Nicholas Slopen remembers his life to date, the love of his children, and his wife's betrayal, but what he doesn't recall is dying in a traffic accident months ago, and what of this tattooed and scarred hulk of a body he sees in the mirror? It bears no resemblance to the mild mannered academic he should see.

What follows is a creepy story of literary fraud, Frankenstein-esque Soviet science experiments and the quest for something approaching immortality.

The complex narrative could easily have been confusing, especially as it calls on the reader to make a significant perspective shift late in the novel, but Theroux balances the narration expertly into a page turning, gritty and emotional exploration of language and identity.

I highly recommend this exciting and bizarre thriller.

- Cam

In rural Queensland, the Harland family have claimed, lived and lost the family land.  Frank Harland, sent away from the family at a young age, commences his reclamation of the land from within his own nostalgia for the place.  As he evolves from boy to man, he revisits what is distant and lost to him through the art of drawing.  Sketching memories of the past allows Frank to become a renowned artist and winning back the family's land is his driving force.  This is a beautifully told story; a dreamy prose of words that sometime have more impact than the narrative as a whole.  While it favours description over dialogue, Malouf allows you to feel the isolation Frank experiences from his birthplace, his family and his community as he drifts through a career of circumstance as an artist.  Malouf hits common ground here revisiting similar themes to his previous work.  Originally published in 1984, this wonderful book has seen a recent re-release and will satisfy readers who enjoy well written and evocative stories.


Peta

WARNING: This book will break your heart. This novel is classified as Young Adult but a good story is a good story and an author of this calibre deserves to be read by all.

Though written by Patrick Ness, the original idea for this story is by Siobhan Dawd, who died before she could write this book. I almost feel like her grief is written among the words on every page of this novel. I sobbed with pain as if the characters were people I truly knew. This is 13 year old Connor's story and that of his terminally ill mother and his recurring nightmare. At 7 minutes pass Midnight the monster calls. The monster insists  he can help Connor by the sharing of three stories. This novel is harrowing and beautiful and will be with me always.

-Natalie

The Fields, by Kevin Maher, tells the story of 13 year old Jim Finnegan, the youngest child and only boy in a large, Irish Catholic family household. Set in Dublin in the mid 1980s, the book sees the adolescence of the lead character coming to an abrupt end following the arrival of the new Parish priest, Father O'Culigeen. Whilst dealing with ongoing abuse and a terminal illness in the family, Finnegan is able to find happiness amidst the turmoil with the older, Saidhbh Donohue. The two begin an intense relationship, which despite the joys of first love, is not without its troubles.

Maher manages to mix humour in with the heavy themes of the book. The comical accounts of chaotic family life offer moments of most welcome respite from the confronting subject matter. An impressive fictional debut, The Fields is a well written and engaging read.

- Missy

Russell's previous book Swamplandia! is one of my all time favourites, so I was very excited to get my hands on this new book of short stories, a format in which she is extremely accomplished.

From young enslaved women evolving into silkworms to produce silk for their empire, to seagulls meddling with people's fate by stealing small but crucial items from their lives, onto US Presidents who find themselves trapped in the bodies of horses, what sound like fantasy stories are really nothing of the sort, Russell has a wonderful ability to weave together reality and the bizarre to produce something both richly funny and devastatingly sorrowful.

Some stories are stronger than others, but I really love and empathise with her young characters whom are innocent, fragile, and strong at once.
She is such a talent, capturing me with her sense of place and time like few writers can and I'm savouring for more already. 

- Cam

A beautifully crafted dystopian world of conformity and corruption, Wool follows the journey of Juliette on her way from mechanic to sheriff within a post-apocalyptic underground silo.

Wool began as a series of novellas independently published online and went on to became a major success scoring Howey a six figure book deal. Howey still retains the exclusive online rights and recently sold the film rights to 20th Century Fox.

With a refreshing plot that strays away from traditional conventions as each layer is revealed, Wool is a thrilling read full of twists and turns and a triumph of self publishing.


- Toby

This is another great novel by Maggie O’Farrell.  Perhaps it is even better than “The Hand that First Held Mine.”  When the patriarch of the family vanishes one morning, Gretta calls in the family to help find him.  Each member has their own life issues and problems and each one’s problems are slowly revealed.  Their characters are complex and interesting.  Put together again in their adult life the children are  exposed to  and have to deal with the same issues that they escaped from when they left home, as well as their current relationships.  The writing is brilliant, engaging and clever.  Not to be missed.

- Barbara

Benediction by Kent Haruf

Some of the most beautiful writing I have ever read. This is a novel about mortality, lost opportunities and family - those we are born into and those we create. This is a simple story but Kent Haruf is such a remarkable writer that you become so immersed in the characters and their respective sorrow you grieve along with them. The novel pivots around the terminally ill Dad Lewis, being cared for at home by his wife of fifty years and their middle aged daughter. A younger son has detached himself from the family years before and as death approaches his father has to deal with his regret about never really accepting his son. Set in a small community where everybody cares for each other, this novel will remind you about the fragility of life. A must read.

-Natalie

The main character of this historical Icelandic tale is a murderess.  While she awaits her death penalty she is placed with a farming family who are more than reluctant to have her under their roof and surveillance, within reach of their two young daughters.  As Agnes, the murderess slowly reveals her version of the events that led to her conviction, Kent gradually teases out the relationships and characters in this amazing true story.  This intriguing story is a page turner.

-Barb

RELEASE DATE: MAY 2013