Nicotine by Nell Zink

$13.95 AUD

Category: FICTION | Reading Level: very good

From the much acclaimed author of MISLAID and THE WALLCREEPER, a fierce and audaciously funny novel of families-both the ones we're born into and the ones we create-a story of obsession, idealism, and ownership, centered around a young woman who inherits her bohemian late father's childhood home. Recent business school graduate Penny Baker has rebelled against her family her whole life-by being the conventional one. Her mother, Amalia, was a member of a South American tribe called the Kogi; her much older father, Norm, long ago attained cult-like deity status among a certain cohort of ageing hippies while operating a psychedelic 'healing centre.' And she's never felt particularly close to her much older half-brothers from Norm's previous marriage-one wickedly charming and obscenely rich (but mostly just wicked), one a photographer on a distant tropical island. But all that changes when her father dies, and Penny inherits his childhood home in New Jersey. She goes to investigate the property and finds it not overgrown and abandoned, but rather occupied by a group of friendly anarchist squatters whom she finds unexpectedly charming, and who have renamed the property "Nicotine." The Nicotine residents (united in defence of smokers' rights) possess the type of passion and fervour Penny feels she's desperately lacking, and the other squatter houses in the neighbourhood provide a sense of community she has never felt before. She soon moves into a nearby residence, becoming enmeshed in the political fervour and commitment of her fellow squatters. As the Baker family's lives begin to converge around the fate of the house now called Nicotine, Penny grows ever bolder and more desperate to protect it-and its residents-until a fateful night when a reckless confrontation between her old family and her new one changes everything. Nell Zink exquisitely captures the clash between Baby-Boomer idealism and Millennial pragmatism, between the have-nots and want-mores, in a riotous yet tender novel that brilliantly encapsulates our time. ...Show more

Hero For Hire/Hero For Hire/Shadow Hawk/A Royal Mess by Jill Shalvis

$13.95 AUD

Category: FICTION

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis brings you three classic stories about finding yourself in unexpected predicaments...Hero For HireBrazilian heiress Terry Monteverde was supposedly killed in a tragic accident. But how could a dead woman give birth to a baby? Bounty hunter Rick Singleton go es underground in Rio to find out.His only lead is Terry's sister, Nina Monteverde. She's sweet, shy  and not telling what she knows. Rick's a dangerous man to cross, but Nina's not afraid...Rick is. He's defenceless against her innocent charm. And that scares the hell out of him.Shadow HawkWhen his latest mission turns into a bloodbath, Agent Conner Hawk realises he has been set up by someone at the top. Wounded and on the run, he has no choice but to take beautiful Abby Wells hostage. After all, she's in danger too.And if the only way to keep the fiercely independent communications expert safe is to cuff her and bring her along for the ride, he'll do it. Only, given their close contact, it's not long before Hawk's thinking about a totally different kind of pleasure.A Royal MessFirst she's bumped from first class to coach, then she's robbed, gets soaked in a rainstorm and now is stranded on a ranch full of animals she's afraid of!As far as days go, Princess Natalia Brunner has definitely had better ones. If not for the timely rescue by a good-looking cowboy, she would have quit this day long ago. But just like the old Westerns, the sexy Tim Banning has her thinking she should hang up her tiara and stay awhile... ...Show more

The Rules of Backyard Croquet by Sunni Overend

$13.95 AUD

Category: FICTION

All's fair in love and couture ... Fashion and love collide in the stylish new novel from the author of The Dangers of Truffle Hunting. Disgraced fashion prodigy Apple March has gone into hiding, concealing herself within the cashmere and silk folds of a formerly grand fashion boutique - the hanging of blouses and handling of difficult patrons now her only concern.But when her sister Poppy needs a wedding dress, old passions are reignited ... along with threats from her past.As Apple finds herself falling for someone she shouldn't, her quest to re-emerge becomes entangled in a time she wants forgotten, and life unravels as quickly as it began to mend.From the cool heart of Melbourne, to Paris and New York, in an effervescent world of croquet, Campari and cocoon coats, can Apple prevail over demons past to become the woman she was born to be?Praise for The Dangers of Truffle Hunting:'It's Overend's way with words that had us picking the book and giving it prime position as our #1 read' Vogue'Exotic and exciting ... well developed characters ... richly detailed ... enjoyable summer read ... just divine!' Books + Publishing'[This book] is insanely attractive. It has it all - lust, love, fame, wine, rich people, the whole shebang. It had me rooting for the protagonist and left me heart-warmed throughout' Fashion Journal ...Show more

Bring Me Back by B. A. Paris

$13.95 AUD

Category: FICTION

THE NEW TWISTY, GRIPPING READ FROM B. A. PARIS, THE AUTHOR OF THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLING NOVELS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS AND THE BREAKDOWN "We're in a new Golden Age of suspense writing now, because of amazing books like Bring Me Back, and I for one am loving it." --Lee Child "[An ] outstanding Hitchcockian thriller." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) She went missing. He moved on. A whole world of secrets remained--until now. Finn and Layla are young, in love, and on vacation. They're driving along the highway when Finn decides to stop at a service station to use the restroom. He hops out of the car, locks the doors behind him, and goes inside. When he returns Layla is gone--never to be seen again. That is the story Finn told to the police. But it is not the whole story. Ten years later Finn is engaged to Layla's sister, Ellen. Their shared grief over what happened to Layla drew them close and now they intend to remain together. Still, there's something about Ellen that Finn has never fully understood. His heart wants to believe that she is the one for him...even though a sixth sense tells him not to trust her. Then, not long before he and Ellen are to be married, Finn gets a phone call. Someone from his past has seen Layla--hiding in plain sight. There are other odd occurrences: Long-lost items from Layla's past that keep turning up around Finn and Ellen's house. Emails from strangers who seem to know too much. Secret messages, clues, warnings. If Layla is alive--and on Finn's trail--what does she want? And how much does she know? A tour de force of psychological suspense, Bring Me Back will have you questioning everything and everyone until its stunning climax. ...Show more

Security by Susan Hoddy

$25.00 AUD

Category: FICTION

The tale of an Australian woman who had to let go of the past and look into the future. Whether a loved one is taken from us through a prolonged illness or suddenly unexpected, our mind and body goes through a world of change. Death is something that we all experience at some stage of our lives; but no t very often, hence we don't get an opportunity to learn how to deal with it. Rebecca Landers has a perfect life. A loving and devoted husband, a close relationship with her daughter, a wonderful job, and lots of amazing friends and family in her home city of Perth. What more could she ask for in life? When a sudden unexpected tragedy strikes Rebecca, her world is shattered and she is confronted with having to cope with a future of being alone. As the days seems to roll into weeks, and then months, she knows she has to eventually draw on every bit of strength she has left and pull herself together. But how was she going to be able to do this? Could the answer be found during a visit to Seattle? ...Show more

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

$19.99 AUD

Category: FICTION | Reading Level: very good

"Sharp, funny, thought-provoking . . . a really great portrait of two young women as they're figuring out how to be adults."- Celeste Ng, "Late Night with Seth Meyers Podcast" Winner of the 2017 Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Frances is a cool-headed and darkly observant young woman, vaguely purs uing a career in writing while studying in Dublin. Her best friend and comrade-in-arms is the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi. At a local poetry performance one night, Frances and Bobbi catch the eye of Melissa, a well-known photographer, and as the girls are then gradually drawn into Melissa's world, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older woman's sophisticated home and tall, handsome husband, Nick. However amusing and ironic Frances and Nick's flirtation seems at first, it gives way to a strange intimacy, and Frances's friendship with Bobbi begins to fracture. As Frances tries to keep her life in check, her relationships increasingly resist her control: with Nick, with her difficult and unhappy father, and finally, terribly, with Bobbi. Desperate to reconcile her inner life to the desires and vulnerabilities of her body, Frances's intellectual certainties begin to yield to something new: a painful and disorienting way of living from moment to moment. Written with gem-like precision and marked by a sly sense of humor, Conversations with Friends is wonderfully alive to the pleasures and dangers of youth, and the messy edges of female friendship. ...Show more

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

$29.99 AUD

Category: FICTION | Reading Level: very good

For readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Kite Runner and The Other Hand - a testament to the human powers of survival. In the midst of war, he found love In the midst of darkness, he found courage In the midst of tragedy, he found hope What will you find from his story? Nuri is a beekeeper; his wi fe, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo - until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape. But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and so they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain. On the way, Nuri is sustained by the knowledge that waiting for them is Mustafa, his cousin and business partner, who has started an apiary and is teaching fellow refugees in Yorkshire to keep bees. As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. Above all - and perhaps this is the hardest thing they face - they must journey to find each other again. Moving, powerful, compassionate and beautifully written, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit. Told with deceptive simplicity, it is the kind of book that reminds us of the power of storytelling. ...Show more

Nature of the Lion by T. M. Clark

$19.99 AUD

Category: FICTION

An all-new vivid, action-packed adventure across the African landscape in the tradition of Tony Park and Wilbur Smith, from Australian thriller writer, T.M. Clark. Hiding from the law, they never expected to be caught in the crosshairs of a hunter... After relocating to South Africa on the heels of scan dal five years ago, Chloe and her invalid father, Mike, once wealthy Zimbabwean landowners, now have little. Away at university, Chloe has had to rely on her father's best friend Enoch and his son Xo to watch over Mike. When a violent confrontation puts Chloe in danger, Enoch steps in to help - with inadvertent fatal results. With increasing pressure from a right-wing group on the police to charge Enoch, this mismatched family have no choice but to flee back to Zimbabwe. But crossing the border will be dangerous and near impossible with their route taking them amid warring dissident armies and landmines, and their every footstep is stalked by a shadowy ring of hunters - whose trophies are taken from more than animals... Only with help from Nick, formerly a soldier under Mike's command, now a professional game ranger, will the fugitives have a chance of making it home. But Nick has long struggled to come to terms with his fellow soldiers' choices before their unit was abandoned. Will his past demons put them all at risk? ...Show more

Satin Island by Tom McCarthy

$45.00 AUD

Category: FICTION

Meet U. - a talented and uneasy figure currently pimping his skills to an elite consultancy in contemporary London. His employers advise everyone from big businesses to governments, and, to this end, expect their 'corporate anthropologist' to help decode and manipulate the world around them - all the mo re so now that a giant, epoch-defining project is in the offing. Instead, U. spends his days procrastinating, meandering through endless buffer-zones of information and becoming obsessed by the images with which the world bombards him on a daily basis: oil spills, African traffic jams, roller-blade processions, zombie parades. Is there, U. wonders, a secret logic holding all these images together - a codex that, once cracked, will unlock the master-meaning of our age? Might it have something to do with South Pacific Cargo Cults, or the dead parachutists in the news? Perhaps; perhaps not. As U. oscillates between the visionary and the vague, brilliance and bullshit, Satin Island emerges, an impassioned and exquisite novel for our disjointed times. ...Show more

Return Ticket by Jon Doust

$29.99 AUD

Category: FICTION

It's 1972. When hot-headed, impetuous Jack Muir gets off the ship in Durban, he fails to get back on. Instead, he sails into misadventure, fleeing the stifling town of Genoralup to try to lose himself in South Africa at the height of apartheid. But the past has a way of catching up with you, and soon Ja ck is running again, this time to a kibbutz in Israel. In the course of a lifetime, Jack will travel far, always caught between fleeing from and seeking those things he needs- a mother's precious gift, a lover in a time of war, the loss of a child, a kind and steady woman. And, across time and across continents, old Jack Muir will remember those who helped him become a decent man, a better father and a friend. ...Show more

The Medusa Image by Gordon d'Venables

$28.99 AUD

Category: FICTION

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

$18.99 AUD

Category: FICTION | Reading Level: very good

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café's time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know. But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold ... Toshikazu Kawaguchi's beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time? ...Show more