The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

$19.99 AUD

Category: Fiction

In 1901, the word bondmaid was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, Esme spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of lexicographers are gathering words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme's place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day, she sees a slip containing the word bondmaid flutter to the floor unclaimed. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others - that words and meanings relating to women's experiences often go unrecorded. She begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words. Set when the women's suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men.   ...Show more

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

$29.99 AUD

$32.99 (9% off)

Category: Fiction | Reading Level: Adult

Booker Prize Winner 2020. It is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life. She dreams of greater things: a house with its own front door and a life bought and paid for outright (like her perfect, but false, teeth). But Agnes is abando ned by her philandering husband, and soon she and her three children find themselves trapped in a decimated mining town. As she descends deeper into drink, the children try their best to save her, yet one by one they must abandon her to save themselves. It is her son Shuggie who holds out hope the longest. Shuggie is different. Fastidious and fussy, he shares his mother's sense of snobbish propriety. The miners' children pick on him and adults condemn him as no' right. But Shuggie believes that if he tries his hardest, he can be normal like the other boys and help his mother escape this hopeless place. Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain lays bare the ruthlessness of poverty, the limits of love, and the hollowness of pride. A counterpart to the privileged Thatcher-era London of Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty, it also recalls the work of Édouard Louis, Frank McCourt, and Hanya Yanagihara. It is a blistering debut by a brilliant novelist with a powerful and important story to tell.     ...Show more

Mammoth by Chris Flynn

$29.99 AUD

Category: Fiction

The original, unforgettable and thought-provoking new novel by award-winning author Chris Flynn that will change how readers understand the world. Narrated by a 13,000-year-old extinct American mastodon, Mammoth is the (mostly) true story of how the skull of a Tyrannosaurus bataar, a pterodactyl, a preh istoric penguin, the severed hand of an Egyptian mummy and the narrator himself came to be on sale at a 2007 natural history auction in Manhattan. Ranging from the Pleistocene Epoch to nineteenth-century America and beyond, including detours to Napoleonic France and Nazi Germany, Mammoth illuminates a period of history when ideas about science and religion underwent significant change. By tracing how and when the fossils were unearthed, Mammoth traverses time and place to reveal humanity's role in the inexorable destruction of the natural world. ...Show more

Love Objects by Emily Maguire

$32.99 AUD

Category: Fiction

Nic is a forty-five-year-old trivia buff, amateur nail artist and fairy godmother to the neighbourhood's stray cats. She's also the owner of a decade's worth of daily newspapers, enough clothes and shoes to fill Big W three times over and a pen collection which, if laid end-to-end, would probably circle her house twice. The person she's closest to in the world is her beloved niece Lena, who she meets for lunch every Sunday. One day Nic fails to show up. When Lena travels to her aunt's house to see if Nic's all right, she gets the shock of her life, and sets in train a series of events that will prove cataclysmic for them both. By the acclaimed author of An Isolated Incident, Love Objects is a clear-eyed, heart-wrenching and deeply compassionate novel about love and family, betrayal and forgiveness, and the things we do to fill our empty spaces. ...Show more

While Paris Slept by Ruth Druart

$29.99 AUD

$32.99 (9% off)

Category: Fiction

Perfect for readers of EARLY ONE MORNING and THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS, Headline Review's Lead Launch for 2021 is a gripping, moving debut novel of courage, survival and the endurance of hope.On a platform in occupied Paris, a mother whispers goodbye.It is the end.But also the beginning. Santa Cruz 1953 . Jean-Luc thought he had left it all behind. The scar on his face a small price to pay for surviving the horrors of Nazi occupation. Now, he has a new life in California, a family. He never expected the past to come knocking on his door. Paris 1944. A young woman''s future is torn away in a heartbeat. Herded on to a train bound for Auschwitz, in an act of desperation she entrusts her most precious possession to a stranger. All she has left now is hope. On a darkened platform two destinies become entangled. Their choice will change the future in ways neither could have imagined. Beginning on an ordinary day and ending on an extraordinary one, WHILE PARIS SLEPT is an unforgettable read. Beautiful. Powerful. Unforgettable. A stunning portrait of the brutality of war and the tenacity of love.  ****''Both epic and intimate, this unexpected story of two couples'' sacrifices in war-torn France had me completely and utterly enraptured. You''ll have your heart in your mouth and tears on your cheeks as it reaches its rich, life-affirming conclusion'' Louise Candlish ''What a book... Emotional and heartrending...absolutely phenomenal. I was on tenterhooks throughout. A wonderful achievement'' Jill Mansell ''While Paris Slept made me think and cry and rage and smile at mankind''s capacity for both beautiful, selfless love and terrible, heartbreaking cruelty. A story of wartime courage and desperation, and of the many ways in which war reverberates through people''s lives for years after the fact. Prepare to be thoroughly engrossed in this compelling book'' Natasha Lester ' 'A heartbreaking debut, While Paris Slept will appeal to fans of The Light Between Oceans. The novel delves into eternal questions: How far will we go to protect our child? Is love holding tightly or letting go?'' Janet Skeslien Charles, author of The Paris Library ''A powerful and poignant debut from a brilliant and bold new novelist. Expertly weaving together multiple storylines, author Ruth Druart fills each page with thrilling suspense, uncommon emotional depth, and fascinating characters'' Imogen Kealey, author of Liberation EARLY 5 STAR READER REVIEWS FOR WHILE PARIS SLEPT... ''This book was beautiful - a book on love and courage demonstrated in different ways, showing that there is no one way to love or be brave. I was unable to stop reading *****'' Goodreads reviewer ''For fans of Sophie''s Choice and Sarah''s Key, While Paris Slept is an atmospheric debut about the cost of war and the consequences of love. Impressive *****'' Goodreads reviewer ''I loved this novel, I''m still crying. A truly beautiful book that captures the meaning of parental love in all its forms. I highly recommend this book to all my book groups. Exquisite *****'' Goodreads reviewer ''I loved While Paris Slept. It''s a novel that keeps you turning the pages to find out what happens next but also stops you short at times as you wonder what you would have done in the situations facing the protagonists. I finished the novel with tears in my eyes. An uplifting novel and will be great for book clubs'' *****'' Goodreads reviewer ''I really liked this book. It felt a lot like The Alice Network. Very well done. Highly recommend'' Goodreads reviewer ''An excellent and thrilling novel *****'' Goodreads reviewer ...Show more

All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton

$29.99 AUD

$32.99 (9% off)

Category: Fiction

The bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton, returns with All Our Shimmering Skies - a glorious novel destined to become another Australian classic. Darwin, 1942, and as Japanese bombs rain overhead, motherless Molly Hook, the gravedigger's daughter, turns once again to the sky for gui dance. She carries a stone heart inside a duffel bag next to the map that leads to Longcoat Bob, the deep country sorcerer who put a curse on her family. By her side are the most unlikely travelling companions: Greta, a razor-tongued actress and Yukio, a fallen Japanese fighter pilot. 'Run, Molly, run,' says the daytime sky. Run to the vine forests. Run to northern Australia's wild and magical monsoon lands. Run to friendship. Run to love. Run. Because the graverobber's coming, Molly, and the night-time sky is coming with him. So run, Molly, run. All Our Shimmering Skies is a story about gifts that fall from the sky, curses we dig from the earth and the secrets we bury inside ourselves. It is an odyssey of true love and grave danger; of darkness and light; of bones and blue skies. A buoyant, beautiful and magical novel abrim with warmth, wit and wonder, a love letter to Australia and the art of looking up.     ...Show more

Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

$29.99 AUD

$32.99 (9% off)

Category: Fiction

Lucia's fingers found her own. She gazed at Caro as if from a distance. Her lips parted, her words a whisper: 'He knows.' London, 1782. Desperate for her politician husband to return home from France, Caroline 'Caro' Corsham is already in a state of anxiety when she finds a well-dressed woman mortally wounded in the bowers of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. The Bow Street constables are swift to act, until they discover that the deceased woman was a highly paid prostitute, at which point they cease to care entirely. But Caro has motives of her own for wanting to see justice done, and so sets out to solve the crime herself. Enlisting the help of thieftaker, Peregrine Child, their inquiry delves into the hidden corners of Georgian society, a world of artifice, deception and secret lives. But with many gentlemen refusing to speak about their dealings with the dead woman and Caro's own reputation under threat, finding the killer will be harder and more treacherous than she can know ... ...Show more

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex

$29.99 AUD

$32.99 (9% off)

Category: Fiction

Cornwall, 1972. Three lighthouse keepers vanish from a remote rock, miles from the shore. The entrance door is locked from the inside. The clocks have stopped. The Principal Keeper’s weather log describes a mighty storm, but the skies have been clear all week. What happened to those three men, out on th e tower? The heavy sea whispers their names. Black rocks roll beneath the swell, drowning ghosts. Can their secrets ever be recovered from the waves? Twenty years later, the women they left behind are still struggling to move on. Helen, Jenny and Michelle should have been united by the tragedy, but instead it drove them apart. Now, they have a chance to tell their side of the story. But only in confronting their darkest fears can the truth begin to surface . . . Inspired by real events, The Lamplighters is an intoxicating, suspenseful and deeply moving mystery, and an unforgettable story of love, grief and obsession. ...Show more

Honeybee by Craig Silvey

$32.99 AUD

Category: Fiction | Reading Level: near fine

The highly anticipated new novel by the bestselling author of Jasper Jones. 'Find out who you are, and live that life.' Late in the night, fourteen-year-old Sam Watson steps onto a quiet overpass, climbs over the rail and looks down at the road far below. At the other end of the same bridge, an old man, Vic, smokes his last cigarette. The two see each other across the void. A fateful connection is made, and an unlikely friendship blooms. Slowly, we learn what led Sam and Vic to the bridge that night. Bonded by their suffering, each privately commits to the impossible task of saving the other. Honeybee is a heartbreaking, life-affirming novel that throws us headlong into a world of petty thefts, extortion plots, botched bank robberies, daring dog rescues and one spectacular drag show. At the heart of Honeybee is Sam: a solitary, resilient young person battling to navigate the world as their true self; ensnared by loyalty to a troubled mother, scarred by the volatility of a domineering stepfather, and confounded by the kindness of new alliances. Honeybee is a tender, profoundly moving novel, brimming with vivid characters and luminous words. It's about two lives forever changed by a chance encounter - one offering hope, the other redemption. It's about when to persevere, and when to be merciful, as Sam learns when to let go, and when to hold on. ...Show more

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

$32.99 AUD

Category: Fiction

Klara and the Sun is the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2017.From the bestselling and Booker Prize winning author of Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day, a stunning new novel - his first since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature - that asks, wha t does it mean to love?This is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass in the street outside. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change for ever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans.A thrilling feat of world-building, a novel of exquisite tenderness and impeccable restraint, Klara and the Sun is a magnificent achievement, and an international literary event. ...Show more

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

$19.99 AUD

Category: Fiction | Series: The Handmaid's Tale | Reading Level: very good

The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function- to breed . If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire - neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs. . . . . ...Show more

Mirror and the Light (#3 Wolf Hall) TPB by Hilary Mantel

$32.99 AUD

$35.00 (5% off)

Category: Fiction | Series: Wolf Hall Ser.

With The Mirror and the Light, Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferociou s contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man’s vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion and courage.     ...Show more