With Mother’s Day right around the corner, it’s time to think about spoiling mum, the woman who can (and does) do it all. If you’re stuck for ideas, never fear, we’ve got you covered! With a great selection of old and new titles, gifts, and puzzles, finding the perfect gift for mum is easy! Below are some of our favourite new releases that have been tried, tested, and approved by our in-house bookworms!

Fiction

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

It’s hard to write a review for ‘Klara In The Sun’ as to avoid giving away major plot points. This is my first introduction to Kazuo Ishiguro, and I am absolutely floored.

Set in a dystopian future, this novel is told through the perspective of Klara, an Artificial Friend; a robot quipped with artificial intelligence that contains very human qualities, and exists to be a companion for a human child. One day she meets Josie, a 14 year old girl who is gravely ill. Klara observes human idiosyncrasies, the environment around her, the way humans interact with one another and how they exist among other Artificial Friend’s.

Klara is bought and taken in by Josie and her mother. With Klara’s optimism, she firmly believes that Josie will get better providing that the Sun – Klara’s solar panel charge – will heal Josie.

This is a stunning novel that delves into relationships between humans and their artificial companions. Klara’s gradual understanding of the world gives this perspective a very human and compassionate quality, and raises points of the binding love between humans and machines.

I highly recommend!

— Reviewed by Cathy, the manager of BOOK FACE Port Macqurie

non-fiction

One Last Dance by Emma Jane Holmes

A biography promising a behind the scenes look at two completely different industries – funeral homes and strip clubs. Emma Jane Holmes has had quite the colourful life. Tending to those who have passed at her day job as a mortician and enjoying the lucrative life of dancing in a strip club to help pay the bills.

Always very respectful to her clients both at the funeral home and the strip club, Emma gives us a very raw and honest look into both sides of her life. Although you may think a mortician should perhaps be sombre, her approach and zest for life that comes from seeing what she sees comes across as endearing. Her story will make you laugh and gasp all in one chapter.

Personally, I found her mortician life more intriguing and having learnt a lot about the industry. Like any great non-fiction book, One Last Dance has left me looking inward, considering what my final wishes may be. This book has raised a lot of questions and has prompted a lot of discussion with friends and family. Warning, some sections may stop you in your tracks or take your breath away. But for me, you get a sense this profession is definitely not for everyone and has left me with huge amounts of respect for those that dedicate their life to it. I would highly recommend!

— Jenny, bookseller at BOOK FACE Orion

For more recommendations, check out our Mother’s Day Newsletter…

#shopearly #shoplocal

Our bookstores are teeming with new releases and old favourites and our booksellers are ready to help you select the perfect gift! Shopping early is important this year due to the high demand for books and the potential for supply delays. Check with your local BOOK FACE store on how you can shop with them - whether instore or via phone or email.

To help you with your holiday shopping we have summer reading guides for both kids and adults available at all of our stores and online that include a carefully curated selection of both Australian and international new releases chosen by local independent booksellers. Still not sure what to get? Check out some of our staff favourites below!

fabulous fiction

crime

notable non-fiction

for the little ones

competition time!

WIN 1 OF 3 BOOK PACKS!

You have a chance to WIN 1 of 3 Book Packs with a selection of titles worth over $500 each!

Click HERE to enter and to view full terms & conditions.

need more recommendations? check out our summer reading guides below!

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Spring has officially sprung and with it comes a wave of new releases from some of Australia’s most prominent authors. From national and international award winners to local bestsellers, we’ve rounded up our six most anticipated new releases from our favourite homegrown authors…

The new Australian Classics

All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton

Darwin, 1942, and as Japanese bombs rain down, motherless Molly Hook, the gravedigger's daughter, is looking to the skies and running for her life. Inside a duffel bag she carries a stone heart, alongside a map to lead her to Longcoat Bob, the deep-country sorcerer who she believes put a curse on her family. By her side are the most unlikely travelling companions: Greta, a razor-tongued actress, and Yukio, a fallen Japanese fighter pilot. The treasure lies before them, but close behind them trails the dark. And above them, always, are the shimmering skies.

A story about gifts that fall from the sky, curses we dig from the earth and the secrets we bury inside ourselves, All Our Shimmering Skies is an odyssey of true love and grave danger, of darkness and light, of bones and blue skies. It is a love letter to Australia and an ode to the art of looking up - a buoyant, beautiful and magical novel, abrim with warmth, wit and wonder.

Honeybee by Craig Silvey

Late in the night, fourteen-year-old Sam Watson steps onto a quiet overpass, climbs over the rail and looks down at the road far below. At the other end of the same bridge, an old man, Vic, smokes his last cigarette.

The two see each other across the void. A fateful connection is made, and an unlikely friendship blooms. Slowly, we learn what led Sam and Vic to the bridge that night. Bonded by their suffering, each privately commits to the impossible task of saving the other.

Honeybee is a heartbreaking, life-affirming novel that throws us headlong into a world of petty thefts, extortion plots, botched bank robberies, daring dog rescues and one spectacular drag show.

This is a tender, profoundly moving novel, brimming with vivid characters and luminous words. It's about two lives forever changed by a chance encounter -- one offering hope, the other redemption. It's about when to persevere, and when to be merciful, as Sam learns when to let go, and when to hold on.

the perfect page-turners

The Survivors by Jane Harper

The compelling new novel from Jane Harper, the New York Times bestselling author of The Dry.

Kieran Elliott's life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.

The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.

Kieran's parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.

When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away...

Trust by Chris Hammer

Martin Scarsden's new life seems perfect, right up until the moment it's shattered by a voicemail: a single scream, abruptly cut off, from his partner Mandalay Blonde.

Racing home, he finds an unconscious man sprawled on the floor and Mandy gone. Someone has abducted her. But who, and why?

So starts a twisting tale of intrigue and danger, as Martin probes the past of the woman he loves, a woman who has buried her former life so deep she has never mentioned it.

And for the first time, Mandy finds denial impossible, now the body of a mystery man has been discovered, a man whose name she doesn't know, a man she was engaged to marry when he died. It's time to face her demons once and for all; it's time she learned how to trust.

Set in a Sydney riven with corruption and nepotism, privilege and power, Trust is the third riveting novel from award-winning and internationally acclaimed writer Chris Hammer.

The award winners

The Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan

The Living Sea of Waking Dreams is an ember storm of a novel. This is Booker Prize-winning novelist Richard Flanagan at his most moving—and astonishing—best.

In a world of perennial fire and growing extinctions, Anna’s aged mother is dying—if her three children would just allow it. Condemned by their pity to living she increasingly escapes through her hospital window into visions of horror and delight.

When Anna’s finger vanishes and a few months later her knee disappears, Anna too feels the pull of the window. She begins to see that all around her others are similarly vanishing, but no one else notices. All Anna can do is keep her mother alive. But the window keeps opening wider, taking Anna and the reader ever deeper into a strangely beautiful story about hope and love and orange-bellied parrots.

Infinite Splendours by Sofie Laguna

Lawrence Loman is a bright, caring, curious boy with a gift for painting. He lives at home with his mother and younger brother, and the future is laid out before him, full of promise. But when he is ten, an experience of betrayal takes it all away, and Lawrence is left to deal with the devastating aftermath.

As he grows into a man, how will he make sense of what he has suffered? He cannot rewrite history, but must he be condemned to repeat it?

Lawrence finds meaning in the best way he knows. By surrendering himself to art and nature, he creates beauty - beauty made all the more astonishing and soulful for the deprivation that gives rise to it.

Infinite Splendours is an extraordinary novel, incandescent with love and compassion, rich in colour and character. The power and virtuosity of Laguna's writing make it impossible for us to look away; by being seen, Lawrence is redeemed.

want more recommendations? check out our October monthly highlights

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Chris Hammer is a leading Australian crime fiction novelist, author of international bestsellers Scrublands and Silver. Watch Chris introduce his latest thriller Trust, the gripping new Martin Scarsden novel, below and enter our Instagram competition in partnership with Allen&Unwin for the chance to win all three Martin Scarsden novels.

Chris Hammer Book Giveaway

To celebrate the highly anticipated release of Trust, we’ve partnered with Allen&Unwin to host an amazing giveaway where you can win all three books in Chris’s Martin Scarsden series!

The giveaway is open to Australian residents only and will close on Sunday 18 October with the winner Being announced the following day.

More details on how to enter can be found on our Instagram!

About Trust

Martin Scarsden's new life seems perfect, right up until the moment it's shattered by a voicemail: a single scream, abruptly cut off, from his partner Mandalay Blonde.

Racing home, he finds an unconscious man sprawled on the floor and Mandy gone. Someone has abducted her. But who, and why?

So starts a twisting tale of intrigue and danger, as Martin probes the past of the woman he loves, a woman who has buried her former life so deep she has never mentioned it.

And for the first time, Mandy finds denial impossible, now the body of a mystery man has been discovered, a man whose name she doesn't know, a man she was engaged to marry when he died. It's time to face her demons once and for all; it's time she learned how to trust.

Set in a Sydney riven with corruption and nepotism, privilege and power, Trust is the third riveting novel from award-winning and internationally acclaimed writer Chris Hammer.

'Chris Hammer is a great writer - a leader in Australian noir.'

- Michael Connelly

About Chris Hammer

Chris Hammer is a leading Australian crime fiction novelist, author of international bestsellers Scrublands and Silver. His new book, Trust, will be published in Australia and New Zealand in October 2020 and internationally from early 2021.

Scrublands was an instant bestseller upon publication in 2018, topping the Australian fiction charts. It was shortlisted for major writing awards in Australia, the UK and the United States. In the UK it was named the Sunday Times Crime Novel of the Year 2019 and won the prestigious UK Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award.

Scrublands, Silver and Trust all feature troubled journalist Martin Scarsden and his partner Mandalay Blonde.

The books are notable for their atmospheric Australian settings, range of colourful characters, intricate plots, descriptive language and emotional depth

Before turning to fiction, Chris was a journalist for more than thirty years. He reported from more than 30 countries on six continents for SBS TV. In Canberra, roles included chief political correspondent for The Bulletin, senior writer for The Age and Online Political Editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Chris has written two non-fiction books The River (2010) and The Coast (2012), published by Melbourne University Press.

He has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Charles Sturt University and a master’s degree in International Relations from the Australian National University. He lives in Canberra, Australia.

for more information about chris’s books or general stock enquiries, get in touch with our well-read staff members at your local book face…

Melbourne-based author Kate Mildenhall talks to BOOK FACE about the inspiration behind her brilliant new book The Mother Fault, battling second novel sydndrome, and releasing a novel during a global pandemic.

About The Mother Fault

You will not recognise me, she thinks, when I find you . . .

Mim’s husband is missing. No one knows where Ben is, but everyone wants to find him – especially The Department. And they should know, the all-seeing government body has fitted the entire population with a universal tracking chip to keep them ‘safe’.

But suddenly Ben can’t be tracked. And Mim is questioned, made to surrender her passport and threatened with the unthinkable – her two children being taken into care at the notorious BestLife.

Cornered, Mim risks everything to go on the run to find her husband – and a part of herself, long gone, that is brave enough to tackle the journey ahead.

From the stark backroads of the Australian outback to a terrifying sea voyage, Mim is forced to shuck off who she was – mother, daughter, wife, sister – and become the woman she needs to be to save her family and herself.

“An unvarnished, beautifully written, totally authentic tribute to the everyday badassery and bullshit of motherhood, to the ordinary extraordinariness of women. It’s also a fast-paced edge-of-your-seat, heart-in-your-mouth adventure with an ending worthy of a Homeland season finale.” - Anna Downes, author of The Safe Place

More About Kate Mildenhall

Kate Mildenhall is a writer and teacher. Her debut novel, Skylarking, was named in Readings Top Ten Fiction Books of 2016 and longlisted for Best Debut Fiction in The Indie Book Awards 2017 and the 2017 Voss Literary Prize. Kate teaches creative writing to young writers and co-hosts The First Time, a podcast about the first time you publish a book. The Mother Fault is her second novel. Kate lives with her partner and two daughters in Hurstbridge, Victoria.

for more information about kate’s books or general stock enquiries, get in touch with our well-read staff members at your local book face…

The award-winning Australian author Will Kostakis interviewed himself for BOOK FACE in the lead up to the publication of Rebel Gods, book two in his Monuments fantasy duology for young adults.

More About Rebel Gods

Newbie gods Connor, Sally and Locky want to change the world - no biggie. But they're soon drawn into a centuries-old conflict that just might destroy the world they're striving to make better. Book 2 in the Monuments fantasy duology from YA superstar Will Kostakis.

With the Monuments gone, newbie gods Connor, Sally and Locky must stop the rebel gods from reducing the world to ruin. Trouble is, they don't know how.

While Sally searches for answers and Locky makes plans to change the world, Connor struggles to keep up appearances as an ordinary teenager. But when a rebel god offers them a deal to end the chaos, their lives are turned upside down and they're forced to reckon with the question: who should decide the fate of the world?

Rebel Gods is the gripping conclusion to Monuments, a Children's Book Council of Australia Notable Book 2020, from YA superstar Will Kostakis. It's a heartfelt look at family, friendship and the parallel lives we lead.

More About Will Kostakis

Will Kostakis is an award-winning author for young adults. His first novel, Loathing Lola, was released when he was just nineteen, and his second, The First Third, won the 2014 Gold Inky Award. It was also shortlisted for the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year and Australian Prime Minister's Literary awards.

The Sidekicks was his third novel for young adults, and his American debut. As a high school student, Will won Sydney Morning Herald Young Writer of the Year for a collection of short stories.

Be Inspired By The Magic Hidden Between The Pages…

for more information about will’s books or general stock enquiries, get in touch with our well-read staff members at your local book face…

With Father’s Day fast approaching (it’s on Sunday 6 September, don’t forget to mark it in your calanders!) it’ll soon be time to celebrate all of the wonderful fathers and father figures in your life. In our not-so-humble opinion, we think you can’t go past a really good book as the perfect and practical gift for the special someone in your life (especially now with everyone spending more time at home).

We’ve made it easy to find the perfect book with our curated selection of new releases that your special someone is bound to love, whether they’re a fiction fanatic, crime connoisseur, history buff, aspiring chef, or a jack of all trades and even more interests.

And, if you’re looking for something a little more niche or would like a more personalised recommendation, our well-read staff members are just an email or phone call away and can provide ample suggestions catered to the interests of whoever you’re buying for this September...

Fiction

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

Utopia Avenue might be the most curious British band you've never heard of…

David Mitchell turns his unique talents to the late 1960s and all its messy glory in this new epic novel following a band's brief, blazing rise from Soho clubs to the promised land of America, just when the Summer of Love was receding into something much darker.

This bewitching novel is perfect weekend reading for the music lover in your life or anyone who just loves a good story. It will have you itching to dig through the garage, dust off your old vinyls, and have a good boogie…

crime Fiction

When She Was Good by Michael Robotham

He thinks the truth will set her free. She knows it will kill them.

From Australia's foremost crime writer, Michael Robotham, this is the second explosive novel featuring gifted criminal psychologist Cyrus Haven and his young charge, Evie Cormac.

Robotham expertly weaves together multiple story threads with clever red hearings and artfully done twists to keep you on the edge of your seat and hastily turning pages long into the night. Each of his books (including this one) contain enough backstory to ensure they can be read as satisfying stand-alone novels. But, if this is your first Robotham, we can almost guarantee it won’t be your last…

non-fiction

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku

Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. It is up to you.

This uplifting and inspirational memoir from centenarian Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku should be mandatory reading for all humans. This is a powerful, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful story of how happiness can be found even in the darkest of times. Its short page count packs a punch and its beautifully simple language makes it an accessible read for everyone, even those who don’t often pick up a book.

If you’re struggling to pick a gift, you can’t go wrong with this gem of book. (And while you’re at it, you might want to snag a copy for yourself, too…)

The Golden Maze by Richard Fidler

Beloved ABC broadcaster and bestselling author, Richard Fidler is back with a personally curated history of the magical city that is Prague. This is the pefect piece of escapist reading guaranteed to satisfy the intrepid traveller in your life now that internation travel has been put on hold.

Following the story of Prague from its origins in medieval darkness to its uncertain present, Fidler does what he does so well - curates an absolutely engaging and compelling history of a place. You will learn things you never knew, with a tour guide who is erudite, inquisitive, and the best storyteller you could have as your companion.

read with dad

Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about the little ones! We also have a fun selection of themed picture books for them to read with dad this weekend with even more titles available in store.

For more personal recommendations or general stock enquiries, get in touch with our well-read staff members at your local BOOK FACE…

For more recommendations, check out our Father’s Day Newsletter…

Our Book of the Month for July 2020 is A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville

Kate Grenville, one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, introduces her brilliant new novel, A Room Made of Leaves. Her first work of fiction in 10 years, this novel marks a return to the territory of The Secret River where historical fiction is turned inside out in a stunning sleight of hand by one of our most original writers. Check it out below:

More About A Room Made of Leaves

What if Elizabeth Macarthur’s letters and journals were a mask hiding her true experiences and emotions? What if the contemporary expectations of a gentlewoman prevented her from writing her truth to anyone but herself?

This is Kate Grenville’s starting point for this brilliant novel, a starting point encouraged by Elizabeth Macarthur’s recommendation not to believe too quickly. This exhortation is used as an epigraph, so it is directed at the reader too. We must think carefully about what to believe and what not to believe. A Room Made of Leaves, Kate Grenville tells us at the end, is neither history not pure invention. It is a reminder to question received truths about history, most especially about women and First Nations people. Perhaps Elizabeth thinks, what she thought of as trade was actually a lesson from the Burramattagal in how to do things properly, and how to act with grace, forgiveness and generosity.

Just as it straddles fact and fiction, A Room Made of Leaves is as much about the present and the future as it is about the past. We should be equally careful with regard to what we believe about what we are told of the present as we are about what we are told of the past.

But A Room Made of Leaves is not just a warning about the difficulties of truth and belief, or a lesson about history. It is an absorbing narrative of a woman’s changing self, of ambition and destiny, of learning and doing and being. It is about how a self can shift and change through life, how it is bound and freed through life’s stages.

Indeed the novel is so absorbing and feels so real, that it is easy to forget not to believe. It feels entirely believable

“Kate Grenville is a literary alchemist, turning the leaden shadow of the historical Elizabeth Macarthur into a luminescent, golden woman for our times. Intelligent, compassionate, strategic and dead sexy, Grenville’s Macarthur is an unforgettable character who makes us question everything we thought we knew about our colonial past. A polished gem of a novel by a writer who is as brave as she is insightful. I simply loved it.” - Clare Wright

About Kate Grenville

Kate Grenville is one of Australia’s most celebrated writers. Her international bestseller The Secret River was awarded local and overseas prizes, has been adapted for the stage and as an acclaimed television miniseries, and is now a much-loved classic. Grenville’s other novels include Sarah Thornhill, The Lieutenant, Dark Places and the Orange Prize winner The Idea of Perfection. Her most recent books are two works of non-fiction, One Life: My Mother’s Story and The Case Against Fragrance. She has also written three books about the writing process. In 2017 Grenville was awarded the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. She lives in Melbourne.

To be the first to hear about our next Book of the Month and get access to more exciting book news, sign up to our Newsletter

We asked debut novelist Anna Downes some of our burning questions about her brillaint new thriller The Safe Place. Check it out below:

‘A dark and wonderful debut that lulls you in with beautiful prose and complex, believable characters, then beats you over the head with a killer plot and a thrilling climax. Everyone will be talking about this book!’ Christian White, author of The Wife and the Widow

More About The Safe Place

For struggling actress Emily Proudman, life in London is not working out as planned – in fact, it’s falling apart. So when she is offered a live-in job working for a wealthy family on their luxurious coastal property in France, she jumps at the opportunity to start over.

The estate is picture-perfect, and its owners exude charisma and sophistication. But as Emily gets to know the family, their masks begin to slip, and what at first appears to be a dream come true turns out to be a prison from which none of them will ever escape – unless Emily can find a way to set them all free.

‘The tension ratchets up and up in this beautifully paced thriller – an outstanding debut, populated by complex and sympathetic characters. You’ll be thinking about them long after you’ve finished reading.’ Chris Hammer, author of Silver

About Anna Downes

Anna Downes grew up in Sheffield, UK. She studied drama at Manchester before winning a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and moving to London to pursue an acting career. Her acting credits include EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City, and Dalziel and Pascoe, as well as a long-running stage production of The Dresser in London’s West End.

In 2009 she left to go travelling with her Australian partner, a trip that included a stint working as a live-in housekeeper on a remote French estate, where the seeds for The Safe Place were sown. Anna now lives on the Central Coast with her husband and two children. The Safe Place is being published simultaneously in the US and the UK, with several other countries to follow.

Signed copies of The Safe Place are available in very limited quantites at our BOOK FACE Erina Fair store. Email our friendly staff via the button below to reserve your copy!

We caught up with Queensland local Trent Jamieson to ask him five Quickfire Questions about his beautiful new children’s book The Giant and the Sea…

‘You never know where the sentences will take you, but I keep having so much fun finding out…’

What inspired you to write The Giant and the Sea?

The opening sentence “There was a giant who stood on the shore of the sea” which sprang from a nap – which has to have been the most productive nap of my life. I had it stuck in my head while I was working on a novel (see question 5), and I decided I needed to know where it went. I followed the sentences, and the rhythm of the story, and I was surprised where it led me. Which is always (well, mostly) a good thing!

Obviously, the themes of the book around climate change have been playing on my mind, and I’d like to think I’m far from the only one, it’s just one of my responses was to write a story about a brave girl and a giant.

This is such a beautiful and deeply moving story. What message do you want kids to take away with them after reading The Giant and the Sea?

That even in the darkest times there is still hope but also to question perceived or comfortable wisdom. Often our culture gets by on ignoring uncomfortable truths and that’s where stories can help us: they’re a safe space to start a discussion.

We’ve had our giants (scientists) warning us for decades that the climate catastrophe was coming. It’s well past time that we listened to them as a community and did something.

Responding to climate change means making big changes to our society, and none of them are going to be easy. But if we do it together, as a community, we can make it easier for everyone. There’s a brave girl in this story, but I believe we can all be brave and if we work together bravely and compassionately we can change the world for the better.

The illustrations in this book are gorgeous. How did you end up working with Rovina Cai and what was that process like?

I adore Rovina’s artwork, and I am so lucky that she agreed to illustrate the story.

She was the artist that I wanted from the start of the project. From the moment my agent Alex Adsett suggested her and I checked out her work I knew that she would be the perfect fit for the book. The stars aligned so that she could do the work, and now I can’t even imagine anyone else illustrating it. It was wonderful seeing the work develop, though I didn’t see much of the artwork until late in the process. The words came first, then the art, and then in the final stages of editing we tweaked a few things amplify the resonance between the words and the pictures.

I’m no artist so I was happy to be a bystander looking on in wonder at that side of things. I was lucky too that Hachette treated me so gently, the editorial team of Suzanne O’Sullivan and Sophie Mayfield were fabulous. I didn’t really know what to expect with a picture book, but I hadn’t expected it to be so much fun. Hannah Janzen did the design work on the book, and that really brought everything together.

As you can see, a picture book is a team effort. We’ve all made something that I am very proud of, and very proud to share with these wonderful artists.

What are three books that have inspired you or changed your life in some way?

Oh, that’s so hard! I feel like every book is a tiny detonation inside you that pushes you somewhere new.

The three I’m going to pick today are The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin, I love the entire series of Earthsea books, but this book had me from such an early age (it wasn’t a tiny detonation it was a supernova), and it still teaches me things about rhythm and concision and the deep truths in fantasy fiction. And the dragons are incredible!

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. I adore this book, suggested to me by my school librarian Mr Foley when I was about seven. I’ve read it many times since my primary school years, and it always surprises me. The last time I read it was to my newborn daughter while she slept in my arms. While I wish it had more female characters (well, any, to be honest) it is a wonderful adventure that is also a glorious critique of the insidious nature of greed. (Also, Smaug, and riddles!)

Lud-in-the-Mist Hope Mirrlees This book written in 1926, is even older than The Hobbit, but it is one of my favourite books about fairies, fairy fruit, and the weird nature of our relationship with creativity. It’s a book that always manages to deliver a new thing on each reading too. ‘

So, I guess I am drawn to stories with a preponderance of dragons, magic and fairies.

If I was to mention more recent books the Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox has just started doing something to my story brain (more fairies). Bone Clocks by David Mitchell really taught me how to tell a fantasy story that was also deeply focused on climate change (though you don’t know that to the end #slightspoiler).

Congratulations on publishing your first picture book! What’s next for you?

Thank you! The Giant and the Sea has been in the works since 2017 and I’m still surprised by it!

As for what’s next, I have a few picture books (some extremely silly) in various stages of draft, so we’ll see. I have a novel (that I can’t talk about at the moment) that will hopefully see the light next year (I’ve been working on it for what feels like a very long time).

I’ve also just “finished” a draft of a big fantasy novel, that I’ve already started playing with again, and which I think is going to grow even bigger. I don’t think I’ve ever written anything as wholeheartedly fantastical, and the writing has given me a lot of joy; the characters in it have been entertaining me so much. Hopefully I can find a home for it too.

You never know where the sentences will take you, but I keep having so much fun finding out.

More About The Giant and the Sea

A stunningly beautiful and powerful take on climate change, standing up for what you believe in, and the power of hope. With lyrical text by acclaimed author Trent Jamieson and illustrations by CBCA Award-winner Rovina Cai that will resonate long after reading. For fans of Shaun Tan and Armin Greder.

A giant stands on the shore, watching the sea. She never moves, never speaks, until the day she turns to a little girl and says, 'The sea is rising.'

The brave girl takes the message to the town. But when the people refuse to listen, the giant must find another way to save them.

Perfect for the children of the Climate Strike, this is a lyrical and deeply moving story about climate change, standing up for what you believe in, and the power of hope.

Discover The Magic Hidden Between The Pages…

Our Book of the Month for June 2020 is The Spill by Imbi Neeme

We asked debut novelist, and winner of the 2019 Penguin Literary Prize, Imbi Neeme some of our burning questions about her new novel The Spill. Check it out below:

More About The Spill

From debut novelist, and winner of the 2019 Penguin Literary Prize, Imbi Neeme comes The Spill, an exploration of the moments - small and large - upon which our lives can pivot.

In 1982, a car overturns on a remote West Australian road. Nobody is hurt, but the impact is felt for decades. For sisters Nicole and Samantha this moment will echo through their lives and continually affect their responses to individual experiences and to each other.

Inspired by a similar event in Neeme’s childhood, The Spill examines how all our memories are fictionalised to some degree. By interweaving pieces from the sisters’ past with their present day Neeme reveals the spaces that exist between events, experiences and memory.

It is through this fickleness of memory that Neeme also delves into the complex relationship between sisters. Through seemingly unconnected episodes, from significant events as well as small moments in time, scattered throughout the novel, the relationship between them is slowly revealed in all its forms; envious, joyful, protective, regretful but most of all loving.

The Spill is a captivating depiction of the bond between sisters and a family that find its way back to one another.

“Brilliantly comic and tender, this is a sharp and intimate portrayal of that most mystifying of things: family. Neeme gives us a real world; of chaotic fragments drawn with charm and compassion. These are people, like us, making lives of their messes.” - Robert Lukins

About Imbi Neeme

Imbi Neeme is a recovering blogger, impending novelist and compulsive short story writer. Her manuscript The Spill was awarded the 2019 Penguin Literary Prize.

She was the recipient of the 2019 Henry Handel Richardson Fellowship at Varuna for excellence in Short Story Writing. Her short fiction has won prizes in the 2019 Newcastle Short Story Awards, the 2018 Boroondara Literary Awards, and has been shortlisted for the 2018 Peter Carey Short Story Award.

Her first manuscript, The Hidden Drawer, made the judges’ commended list in the 2015 Victorian Premier’s Unpublished Manuscript Awards and was selected for the 2015 Hachette/ Queensland Writers Centre Manuscript Development Program.

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The Miles Franklin Literary Award was established by prolific author and feminist Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, now best known for her first novel My Brilliant Career. First presented in 1957, the Award celebrates novels of the highest literary merit that tell stories about Australian life. Winning authors also receive a prize of $60,000. The Award remains Australia’s most prestigious and valued literary award.

The 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist is:

The shortlist will be announced on Wednesday 17 June, with the winner announcement to follow on Thursday 16 July.

“This year’s Miles Franklin longlist is a mix of established and newer Australian authors,” said State Library of NSW Mitchell Librarian Richard Neville on behalf of the judges. “Their novels give voice to a diversity of Australian characters whose common feature is their location on the margins, whether geographical, familial or societal. They explore the ripples and repercussions of childhood trauma, the healing power of friendship, and the unshakeable presence of the past.”

Alongside Neville, the 2020 judging panel also includes journalist for the Australian Murray Waldren, book critic Melinda Harvey, Abbey’s Bookshop senior book buyer Lindy Jones, and author and literary critic Bernadette Brennan.

Melissa Lucashenko won the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Too Much Lip (UQP). For more information about this year’s longlist, see the Perpetual website.