6

fiction

THE DEED
Susannah Begbie
$ 32.99
Tom Edwards is dying , and cranky . He ’ s made his peace with the dying part . But he ’ d bet his property – the whole ten thousand acres of it – that there ’ d be no wailing at his funeral . His kids wouldn ’ t be able to chop down a tree , let alone build a coffin to bury him in . Then Tom has an idea ... Christine is furious , David ashen-faced , and Sophie distracted . Only Jenny listens carefully as Vince Barton , of Barton & Sons , reads their father ’ s will . Either they build his coffin – in four days – or they lose their inheritance . All of it . A perceptive and unforgettable debut novel , The Deed explores the messy , sometimes volatile , complications that only the best and worst of family can bring . Sometimes greed can be good .
SAFE HAVEN
Shankari Chandran
$ 34.99
The new novel from the Miles Franklin awardwinning author . Arriving in Australia seeking asylum , Fina dedicates herself to aiding the refugees who are
held in Port Camden . She settles into a life within a community of like-minded people , finding a new family far from her original home . After she speaks out for those being detained , Fina becomes the focus of a media storm that leads to her arrest , and the threat of deportation . When a security officer dies under suspicious circumstances , Lucky , a special investigator , arrives to uncover the truth . The mystery is tied to Fina ’ s fate – and the secrets she reveals will divide the town and the nation . Safe Haven is about displacement and seeking refuge , but ultimately it is a story about finding home .
ORDINARY HUMAN LOVE
Melissa Goode
$ 34.99
Mardi McKee , prodigal daughter , arrives at her father ’ s home in Lithgow , Australia , after drifting overseas for 18 months . Her previous life is a memory . Her mother has died , she is divorced and is estranged from her former lover , Ian . Ian ’ s teenage sister , Claudia , escapes her childhood home for Ian ’ s . Spiky , lovable , lost , Claudia forges an intense friendship with Mardi . But Mardi finds that repairing her relationship with Ian is not so easily done . Mardi is hiding something , and Ian is having none of her quest for forgiveness , not until she explains why she vanished without a trace . In this powerful debut , Melissa Goode interrogates what makes a life worthwhile , and has created a vivid portrait of the relationships that shape
and connect us , and the all-consuming nature of desire .
YOU ARE HERE
David Nicholls
$ 32.99
Marnie is stuck . Stuck working alone in her London flat , stuck battling the long afternoons and a life that often feels like it ’ s passing her by . Michael is coming undone . Reeling from his wife ’ s departure , increasingly reclusive , taking himself on long , solitary walks across the moors and fells . When a persistent mutual friend and some very English weather conspire to bring them together , Marnie and Michael suddenly find themselves alone on the most epic of walks and on the precipice of a new friendship . But can they survive the journey ? A new love story by beloved bestseller David Nicholls , You Are Here is a novel of first encounters , second chances and finding the way home .
THE COAST ROAD
Alan Murrin
$ 32.99
It ’ s 1994 in County Donegal , Ireland , and everyone is talking about Colette Crowley the writer , the bohemian , the woman who left her family to pursue a relationship with a married man in
Dublin . But now Colette is back . The man to whom she is still married is denying her access to her children , and while the legalisation of divorce might be just around the corner , Colette finds herself caught between her old life and the freedom for which she risked everything . Desperate to see her children , she enlists the help of Izzy . The women forge a friendship that will send them on a spiralling journey . One toward a path of self-discovery , and the other toward tragedy . The Coast Road is a novel about a closed community and the consequences of daring to move against the tide .
ALL THE BEAUTIFUL THINGS YOU LOVE
Jonathan Seidler
$ 34.99
When Enzo suddenly walks out on Elly after 10 years together , she finds herself marooned in an expensive East London flat , surrounded by all their belongings she can ’ t bear to look at . Now she ’ s listing it all on Marketplace : the table they found in Italy , the bike he bought for her birthday . Anything that tells a story she ’ d rather forget . Elly thinks that selling these items to total strangers will help her move on and heal her devastated heart . But she ’ s about to get a lot more than she bargained for . All The Beautiful Things You Love is a vivid and vibrant exploration of the things that bring us together and tear us apart , and those keepsakes that populate the wideopen spaces between where love ends and starts again .

stella selection
THE HUMMINGRBIRD EFFECT
Kate Mildenhall
$ 32.99
Kate Mildenhall ’ s third novel , The Hummingbird Effect , is an ambitious book that spans more than two centuries and explores resilience , friendship , environmental destruction and the cyclical nature of history .
In 1933 Footscray ( Victoria ) a young worker named Peggy meets Jack at a meat factory . After she becomes pregnant , they marry and move to Lil Martin ’ s spare room . As Peggy grapples with life as a married woman about to give birth and then as a young mother , Jack ’ s world begins to collapse with the introduction of a new machine in the slaughterhouse that threatens the jobs of many . In 2020 , Hilda , a former researcher , goes through the COVID-19 lockdowns in an aged care facility while trying to hold on to her memories and dignity . 11 years later , La , a voice actor , takes a job at a warehouse while navigating assisted reproduction and an AI world . In 2181 two sisters , Onyx and Maz , try to survive in a new society in which treasures from long-gone civilisations are held dearly , probably more so than life .
These narratives are weaved by conversations between a human and The Hummingbird , an AI program that might help identify and solve some , if not all , of humanity ’ s problems ( visual designer Eva Harbridge created the diagram of The Hummingbird Algorithm for this book ).
But , as Mildenhalll suggests in her book , AI can ’ t save humanity . In The Hummingbird Effect , women can glue history and try to amend mistakes through care , tenderness and protest . The novel highlights the potential of people working together towards common goals – friendship and solidarity are at the core of this genre-bending novel .
The 2024 Stella Prize judges said about Mildenhall ’ s third book : ‘ The Hummingbird Effect is speculative fiction at its finest : inventive , mindexpanding and wonderfully ambitious . Via a series of interlinked plotlines that move from the Great Depression of the 1930s to the ravaged landscapes of the twenty-second-century , Kate Mildenhall tackles the headline issues of our age : labour rights , consumer capitalism , artificial intelligence , fertility and IVF , family violence , lockdown loneliness , aged care and family violence .’
The Hummingbird Effect has also been longlisted for the Indie Book Awards 2024 and the Sydney Morning Herald Best Reads of the Year for 2023 . Mildenhall is also co-host of The First Time podcast – which features conversations with Australian writers .
Longlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize . Published by Scribner ( an imprint of Simon & Schuster ).
about stella
Stella is the voice of change . Founded in 2012 , the organisation ’ s flagship program is the annual Stella Prize . Each year the Stella Prize is committed to recognising the best books by Australian women and non-binary writers . The judging terms are that the winning book be excellent , original and engaging .
4 | may 2024 australian author hardback paperback flexi board book 5-8 kids age range