2015 ABIA Winners
2015 Australian Book Industry Award Winners.
Some highlights:
Book of the Year:
The 52 Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths; illustrated by Terry Griffiths
Andy and Terry's amazing treehouse has 13 new levels including a chainsaw-juggling level, a make-your-own-pizza parlour, a rocket-powered carrot-launcher, a life-size snakes and ladders game, a remembering booth, a Ninja Snail Training Academy and a high-tech detective agency, with all the latest high-tech detective technology, including a hot-donut vending machine! Well, what are you waiting for? Come on up!
General Fiction Book of the Year:
Winner: Lost & Found by Brooke Davis, Hachette Australia.
At seven years old, Millie Bird realises that everything is dying around her. She wasn't to know that after she had recorded twenty-seven assorted creatures in her Book of Dead Things her dad would be a Dead Thing, too.
Agatha Pantha is eighty-two and has not left her house since her husband died. She sits behind her front window, hidden by the curtains and ivy, and shouts at passers-by, roaring her anger at complete strangers. Until the day Agatha spies a young girl across the street.
Karl the Touch Typist is eighty-seven when his son kisses him on the cheek before leaving him at the nursing home. As he watches his son leave, Karl has a moment of clarity. He escapes the home and takes off in search of something different.
Three lost people needing to be found. But they don't know it yet. Millie, Agatha and Karl are about to break the rules and discover what living is all about.
Shortlist
Laurinda by Alice Pung, Black Inc.
Lost & Found by Brooke Davis, Hachette Australia.
Life or Death by Michael Robotham, Hachette Australia.
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, Macmillan.
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion, Text Publishing Company.
Literary Fiction Book of the Year:
Winner: Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke, Hachette Australia.
In Melbourne's western suburbs, in a dilapidated block of flats overhanging the rattling Footscray train lines, a young black mother is working on a collection of stories.
The book is called FOREIGN SOIL. Inside its covers, a desperate asylum seeker is pacing the hallways of Sydney's notorious Villawood detention centre, a seven-year-old Sudanese boy has found solace in a patchwork bike, an enraged black militant is on the warpath through the rebel squats of 1960s Brixton, a Mississippi housewife decides to make the ultimate sacrifice to save her son from small-town ignorance, a young woman leaves rural Jamaica in search of her destiny, and a Sydney schoolgirl loses her way.
The young mother keeps writing, the rejection letters keep arriving...
Shortlist
Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke, Hachette Australia.
When the Night Comes by Favel Parrett, Hachette Australia.
The Golden Age by Joan London, Penguin Random House.
Golden Boys by Sonya Hartnett, Penguin Random House.
Amnesia by Peter Carey, Penguin Random House.
General Non-fiction Book of the Year:
Winner: Where Song Began: Australia’s Birds and How They Changed the World by Tim Low, Penguin Random House.
Renowned for its unusual mammals, Australia is a land of birds that are just as unusual, just as striking, a result of the continent's tens of millions of years of isolation. Compared with birds elsewhere, ours are more likely to be intelligent, aggressive and loud, to live in complex societies, and are long-lived. They're also ecologically more powerful, exerting more influences on forests than other birds.
But unlike the mammals, the birds did not keep to Australia; they spread around the globe. Australia provided the world with its songbirds and parrots, the most intelligent of all bird groups. It was thought in Darwin's time that species generated in the Southern Hemisphere could not succeed in the Northern, an idea that was proven wrong in respect of birds in the 1980s but not properly accepted by the world's scientists until 2004 – because, says Tim Low, most ornithologists live in the Northern Hemisphere. As a result, few Australians are aware of the ramifications, something which prompted the writing of this book.
Shortlist
The Bush by Don Watson, Penguin Random House.
The Wife Drought by Annabel Crabb, Penguin Random House.
Where Song Began: Australia’s Birds and How They Changed the World by Tim Low, Penguin Random House.
Gallipoli by Peter Fitzsimons, Penguin Random House.
This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial by Helen Garner, Text Publishing Company.
Biography Book of the Year:
Winner: A Bone of Fact by David Walsh, Macmillan.
David Walsh - the creator of Mona in Hobart - is both a giant and an enigma in the Australian art world. A multi-millionaire who made his money gambling, David has turned a wild vision into a unique reality. He is in turns controversial, mysterious and idolised. 'A bone of fact' is his utterly unconventional and absorbing memoir...
Shortlist
Never, Um, Ever Ending Story by Melly Meldrum, Allen & Unwin.
Love Your Sister by Connie Johnson and Samuel Johnson, Hachette Australia.
Optimism: Reflections on a Life of Action by Bob Brown, Hardie Grant Publishing.
A Bone of Fact by David Walsh, Macmillan.
My Story by Julia Gillard, Penguin Random House.
International Book of the Year:
Winner: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, HarperCollins.
Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure's agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall.
In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.
Shortlist
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, Allen & Unwin.
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, HarperCollins.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, HarperCollins.
Yes Please by Amy Poehler, Macmillan.
Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi, Penguin Random House.
Matt Richell Award for New Writer:
Winner: Lost & Found by Brooke Davis, Hachette Australia.
The heart-warming Australian debut that's been sold around the world will have you laughing, crying and, by the end, feeling just a little wiser...
Shortlist
The Tea Chest by Josephine Moon, Allen & Unwin.
Lost & Found by Brooke Davis, Hachette Australia.
Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke, Hachette Australia.
Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey, Penguin Random House.
Here Come the Dogs by Omar Musa, Penguin Random House.
Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year:
Winner: Diary of a Foreign Minister by Bob Carr, NewSouth Books and Publishing.
Six years after vacating his position as the longest-serving Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr returned to politics in his dream job: as Foreign Minister of Australia and a senior federal cabinet minister.
For 18 months he kept a diary documenting a whirl of high-stakes events on the world stage – the election of Australia to the UN Security Council, the war in Syria and meetings with the most powerful people on the planet. And they all unfold against the gripping, uncertain domestic backdrop of Labor Party infighting, plummeting polls and a leadership change from Gillard back to Rudd.
This compelling diary provides an intimate glimpse into the day-to-day workings of a foreign minister and proves that Carr is not only a master politician and statesman, but a great writer as well.
Shortlist
The Voice: My Story by Ray Warren, With Andrew Webster, Black Inc.
Australian Notebooks by Betty Churcher, Melbourne University Publishing.
Diary of a Foreign Minister by Bob Carr, NewSouth Books and Publishing.
A Murder Unmentioned by Sulari Gentill, Pantera Press.
How I Rescued My Brain by David Roland, Scribe Publications.
You can read the lists of all winners at ABIA Awards
Some highlights:
Book of the Year:
The 52 Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths; illustrated by Terry Griffiths
Andy and Terry's amazing treehouse has 13 new levels including a chainsaw-juggling level, a make-your-own-pizza parlour, a rocket-powered carrot-launcher, a life-size snakes and ladders game, a remembering booth, a Ninja Snail Training Academy and a high-tech detective agency, with all the latest high-tech detective technology, including a hot-donut vending machine! Well, what are you waiting for? Come on up!
General Fiction Book of the Year:
Winner: Lost & Found by Brooke Davis, Hachette Australia.
At seven years old, Millie Bird realises that everything is dying around her. She wasn't to know that after she had recorded twenty-seven assorted creatures in her Book of Dead Things her dad would be a Dead Thing, too.
Agatha Pantha is eighty-two and has not left her house since her husband died. She sits behind her front window, hidden by the curtains and ivy, and shouts at passers-by, roaring her anger at complete strangers. Until the day Agatha spies a young girl across the street.
Karl the Touch Typist is eighty-seven when his son kisses him on the cheek before leaving him at the nursing home. As he watches his son leave, Karl has a moment of clarity. He escapes the home and takes off in search of something different.
Three lost people needing to be found. But they don't know it yet. Millie, Agatha and Karl are about to break the rules and discover what living is all about.
Shortlist
Laurinda by Alice Pung, Black Inc.
Lost & Found by Brooke Davis, Hachette Australia.
Life or Death by Michael Robotham, Hachette Australia.
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, Macmillan.
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion, Text Publishing Company.
Literary Fiction Book of the Year:
Winner: Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke, Hachette Australia.
The book is called FOREIGN SOIL. Inside its covers, a desperate asylum seeker is pacing the hallways of Sydney's notorious Villawood detention centre, a seven-year-old Sudanese boy has found solace in a patchwork bike, an enraged black militant is on the warpath through the rebel squats of 1960s Brixton, a Mississippi housewife decides to make the ultimate sacrifice to save her son from small-town ignorance, a young woman leaves rural Jamaica in search of her destiny, and a Sydney schoolgirl loses her way.
The young mother keeps writing, the rejection letters keep arriving...
Shortlist
Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke, Hachette Australia.
When the Night Comes by Favel Parrett, Hachette Australia.
The Golden Age by Joan London, Penguin Random House.
Golden Boys by Sonya Hartnett, Penguin Random House.
Amnesia by Peter Carey, Penguin Random House.
General Non-fiction Book of the Year:
Winner: Where Song Began: Australia’s Birds and How They Changed the World by Tim Low, Penguin Random House.
But unlike the mammals, the birds did not keep to Australia; they spread around the globe. Australia provided the world with its songbirds and parrots, the most intelligent of all bird groups. It was thought in Darwin's time that species generated in the Southern Hemisphere could not succeed in the Northern, an idea that was proven wrong in respect of birds in the 1980s but not properly accepted by the world's scientists until 2004 – because, says Tim Low, most ornithologists live in the Northern Hemisphere. As a result, few Australians are aware of the ramifications, something which prompted the writing of this book.
Shortlist
The Bush by Don Watson, Penguin Random House.
The Wife Drought by Annabel Crabb, Penguin Random House.
Where Song Began: Australia’s Birds and How They Changed the World by Tim Low, Penguin Random House.
Gallipoli by Peter Fitzsimons, Penguin Random House.
This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial by Helen Garner, Text Publishing Company.
Biography Book of the Year:
Winner: A Bone of Fact by David Walsh, Macmillan.
Shortlist
Never, Um, Ever Ending Story by Melly Meldrum, Allen & Unwin.
Love Your Sister by Connie Johnson and Samuel Johnson, Hachette Australia.
Optimism: Reflections on a Life of Action by Bob Brown, Hardie Grant Publishing.
A Bone of Fact by David Walsh, Macmillan.
My Story by Julia Gillard, Penguin Random House.
International Book of the Year:
Winner: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, HarperCollins.
In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.
Shortlist
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, Allen & Unwin.
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, HarperCollins.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, HarperCollins.
Yes Please by Amy Poehler, Macmillan.
Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi, Penguin Random House.
Matt Richell Award for New Writer:
Winner: Lost & Found by Brooke Davis, Hachette Australia.
The heart-warming Australian debut that's been sold around the world will have you laughing, crying and, by the end, feeling just a little wiser...Shortlist
The Tea Chest by Josephine Moon, Allen & Unwin.
Lost & Found by Brooke Davis, Hachette Australia.
Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke, Hachette Australia.
Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey, Penguin Random House.
Here Come the Dogs by Omar Musa, Penguin Random House.
Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year:
Winner: Diary of a Foreign Minister by Bob Carr, NewSouth Books and Publishing.
For 18 months he kept a diary documenting a whirl of high-stakes events on the world stage – the election of Australia to the UN Security Council, the war in Syria and meetings with the most powerful people on the planet. And they all unfold against the gripping, uncertain domestic backdrop of Labor Party infighting, plummeting polls and a leadership change from Gillard back to Rudd.
This compelling diary provides an intimate glimpse into the day-to-day workings of a foreign minister and proves that Carr is not only a master politician and statesman, but a great writer as well.
Shortlist
The Voice: My Story by Ray Warren, With Andrew Webster, Black Inc.
Australian Notebooks by Betty Churcher, Melbourne University Publishing.
Diary of a Foreign Minister by Bob Carr, NewSouth Books and Publishing.
A Murder Unmentioned by Sulari Gentill, Pantera Press.
How I Rescued My Brain by David Roland, Scribe Publications.
You can read the lists of all winners at ABIA Awards
NSW Premiers Literary Awards Winners 2015
The NSW Premier’s Literary Awards were announced on Monday 18 May 2015 by the Acting Premier for NSW and Minister for the Arts, the Honourable Troy Grant MP.
Congratulations to all the winners.
Some highlights:
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
Winner: The Snow Kimono by Mark Henshaw
Paris: 1989. Recently retired Inspector of Police Auguste Jovert receives a letter from a woman who claims to be his daughter. Two days later, a stranger comes knocking on his door.
Set in Paris and Japan, The Snow Kimono tells the stories of Inspector Jovert, former Professor of Law Tadashi Omura, and his one-time friend the writer Katsuo Ikeda. All three men have lied to themselves, and to each other. And these lies are about to catch up with them.
Shortlist
Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey
In Certain Circles by Elizabeth Harrower
Golden Boys by Sonya Hartnett
The Snow Kimono by Mark Henshaw
The Golden Age by Joan London
A Million Windows by Gerald Murnane
UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
Winner: An Elegant Young Man, Luke Carman
For a long time Western Sydney has been the political flash-point of the nation, but it has been absent from Australian literature. Luke Carman’s first book of fiction changeS all that: a collection of monologues and stories which tells it how it is on Australia’s cultural frontier. His young, self-conscious but determined hero navigates his way through the complications of his divorced family, and an often perilous social world, with its Fobs, Lebbbos, Greek, Serbs, Grubby Boys and scumbag Aussies, friends and enemies. He loves Whitman and Kerouac, Leonard Cohen and Henry Rollins, is awkward with girls, and has an invisible friend called Tom. His neighbour Wessam tells him he should write a book called How to Be Gay – and now he has. Carman’s style is packed with thought and energy: it captures the voices of the street, and conveys fear and anger, beauty and affection, with a restless intensity.
Shortlist
The Tribe by Michael Mohammed Ahmad
Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke
The Strays by Emily Bitto
An Elegant Young Man by Luke Carman
Here Come the Dogs by Omar Musa
Heat and Light by Ellen van Neerven
Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult's Literature
Winner: The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty
It's not easy being Princess Ko. Her family is missing, taken to the World through cracks in the Kingdom, which were then sealed tightly behind them. Now Princess Ko is running the Kingdom, and war is looming. To help her find her family, she gathers a special group of teens, including Elliot Baranski of the Farms. He's been writing secret letters to a Girl-in-the World named Madeleine Tully - and now the Kingdom needs her help. Madeleine and Elliot must locate the missing royals, convince them of their true identities, and figure out how to unlock the dangerous cracks between the Kingdom and the World. All before their enemies can stop them.
Shortlist
Book of Days by K.A. Barker
The Road to Gundagai by Jackie French
Are You Seeing Me? by Darren Groth
Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier
The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty
Cracked by Clare Strahan
Read more and find a complete list of winners and shortlists in each category at 2015 NSW Premier's Literary Awards.
Congratulations to all the winners.
Some highlights:
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
Winner: The Snow Kimono by Mark Henshaw
Set in Paris and Japan, The Snow Kimono tells the stories of Inspector Jovert, former Professor of Law Tadashi Omura, and his one-time friend the writer Katsuo Ikeda. All three men have lied to themselves, and to each other. And these lies are about to catch up with them.
Shortlist
Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey
In Certain Circles by Elizabeth Harrower
Golden Boys by Sonya Hartnett
The Snow Kimono by Mark Henshaw
The Golden Age by Joan London
A Million Windows by Gerald Murnane
UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
Winner: An Elegant Young Man, Luke Carman
For a long time Western Sydney has been the political flash-point of the nation, but it has been absent from Australian literature. Luke Carman’s first book of fiction changeS all that: a collection of monologues and stories which tells it how it is on Australia’s cultural frontier. His young, self-conscious but determined hero navigates his way through the complications of his divorced family, and an often perilous social world, with its Fobs, Lebbbos, Greek, Serbs, Grubby Boys and scumbag Aussies, friends and enemies. He loves Whitman and Kerouac, Leonard Cohen and Henry Rollins, is awkward with girls, and has an invisible friend called Tom. His neighbour Wessam tells him he should write a book called How to Be Gay – and now he has. Carman’s style is packed with thought and energy: it captures the voices of the street, and conveys fear and anger, beauty and affection, with a restless intensity.Shortlist
The Tribe by Michael Mohammed Ahmad
Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke
The Strays by Emily Bitto
An Elegant Young Man by Luke Carman
Here Come the Dogs by Omar Musa
Heat and Light by Ellen van Neerven
Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult's Literature
Winner: The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty
It's not easy being Princess Ko. Her family is missing, taken to the World through cracks in the Kingdom, which were then sealed tightly behind them. Now Princess Ko is running the Kingdom, and war is looming. To help her find her family, she gathers a special group of teens, including Elliot Baranski of the Farms. He's been writing secret letters to a Girl-in-the World named Madeleine Tully - and now the Kingdom needs her help. Madeleine and Elliot must locate the missing royals, convince them of their true identities, and figure out how to unlock the dangerous cracks between the Kingdom and the World. All before their enemies can stop them.Shortlist
Book of Days by K.A. Barker
The Road to Gundagai by Jackie French
Are You Seeing Me? by Darren Groth
Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier
The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty
Cracked by Clare Strahan
Read more and find a complete list of winners and shortlists in each category at 2015 NSW Premier's Literary Awards.
A sting in the tale: Books about bees
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
A coming of age tale set in South Carolina in 1964, this book tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed.
When Lily’s fierce-hearted black “stand-in mother,” Rosaleen, insults three of the town’s most vicious racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina—a town that holds the secret to her mother’s past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love—a story that women will continue to share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice is the first in a series of books to follow the adventures of Mary Russell, a gawky, egotistical, recently orphaned young lady who literally falls into the lap of Sherlock Holmes. Though he appears long retired from crime fighting, and is quietly engaged in raising honeybees on his Sussex estate, Russell piques his interest and in short order impresses the detective with her intellect and powers of deduction. Under his tutelage, this very modern twentieth century woman proves a deft protégée and a fitting partner for the Victorian detective,
and in this first volume, we witness the formative years of a character who will grow and develop over many books to come.
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice is the first in a series of books to follow the adventures of Mary Russell, a gawky, egotistical, recently orphaned young lady who literally falls into the lap of Sherlock Holmes. Though he appears long retired from crime fighting, and is quietly engaged in raising honeybees on his Sussex estate, Russell piques his interest and in short order impresses the detective with her intellect and powers of deduction. Under his tutelage, this very modern twentieth century woman proves a deft protégée and a fitting partner for the Victorian detective,
and in this first volume, we witness the formative years of a character who will grow and develop over many books to come.
Travels in blood and honey by Elizabeth Gowing
Kosovo: the name conjures up blood: ethnic cleansing and war. This book reveals another side to the newest country in the world a land of generous families, strong tastes and lush landscapes: a land of honey. Elizabeth Gowing is rushed to Kosovo, on a blind date with the place , when her partner is suddenly offered the position of adviser to Prime Minister Agim Çeku. Knowing nothing of the language or politics, she is thrown into a world of unpronounceable nouns, unfamiliar foods and bewilderingly hospitable people. On her first birthday in Kosovo she is given a beehive as a gift, and starts on a beekeeping apprenticeship with an unknown family; through their friendship and history she begins to understand her new home. Her apprenticeship leads her to other beekeepers too: retired guerrilla fighters, victims of human trafficking, political activists, a women’s beekeeping group who teach her how to dance, and the Prime Minister himself. She dons a beekeeper’s veil, sees the bees safely through winter, manages to use a smoker, learns about wicker skeps, gets stung, harvests her honey and drizzles it over everything.
The Honey Thief by Najaf Mazari & Robert Hillman
The mystery and wonder of Afghanistan comes to life in these tales of leopards that sing and bees that sneeze, of horseshoe bats in flights that blot out the sun, and of blackbirds that bring golden apples to earth from heaven.
The bees by Laline Paull
Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, a member of the lowest caste in her orchard hive where work and sacrifice are the highest virtues and worship of the beloved Queen the only religion. But Flora is not like other bees. With circumstances threatening the hive’s survival, her curiosity is regarded as a dangerous flaw but her courage and strength are an asset. She is allowed to feed the newborns in the royal nursery and then to become a forager, flying alone and free to collect pollen. She also finds her way into the Queen’s inner sanctum, where she discovers mysteries about the hive that are both profound and ominous.But when Flora breaks the most sacred law of all—daring to challenge the Queen’s fertility—enemies abound, from the fearsome fertility police who enforce the strict social hierarchy to the high priestesses jealously wedded to power. Her deepest instincts to serve and sacrifice are now overshadowed by an even deeper desire, a fierce maternal love that will bring her into conflict with her conscience, her heart, her society—and lead her to unthinkable deeds.
The wedding bees by Sarah -Kate Lynch
A charmingly witty tale of honey, love and manners set in New York When Sugar Wallace arrives in Manhattan with nothing but a beehive, a secret past and a taste for good manners, life starts to change for the dispirited occupants of 33 Flores Street. But as love wings its way into their hearts and homes, it flies away from Sugar herself, until a doorman without a door and a certain busy queen join forces in a sting to end all stings. It looks like love might be in the air once more ... but for how long?
Isabel Johansen, a celebrated chef who grew up in the sleepy Sonoma town of Archangel, is transforming her childhood home into a destination cooking school—a unique place for other dreamers to come and learn the culinary arts. Bella Vista's rambling mission-style hacienda, with its working apple orchards, bountiful gardens and beehives, is the idyllic venue for Isabel's project…and the perfect place for her to forget the past.But Isabel's carefully ordered plans begin to go awry when swaggering, war-torn journalist Cormac O'Neill arrives to dig up old history. He's always been better at exposing the lives of others than showing his own closely-guarded heart, but the pleasures of small-town life and the searing sensuality of Isabel's kitchen coax him into revealing a few truths of his own.
Clade by James BradleyOn a beach in Antarctica, scientist Adam Leith marks the passage of the summer solstice. Back in Sydney his partner Elllie waits for the results of her latest round of IVF treatment. That result, when it comes, will change both their lives and propel them into a future neither could have predicted. In a collapsing England Adam will battle to survive an apocalyptic storm. Against a backdrop of growing civil unrest at home, Ellie will discover a strange affinity with beekeeping. In the aftermath of a pandemic, a young man finds solace in building virtual recreations of the dead. And new connections will be formed from the most unlikely beginnings.
The prophecy of bees by R.S Pateman
Moving to Stagcote Manor was meant to be a fresh start for Lindy and her teenage daughter Izzy. A chance at a new life in the country after things went so wrong in London. But for Izzy it is a prison sentence.There's something about the house that she can't quite put her finger on. Something strange and unnerving. As Izzy begins to explore the manor and the village beyond its walls, she discovers the locals have a lot of bizarre superstitions and beliefs. Many of them related to the manor . . . and those who live there.
When Izzy begins to investigate the history of the estate, her unease deepens to fear as the house's chilling past finally comes to light.
Sherlock Holmes & the Lady In Black by June Thomson (on order, no book cover available).
The infamous Sherlock Holmes, now in his retirement, has turned his attention to his beekeeping hobby. But when a shadowy figure is seen walking below the cliffs one night, Holmes cannot resist the temptation of solving one more mystery. He summons his old flatmate and confidante Dr Watson to help.
Miles Franklin Award Shortlist 2015
Congratulations to the six authors who have been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, 2015. You can request copies of each of these shortlisted books from the Library. Who do you think should win?
Golden Boys by Sonya Hartnett
With their father, there's always a catch . . .
Colt Jenson and his younger brother Bastian have moved to a new, working-class suburb. The Jensons are different. Their father, Rex, showers them with gifts – toys, bikes, all that glitters most – and makes them the envy of the neighbourhood.
To Freya Kiley and the other local kids, the Jensons are a family from a magazine, and Rex a hero – successful, attentive, attractive, always there to lend a hand. But to Colt he's an impossible figure in a different way: unbearable, suffocating. Has Colt got Rex wrong, or has he seen something in his father that will destroy their fragile new lives?
The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna
Meet Jimmy Flick. He's not like other kids - he's both too fast and too slow. He sees too much, and too little. Jimmy's mother Paula is the only one who can manage him. She teaches him how to count sheep so that he can fall asleep. She holds him tight enough to stop his cells spinning. It is only Paula who can keep Jimmy out of his father's way. But when Jimmy's world falls apart, he has to navigate the unfathomable world on his own, and make things right.
The Golden Age by Joan London
It is 1954 and thirteen-year-old Frank Gold, refugee from wartime Hungary, is learning to walk again after contracting polio in Australia. At The Golden Age Children's Polio Convalescent Hospital in Perth, he sees Elsa, a fellow-patient, and they form a forbidden, passionate bond.
The Golden Age becomes the little world that reflects the larger one, where everything occurs, love and desire, music, death, and poetry. Where children must learn that they are alone, even within their families.
After Darkness by Christine Piper
It is early 1942 and Australia is in the midst of war.
While working at a Japanese hospital in the pearling port of Broome, Dr Ibaraki is arrested as an enemy alien and sent to Loveday internment camp in a remote corner of South Australia. There, he learns to live among a group of men who are divided by culture and allegiance. As tensions at the isolated camp escalate, the doctor's long-held beliefs are thrown into question and he is forced to confront his dark past: the promise he made in Japan and its devastating consequences.
Tree Palace by Craig Sherborne
They tried Mansfield but it was freezing and snowed and people like them don’t fit in because they don’t look prosperous. One time near Yellingbo they found a church no one prayed in and they lived there and for three weeks had stained glass for windows…They got chased out and went to Shepparton but Shane had a run-in and police said move.
Shane, Moira and Midge, along with young Zara and Rory, are ‘trants’—itinerants roaming the plains north-west of Melbourne in search of disused houses to sleep in, or to strip of heritage fittings when funds are low. When they find their Tree Palace outside Barleyville, things are looking up. At last, a place in which to settle down.
But Zara, fifteen, is pregnant and doesn’t want a child. She’d rather a normal life with town boys, not trant life with a baby. Moira decides to step in: she’ll look after her grandchild. Then Shane finds himself in trouble with the local cops…
The winnner will be announced 23 June and will receive the $60,000 in prize money for their novel judged as being ‘of the highest literary merit’ and which presents ‘Australian life in any of its phases’.
We love reading... Staff picks May 2015
Lyrebird hill by Anna Romer
Ruby Cardel lives on the NSW coast is a successful bookshop owner, in love with her partner and set on a path to security and happiness.
Whilst attending her estranged mother's art exhibition, an unguarded comment from an old neighbour, pulls at a thread that will unravel all that Ruby had believed about herself, her mother and the death of her sister Jamie.
Ruby deciding that she has been running from her past long enough, returns to Lyrebird Hill in the hope of reclaiming her lost memories from the year of Jamie's death.
One newly returned memory results in the discovery of old letters of Brenna Magavin, a long forgotten relative imprisoned in Tasmania for murder, which reveal Ruby's family line to be littered with tragedy and violence.
The story follows both women as they uncover family secrets and deal with the ramifications of that knowledge.
Lyrebird Hill is easy to read as it keeps you wondering what's going to be revealed next.
~Reviewed by Jacinta
Half broke horses by Jeanette Walls
This is the book for people who complain that kids are too cosseted and protected these days. There is not greater contrast than the fictionalized biography of the author’s Grandmother, Lily Smith. She was born and raised in a dirt house (a big disadvantage in wet weather) and was fearlessly breaking horses at six years of age. The knack she said, was knowing the right way to fall.
She was passionate about horses but also about education and learning. She loved school and was devastated when her education was stopped. Her feckless father had spent the tuition fees on buying a couple of exotic dogs, which, chasing cattle in rural Texas were shot and killed.
Lily never let a setback stop her and it was with this dauntless spirit that found her at the age of 15 riding alone to a teaching position 500 miles from her home and family.
This dauntless spirit continues throughout book. The writing catches her strong personality brilliantly and I loved some of the phrases she used to depict some of the dodgy characters or “crumb bums” she meets. My favourite had to be her description of some pretentiously genteel city women as “honking lace panties”.
This humour and her gobsmacking reactions to so many tragedies and hardships made this a riveting read.
~Reviewed by Kaye
Ruby Cardel lives on the NSW coast is a successful bookshop owner, in love with her partner and set on a path to security and happiness.
Whilst attending her estranged mother's art exhibition, an unguarded comment from an old neighbour, pulls at a thread that will unravel all that Ruby had believed about herself, her mother and the death of her sister Jamie.
Ruby deciding that she has been running from her past long enough, returns to Lyrebird Hill in the hope of reclaiming her lost memories from the year of Jamie's death.
One newly returned memory results in the discovery of old letters of Brenna Magavin, a long forgotten relative imprisoned in Tasmania for murder, which reveal Ruby's family line to be littered with tragedy and violence.
The story follows both women as they uncover family secrets and deal with the ramifications of that knowledge.
Lyrebird Hill is easy to read as it keeps you wondering what's going to be revealed next.
~Reviewed by Jacinta
The Meredith Trilogy by George Johnston 1912 - 1970
My Brother Jack (Book #1) This trilogy I could read and re-read, for its richness both of content and prose. It is semi-autobiographical, with David Meredith an alias for George Johnson himself, and it plots his life as a child, then as a journalist on the Melbourne Argus, his marriage, divorce and self-exile with a new family to the Greek Island of Hydra in the 60s, then his return to Australia, all the while seeking the unattainable. Most people are familiar with the best-seller first book My Brother Jack from its dramatisation, or school study. Even though I first read it 40 years ago, many bits remain vivid, such as the memory of the different colours of stained glass in the front door, so fascinating for a child, and the relationship between the brothers, one a practical Aussie battler, the other the intellectual. It won the Miles Franklin Award in 1964.
The second book Clean Straw for Nothing depicts David and Cressida Morley (in reality Charmian Clift the author) seeking to escape the cultural wasteland in Australia in the 50s and 60s in a bohemian community on Hydra, and the children growing up bi-lingual. But even this is fraught with personal problems and they return to London. Meanwhile David has serious lung problems.
The final (unfinished) book, "A Cartload of Clay", sees the now aging and ailing David making sure he is able to walk the distance to his daughter's traditional Greek wedding, and sitting breathless on a bench in a Melbourne street, reminiscing about his life. This is beautifully crafted, as it brings together all the themes of the previous two books, and contains such nostalgia and wisdom. I love the characters of the prim piano teacher, crackling with starch, and the ignorant but kind man who cannot believe anyone would own so many books. The author passed away before he could finish this slender volume, but somehow that is appropriately poignant, and just enough.
A true Australian classic.......
~Reviewed by Janet
My Brother Jack (Book #1) This trilogy I could read and re-read, for its richness both of content and prose. It is semi-autobiographical, with David Meredith an alias for George Johnson himself, and it plots his life as a child, then as a journalist on the Melbourne Argus, his marriage, divorce and self-exile with a new family to the Greek Island of Hydra in the 60s, then his return to Australia, all the while seeking the unattainable. Most people are familiar with the best-seller first book My Brother Jack from its dramatisation, or school study. Even though I first read it 40 years ago, many bits remain vivid, such as the memory of the different colours of stained glass in the front door, so fascinating for a child, and the relationship between the brothers, one a practical Aussie battler, the other the intellectual. It won the Miles Franklin Award in 1964.
The second book Clean Straw for Nothing depicts David and Cressida Morley (in reality Charmian Clift the author) seeking to escape the cultural wasteland in Australia in the 50s and 60s in a bohemian community on Hydra, and the children growing up bi-lingual. But even this is fraught with personal problems and they return to London. Meanwhile David has serious lung problems.
The final (unfinished) book, "A Cartload of Clay", sees the now aging and ailing David making sure he is able to walk the distance to his daughter's traditional Greek wedding, and sitting breathless on a bench in a Melbourne street, reminiscing about his life. This is beautifully crafted, as it brings together all the themes of the previous two books, and contains such nostalgia and wisdom. I love the characters of the prim piano teacher, crackling with starch, and the ignorant but kind man who cannot believe anyone would own so many books. The author passed away before he could finish this slender volume, but somehow that is appropriately poignant, and just enough.
A true Australian classic.......
~Reviewed by Janet
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
This was a captivating read with a fairytale like feel to it. The story is about two sisters, Gillian and Sally Owen, who being orphaned at a young age, go to live in a small Massachusetts town with their mysterious and eccentric aunts, who just happen to be witches. The aunts are known for their love potions that come with a warning- be careful what you wish for...
The sisters can't wait to grow up and get away from the aunts to pursue 'normal lives'. Being polar opposite in personality and outlook, the sisters lives follow very different paths, but ultimately they discover family, friendship and love are what life is about. This book is not all about witchcraft, it's more magical realism, with storylines focusing on relationships, love and loss, along with some supernatural elements such as a vengeful ghost wrecking havoc thrown in. The characters were well drawn and the writing is beautiful - with vivid descriptions of the settings. Friendship, family, love and magic, you'll find them all in this delightful book.
The sisters can't wait to grow up and get away from the aunts to pursue 'normal lives'. Being polar opposite in personality and outlook, the sisters lives follow very different paths, but ultimately they discover family, friendship and love are what life is about. This book is not all about witchcraft, it's more magical realism, with storylines focusing on relationships, love and loss, along with some supernatural elements such as a vengeful ghost wrecking havoc thrown in. The characters were well drawn and the writing is beautiful - with vivid descriptions of the settings. Friendship, family, love and magic, you'll find them all in this delightful book.
~Reviewed by Monique
Assisted by Bernard and Isobel Pearson
Derived from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, “The World of Poo” is a book written by those who know what makes kids laugh. Adults will have a decent chuckle as well. It is also a source of interesting facts about, er, excrement. For Discworld fans there are many informative foot notes, as the story’s hero, young Geoffrey, explores the famous city of Ankh-Morpork, from his Grand-Mama’s house to the domain of the “King of S..t”, Sir Harry King, the man who turns dung into gold. In his search for exhibits for the new Geoffreys Poo Mooseum (sic), our intrepid hero leaves no stone unturned, or turd undisturbed, if you will. We learn of such faecal heroes as the night-soil men, dunnakin divers and gongfermors, who didn’t have many friends, but were well respected - as they walked down the street everyone would quickly step out of their way and let them pass. And how dog droppings helped make the very best leather (white was the best – the “pure”). You will also come across many, many words for the subject “matter”. Pratchett at his humorous best, with appropriate period illustrations throughout by Peter Dennis. For Discworld and Pratchett fans, but also for anyone who likes a laugh. And you never know, you might learn something!
~Reviewed by Glenn
~Reviewed by Glenn
This is the book for people who complain that kids are too cosseted and protected these days. There is not greater contrast than the fictionalized biography of the author’s Grandmother, Lily Smith. She was born and raised in a dirt house (a big disadvantage in wet weather) and was fearlessly breaking horses at six years of age. The knack she said, was knowing the right way to fall.She was passionate about horses but also about education and learning. She loved school and was devastated when her education was stopped. Her feckless father had spent the tuition fees on buying a couple of exotic dogs, which, chasing cattle in rural Texas were shot and killed.
Lily never let a setback stop her and it was with this dauntless spirit that found her at the age of 15 riding alone to a teaching position 500 miles from her home and family.
This dauntless spirit continues throughout book. The writing catches her strong personality brilliantly and I loved some of the phrases she used to depict some of the dodgy characters or “crumb bums” she meets. My favourite had to be her description of some pretentiously genteel city women as “honking lace panties”.
This humour and her gobsmacking reactions to so many tragedies and hardships made this a riveting read.
~Reviewed by Kaye
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