A heart-wrenching debut novel set in Thatcher-era Glasgow: Shuggie Bain tells the story of a boy's doomed attempt to save his proud, alcoholic mother from her addiction.
It is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life. She dreams of greater things: a house with its own front door and a life bought and paid for outright (like her perfect, but false, teeth). But Agnes is abandoned by her philandering husband, and soon she and her three children find themselves trapped in a decimated mining town. As she descends deeper into drink, the children try their best to save her, yet one by one they must abandon her to save themselves. It is her son Shuggie who holds out hope the longest. Shuggie is different. Fastidious and fussy, he shares his mother’s sense of snobbish propriety. The miners' children pick on him and adults condemn him as no’ right. But Shuggie believes that if he tries his hardest, he can be normal like the other boys and help his mother escape this hopeless place. Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain lays bare the ruthlessness of poverty, the limits of love, and the hollowness of pride. A counterpart to the privileged Thatcher-era London of Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty, it also recalls the work of Édouard Louis, Frank McCourt, and Hanya Yanagihara, it is a blistering debut by a brilliant novelist with a powerful and important story to tell.
Imprint: Picador
RRP: $32.99
Updated for only the third time in its 16-year history, this new edition of the award-winning landmark publication has been refreshed with more than 40 important new artists, including many previously overlooked and marginal practitioners.
The new edition spotlights more than 600 great artists from medieval to modern times. Breaking with traditional classifications, it throws together brilliant examples from all periods, schools, visions, and techniques, presenting an unparalleled visual sourcebook and a celebration of our rich, multifaceted culture
Imprint: PHAIDON
RRP: $59.95
The Brutalist aesthetic is enjoying a renaissance - and this book documents Brutalism as never before. In the most wide-ranging investigation ever undertaken into one of architecture's most powerful movements, more than 850 Brutalist buildings - existing and demolished, classic and contemporary - are organized geographically into nine continental regions. Much-loved masterpieces in the UK and USA sit alongside lesser-known examples in Europe, Asia, Australia, and beyond - 102 countries in all, proving that Brutalism was, and continues to be, a truly international architectural phenomenon
Imprint: PHAIDON
RRP: $100.00
A boxed set of hardback editions of the bestselling and award winning trilogy: Wolf Hall, Bringing Up the Bodies and The Mirror & the Light
Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall Trilogy - Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror & the Light - traces the life of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power in Henry VIII's Tudor England. It offers a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man's vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion and courage.
Imprint: Fourth Estate
RRP: $139.99
The first volume of the long-awaited, near-mythical biography of Nick Cave, by award-winning writer, Mark Mordue
A deeply beautiful, profound, profane and poetic biography of the early formative years of the dark prince of Australian rock 'n' roll, Boy on Fire is Nick Cave's creation story.
This is the story of the artist first as a boy, then as a young man. A deeply insightful work which charts his family, friends, influences, milieu and, most of all, his music, it reveals how Nick Cave shaped himself into the extraordinary artist he would become.
As well as a powerfully compelling biography of a singular, uncompromising artist, Boy on Fire is also a fascinating social and cultural biography, a vivid and evocative rendering of a time and place, from the fast-running dark river and ghost gums of Wangaratta, to the nascent punk scene which hit staid 1970s Melbourne like an atom bomb, right through to the torn wallpaper, sticky carpet and the manic, wild energy of nights at the Crystal Ballroom.
Boy on Fire is a stunning biographical achievement..
Imprint: Fourth Estate
RRP: $39.99
The story of Troy speaks to all of us - the kidnapping of Helen, a queen celebrated for her beauty, sees the Greeks launch a thousand ships against the city of Troy, to which they will lay siege for ten whole years. It is a terrible war with casualties on all sides as well as strained relations between allies, whose consequences become tragedies.
In Troy you will find heroism and hatred, love and loss, revenge and regret, desire and despair. It is these human passions, written bloodily in the sands of a distant shore, that still speak to us today.
Imprint: Michael Joseph
RRP: $35.00
Loving Country is a book that inspires ultimate respect for Mother Earth and the role of her custodians. While readers are encouraged to discover the sacred country of Australia in an open-minded and sensitive manner, the intention of this book is to foster communication and understanding between all peoples and country, to bring about a range of environmental and social changes.
Co-authors Bruce Pascoe and Vicky Shukuroglou hope to empower communities to tell their own stories, and for people to honour them and the country from which they have grown. Beautifully designed, all of the writing and photography in Loving Country has been created in consultation with communities. From the ingenious fish traps at Brewarrina and the rivers that feed the Great Barrier Reef, to the love stories of Wiluna and the whale story of Margaret River, there is so much to celebrate and admire about the oldest continuing culture in the world.
For those who want to do more than a whistle-stop tour of Australia, this book offers some keys to unlock and reveal the heart of this loving country.
Imprint: EXPLORE
RRP: $45.00
'Danielle loves to cook and it shows in every page of this inspirational, beautiful book. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from her recipes and her wise, thoughtful approach.' - David Tanis
'I am delighted by this cookbook.' - Alice Waters
'Danielle is one of my very favourite cooks.' - Skye Gyngell
'Hospitality, kindness and consistency are the attributes that embody the work of Danielle Alvarez.' - Josh Niland
Always Add Lemon is the highly anticipated first book from one of the most exciting young chefs cooking in Australia today, Danielle Alvarez. Taking the lessons, skills and tastes acquired working alongside some of the best chefs in the world, Danielle translates formidable kitchen smarts into an inspiring collection of recipes and projects for nourishing, vegetable-forward, seasonal food.
Become acquainted with the basics from home made cheeses to vinegar pickles to brioche before delving into Summer vegetable panzanella, Duck pot pie and Roasted pineapple with salted caramel and rum. With more than 100 recipes paired with creative and foundational projects Always Add Lemon is guaranteed to delight anyone with a skerrick of kitchen ambition and a free afternoon.
Imprint: Hardie Grant Books
RRP: $50.00
A story of unsung bravery at a defining moment in Britain's history
'A fascinating, beautifully written story I had never heard before' Hugh Grant
We like to think we know the story of how Britain went to war with Germany in 1939, but there is one chapter that has never been told. In the early 1930s, a group of young, queer British MPs visited Berlin on a series of trips that would change the course of the Second World War. As Hitler rose to power, they watched the Nazis arrest their gay and Jewish friends, send them to concentration camps and murder them.
These men were some of the first to warn Britain about Hitler, repeatedly speaking out against their government's policy of appeasing him. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain hated them. Branding them 'the glamour boys', he had them followed, harassed, spied upon and derided in the press. They suffered abuse, innuendo and threats of de-selection. At a time when even the suggestion of homosexuality could land you in prison, the bravery these men were forced to show in their personal lives gave them extraordinary courage in public. Adept at hiding their true nature, some became talented spies, while others witnessed the brutality of Hitler's camps first hand. Four of them died in action. And without them, this country would never have faced down the Nazis.
Based on years of archival research, this is a story of unsung bravery at a defining moment in Britain's history.
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing
RRP: $29.99
Why do we return to Shakespeare time and again?
When Robert McCrum began his recovery from a life-changing stroke, described in <i>My Year Off</i>, he discovered that the only words that made sense to him were snatches of Shakespeare. Unable to travel or move as he used to, McCrum found the First Folio became his ‘book of life’, an endless source of inspiration through which he could embark on ‘journeys of the mind’, and see a reflection of our own disrupted times.
An acclaimed writer and journalist, McCrum has spent the last twenty-five years immersed in Shakespeare's work, on stage and on the page. During this prolonged exploration, Shakespeare’s poetry and plays, so vivid and contemporary, have become his guide and consolation. In <i>Shakespearean</i> he asks: why is it that we always return to Shakespeare, particularly in times of acute crisis and dislocation? What is the key to his hold on our imagination? And why do the collected works of an Elizabethan writer continue to speak to us as if they were written yesterday?
<i>Shakespearean </i>is a rich, brilliant and superbly drawn portrait of an extraordinary artist, one of the greatest writers who ever lived. Through an enthralling narrative, ranging widely in time and space, McCrum seeks to understand Shakespeare within his historical context while also exploring the secrets of literary inspiration, and examining the nature of creativity itself. Witty and insightful, he makes a passionate and deeply personal case that Shakespeare’s words and ideas are not just enduring in their relevance – they are nothing less than the eternal key to our shared humanity.
Imprint: Picador
RRP: $34.99
It is 1953 and Melbourne society is looking forward to coronation season, the grand balls and celebrations for the young queen-to-be. Tilly Dunnage is, however, working for a pittance in a second-rate Collins Street salon. Her talents go unappreciated, and the madame is a bully and a cheat, but Tilly has a past she is desperate to escape and good reason to prefer anonymity.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Farrat and the McSwiney clan have been searching for their resident dressmaker ever since she left Dungatar in flames. And they aren't the only ones. The inhabitants of the town are still out for revenge (or at least someone to foot the bill for the new high street). So when Tilly's name starts to feature in the fashion pages, the jig is up. Along with Tilly's hopes of keeping her secrets hidden...
Imprint: Picador
RRP: $32.99
Writers, scientists, historians, journalists and commentators consider subjects as broad as culture and the arts, working as a doctor, travel, domestic violence, security, immigration, the death of a loved one, geopolitics, distance and zoom to ensure we never forget the experience of this pile-on of a year.
Including original pieces from Lenore Taylor, Nyadol Nuon, Christos Tsiolkas, Melissa Lucashenko, Billy Griffiths, Jess Hill, Kim Scott, Brenda Walker, Jane Rawson, Omar Sakr, Richard McGregor, Jennifer Mills, Gabrielle Chan, John Birmingham, Tim Flannery, Rebecca Giggs, Kate Cole-Adams, George Megalogenis, James Bradley, Alison Croggan, Melanie Cheng, Kirsten Tranter, Tom Griffiths, Joelle Gergis and Delia Falconer.
Imprint: Vintage
RRP: $29.99
Gorges that plummet into serpentine shadows ...
Cloaks of white that drape the rocky crags of snowy mountains ...
In this magnificent celebration of country, Bronwyn Bancroft uses colours, shapes, patterns and words to explore the awe-inspiring beauty of the Australian continent, and to express the depth of her feelings for it.
The Art in Country: A Treasury for Children is an essential addition to any young Australian's library, and a perfect introduction to the many wonders that this country has to offer. This is a treasury to be cherished by all who love this land.
Imprint: Egmont Books
RRP: $29.99
A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making-from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency-a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation's highest office.
Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune's Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden.
A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective-the story of one man's bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of "hope and change," and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible.
This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama's conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.
Imprint: Viking Books
RRP: $65.00
Telling the story of its people and its rulers, from its medieval origins up to the present day, Berlin is a fascinating and informative history of an extraordinary city from the author of the international bestseller Partition.
Berlin is Europe’s most fascinating and exciting city. It is and always has been a city on the edge – geographically, culturally, politically and morally. The great movements that have shaken Europe, from the Reformation to Marxism have their origins in Berlin’s streets. The long-time capital of Prussia and of the Hohenzollern dynasty it has never, paradoxically, been a Prussian city. Instead it has always been a city of immigrants, a city that accepts everyone and turns them into Berliners. A typical Berliner, it is said, is someone who has just arrived at the railway station.
With its unique dialect, exceptional museums, experimental cultural scene, its liberated social life and its open and honest approach to its history, with monuments to the Holocaust as prominent as its rebuilt royal palace, it is as challenging a city as it is absorbing. And it has always been like that, since its medieval foundation as twin fishing villages. Too often Berlin is seen through the prism of Nazism and its role on the front line in the Cold War. Important, frightening and interesting as those periods are, its history starts much further ago than that.
As approachable for the casual visitor to Berlin as it is informative for those who enjoy reading history, Berlin: The Story of a City is as fascinating as its subject.
Imprint: Simon & Schuster
RRP: $32.99
Not a Novel gathers together the best of Jenny Erpenbeck's non-fiction. Drawing from her 25 years of thinking and writing, the book plots a journey through the works and subjects that have inspired and influenced her. Written with the same clarity and insight that characterise her fiction, the pieces range from literary criticism and reflections on Germany's history, to the autobiographical essays where Erpenbeck forgoes the literary cloak to write from a deeply personal perspective about life and politics, hope and despair, and the role of the writer in grappling with these forces.
Here we see one of the most searching of European writers reckoning with her country's divided past in all its complexity, and responding to the world today with insight, intelligence and humanity.
Imprint: GRANTA
RRP: $29.99
A small boy and a racehorse set upon a curious partnership in this beguiling tale that explores the true meaning of friendship, love and freedom.
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley, The Strays of Paris is a captivating story of three extraordinary animals – and one little boy – whose lives cross paths in Paris. Paras is a spirited young racehorse living in a stable in the French countryside. That is until one afternoon, when she pushes open the gate of her stall and, travelling through the night, arrives quite by chance in the dazzling streets of Paris. She soon meets a German shorthaired pointer named Frida, two irrepressible ducks and an opinionated crow, and life amongst the animals in the city’s lush green spaces is enjoyable for a time. But everything changes when Paras meets a human boy, Étienne, and discovers a new, otherworldly part of Paris: the secluded, ivy-walled house where the boy and his nearly-one-hundred-year-old great grandmother live quietly and unto themselves. As the cold weather of Christmas nears, the unlikeliest of friendships bloom among humans and animals alike. But how long can a runaway horse live undiscovered in Paris? And how long can one boy keep her all to himself?
Charming and beguiling in equal measure, Jane Smiley’s novel celebrates the intrinsic need for friendship, love, and freedom, whomever you may be.
Imprint: Picador
RRP: $32.99
Dark folktales retold for modern times by some of the most exciting women writing today, from Daisy Johnson to Eimear McBride
'Engaging, modern fables with a feminist tang' Sunday Times
DARK, POTENT AND UNCANNY, HAG BURSTS WITH THE UNTOLD STORIES OF OUR ISLES, CAPTURED IN VOICES AS VARIED AS THEY ARE VIVID.
Here are sisters fighting for the love of the same woman, a pregnant archaeologist unearthing impossible bones and lost children following you home. A panther runs through the forests of England and pixies prey upon violent men.
From the islands of Scotland to the coast of Cornwall, the mountains of Galway to the depths of the Fens, these forgotten folktales howl, cackle and sing their way into the 21st century, wildly reimagined by some of the most exciting women writing in Britain and Ireland today.
'A thoroughly original package that has a hint of Angela Carter' The Times 'Sharp writing and cleverly done' Spectator
Imprint: VIRAGO
RRP: $29.99
In this era of #metoo, it's evident that something is going wrong with the way men progress from childhood into adulthood, and few realise how critical the role of the purposeful and emotionally empowered mother is in a boy's journey to maturity. Teenagers need centred adults to guide them. If you are confused or irritated by your pre-teen or teenage son, or feel bewildered and hurt by his behaviour, this book will guide you to a clear understanding of teenagers in general and teenage boys in particular.
Written by a parenting expert, and drawing on Western psychology as well as Eastern philosophy, the processes and ideas in this practical guide will help you raise the man you want your son to be. In How to Raise a Man, as you learn more about the development of masculinity, identify your parenting style and familiarise yourself with the issues facing parenthood today, you will become a more compassionate, centred and effective parent.
Imprint: Hachette Publishers
RRP: $32.99
Les Payne, the renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, embarked in 1990 on a nearly thirty-year-long quest to interview anyone he could find who had actually known Malcolm X - including siblings, classmates, friends, cellmates, FBI moles and cops, and political leaders around the world. His goal was ambitious- to transform what would become hundreds of hours of interviews into a portrait of one of the twentieth century's most compelling figures that would separate fact from fiction.The result is this magisterial work that conjures a never-before-seen world of its protagonist, whose title is inspired by a phrase Malcolm X used when he saw his followers stir with purpose, to overcome the obstacles of racism. Setting his life not only within the political struggles of his day but also against the larger backdrop of American history, this remarkable masterpiece traces his path from street criminal to devoted moralist and revolutionary.Payne paints vivid scenes from start to finish and delivers extraordinary revelations - from a hair-raising scene of Malcolm's 1961 clandestine meeting with the KKK, to a minute-by-minute account of his murder in Harlem in 1965, in which he makes the case for the complicity of the American government. The Dead Are Arising is a penetrating and riveting work that affirms the centrality of Malcolm X to the African American freedom struggle and the story of the twentieth century.
Imprint: Viking Books
RRP: $59.99
Photographic artist Alex Frayne has travelled the length and breadth of South Australia to bring us this wondrous book of images from his big and beautiful, timeless and daunting back yard.
Illuminating the view throughout is the celebrated light that falls on the state's hills and plains, its deserts and waters.
South Australia's landscapes are extraordinary and enriching. Alex Frayne pays them marvellous homage in this triumphant and emotional photographic essay. Here is the work of a master of his art.
Praise for Landscapes of South Australia
'His landscapes are sensational.' - William Yang
Imprint: WAKEFIELD
RRP: $75.00
You’re lying, sprawled at the bottom of the stairs, legs bent, arms wide. If I squint, you could be playing Sleeping Bunnies. Or maybe Twister. I wish I could tell you how the blood pooling around your head looks like a halo. But you’re past listening. I need to let the paramedics in. And then I have to be careful. Because as the energy trickles out of your body it’s pumping into mine. And while this could be a tragic accident, if anyone’s got a motive to hurt you, it’s me.
Bec and Izzy have been best friends their whole lives. They’ve been through a lot together – the death of Bec’s mother, the birth of Izzy’s daughter, Bec’s engagement. But there’s a darker side to their friendship, too – and Bec is about to reach breaking point. Then Izzy is found broken and bloodied at the bottom of the stairs. It could have been an accident – perhaps she fell – but if the police decide to look for a killer, then Bec is sure to be their prime suspect.
This is The Rumour meets The Holiday, a compulsive thriller with a toxic but layered friendship at its heart that keeps you in the dark until the final few breathless pages . .
Imprint: Simon & Schuster
RRP: $29.99
Alec de Payns is an operative in the secretive Y Division of the DGSE, France's famed foreign intelligence service. He's the agent at the sharp end of clandestine intelligence missions, responsible for thwarting terror plots and disrupting illegal nuclear and biological weapons programs. The element the missions have in common is danger - to de Payns, his team and to those who stand in his way. But increasingly it's not just the enemies of France that are being damaged by de Payns' actions. His own marriage is under strain, and at the back of his mind lurks the fear that haunts every operative with a family - what if they come after my children?
When a routine mission in Palermo to disrupt a terrorist organisation goes fatally wrong, Alec is forced to confront that they may have been betrayed by a fellow operative. And now he's been tasked to investigate a secretive biological weapons plant in Pakistan. Alec must find out how they're producing a weaponised bacteria capable of killing millions, and what they plan to do with it. But with a traitor within their own ranks, it's not just Alec in the firing line. Soon he'll be forced to confront his worst fear - and the potential destruction of Paris itself.
This is fiction, but based on the experiences of a real French spy. The knowledge and tradecraft that lie behind Jack Beaumont's taut plotting and brilliant eye for detail enliven every page, making The Frenchman all the more plausible, and all the more frightening.
Imprint: Allen and Unwin Publishers
RRP: $29.99
Marx, Freud, Proust, Einstein, Bernhardt and Kafka. Between the middle of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries a few dozen men and women changed the way we see the world. But many have vanished from our collective memory despite their enduring importance in our daily lives. Without Karl Landsteiner, for instance, there would be no blood transfusions or major surgery. Without Paul Ehrlich no chemotherapy. Without Siegfried Marcus no motor car. Without Rosalind Franklin genetic science would look very different. Without Fritz Haber there would not be enough food to sustain life on earth.
These visionaries all have something in common their Jewish origins and a gift for thinking outside the box.
In 1847 the Jewish people made up less than 0.25% of the world's population, and yet they saw what others could not. How?
Imprint: ONE WORLD
RRP: $22.99
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