Unexpected endings... books with a twist
Everyone loves a happy ending...or maybe not. Check out these books with an unexpected ending.
In the blood by Lisa Unger
Darkness, darkness by John Harvey
Thirty years ago, the Miners' Strike threatened to tear the country apart, turning neighbour against neighbour, husband against wife, father against son - enmities which smoulder still. Resnick, recently made up to inspector, and ambivalent at best about some of the police tactics, had run an information gathering unit at the heart of the dispute. Now, in virtual retirement, and still grieving over the violent death of his former partner, the discovery of the body of a young woman who disappeared during the Strike brings Resnick back to the front line to assist in the investigation into the woman's murder - forcing him to confront his past in what will assuredly be his last case.A spy among friends: Kim Philby and the great betrayal by Ben McIntyre
Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War.Philby's two closest friends in the intelligence world, Nicholas Elliott of MI6 and James Jesus Angleton, the CIA intelligence chief, thought they knew Philby better than anyone, and then discovered they had not known him at all. This is a story of intimate duplicity; of loyalty, trust and treachery, class and conscience; of an ideological battle waged by men with cut-glass accents and well-made suits in the comfortable clubs and restaurants of London and Washington; of male friendships forged, and then systematically betrayed.
With access to newly released MI5 files and previously unseen family papers, and with the cooperation of former officers of MI6 and the CIA, this definitive biography unlocks what is perhaps the last great secret of the Cold War.
Gods and beasts by Denise Mina
A Glasgow post office one week before Christmas. Martin Pavel cowers on the floor, his eyes locked on those of a terrified child. Above them a masked gunman wields an AK47 while the boy's grandfather calmly volunteers to help the robber gather the money.We were liars by E.Lockhart
A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends - the Liars - whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth. This deeply charged psychological thriller by National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart captures the complexities of intergenerational family relationships, the intensity of romantic love, and the heartbreak that both can inflict. Read it. And if anyone ask you how it ends, LIE.Crooked letter, crooked letter by Tom Franklin
Amos, Mississippi, is a quiet town. Silas Jones is its sole law enforcement officer. The last excitement here was nearly twenty years ago, when a teenage girl disappeared on a date with Larry Ott, Silas' one-time boyhood friend. The law couldn't prove Larry guilty, but the whole town has shunned him ever since. Then the town's peace is shattered when someone tries to kill the reclusive Ott, another young woman goes missing, and the town's drug dealer is murdered. Woven through the tautly written murder story is the unspoken secret that hangs over the lives of two men - one black, one white. "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter" is a masterful crime novel, sizzling with deep Southern menace, and distinguished by brilliant plotting and unforgettable characters.A kiss before dying by Ira Levin
Dorothy meets a handsome young man with an eye for her inheritance while at university. They are to be married, but Dorothy is pregnant and would be disinherited if her father discovers the truth. The young man provides some pills that will solve the problem, but maybe takes Dorothy's life too.Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
The year is 1954. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, have come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to investigate the disappearance of a patient. Multiple murderess Rachel Solando is loose somewhere on this remote and barren island, despite having been kept in a locked cell under constant surveillance. As a killer hurricane relentlessly bears down on them, a strange case takes on even darker, more sinister shades—with hints of radical experimentation, horrifying surgeries, and lethal countermoves made in the cause of a covert shadow war. No one is going to escape Shutter Island unscathed, because nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is what it seems. But then neither is Teddy Daniels.The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino ; translated by Alexander O. Smith with Elye J. Alexander
Yasuko lives a quiet life, working in a Tokyo bento shop, a good mother to her only child. But when her ex-husband appears at her door without warning one day, her comfortable world is shattered." "When Detective Kusanagi of the Tokyo Police tries to piece together the events of that day, he finds himself confronted by the most puzzling, mysterious circumstances he has ever investigated. Nothing quite makes sense, and it will take a genius to understand the genius behind this particular crime..
The paying guests by Sarah Waters
 It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the
hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel
Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband
and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished
widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take
in lodgers. |
Life or death by Michael Robotham
Why would a man escape
from prison the day before he's due to be released? Audie Palmer has
spent a decade in prison for an armed robbery in which four people died,
including two of his gang. Seven million dollars has never been
recovered and everybody believes that Audie knows where the money is.
For ten years he has been beaten, stabbed, throttled and threatened
almost daily by fellow inmates and prison guards, who all want to answer
this same question - but suddenly Audie vanishes, the day before he's
due to be released. Everybody wants to find Audie, but he's not running.
Instead he's trying to save a life ...and not just his own.
Books in the News...26-27 September
Check out these new fiction and non -fiction titles from 26-27 September Spectrum, you can request them from the Library.
Harry Mac by Russell Eldridge
Tom and Millie are friends who live in a lane on the edge of town. They rely on each other to make sense of what's going on in their lives. Harry Mac is editor of the local newspaper and is a man of silences and secrets. He knows the prime minister but they don't seem to like each other. At school, Tom waits to be back on the lane where life is more interesting: why does a black car drive past slowly every night? Who is the mysterious boy who pierces the evenings with shrieks? And what did Harry Mac mean when he wrote 'people disappear in the night'? A series of shocking discoveries will lead Tom closer to the truth, but may tear his world apart. Set against a fascinating period of South African politics, this is a beautiful coming-of-age story, in the tradition of Jasper Jones and To Kill a Mockingbird.In the quiet by Eliza Henry-Jones
A moving, sweet and uplifting novel of love, grief and the heartache of letting go, from a wonderful new Australian author. Cate Carlton has recently died, yet she is able to linger on, watching her three young children and her husband as they come to terms with their life without her on their rural horse property. As the months pass and her children grow, they cope in different ways, drawn closer and pulled apart by their shared loss. And all Cate can do is watch on helplessly, seeing their grief, how much they miss her and how - heartbreakingly - they begin to heal. Gradually unfolding to reveal Cate's life, her marriage, and the unhappy secret she shared with one of her children, In the Quiet is compelling, simple, tender, true - heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure.Running like China by Sophie Hardcastle
'When I was eleven years old Mum told me, "One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name." Even before I heard these words I was always a child who crammed intense joy into tiny pockets of time.' One day Sophie Hardcastle realised the joy she'd always known had disappeared. She was constantly tired, with no energy, no motivation and no sense of enjoyment for surfing, friends, conversations, movies, parties, family - for anything. Her hours became empty. And then, the month before she turned seventeen, that emptiness filled with an intense, unbearable sadness that made her scream and tear at her skin. Misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue, then major depression, then temporal lobe epilepsy, she was finally told - three years, two suicide attempts and five hospital admissions later - that she had Bipolar 1 Disorder. In this honest and beautifully told memoir, Sophie lays bare her story of mental illness - of a teenage girl using drugs, alcohol and sex in an attempt to fix herself; of her family's anguish and her loss of self. It is a brave and hopeful story of adaptation, learning to accept and of ultimately realising that no matter how deep you have sunk, the surface is always within reach.Prison post by Editia
The world was shocked when foreign correspondent Peter Greste was convicted in June 2014 of reporting false news and endangering Egypt's national security. The trickle of emails for Peter and his family that had begun with his arrest the previous December increased exponentially. Prison Post is a selection of the letters.Advanced Australia by Mark Butler
Advanced Australia explores the politics of ageing in Australia. The addition of 25 years to average life expectancy in Australia over the past century is a monumental achievement, but many commentators are greeting the prospect of Australians living longer with horror. The ageing of Australia's baby boomers will sharpen this debate, both because of the size of their generation, as well as their history of reshaping every phase of life in their own image. Ageing will dominate Australian politics for years to come, touching almost every area of policy retirement incomes, housing, employment, urban design and more.Advanced Australia makes the case for a much more positive approach to ageing that celebrates the continuing contribution older Australians make to our community.
Australian Sports Book of the Year Award 2015 Longlist
The longlist for the inaugural Australian Sports Book of the Year award has been announced. The award is being run by sports and racing bookmaker William Hill, which introduced the prize in Australia after Anna Krien won the UK Sports Book of the Year award in 2014 for Night Games (Black Inc.).Twelve titles were selected from 23 entries.
The longlist:
Roy Higgins: Australia's favourite jockey by Patrick Bartley
Everyone loved Roy Higgins. A warm and genuine character with a great sense of humour, the boy from the bush was known as 'The Professor' for his freakish ability to read the track and his easy eloquence.
Higgins' racing record was extraordinary. He rode Bart Cummings' first Melbourne Cup winner, Light Fingers, in 1965, and was one of a handful of jockeys to win the grand slam of racing: the Golden Slipper, Cox Plate, Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup. Over his 30-year career, Higgins clocked up 2312 wins, including 108 Group 1 races. All this, despite a never-ending battle with his weight.
Roy Higgins died in March 2014, aged 75. His televised funeral took place in the mounting yard at Flemington, a fitting tribute to the humble man who had a profound effect on horseracing for more than five decades as jockey, commentator and teacher.
Eddie: The Rise and Rise of Eddie McGuire by Michael Bodey
Eddie charts the incredible rise of Edward Joseph McGuire AM from his childhood in the working-class Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows, through his nightclub days as an ambitious young sports reporter to the heights of Australian television, politics, radio and the AFL. It covers Eddie McGuire's many triumphs, feuds, his missteps, his successes, the turnaround of his beloved Magpies and his seemingly unstoppable rise, this is the inspiring and unique story of the ultimate working-class boy made good.
Whitewash to whitewash : Australian cricket's years of struggle and summer of riches by Daniel Brettig
Watching Warne, McGrath and Langer leave the field for the last time after the 2007 Ashes whitewash, Michael Hussey knew that life was going to get tough for the Australian cricket side. With these stars retiring and more to follow, he wondered how the team could ever recover.
This is the inside story of how it did.
Pushing the limits : life, marathons & Kokoda / Kurt Fearnley with Warwick Green, Penguin
When Kurt Fearnley was a kid, he would leave his wheelechair at the front gate and go exploring with his brothers and sisters. 'You're going to have to be stronger than we are,' they told him, 'and we know you will be.'
The boy from Carcoar was raised to believe he could do anything. At fifteen, he won his first medal. Then he conquered the world, winning three Paralympic gold medals, seven world championships and more than 35 marathons. A world-beater in and out of his wheelchair, Kurt is a true Australian champion.
Inspiring, exhilarating and highly entertaining, Pushing the Limits takes us inside the mind of a kid with a disability growing up in a tiny town, a teenager finding his place in the world, and an elite sportsman who refuses to give up, no matter how extreme the challenge.
The short Long book : a portrait of Michael Long, the man who changed the Australian game / Martin Flanagan.
In 1995, Aboriginal footballer Michael Long gave the AFL its ‘Mandela moment'. He quietly revolutionised Australian sport by refusing to let a racial insult pass during the Anzac Day match between Essendon and Collingwood. When the overwhelmingly white football public backed a black man against a white institution (the AFL), the culture of the game flipped and the AFL became a leader in Australian race relations. A decade later, he again impacted on the nation when he set out to walk from Melbourne to Canberra to confront the Howard government over Aboriginal issues.
This is a portrait of a shy black kid from Darwin who became one of the most notable figures in the history of Australian sport, of a footballer who tore apart the 1993 grand final within seven minutes of the start, of a man known as a joker who is a serious social and political thinker. It is also the story of a white sportswriter who is taken to his limits, and a long way beyond, seeking to understand a man who can only be understood through his Aboriginality.
Sonny ball : the legend of Sonny Bill Williams by Paul Kent
Big, powerful, handsome, gifted and enigmatic, Sonny Bill Williams has the ability to get fans flocking, sponsors scrambling and coaches dreaming of winning dynasties.
But 'SBW' is not like other footballers. He broke his Bulldogs contract mid-season to play rugby union for Toulon in France, leaving teammates shocked, fans enraged and the NRL threatening a life ban. Yet Sonny's star never dimmed. His legend only grew.
When Sonny Bill returned to New Zealand, he steered the Crusaders to a Super Rugby final before leading the Chiefs to their inaugural title and helping the All Blacks with the Rugby World Cup...while becoming a heavyweight boxing champion.
Then he returned to League and led the Roosters to a premiership before switching back to Union again for the All Blacks' 2015 World Cup defence. Along the way, Sonny Bill proved a modern truth - success is currency, memories are short, star power eclipses everything.
The straight dope : the inside story of sport's biggest drug scandal / Chip Le Grand
What happened at Essendon, what happened at Cronulla, is only part of the story. From the basement office of a suburban football club to the seedy corners of Peptide Alley to the polished corridors of Parliament House, The Straight Dope is an inside account of the politics, greed and personal feuds which fuelled an extraordinary saga.
Clubs and coaches determined to win, a sports scientist who doesn't play by the rules, a generation of footballers held hostage by scandal and injected with who knows what, sport administrators hell bent on control, an anti-doping authority out of its depth, an unpopular government that just wants it to end. for two tumultuous seasons this was the biggest game in Australia.
A-League: The Inside Story of the Tumultuous First Decade by John Stensholt & Shaun Mooney
In November 2004, shopping centre billionaire Frank Lowy walked into a packed media conference and announced the creation of a new professional football league. Armed with $15 million of government funds, Lowy was about to wake the sleeping giant of Australian sport. The A-League kicked off in 2005.
Over the competition's first decade it has seen more than its fair share of drama, on and off the field. International superstars have come to play, eccentric billionaires have bought and sold franchises, and clubs have folded after haemorrhaging millions of dollars. Yet the football has been passionate and captivating, and attendances and television audiences have grown as Australians have embraced the game as never before.
Relying on unprecedented access to key figures in the code, John Stensholt and Shaun Mooney reveal the true story behind the A-League's first ten years: the egos, the power plays and the rows between some of Australia's richest men as they try to make the world game Australia's favourite sport.
Aussie Grit by Mark Webber
In the high-stakes world of Formula One, only the fastest make it to the top. Few know this better than Australian Formula One legend Mark Webber. His career in F1 stretched an incredible 12 years, saw him earn 42 podium finishes and triumph in nine races, including twice-winning the crown jewel of F1, the Monaco Grand Prix.
But the road to the top of F1 racing is long and full of deadly twists and strange turns. In his long-awaited Autobiography, Webber tells the incredible true story of the small town pizza delivery boy who climbed the apex of the world's most dangerous sport. With startling candour, Webber takes us on a thrill ride through the highs and lows of his amazing career, detailing the personal struggles that drove him, revealing the truth at last behind his rivalry with Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel, and allowing us access-all-areas into a very private life played out on the public stage.
Dangerous games : Australia at the 1936 Nazi Olympics by Larry Writer
This is a tale of innocents abroad. Thirty-three athletes left Australia in May 1936 to compete in the Hitler Olympics in Berlin. Believing sporting competition was the best antidote to tyranny, they put their qualms on hold. Anything to be part of the greatest show on earth.
Dangerous Games drops us into a front row seat at the 100,000-capacity Olympic stadium to witness some of the finest sporting performances of all time - most famously the African American runner Jesse Owens, who eclipsed the best athletes the Nazis could pit against him in every event he entered. The Australians, with their antiquated training regimes and amateur ethos, valiantly confronted the intensely focused athletes of Germany, the United States and Japan. Behind the scenes was cut- throat wheeling and dealing, defiance of Hitler, and warm friendships among athletes.
What they did and saw in Berlin that hot, rainy summer influenced all that came after until their dying days.
The Draftees: How Five Boys Made it to the AFL National Draft by Emma Quayle
Meet Jake Lever, Peter Wright, Isaac Heeney, Tom Lamb and Clem Smith. In 2015, they played their first game. In years to come, they could become stars. But first they had to be drafted to a club.
Every year, hundreds of boys are put through their paces at AFL draft camps, training sessions, under-18 competitions and school footy matches. They all hope they will end the year signed to an AFL team. Meanwhile, clubs are making brutal calls on which young players will take them up the ladder. Too many bad recruiting decisions could set them back years.
Emma Quayle, senior football writer for The Age and an expert on talent identification, tracks these five boys through 2014 – the year they nominate for the AFL's national draft. We meet their coaches and families. We ride the bumps and share the triumphs. With exclusive behind-the-scenes access to recruiters at St Kilda Football Club as they decide on their 2014 draft picks, Emma sheds light on what it takes to become an AFL footballer.
For Jake, Pete, Isaac, Tom and Clem, hearing their name called out on draft day is just the beginning of their football story. But it takes a lot to get to that start line.
Time and Space by James Coventry
An accomplished book about the genius and ingenuity of the game's greats (and the forgotten) and how they have shaped the game through the innovation of tactics.
From Pagan's Paddock to Clarkson's Cluster, from Fitzroy's huddle to Sydney's flood, the tactics of Australian football have become part of the vernacular.
In this groundbreaking book, ABC journalist James Coventry reveals the secrets behind them all. You'll meet the German gymnast who taught Geelong how to break the game from its rugby roots; the two Test cricketers who became footy's first great coaches; and the water polo player who shaped the modern AFL.
Along the way you'll learn how South Australia pioneered the flick pass; how a rule suggested by Tasmania helped Collingwood win four straight flags; and how Fremantle revolutionised the use of the interchange bench.
Time and Space is essential reading for any fan who wants to know why their team does what it does, and why it wins or loses.
The shortlist will be announced on 13 October.
The longlist:
Roy Higgins: Australia's favourite jockey by Patrick Bartley
Everyone loved Roy Higgins. A warm and genuine character with a great sense of humour, the boy from the bush was known as 'The Professor' for his freakish ability to read the track and his easy eloquence.Higgins' racing record was extraordinary. He rode Bart Cummings' first Melbourne Cup winner, Light Fingers, in 1965, and was one of a handful of jockeys to win the grand slam of racing: the Golden Slipper, Cox Plate, Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup. Over his 30-year career, Higgins clocked up 2312 wins, including 108 Group 1 races. All this, despite a never-ending battle with his weight.
Roy Higgins died in March 2014, aged 75. His televised funeral took place in the mounting yard at Flemington, a fitting tribute to the humble man who had a profound effect on horseracing for more than five decades as jockey, commentator and teacher.
Eddie: The Rise and Rise of Eddie McGuire by Michael Bodey
Eddie charts the incredible rise of Edward Joseph McGuire AM from his childhood in the working-class Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows, through his nightclub days as an ambitious young sports reporter to the heights of Australian television, politics, radio and the AFL. It covers Eddie McGuire's many triumphs, feuds, his missteps, his successes, the turnaround of his beloved Magpies and his seemingly unstoppable rise, this is the inspiring and unique story of the ultimate working-class boy made good.Whitewash to whitewash : Australian cricket's years of struggle and summer of riches by Daniel Brettig
Watching Warne, McGrath and Langer leave the field for the last time after the 2007 Ashes whitewash, Michael Hussey knew that life was going to get tough for the Australian cricket side. With these stars retiring and more to follow, he wondered how the team could ever recover.This is the inside story of how it did.
Pushing the limits : life, marathons & Kokoda / Kurt Fearnley with Warwick Green, Penguin
When Kurt Fearnley was a kid, he would leave his wheelechair at the front gate and go exploring with his brothers and sisters. 'You're going to have to be stronger than we are,' they told him, 'and we know you will be.'The boy from Carcoar was raised to believe he could do anything. At fifteen, he won his first medal. Then he conquered the world, winning three Paralympic gold medals, seven world championships and more than 35 marathons. A world-beater in and out of his wheelchair, Kurt is a true Australian champion.
Inspiring, exhilarating and highly entertaining, Pushing the Limits takes us inside the mind of a kid with a disability growing up in a tiny town, a teenager finding his place in the world, and an elite sportsman who refuses to give up, no matter how extreme the challenge.
The short Long book : a portrait of Michael Long, the man who changed the Australian game / Martin Flanagan.
This is a portrait of a shy black kid from Darwin who became one of the most notable figures in the history of Australian sport, of a footballer who tore apart the 1993 grand final within seven minutes of the start, of a man known as a joker who is a serious social and political thinker. It is also the story of a white sportswriter who is taken to his limits, and a long way beyond, seeking to understand a man who can only be understood through his Aboriginality.
Sonny ball : the legend of Sonny Bill Williams by Paul Kent
Big, powerful, handsome, gifted and enigmatic, Sonny Bill Williams has the ability to get fans flocking, sponsors scrambling and coaches dreaming of winning dynasties.But 'SBW' is not like other footballers. He broke his Bulldogs contract mid-season to play rugby union for Toulon in France, leaving teammates shocked, fans enraged and the NRL threatening a life ban. Yet Sonny's star never dimmed. His legend only grew.
When Sonny Bill returned to New Zealand, he steered the Crusaders to a Super Rugby final before leading the Chiefs to their inaugural title and helping the All Blacks with the Rugby World Cup...while becoming a heavyweight boxing champion.
Then he returned to League and led the Roosters to a premiership before switching back to Union again for the All Blacks' 2015 World Cup defence. Along the way, Sonny Bill proved a modern truth - success is currency, memories are short, star power eclipses everything.
The straight dope : the inside story of sport's biggest drug scandal / Chip Le Grand
What happened at Essendon, what happened at Cronulla, is only part of the story. From the basement office of a suburban football club to the seedy corners of Peptide Alley to the polished corridors of Parliament House, The Straight Dope is an inside account of the politics, greed and personal feuds which fuelled an extraordinary saga.Clubs and coaches determined to win, a sports scientist who doesn't play by the rules, a generation of footballers held hostage by scandal and injected with who knows what, sport administrators hell bent on control, an anti-doping authority out of its depth, an unpopular government that just wants it to end. for two tumultuous seasons this was the biggest game in Australia.
A-League: The Inside Story of the Tumultuous First Decade by John Stensholt & Shaun Mooney
In November 2004, shopping centre billionaire Frank Lowy walked into a packed media conference and announced the creation of a new professional football league. Armed with $15 million of government funds, Lowy was about to wake the sleeping giant of Australian sport. The A-League kicked off in 2005.Over the competition's first decade it has seen more than its fair share of drama, on and off the field. International superstars have come to play, eccentric billionaires have bought and sold franchises, and clubs have folded after haemorrhaging millions of dollars. Yet the football has been passionate and captivating, and attendances and television audiences have grown as Australians have embraced the game as never before.
Relying on unprecedented access to key figures in the code, John Stensholt and Shaun Mooney reveal the true story behind the A-League's first ten years: the egos, the power plays and the rows between some of Australia's richest men as they try to make the world game Australia's favourite sport.
Aussie Grit by Mark Webber
But the road to the top of F1 racing is long and full of deadly twists and strange turns. In his long-awaited Autobiography, Webber tells the incredible true story of the small town pizza delivery boy who climbed the apex of the world's most dangerous sport. With startling candour, Webber takes us on a thrill ride through the highs and lows of his amazing career, detailing the personal struggles that drove him, revealing the truth at last behind his rivalry with Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel, and allowing us access-all-areas into a very private life played out on the public stage.
Dangerous games : Australia at the 1936 Nazi Olympics by Larry Writer
This is a tale of innocents abroad. Thirty-three athletes left Australia in May 1936 to compete in the Hitler Olympics in Berlin. Believing sporting competition was the best antidote to tyranny, they put their qualms on hold. Anything to be part of the greatest show on earth.Dangerous Games drops us into a front row seat at the 100,000-capacity Olympic stadium to witness some of the finest sporting performances of all time - most famously the African American runner Jesse Owens, who eclipsed the best athletes the Nazis could pit against him in every event he entered. The Australians, with their antiquated training regimes and amateur ethos, valiantly confronted the intensely focused athletes of Germany, the United States and Japan. Behind the scenes was cut- throat wheeling and dealing, defiance of Hitler, and warm friendships among athletes.
What they did and saw in Berlin that hot, rainy summer influenced all that came after until their dying days.
The Draftees: How Five Boys Made it to the AFL National Draft by Emma Quayle
Meet Jake Lever, Peter Wright, Isaac Heeney, Tom Lamb and Clem Smith. In 2015, they played their first game. In years to come, they could become stars. But first they had to be drafted to a club.Every year, hundreds of boys are put through their paces at AFL draft camps, training sessions, under-18 competitions and school footy matches. They all hope they will end the year signed to an AFL team. Meanwhile, clubs are making brutal calls on which young players will take them up the ladder. Too many bad recruiting decisions could set them back years.
Emma Quayle, senior football writer for The Age and an expert on talent identification, tracks these five boys through 2014 – the year they nominate for the AFL's national draft. We meet their coaches and families. We ride the bumps and share the triumphs. With exclusive behind-the-scenes access to recruiters at St Kilda Football Club as they decide on their 2014 draft picks, Emma sheds light on what it takes to become an AFL footballer.
For Jake, Pete, Isaac, Tom and Clem, hearing their name called out on draft day is just the beginning of their football story. But it takes a lot to get to that start line.
Time and Space by James Coventry
An accomplished book about the genius and ingenuity of the game's greats (and the forgotten) and how they have shaped the game through the innovation of tactics.
From Pagan's Paddock to Clarkson's Cluster, from Fitzroy's huddle to Sydney's flood, the tactics of Australian football have become part of the vernacular.
In this groundbreaking book, ABC journalist James Coventry reveals the secrets behind them all. You'll meet the German gymnast who taught Geelong how to break the game from its rugby roots; the two Test cricketers who became footy's first great coaches; and the water polo player who shaped the modern AFL.
Along the way you'll learn how South Australia pioneered the flick pass; how a rule suggested by Tasmania helped Collingwood win four straight flags; and how Fremantle revolutionised the use of the interchange bench.
Time and Space is essential reading for any fan who wants to know why their team does what it does, and why it wins or loses.
The shortlist will be announced on 13 October.
New faces in fiction...debut novels.
Cambridge, 1963. Charlotte is struggling. With motherhood, with the changes marriage and parenthood bring, with losing the time and the energy to paint. Her husband, Henry, wants things to be as they were and can't face the thought of another English winter. A brochure slipped through the letterbox slot brings him the answer: Australia brings out the best in you. Despite wanting to stay in the place that she knows, Charlotte is too worn out to fight. Before she has a chance to realise what it will mean, she is travelling to the other side of the world. Arriving in Perth, the southern sun shines a harsh light on both Henry and Charlotte and slowly reveals that their new life is not the answer either was hoping for. Charlotte is left wondering if there is anywhere she belongs and how far she will go to find her way home.
It is late on a warm city night when Sylvan Threadgill, a young night soiler who cleans out the privies behind the tenement houses, pulls a terrible secret out from the filthy hollows: an abandoned newborn baby. An orphan himself, Sylvan was raised by a kindly Italian family and can't bring himself to leave the baby in the slop. He tucks her into his chest, resolving to find out where she belongs. Odile Church is the girl-on-the-wheel, a second-fiddle act in a show that has long since lost its magic. Odile and her sister Belle were raised in the curtained halls of their mother's spectacular Coney Island sideshow: The Church of Marvels. Belle was always the star-the sword swallower-light, nimble, a true human marvel. But now the sideshow has burnt to the ground, their mother dead in the ashes, and Belle has escaped to the city. Alphie wakes up groggy and confused in Blackwell's Lunatic Asylum. The last thing she remembers is a dark stain on the floor, her mother-in-law screaming. She had once walked the streets as an escort and a penny-Rembrandt, cleaning up men after their drunken brawls. Now she is married; a lady in a reputable home. She is sure that her imprisonment is a ruse by her husband's vile mother. But then a young woman is committed alongside her, and when she coughs up a pair of scissors from the depths of her agile throat, Alphie knows she harbors a dangerous secret that will alter the course of both of their lives...On a single night, these strangers' lives will become irrevocably entwined, as secrets come to light and outsiders struggle for acceptance.
Growing up in Zagreb in the summer of 1991, 10-year-old Ana Juric is a carefree tomboy; she runs the streets with her best friend, Luka, helps take care of her baby sister, Rahela, and idolizes her father. But when civil war breaks out across Yugoslavia, football games and school lessons are supplanted by sniper fire and air raid drills. The brutal ethnic cleansing of Croats and Bosnians tragically changes Ana's life, and she is lost to a world of genocide and child soldiers; a daring escape plan to America becomes her only chance for survival. Ten years later she returns to Croatia, a young woman struggling to belong to either country, forced to confront the trauma of her past and rediscover the place that was once her home. Girl At War is a haunting, compelling debut from a brilliant young writer, rooted in historical fact and personal experience. Sara has lived in the States and Croatia, and her novel bears witness to the haunting stories of her family and friends who lived through the height of the conflict, and reflects her own attempts to come to terms with her relationship to Croatia and its history. It is an extraordinary achievement for a novelist of any age, let alone age 26.
Set in the twelfth century, The Anchoress tells the story of Sarah, only seventeen when she chooses to become an anchoress, a holy woman shut away in a small cell, measuring seven paces by nine, at the side of the village church. Fleeing the grief of losing a much-loved sister in childbirth and the pressure to marry, she decides to renounce the world, with all its dangers, desires and temptations, and to commit herself to a life of prayer and service to God. But as she slowly begins to understand, even the thick, unforgiving walls of her cell cannot keep the outside world away, and it is soon clear that Sarah's body and soul are still in great danger...As a publisher, this novel just stopped me in my tracks - wonderfully intimate and compelling, it tells an absorbing story of faith, desire, shame, fear and the very human need for connection and touch. The Anchoress is both mesmerising and thrillingly unpredictable. Robyn Cadwallader writes: 'Who was she? Why did she choose enclosure? Was she afraid, excited, certain, doubtful? What about her family? And what would this small dark place be like as a home? In my mind, I went inside the cell. What was her experience: bodily, emotionally, spiritually, mentally? She was no longer just a weird idea; she was a woman. Sarah. My anchoress.'
Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change. That is, until a twist of fate brings her to before the Silver court. Here, surrounded by the people she hates most, Mare discovers that despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly ability of her own. Fearful of Mare's potential, the king hides her in plain view: betrothed to his youngest son. Trapped, Mare decides to use her new position to bring down the regime - from the inside.
This is a book about phobias and obsessions, isolation and dark corners. It's about families, friendships, and carefully preserved secrets. But above everything else it's about love. Finding love - in any of its forms - and nurturing it. Miss Hayes has a new theory. She thinks my condition's caused by some traumatic incident from my past I keep deep-rooted in my mind. As soon as I come clean I'll flood out all these tears and it'll all be ok and I won't be scared of Them anymore. The truth is I can't think of any single traumatic childhood incident to tell her. I mean, there are plenty of bad memories - Herb's death, or the time I bit the hole in my tongue, or Finners Island, out on the boat with Sarah - but none of these are what caused the phobia. I've always had it. It's Them. I'm just scared of Them. It's that simple. A spellbinding debut novel about a boy with severe arachnophobia by an exceptional new young British talent.
A gripping and heartbreaking novel that reimagines life at Wuthering Heights through the eyes of the Earnshaws' loyal servant, Nelly Dean. Young Nelly Dean has been Hindley's closest companion for as long as she can remember, living freely at the great house, Wuthering Heights. But when the benevolence of the master brings a wild child into the house, Nelly must follow in her mother's footsteps, be called servant and give herself to the family completely. But Nelly is not the only one who must serve. When a new heir is born, a reign of violence begins that will test Nelly's spirit as she finds out what it is to know true sacrifice.
You, Me and Other People is the life-affirming, heartbreaking and ultimately stunning debut novel from Fionnuala Kearney. THEY SAY EVERY FAMILY HAS SKELETONS IN THEIR CLOSET . . . But what happens when you open the door and they won't stop tumbling out? For Adam and Beth the first secret wasn't the last, it was just the beginning
What if you had said yes . . . ?
Eva and Jim are nineteen, and students at Cambridge, when their paths first cross in 1958. Jim is walking along a lane when a woman approaching him on a bicycle swerves to avoid a dog.
What happens next will determine the rest of their lives.
We follow three different versions of their future - together, and apart - as their love story takes on different incarnations and twists and turns to the conclusion in the present day.
The Versions of Us is an outstanding debut novel about the choices we make and the different paths that our lives might follow.
A heartfelt novel in the bestselling tradition of P.S. I Love You about a young woman in Georgia with stage four breast cancer who undertakes a mission to find a "replacement wife" for her husband before she passes away.
Books in the news...19-20 September
Check out these new fiction and non -fiction titles from 19-20 September Spectrum, you can request them from the Library.
The cat at the wall by Deborah Ellis
On Israel's West Bank, a cat sneaks into a small Palestinian house that has just been commandeered by two Israeli soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realises that a little boy is hiding beneath the floorboards.
Should she help him?
After all, she's just a cat.
Or is she?
It turns out that this particular cat is not used to thinking about anyone but herself. She was once a regular North American girl who only had to deal with normal middle-school problems - staying under the teachers' radar, bullying her sister and the uncool kids, outsmarting her clueless parents. But that was before she died and came back to life as a cat, in a place with a whole different set of rules for survival.
When the little boy is discovered, the soldiers don't know what to do with him. Where are the child's parents? Why has he been left alone in the house? It is not long before his teacher and classmates come looking for him, and the house is suddenly surrounded by Palestinian villagers throwing rocks, and the sound of Israeli tanks approaching. Not my business, thinks the cat. Then she sees a photograph, and suddenly understands what happened to the boy's parents, and why they have not returned. As the soldiers begin to panic, disaster seems certain, and she knows that it is up to her to defuse the situation. But what can a cat do? What can any one creature do?
Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
Vân Uoc doesn't believe in fairies, zombies, vampires, Father Christmas - or magic wishes. She believes in keeping a low profile: real life will start when school finishes.
But when she attracts the attention of Billy Gardiner, she finds herself in an unwelcome spotlight.
Not even Jane Eyre can help her now.
Wishes were not a thing.
They were not.
Correction.
Wishes were a thing.
Wishes that came true were sometimes a thing.
Wishes that came true because of magic were not a thing!
Were they?
From the author of Six Impossible Things and Wildlife, winner of the 2014 CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers.
Wild man : the true story of a police killing, mental illness and the law by Alecia Simmonds
In April 2012 a man was shot dead by police on a remote farm in New South Wales called the School of Happiness. The victim, who was high on a cocktail of drugs and who suffered from mental illness, had been threatening attendees of a hippie festival with a crossbow and hunting knife. When the police finally arrived, they tried to subdue him but, ultimately, fatal shots were fired.
In Wild Man Alecia Simmonds follows the coronial inquest into the police killing. She reveals what really happened that night and unravels the web of issues entangled in this fascinating, bizarre and, undoubtedly, tragic case: a cultural clash between hippies and hunters; drug use, violence, masculinity and psychosis. She asks how family members, as well as police, came to work on the frontline of mental health. This spectacular book is a clear-eyed look at some of the most pressing problems facing contemporary Australia.
Elvis and me : how a world-weary musician and a broken racehorse rescued each other by Gillian Wills
A world-weary musician and a broken racehorse rescue each other in this inspirational memoir about second chances. At 56 years of age, Gillian Wills bought her first horse on a whim. Elvis was emaciated, scarred, unruly, saddle-phobic and imbued with attitude. However, she sensed in him the remnants of a fierce pride that resonated with her own almost-lost sense of self-worth, depleted after leaving a high status job as head of a prestigious music conservatorium in Melbourne to move across the country with her partner to Queensland. Owning a horse pushed the need for paddocks to the top of Gillian's wish list. Since her artist partner also craved land on which to build a studio, they bought a dilapidated weatherboard farmhouse on 2.5 acres and swapped city living in Brisbane for the pleasures of semi-rural Ransome. Gillian gave up her lecturing position, weekly spot on radio, and an array of exhausting consultancies to focus on freelance writing. For a year she wore mud-stained boots and dusty jeans by day and shiny heels and black cocktail gear at night to mingle with the art cogniscenti at functions, give pre-concert talks for the Australian Chamber Orchestra and review concerts for the Australian newspaper. And she tried to ride Elvis. Elvis had been pitched to Gillian as a quiet, beginner's 'I'll-do-whatever-you-want-kind-of-horse' that could hardly summon up the energy to trot. the truth was very different.
The Changi book edited by Lachlan Grant
The story of Changi, told by those who lived through it.
In the tradition of The Anzac Book comes this fascinating collection of accounts of life in the notorious Changi prison camp.
Changi is synonymous with suffering, hardship and the Australian prisoner-of-war experience in WWII. It is also a story of ingenuity, resourcefulness and survival.
Containing essays, cartoons, paintings, and photographs created by prisoners of war, The Changi Book provides a unique view of the camp: life-saving medical innovation, machinery and tools created from spare parts and scrap, black-market dealings, sport and gambling, theatre productions, and the creation of a library and university.
Seventy years after its planned publication, material for The Changi Book was rediscovered in the Australian War Memorial archives. It appears here for the first time along with insights from the Memorial’s experts.
Fair food : stories from a movement changing the world edited by Nick Rose
The groundbreaking Fair Food tells the new story of food: how food and farming in Australia are dramatically transforming at the grassroots level towards reconnection, towards healing – of the land, of each other. It offers a compelling and coherent vision of how our future can be so much better than our present and our past, and how each of us can make a difference.
Told through the experiences of several of the leading figures in Australia's Fair Food movement, this book tells stories of personal change, courage, innovation and food activism, from local food hubs and backyard food forests, to the GE-free movement, urban farming, radical homemaking and regenerative agriculture.
The cat at the wall by Deborah Ellis
On Israel's West Bank, a cat sneaks into a small Palestinian house that has just been commandeered by two Israeli soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realises that a little boy is hiding beneath the floorboards.Should she help him?
After all, she's just a cat.
Or is she?
It turns out that this particular cat is not used to thinking about anyone but herself. She was once a regular North American girl who only had to deal with normal middle-school problems - staying under the teachers' radar, bullying her sister and the uncool kids, outsmarting her clueless parents. But that was before she died and came back to life as a cat, in a place with a whole different set of rules for survival.
When the little boy is discovered, the soldiers don't know what to do with him. Where are the child's parents? Why has he been left alone in the house? It is not long before his teacher and classmates come looking for him, and the house is suddenly surrounded by Palestinian villagers throwing rocks, and the sound of Israeli tanks approaching. Not my business, thinks the cat. Then she sees a photograph, and suddenly understands what happened to the boy's parents, and why they have not returned. As the soldiers begin to panic, disaster seems certain, and she knows that it is up to her to defuse the situation. But what can a cat do? What can any one creature do?
Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
Vân Uoc doesn't believe in fairies, zombies, vampires, Father Christmas - or magic wishes. She believes in keeping a low profile: real life will start when school finishes.But when she attracts the attention of Billy Gardiner, she finds herself in an unwelcome spotlight.
Not even Jane Eyre can help her now.
Wishes were not a thing.
They were not.
Correction.
Wishes were a thing.
Wishes that came true were sometimes a thing.
Wishes that came true because of magic were not a thing!
Were they?
From the author of Six Impossible Things and Wildlife, winner of the 2014 CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers.
Wild man : the true story of a police killing, mental illness and the law by Alecia Simmonds
In April 2012 a man was shot dead by police on a remote farm in New South Wales called the School of Happiness. The victim, who was high on a cocktail of drugs and who suffered from mental illness, had been threatening attendees of a hippie festival with a crossbow and hunting knife. When the police finally arrived, they tried to subdue him but, ultimately, fatal shots were fired.In Wild Man Alecia Simmonds follows the coronial inquest into the police killing. She reveals what really happened that night and unravels the web of issues entangled in this fascinating, bizarre and, undoubtedly, tragic case: a cultural clash between hippies and hunters; drug use, violence, masculinity and psychosis. She asks how family members, as well as police, came to work on the frontline of mental health. This spectacular book is a clear-eyed look at some of the most pressing problems facing contemporary Australia.
Elvis and me : how a world-weary musician and a broken racehorse rescued each other by Gillian Wills
A world-weary musician and a broken racehorse rescue each other in this inspirational memoir about second chances. At 56 years of age, Gillian Wills bought her first horse on a whim. Elvis was emaciated, scarred, unruly, saddle-phobic and imbued with attitude. However, she sensed in him the remnants of a fierce pride that resonated with her own almost-lost sense of self-worth, depleted after leaving a high status job as head of a prestigious music conservatorium in Melbourne to move across the country with her partner to Queensland. Owning a horse pushed the need for paddocks to the top of Gillian's wish list. Since her artist partner also craved land on which to build a studio, they bought a dilapidated weatherboard farmhouse on 2.5 acres and swapped city living in Brisbane for the pleasures of semi-rural Ransome. Gillian gave up her lecturing position, weekly spot on radio, and an array of exhausting consultancies to focus on freelance writing. For a year she wore mud-stained boots and dusty jeans by day and shiny heels and black cocktail gear at night to mingle with the art cogniscenti at functions, give pre-concert talks for the Australian Chamber Orchestra and review concerts for the Australian newspaper. And she tried to ride Elvis. Elvis had been pitched to Gillian as a quiet, beginner's 'I'll-do-whatever-you-want-kind-of-horse' that could hardly summon up the energy to trot. the truth was very different.The Changi book edited by Lachlan Grant
The story of Changi, told by those who lived through it.In the tradition of The Anzac Book comes this fascinating collection of accounts of life in the notorious Changi prison camp.
Changi is synonymous with suffering, hardship and the Australian prisoner-of-war experience in WWII. It is also a story of ingenuity, resourcefulness and survival.
Containing essays, cartoons, paintings, and photographs created by prisoners of war, The Changi Book provides a unique view of the camp: life-saving medical innovation, machinery and tools created from spare parts and scrap, black-market dealings, sport and gambling, theatre productions, and the creation of a library and university.
Seventy years after its planned publication, material for The Changi Book was rediscovered in the Australian War Memorial archives. It appears here for the first time along with insights from the Memorial’s experts.
Fair food : stories from a movement changing the world edited by Nick Rose
Told through the experiences of several of the leading figures in Australia's Fair Food movement, this book tells stories of personal change, courage, innovation and food activism, from local food hubs and backyard food forests, to the GE-free movement, urban farming, radical homemaking and regenerative agriculture.
Start a book series....
Memory man by David Baldacci (Amos Decker #1)
The first book in a new series featuring an offbeat hero with an unusual skill set and tragic past...
When Amos Decker returned home eighteen months ago to find the bodies of his wife and only daughter, he didn't think he could carry on living. Overwhelmed with grief, he saw his life spiral out of control, losing his job as a detective, his house and his self-respect. But when his former partner in the police, Mary Lancaster, visits to tell him that someone has confessed to the murder of his family, he knows he owes it to his wife and child to seek justice for them.
As Decker comes to terms with the news, tragedy strikes at the local school. Thirteen teenagers are gunned down, and the killer is at large. Following the serious brain injury Amos suffered as a professional footballer, he gained a remarkable gift - and the police believe that this unusual skill will assist in the hunt for the killer.
Amos must endure the memories he would rather forget, and when new evidence links the murders, he is left with only one option.
X by Sue Grafton (Alphabet Series #22).
Sue Grafton first introduced Kinsey Millhone in the Alphabet Series in 1982 and since then, both writer and heroine have become icons and international best sellers.
X: The number ten. An unknown quantity. A mistake. A cross. A kiss.
X: The shortest entry in Webster’s Unabridged. Derived from Greek and Latin and commonly found in science, medicine, and religion. The most graphically dramatic letter. Notoriously tricky to pronounce: think xylophone.
X: The twenty-fourth letter in the English alphabet.
Perhaps her darkest and most chilling novel, it features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this sociopath. The test is whether Kinsey can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim.
The girl in the spider's web by David Lagercrantz ; translated from the Swedish by George Goulding (Millenium series #4).
The girl is back. September 2015. See what happens next.
Acclaimed Swedish journalist and author, David Lagercrantz is continuing Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series. In this adrenaline-charged, up-to-the moment political thriller, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist have not been in touch for some time. Then Blomkvist is contacted by renowned Swedish scientist Professor Balder. Warned that his life is in danger, but more concerned for his son's well-being, Balder wants Millennium to publish his story - and it is a terrifying one. More interesting to Blomkvist than Balder's world-leading advances in Artificial Intelligence, is his connection with a certain female superhacker. It seems that Salander, like Balder, is a target of ruthless cyber gangsters - and a violent criminal conspiracy that will very soon bring terror to the snowbound streets of Stockholm, to the Millennium team, and to Blomkvist and Salander themselves.
Blood tracks by Matt Hilton
Introducing private investigator Tess Grey and Southern renegade ex-con Nicolas 'Po'
Villere in the first of a brand-new series of fast-paced action thrillers. When her local District Attorney offers her a considerable sum of money to track down state witness Crawford Wynne, private investigator Tess Grey is in no position to refuse. Wynne is one of the few men still alive who can help the State nail vicious drug lord Albert Suarez. But Tess is not the only one trying to track Wynne down. Suarez's psychotic brother Hector has been hunting and butchering anyone who is a danger to his brother. Tess needs help and there's only one man she can turn to: Southern renegade ex-con Nicolas Villere, known to all as Po. Po always gets his man, but he has never been teamed with a woman before. Both have their own agenda for taking on this case, and neither fully trusts the other. But of one thing they are sure: if they don't cover each other's backs, they are both going to die.
The ninth life by Clea Simon (A New Cat Mystery #1).
Introducing Blackie, an unusual feline hero, and his companion Care in the first of this dark new mystery series.
The past is an enigma to Blackie, the voice of Clea Simon's dark new mystery. This unusual feline hero and his pink-haired companion, Care, are two small creatures struggling to survive in a nightmarish urban landscape, fighting not only for their own lives but to avenge the memories of those they love.
Blood mist by Mark Roberts (Red River City #1).
Liverpool DCI Eve Clay hunts a Satanic killer who knows more about her past than she does. First in a gripping new series from a Dagger-shortlisted author.
DCI Eve Clay got the call at five minutes to midnight. A family of six, slaughtered in their beds, their bodies dragged out to the landing to form an arcane pattern. Outside, a blizzard rages past the well-kept houses of The Serpentine. None of the neighbours heard a sound. Someone took great care to arrange those bodies so precisely. But who? And why? Somewhere in Eve's minds, a long-buried memory flickers. But there is no time for hunches. She must find the killers before they strike again. As Liverpool holds its breath, DCI Eve Clay hunts a ruthless killer who knows more about her past than she does...
The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom #1).
The first book in Bernard Cornwell's number one bestselling series The Warrior Chronicles, on the making of England and the fate of his great hero, Uhtred of Bebbanburg. Now being adapted as a television series.
Uhtred is an English boy, born into the aristocracy of ninth-century Northumbria. Orphaned at ten, he is captured and adopted by a Dane and taught the Viking ways. Yet Uhtred's fate is indissolubly bound up with Alfred, King of Wessex, who rules over the only English kingdom to survive the Danish assault. The struggle between the English and the Danes and the strife between christianity and paganism is the background to Uhtred's growing up. He is left uncertain of his loyalties but a slaughter in a winter dawn propels him to the English side and he will become a man just as the Danes launch their fiercest attack yet on Alfred's kingdom. Marriage ties him further still to the West Saxon cause but when his wife and child vanish in the chaos of the Danish invasion, Uhtred is driven to face the greatest of the Viking chieftains in a battle beside the sea. There, in the horror of the shield-wall, he discovers his true allegiance.
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (Cormoran Strike #3)
Career of Evil is the third in the highly acclaimed series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, it is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.
When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.
Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.
With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…
The revolving door of life by Alexander McCall Smith ; illustrated by Iain McIntosh (44 Scotland Street series ; 10).
Once more, we catch up with the delightful goings-on in the fictitious 44 Scotland Street from Alexander McCall Smith. With customary charm and deftness, Alexander McCall Smith gives us another instalment in this popular series, now running in its ninth season in The Scotsman. Anything could happen to Bertie and the gang...
The shepherd's crown : a Discworld novel / Terry Pratchett (#41).
The Final DiscWorld Novel.
A Shivering Of Worlds. Deep in the Chalk, something is stirring. The owls and the foxes can sense it, and Tiffany Aching feels it in her boots. An old enemy is gathering strength. This is a time of endings and beginnings, old friends and new, a blurring of edges and a shifting of power. Now Tiffany stands between the light and the dark, the good and the bad. As the fairy horde prepares for invasion, Tiffany must summon all the witches to stand with her. To protect the land. Her land. There will be a reckoning...
The first book in a new series featuring an offbeat hero with an unusual skill set and tragic past...
When Amos Decker returned home eighteen months ago to find the bodies of his wife and only daughter, he didn't think he could carry on living. Overwhelmed with grief, he saw his life spiral out of control, losing his job as a detective, his house and his self-respect. But when his former partner in the police, Mary Lancaster, visits to tell him that someone has confessed to the murder of his family, he knows he owes it to his wife and child to seek justice for them.As Decker comes to terms with the news, tragedy strikes at the local school. Thirteen teenagers are gunned down, and the killer is at large. Following the serious brain injury Amos suffered as a professional footballer, he gained a remarkable gift - and the police believe that this unusual skill will assist in the hunt for the killer.
Amos must endure the memories he would rather forget, and when new evidence links the murders, he is left with only one option.
X by Sue Grafton (Alphabet Series #22).
Sue Grafton first introduced Kinsey Millhone in the Alphabet Series in 1982 and since then, both writer and heroine have become icons and international best sellers.
X: The number ten. An unknown quantity. A mistake. A cross. A kiss.X: The shortest entry in Webster’s Unabridged. Derived from Greek and Latin and commonly found in science, medicine, and religion. The most graphically dramatic letter. Notoriously tricky to pronounce: think xylophone.
X: The twenty-fourth letter in the English alphabet.
Perhaps her darkest and most chilling novel, it features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this sociopath. The test is whether Kinsey can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim.
The girl in the spider's web by David Lagercrantz ; translated from the Swedish by George Goulding (Millenium series #4).
The girl is back. September 2015. See what happens next.
Acclaimed Swedish journalist and author, David Lagercrantz is continuing Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series. In this adrenaline-charged, up-to-the moment political thriller, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist have not been in touch for some time. Then Blomkvist is contacted by renowned Swedish scientist Professor Balder. Warned that his life is in danger, but more concerned for his son's well-being, Balder wants Millennium to publish his story - and it is a terrifying one. More interesting to Blomkvist than Balder's world-leading advances in Artificial Intelligence, is his connection with a certain female superhacker. It seems that Salander, like Balder, is a target of ruthless cyber gangsters - and a violent criminal conspiracy that will very soon bring terror to the snowbound streets of Stockholm, to the Millennium team, and to Blomkvist and Salander themselves.
Introducing private investigator Tess Grey and Southern renegade ex-con Nicolas 'Po'
Villere in the first of a brand-new series of fast-paced action thrillers. When her local District Attorney offers her a considerable sum of money to track down state witness Crawford Wynne, private investigator Tess Grey is in no position to refuse. Wynne is one of the few men still alive who can help the State nail vicious drug lord Albert Suarez. But Tess is not the only one trying to track Wynne down. Suarez's psychotic brother Hector has been hunting and butchering anyone who is a danger to his brother. Tess needs help and there's only one man she can turn to: Southern renegade ex-con Nicolas Villere, known to all as Po. Po always gets his man, but he has never been teamed with a woman before. Both have their own agenda for taking on this case, and neither fully trusts the other. But of one thing they are sure: if they don't cover each other's backs, they are both going to die.
The ninth life by Clea Simon (A New Cat Mystery #1).
Introducing Blackie, an unusual feline hero, and his companion Care in the first of this dark new mystery series.
The past is an enigma to Blackie, the voice of Clea Simon's dark new mystery. This unusual feline hero and his pink-haired companion, Care, are two small creatures struggling to survive in a nightmarish urban landscape, fighting not only for their own lives but to avenge the memories of those they love.Blood mist by Mark Roberts (Red River City #1).
Liverpool DCI Eve Clay hunts a Satanic killer who knows more about her past than she does. First in a gripping new series from a Dagger-shortlisted author.
DCI Eve Clay got the call at five minutes to midnight. A family of six, slaughtered in their beds, their bodies dragged out to the landing to form an arcane pattern. Outside, a blizzard rages past the well-kept houses of The Serpentine. None of the neighbours heard a sound. Someone took great care to arrange those bodies so precisely. But who? And why? Somewhere in Eve's minds, a long-buried memory flickers. But there is no time for hunches. She must find the killers before they strike again. As Liverpool holds its breath, DCI Eve Clay hunts a ruthless killer who knows more about her past than she does...
The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom #1).
The first book in Bernard Cornwell's number one bestselling series The Warrior Chronicles, on the making of England and the fate of his great hero, Uhtred of Bebbanburg. Now being adapted as a television series.
Uhtred is an English boy, born into the aristocracy of ninth-century Northumbria. Orphaned at ten, he is captured and adopted by a Dane and taught the Viking ways. Yet Uhtred's fate is indissolubly bound up with Alfred, King of Wessex, who rules over the only English kingdom to survive the Danish assault. The struggle between the English and the Danes and the strife between christianity and paganism is the background to Uhtred's growing up. He is left uncertain of his loyalties but a slaughter in a winter dawn propels him to the English side and he will become a man just as the Danes launch their fiercest attack yet on Alfred's kingdom. Marriage ties him further still to the West Saxon cause but when his wife and child vanish in the chaos of the Danish invasion, Uhtred is driven to face the greatest of the Viking chieftains in a battle beside the sea. There, in the horror of the shield-wall, he discovers his true allegiance.
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (Cormoran Strike #3)
Career of Evil is the third in the highly acclaimed series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, it is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.
Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.
With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…
The revolving door of life by Alexander McCall Smith ; illustrated by Iain McIntosh (44 Scotland Street series ; 10).
Once more, we catch up with the delightful goings-on in the fictitious 44 Scotland Street from Alexander McCall Smith. With customary charm and deftness, Alexander McCall Smith gives us another instalment in this popular series, now running in its ninth season in The Scotsman. Anything could happen to Bertie and the gang...
The shepherd's crown : a Discworld novel / Terry Pratchett (#41).
The Final DiscWorld Novel.
A Shivering Of Worlds. Deep in the Chalk, something is stirring. The owls and the foxes can sense it, and Tiffany Aching feels it in her boots. An old enemy is gathering strength. This is a time of endings and beginnings, old friends and new, a blurring of edges and a shifting of power. Now Tiffany stands between the light and the dark, the good and the bad. As the fairy horde prepares for invasion, Tiffany must summon all the witches to stand with her. To protect the land. Her land. There will be a reckoning...
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