2021, READING, SENIOR FICTION

Spring into Reading

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Drama

‘Mercy Blain is a character you find yourself cheering on. Kim Lock mixes the transformative journey of Alice Hart with the quirkiness of Eleanor Oliphant in this story about embracing life, even when it threatens to overwhelm you’ – Tricia Stringer, bestselling author of The Family Inheritance 
 
‘Mercy Blain is an unforgettable character who will capture your heart from the first pages and hold it through until the end. Her madcap journey towards forgiveness – of herself and others – is moving and funny and all other good things that will make you want to keep reading and make you sad when your time with Mercy comes to an end.’ – Sophie Green, bestselling author of The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle 
Following one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them all. Deserted by her lover, Sunja is saved when a young tubercular minister offers to marry and bring her to Japan. So begins a sweeping saga of an exceptional family in exile from its homeland and caught in the indifferent arc of history. 
Winner of the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award 
Erica Marsden’s son, an artist, has been imprisoned for homicidal negligence. In a state of grief, Erica cuts off all ties to family and friends, and retreats to a quiet hamlet on the south-east coast near the prison where he is serving his sentence. 
 
The Labyrinth is a hypnotic story of guilt and denial, of the fraught relationship between parents and children, that is also a meditation on how art can both be ruthlessly destructive and restore sanity. It shows Amanda Lohrey to be at the peak of her powers. (Publisher)
The Girl from Munich | Book by Tania Blanchard | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster AU
The runaway Australian bestseller about love and loss in wartime Germany, inspired by a true story. 
 
‘Captures the intensity of a brutal and unforgiving war, successfully weaving love, loss, desperation and, finally, hope into a gripping journey of self-discovery.’ The Courier Mail
In 1596, William Shakespeare’s 11 year old son Hamnet died in Stratford-upon-Avon. Four or so years later, Shakespeare wrote the play considered by many to be his greatest work, giving its tragic hero a variation of his dead son’s name. Almost four centuries later Maggie O’Farrell was studying Hamlet at school and learned of the boy Hamnet, whose life has been little more than a footnote in his father’s biography. The seed of curiosity planted has grown into her finest novel yet, a reimagining of Hamnet’s death and the effect it had on his family.  
The Performance - Claire Thomas
The breakout literary sensation of 2021, THE PERFORMANCE is a tightly woven examination of women’s inner lives that is enthralling, profound and deeply human. 
A SYDNEY MORNING HERALD ’MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2021′

A heartbreaking novel of an extraordinary lifelong friendship. 
Everyone has a Tully Dawson: the friend who defines your life. 
 
In the summer of 1986, in a small Scottish town, James and Tully ignite a brilliant friendship based on music, films and the rebel spirit. With school over and the locked world of their fathers before them, they rush towards the climax of their youth: a magical weekend in Manchester, the epicentre of everything that inspires them in working-class Britain. There, against the greatest soundtrack ever recorded, a vow is made: to go at life differently. 
 
Thirty years on, half a life away, the phone rings. Tully has news. 
 
Mayflies is a memorial to youth’s euphorias and to everyday tragedy. A tender goodbye to an old union, it discovers the joy and the costs of love. 
Captivating and gorgeously written, I Couldn’t Love Your More is an unforgettable novel about love, motherhood, secrets and betrayal – and how only the truth can set us free.
Ebook 
THE BOOK BEHIND THE AMAZON PRIME/BBC SERIES STARRING DAVID TENNANT, MICHAEL SHEEN, JON HAMM AND BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH ‘Ridiculously inventive and gloriously funny’ Guardian. What if, for once, the predictions are right, and the Apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea? It’s a predicament that Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon, now find themselves in.
Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray by Anita Heiss
Set on timeless Wiradyuri country, where the life-giving waters of the rivers can make or break dreams, and based on devastating true events, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Dreams) is an epic story of love, loss and belonging. 
 
We need more of these stories; more novels that reflect Australia’s colonial past through the eyes of First Nations women. (Chris Gordon, Readings)
The Best Kind of Beautiful by Frances Whiting
A warm hearted novel about music, grief, relationships, gardens, love, laughter and family. Award-winning Brisbane journalist and author Frances Whiting brings her renowned warmth and empathy to this witty and gentle novel about bringing out the best in each other. (Pan Macmillan Australia)
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
The unforgettable story of a mother and son fleeing a drug-cartel to cross the US-Mexico border. 
 
‘I couldn’t put it down. I’ll never stop thinking about it’ – Ann Patchett 
 
‘One hell of a novel about a good woman on the run with her beautiful boy’ – Stephen King 
 
Fear keeps them running. Hope keeps them alive. 
The 42nd Anniversary edition! 
 
One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. It’s the final straw for Arthur Dent, who has already had his house bulldozed that morning. But for Arthur, this is only the beginning – in the seconds before global obliteration, Arthur is plucked from the planet by his friend Ford Prefect – and together the pair venture out across the galaxy on the craziest road trip of all time.
Marlowe and Harper share a bond deeper than most sisters, shaped by the loss of their mother in childhood. For Harper, living with what she calls the Up syndrome and gifted with an endless capacity for wonder, Marlowe and she are connected by an invisible thread, like the hum that connects all things. For Marlowe, they are bound by her fierce determination to keep Harper, born with a congenital heart disorder, alive. (Publisher)
Buy Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel Book Online at Low Prices in India | Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel Reviews & Ratings - Amazon.in
Centuries ago, when magic still existed in England, the greatest magician of all was the Raven King, a human child brought up by fairies. Now at the beginning of the nineteenth century, he is barely more than a legend, and England, with its mad King and its dashing poets, no longer believes in practical magic. Then the reclusive Mr Norrell of Hurtfew Abbey appears and news spreads of the return of magic to England. Persuaded that he must help the government in the war against Napoleon, Mr Norrell goes to London where he meets brilliant young magician, Jonathan Strange. Together they dazzle the country with their feats.  
Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person’s decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. (Goodreads) 
The Midnight Library | BIG W
Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets? (Goodreads) 
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse: Mackesy, Charlie: 9780062976581: Amazon.com: Books
Those in need of peace will find it between the covers of this elegant picture book for adults and children 
(The New York Times)  
 
‘Feeling a little blue? Meet the new Winnie the Pooh.’ The Daily Mail 
 
‘A wonderful work of art and a wonderful window into the human heart’ Richard Curtis 

Fantasy

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A bard with an ability he doesn’t understand. A wise woman with power she never wanted. Each has a quest and they’ll need each other to succeed.

Diarmuid is not a typical bard. His tales aren’t about hope and heroism, but instead reflect the darkness he feels inside. When he inadvertently brings his imaginary muse to life, everything she knows comes from Diarmuid’s melancholic tales. Desiring her own life, she leaves Diarmuid and sets out to live in the only way she knows how.

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Seventeen-year-old Kiva Meridan has spent the last ten years fighting for survival in the notorious death prison, Zalindov, working as the prison healer.
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When a bard tells a tale about a soldier’s death, he doesn’t intend to kill his brother. But he didn’t believe those who warned him he had the ability to bring his tales to life.

Grainne recognizes the power in the bard’s tale. Desperate to protect his target — her new husband, Caedmon — she makes a pact with one of the fey. Caedmon is whisked away to the realm of the fey and Grainne fears she will never see him again.
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Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?
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Arlen’s twin sister was stolen by the fey moments after her birth. When he is sent to be an advisor to the king, his plan to search for his missing sister must be put on hold — until he realises that she might be the key to bringing peace to the kingdom.

Agata doesn’t know she’s part mortal. Raised by the queen of the fey, she despises mortals just as much as Titania does.

Mystery and Crime

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. 
 
When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?
Review: When You Are Mine by Michael Robotham | Simon McDonald
Philomena McCarthy has defied the odds and become a promising young officer with the Metropolitan Police despite being the daughter of a notorious London gangster. Called to the scene of a domestic assault one day, she rescues a bloodied young woman, Tempe Brown, the mistress of a decorated detective. The incident is hushed up, but Phil has unwittingly made a dangerous enemy with powerful friends.
From Sunday Times bestseller Anthony Horowitz comes Magpie Murders, his deliciously dark take on the vintage crime novel, brought bang- up-to-date with a fiendish modern twist. (Booktopia)
Dumbo Lit Book Club: Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – POWERHOUSE Arena
At once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps. (book cover) 
Brilliantly clever, relentlessly suspenseful, full of twists that will keep readers guessing with each revelation and clue, Moonflower Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction from one of its greatest masterminds, Anthony Horowitz.  (Goodreads) 
Master of international intrigue Daniel Silva follows up his acclaimed #1 New York Times bestsellers The Order, The New Girl, and The Other Woman with this riveting, action-packed tale of espionage and suspense featuring art restorer and spy Gabriel Allon.  
The fatal poisoning of a Russian billionaire sends Gabriel Allon on a dangerous journey across Europe and into the orbit of a musical virtuoso who may hold the key to the truth about his friend’s death.

New in Non-Fiction and Biographies

Untwisted: The Story of My Life - Paul Jennings - 9781760525828 - Allen & Unwin - Australia
In the telling of his own tale, children’s author and screenwriter Paul Jennings demonstrates how seemingly small events can combine into a compelling drama. As if assembling the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, he puts together fragments, memories and anecdotes to reveal the portrait of a complex and weathered soul. 
 
Untwisted is revealing, moving and very funny. (Allen & Unwin)
Tenacious, perceptive and sharp, Wallace commanded a range of police crime squads, bringing order to the wild west of 1990s Cabramatta and busting criminal bikie gangs with Strike Force Raptor, until her retirement in late 2019. Her inner strength and empathy meant that she was a constant go-to for some of the state’s toughest cases, and her poise and compassion earned her a special place in the lives and hearts of her colleagues – and the grudging respect of her criminal foes.

In Wallace’s official biography, veteran crime writer Mark Morri brings to life the jaw-dropping true story of a police trailblazer and woman of force.
The true story of Deborah Wallace, the cop known as the gangbuster.
My Tidda, My Sister, Stories of Strength and Resilience from Australiaâs First Women by Marlee Silva | 9781741177114 | Booktopia
My Tidda, My Sister shares the experiences of many Indigenous women and girls, brought together by author and host of the Tiddas 4 Tiddas podcast, Marlee Silva. The voices of First Nations’ women that Marlee weaves through the book provide a rebuttal to the idea that ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’. For non-Indigenous women, it demonstrates the diversity of what success can look like and offers an insight into the lives of their Indigenous sisters and peers.
Phosphorescence, On Awe, Wonder And Things That Sustain You When The World Goes Dark by Julia Baird | 9781460757154 | Booktopia
On awe wonder and things that sustain you when the world goes dark. A beautiful, intimate and inspiring investigation into how we can find and nurture within ourselves that essential quality of internal happiness – the ‘light within’ that Julia Baird calls ‘phosphorescence’ – which will sustain us even through the darkest times. (Goodreads) 
 
158 BAI 
Mammoth | UQP
Narrated by a 13,000-year-old extinct American mastodon, Mammoth is the (mostly) true story of how the skull of a Tyrannosaurus bataar, a pterodactyl, a prehistoric penguin, the severed hand of an Egyptian mummy and the narrator himself came to be on sale at a 2007 natural history auction in Manhattan. (Booktopia) 
A Repurposed Life - Ronni Kahn with Jessica Chapnik Kahn - 9781760525903 - Murdoch books
As the owner of a successful events company, throwing away huge volumes of leftover food at the end of the day came with the territory. But when Ronni Kahn hit midlife, she found herself no longer able to turn a blind eye to her food waste problem. Hand delivering the untouched food to homeless shelters around Sydney became her renegade solution. Little did she know that fixing her small problem at work would lead her to unlock a hidden purpose at the very core of her inner life.
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art - Whitcoulls
James Nestor meets cutting-edge scientists at Harvard and experiments on himself in labs at Stanford to see the impact of bad breathing. He revives the lost, and recently scientifically proven, wisdom of swim coaches, mystics, cardiologists, Olympians and choral conductors, the world’s foremost ‘pulmonauts’ to show how breathing in specific patterns can trigger our bodies to absorb more oxygen. 
So You Think You Know What's Good for You? by Norman Swan - Books - Hachette Australia
For over thirty years, Dr Norman Swan has been delivering straight, honest, common-sense health information to ordinary Australians as both a physician and much-loved broadcaster. And when Australia needed clear, scientifically backed COVID-19 facts and advice, it was Norman Swan who stepped up every day to provide the answers we required. 
A one-stop handbook that will settle fruitless anxieties and allow people to focus on what matters to them. Replace medical myths, half-truths and misconceptions with the information you need to make better decisions about how to eat and how to live to put your mind at ease and ensure your and your family’s health is the best it can be. (Publisher) 
Just Mercy (Movie Tie-In Edition, Adapted for Young Adults) by Bryan Stevenson
In this young adult adaptation of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson delves deep into the broken U.S. justice system, detailing from his personal experience his many challenges and efforts as a lawyer and social advocate, especially on behalf of America’s most rejected and marginalized people. 
Eddie Jaku – The Happiest Man on Earth – Living Arts Canberra
Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed on 9 November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Over the next seven years, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on a Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country. Because he survived, Eddie made the vow to smile every day. He pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom and living his best possible life. He now believes he is the ‘happiest man on earth’. (publisher) 940.53 JAK 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural and historic resources

Click on the image to take you to our Library Topic Guide on Aboriginal and torres Strait Islander Culture Resources. Includes links to books, film, interviews and websights.

eBooks

Apps Download via the app on your Phone Login & password (only need once) More information 
EPlatform  Image result for eplatform logo Same login and password used for your school device Wheelers ePlatfom  
SORA Image result for sora logo Staff: swipe card number for both login and password Students: school device login number for both login and password Overdrive: SORA  

Newspapers and Magazines

newspapers 

Full digital copies of The Australian, The Courier Mail and other newspapers from NewsBank 

To access digital newspapers, go to the Library website or click here: 

magazines 

Online copies of CHOICE magazine head to the Library website or click here 

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