Staff Picks
Cleopatra and Frankenstein
Twenty-four-year-old British painter Cleo has escaped from England to New York and is still finding her place in the sleepless city when, a few months before her student visa ends, she meets Frank. Twenty years older and a self-made success, Frank's life is full of all the excesses Cleo's lacks. He offers her the chance to be happy, the freedom to paint, and the opportunity to apply for a Green Card. But their impulsive marriage irreversibly changes both their lives, and the lives of those close to them, in ways they never could've predicted.
Each compulsively readable chapter explores the lives of Cleo, Frank, and an unforgettable cast of their closest friends and family as they grow up and grow older. Whether it's Cleo's best friend struggling to embrace his gender queerness in the wake of Cleo's marriage, or Frank's financially dependent sister arranging sugar daddy dates to support herself after being cut off, or Cleo and Frank themselves as they discover the trials of marriage and mental illness, each character is as absorbing, and painfully relatable, as the last.
Strange Sally Diamond
Reclusive Sally Diamond is thrust into the media spotlight when she tries to incinerate her dead father, causing widespread outrage. Now she's the center of attention, not only from hungry reporters and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she does not remember. As she begins to discover the repressed memories of her horrific early childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, big decisions, and learning that people don't always mean what they say.
But who is the man observing Sally from the other side of the world, and why does he call her Mary? And why does her new neighbor seem to be obsessed with her? Sally's trust issues are about to be severely challenged in this "truly incredible reading experience" (Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author).
Time of My Life
We all have a soundtrack to our lives, songs that as soon as we hear them we're transported to a moment in time. As the youngest child, and only girl, in a family of creative types, Myf Warhurst grew up with the music in her. Whether she was watching Daryl Braithwaite on TV on a Sunday night or listening to the crackle of the needle across vinyl as Agnetha and Anni-Frid took her from rural Victoria to Eurovision, music has always shaped Myf's life. Later her love of music (and the realisation that a professional pianist gig wasn't part of the plan) would shape her career.
But music isn't just about memories. It's a safe place for people who feel different. Songs and lyrics helped Myf make sense of the world and deal with heartbreak and uncertainty. Music steered her hopes and fashion choices, cemented friendships and bonded family. In Time of My Life she shares funny, fabulous and occasionally fraught tales about growing up in a small country town with an unhealthy obsession with Countdown, then working in Australian radio and her experiences on the much-loved music quiz show Spicks & Specks. She spills the backstage beans on work, fame, feminism, failure, love and success. Like a sommelier matches food with wine, Myf matches hits with memory, and in the process reminds us all that, as Louis Armstrong said, 'Music is life itself.'
Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age
The Pax Romana has long been revered as a golden age. At its peak, the Roman Empire stretched from Scotland to Arabia, and contained perhaps a quarter of humanity. It was the wealthiest and most formidable state the world had yet seen.
Beginning in 69AD, a year that saw four Caesars in succession rule the empire, and ending some seven decades later with the death of Hadrian, Pax presents a dazzling history of Rome at the height of its power. From the gilded capital to realms beyond the frontier, historian Tom Holland portrays the Roman Empire in all its predatory glory. Vivid scene follows vivid scene: the destruction of Jerusalem and Pompeii, the building of the Colosseum and Hadrian's Wall, the conquests of Trajan. Vividly sketching the lives of Romans both ordinary and spectacular, from slaves to emperors, Holland demonstrates how Roman peace was the fruit of unprecedented military violence.
A stunning portrait of Rome's glory days, this is the epic history of the pax Romana.
Galah
It can be easy to assume nothing much happens beyond the city, if that's all you've known. But that, of course, is far from the truth.
Here, across six themed chapters, journalist Annabelle Hickson shares a different perspective on life in regional Australia, featuring stories from the coast to the farms, from the bush to the towns, from the rainforest to the outback. Annabelle brings together the best work from more than 50 leading writers, photographers and artists from her award-winning magazine, celebrating not only incredible landscapes and remarkable, beautiful places, but also the diversity, resourcefulness and creativity of the people that call the country home.
Everyone on This Train is a Suspect
6 WRITERS. 5 DETECTIVES. 4 DAYS. 3 WEAPONS. 2 MURDERS. 1 TRAIN...
'An outstanding and exceptional mystery from start to finish . . . everything fans would hope for.' JANE HARPER
When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn’t pan out.
The program is a who’s who of crime-writing royalty:
the debut writer (me!)
the forensic science writer
the blockbuster writer
the legal thriller writer
the literary writer
the psychological suspense writer.
But when one of us is murdered, six authors quickly turn into five detectives. Together, we should know how to solve a crime.
Or commit one.
How can you find a killer when all the suspects know how to get away with murder?
A Fragile Enchantment
All Niamh has longed for is to be remembered: to create something that will last far longer than she will. For her, that means becoming a renowned dressmaker, using the magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric - the same magic that will eventually kill her.
When Niamh is commissioned to design the prince's wardrobe for a royal wedding in Avaland, she knows she finally has her chance to leave her legacy. But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While nobles and the elite attend extravagant balls and candlelit garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class.
Niamh finds herself drawn to Kit, the prince whom she must dress for his wedding, despite his cold, prickly demeanour. And soon, a gossip column reports on their undeniable chemistry between them, threatening scandal. Niamh must decide if reputation should come above all else, whether her magic curse will allow her to experience love, and what cost she is willing to pay for a future she never thought possible...
Only Bad Options
Few people know the name Vesper Quill. To most folks, I'm just a lowly lab rat who designs brewmakers and other household appliances in the research and development lab at the powerful Kent Corp. But when I point out a design flaw and a safety hazard in the new line of Kent Corp spaceships, everyone knows who I am-and wants to eliminate me.
I might be a seer with a photographic memory, but I don't see the trouble headed my way until it's too late. Suddenly, I'm surrounded by enemies and fighting for my life.
I don't think things can get any worse until I meet Kyrion Caldaren, an arrogant Regal lord who insists that we have a connection, one that could be the death of us both.
Consent Laid Bare
In 2021, Chanel Contos posted on Instagram asking people to share their stories of sexual assault during their schooling years. This post unexpectedly went viral and almost 7000 people sent in testimonies describing behaviour that constitutes rape. Virtually none of these instances were reported, and almost all of them were by people they knew.
How and why is this happening in an era of growing equality? Chanel Contos argues that when it comes to sex, we are still working with an outdated social contract that privileges men's pleasure at the expense of women's humanity.
Consent Laid Bare challenges the lingering inequality that reinforces this behaviour. It asks if consent is possible in a world where female sexuality has been hijacked by forces such as porn, patriarchy and male entitlement. It gives girls and women the encouragement to seek sex that is truly enjoyable and equips them with the information they need to properly consent. It asks boys and men to become advocates for sex centered around intimacy rather than fuelled by aggression.
Prima Facie
Tessa is a thoroughbred. A young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from a working-class background to be at the top of her game: defending, cross-examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case. Her masterful line of questioning in the courtroom has netted Tessa win after win, freeing men accused of rape and sexual assault. As controversial as it is, this is her job — it's just about the facts and who can game the system.
Working late one night, Tessa falls into a casual relationship with Julian, a coworker, an attorney who comes from an elite, wealthy family. A light-hearted affair, with a man she admires. She begins to wonder if perhaps there is a future for the two of them.
One sickening night, though, Julian makes a choice and Tessa finds herself in a position countless women – one in three – have before her. And she's faced with a gut-wrenching, life-changing decision: will she take the stand to testify about her rape, with the full awareness that the system has not been built to protect her?
