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THE CHANGING ROOM
Belinda Cranston
$ 32.99
As a young girl in
Sydney , Rachel pays more attention than she perhaps should to a cartoon character who accesses different personas on separate adventures each time he goes into the changing room of a London costume shop . The owner of the shop then taps the gentleman on the shoulder , excusing him to go back to being himself . In her early 20s , Rachel sets off for London with the aim of having a few adventures of her own . But unlike her childhood character , life irrevocably changes for Rachel once she leaves the safety and familiarity of home . Rachel is forced to accept there ’ s no coming back from some adventures , and that coming to terms with reality is perhaps her only real chance of accessing the life she craves most .
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THE SILENCE FACTORY
Bridget Collins
$ 32.99
Henry dreams of silence . Then he meets a fascinating , mysterious gentleman who has precious silk that can drown out the clamour of the world – and everything Henry is so desperate to escape . Summoned to Sir Edward ’ s secluded factory to try to cure his young daughter ’ s deafness , Henry is soon drawn deeper and deeper into the origins of this otherworldly gift that has travelled from ancient Mediterranean glades to English libraries . Ignoring repeated warnings from the girl ’ s secretive governess , he allows himself to fall under the spell of Sir Edward and his silk … but when he learns its true cost , will it be too late to turn back ? From the # 1 bestselling author of The Binding , this is an enthralling story about complicity , desire and corruption – a novel to lose yourself in .
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TABLE FOR TWO
Amor Towles
$ 34.99
available 14 may
Amor Towles shares six stories based in New York City and a novella set in Golden Age Hollywood . The New York stories , most of which take place around the year 2000 , consider the fateful consequences that can spring from brief encounters and the delicate mechanics of compromise that operate at the heart of modern marriages . ‘ Eve in Hollywood ’ follows Evelyn Ross from Rules of Civility , and describes how
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Eve crafts a new future for herself and others in a noirish tale that takes us through the movie sets , bungalows , and dive bars of Los Angeles . Written with his signature wit , humour , and sophistication , Table for Two is another glittering addition to Towles ’ canon of stylish and transporting fiction .
FOR EVERYTHING A TIME
Mark McAvaney
$ 34.99
After 13 years it ’ s time for Mac to return home to face a past he ’ s been running from . One his best friend Dave has been unable to escape . It was 1990 , their final year of school and with an INXS soundtrack , life was moving on . Bus stops , homework and football were giving way to pay slips and beer , to first cars and first loves . Until one night changed it all . As the story of that evening unravels , so too do the binds that cross generations of family . The pride of fathers . The love of mothers and a sister . The love of a mate ; the prejudices that run deep . Before it ’ s too late , can these once-close friends and their town still divided by tragedy find a time for peace ?
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LIES AND WEDDINGS
Kevin Kwan
$ 34.99
available 21 may
Rufus Leung Gresham , future Earl of Greshamsbury and son of a former Hong Kong supermodel , is drowning in debt . The only solution , according to his mother , is for him to attend his sister ’ s wedding and seduce a woman with money . Will it be the French hotel heiress with a royal bloodline ? The venture capital genius who passes out billions like lollipops ? Or will Rufus betray his family and confess his love for his best friend and ‘ girl next door ’ Eden ? But when a volcanic eruption burns through the nuptials and a hot mic exposes a secret tryst , the Gresham family plans – and their reputation – go up in flames , making Rufus ’ choice all the more impossible .
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DEPTH OF FIELD
Kirsty Iltners
$ 34.99
Tom ’ s longeststanding commitment is his run-down house Mayfield , which hasn ’ t been the same since Adeline . He ’ s stuck in the past drowning his sorrows in too many bottles of wine and an unfulfilling photography
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business . Unable to move on Tom is treading water in a low-commitment relationship . Lottie is living with her baby , Coral , in a cramped flat above a fish and chips shop . Struggling to make ends meet , all she wants is to find connection , but Lottie straddles too many different worlds to quite fit into any of them . Told through alternating perspectives , Kirsty Iltners ’ debut novel examines the lives of two isolated individuals to expose how selective and unreliable our memories are , especially when parts of the truth are left out of the frame . |
DOWNSTREAM
Annika Johansson
$ 32.99
Rob – enjoying his late middle age – has always defined himself by the quality of the roof over his head and the state of his family life . But when the 2022 flood hits , he and his wife Sal find themselves homeless and are left with no choice but to share a two-bedroom , one-bathroom flat with very thin walls with strangers – a slightly older hippy couple , also impacted by the floods . As each awkward , yet entertaining week rolls into the next , they graciously try to deal with one another ’ s personal quirks while waiting for life to get back to normal . Only life has bigger plans for all four of them . With compassion and humour , Annika Johansson explores what ‘ marriage ’ and ‘ home ’ really mean , when you are faced with the prospect of losing them both .
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PSYKHE
Kate Forsyth
$ 34.99
available 28 may
Fair as Venus and with the ability to save the lives of those of mortal blood , Psykhe is both shunned and revered . When she unwittingly provokes Venus , she and her sisters lose everything . Psykhe must find a way to make amends . Befriended by an old woman , Nokturna , Psykhe finds herself irresistibly drawn to her young friend , Ambrose . But neither is what they seem . For Psykhe has fallen in love with a man whose face she is forbidden to see . After disobeying this injunction , she must risk everything to try to save him , even if it means travelling down to the shadowy Underworld to face Proserpina , queen of the dead . Kate Forsyth infuses the story of Psyche and Eros with new vigour as a life-affirming celebration of female strength , sexual desire , and empowerment .
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LONG ISLAND
Colm Tóibín
$ 34.99
Eilis Lacey is Irish , married to Tony Fiorello , a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers , all of whom live in neighbouring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst , Long Island , with their wives and children and Tony ’ s parents . It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis , now in her forties with two teenage children , has no one to rely on in this still-new country . One day , an Irishman comes to the door asking for Eilis by name . He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony ’ s child and that when the baby is born , he will not raise it . Eilis has choices to make , and what she does in the wake of this shattering news is at the heart of one of Tóibín ’ s most riveting and emotional novels to date .
THE RADIO HOUR
Victoria Purman
$ 32.99
Martha Berry , 50-years-old , is one of an army of polite and invisible women in 1956 Sydney who go to work each day and get things done without fuss , fanfare or reward . When she is sent to work as a secretary on a brand-new radio serial , she finds herself at the mercy of an egotistical young producer and a cast of actors with ideas of their own . Martha is forced to step in to rescue the serial from cancellation , ghost-writing scripts for As The Sun Sets , creating mayhem with management , and coming up with storylines that resonate with the growing audience of women listeners . But she can ’ t keep her secret forever . Martha has to decide if she wants to remain in the shadows , or to finally step into the spotlight .
HOUDINI UNBOUND
Alan Attwood
$ 34.95
It is 1910 . Harry Houdini is in Australia for the first time and with him he has brought his own Voisin biplane , being put together and prepared in a Diggers Rest paddock by his French mechanic , Brassac . Houdini is intent on claiming a record – first to fly in Australia – but he has competition . Meanwhile , his wife Bess stumbles upon her own mystery – music with no apparent source . Then she realises that her preoccupied husband is far from being the most famous visitor to Australia . Also present , though in hiding , is an Italian composer who has performed his own vanishing act . This intriguing story merges history and invention , reality and illusion . Like Houdini ’ s own act , is it possible to believe what you see or hear ?
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