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…

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.

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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!