Staff Recommended Reads

Ella Quinn’s bachelors are quite sure of what they want in life—and love—until the right woman opens their eyes… After a painful heartbreak, Rupert, the handsome young Earl of Stanstead, has decided that when it comes to love, avoidance is best. Until he meets a woman who makes him forget his plan—and remember his longing for a wife and family. Yet he senses that she too has been hurt, though she attempts to hide her feelings—and more—in the most baffling and alluring way. Intrigued, Rupert is willing to play along, if winning her is the prize… Crushed by her late husband’s scorn, Vivian, Countess of Beresford, believes she is monstrously undesirable. Sadly childless, she has moved to London resigned to a solitary life. Still, when she encounters Rupert at a masquerade ball, her disguise as Cleopatra emboldens her. Convinced he doesn’t recognize her, she begins an after-hours affair with him, always in costume—while allowing him to innocently court the real her by day. But when Rupert makes a shocking choice, will Vivian be able to handle the truth?...

In 15th century China two women are born under the same sign, the Metal Snake. But life will take the friends on very different paths. According to Confucius, 'an educated woman is a worthless woman', but Tan Yunxian - born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separation and loneliness - is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. She begins her training in medicine with her grandmother and, as she navigates the male world of medicine, requiring tact and diplomacy, she struggles against the confining world of her class. From a young age, Yunxian learns about women's illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose - despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it - and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other's joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom. How might a woman like Yunxian break free of tradition, go on to treat women and girls from every level of society, and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? Lady Tan's Circle of Women is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.

When my dad dropped us off at the front gate, the first things I saw were the rose garden spreading out on either side of the main driveway and the enormous sign in iron cursive letters spelling out LAURINDA. No 'Ladies College' after it, of course; the name was meant to speak for itself.Laurinda is an exclusive school for girls. At its secret core is the Cabinet, a trio of girls who wield power over their classmates – and some of their teachers.Entering this world of wealth and secrets is Lucy Lam, a scholarship girl with sharp eyes and a shaky sense of self. As she watches the Cabinet at work, and is courted by them, Lucy finds herself in a battle for her identity and integrity. Funny, feisty and moving, Laurinda explores Lucy’s struggle to stay true to herself as she finds her way in a new world of privilege and opportunity.

FINALIST FOR THE MILES FRANKLIN LITERARY AWARDS 2019. WINNER OF THE NSW PREMIERS LITERARY AWARDS MULTICULTURAL NSW AWARD 2019. 'Bani Adam thinks he's better than us!' they say over and over until finally I shout back, 'Shut up, I have something to say!'. They all go quiet and wait for me to explain myself, redeem myself, pull my shirt out, rejoin the pack. I hold their anticipation for three seconds, and then, while they're all ablaze, I say out loud, 'I do think I'm better.' As far as Bani Adam is concerned Punchbowl Boys is the arse end of the earth. Though he's a Leb and they control the school, Bani feels at odds with the other students, who just don't seem to care. He is a romantic in a sea of hypermasculinity.Bani must come to terms with his place in this hostile, hopeless world, while dreaming of so much more. Praise for The Lebs: 'an open-eyed and highly charismatic novel broiling with fight, tenderness and ambition.' - Big Issue. 'The Lebs is a strong and resonant novel that deserves to be widely read.' - Weekend Australian. 'The author never lets his superb command of idiom or his eye for the absurd overwhelm a deeply felt exploration of the hurt and damage that can come from encounters with the Australian Other. No one who reads The Lebs deserves to come out unscathed.' - The Saturday Paper. 'Ahmad's piercing storytelling cuts away at the lace and trimmings of race relations in Australia today.' - The Lifted Brow.

Review: After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a 16 year old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orangutan, and a 450 pound Royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary works of fiction in recent years.

There is something about Ove. At first sight, he is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots - neighbours who can't reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d'etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents' Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets. But isn't it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so? In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible...

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that. What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

What if you could try out all the lives you could have lived and pick one? Would you choose differently? 'Between life and death there is a library,' she said. 'And within that library, the shelves go on for ever. 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?'Thirty-four-year-old Nora's life could be better. She's lonely, single and has just lost her job. Her cat dying feels like the last straw. What else is there to live for? Then she finds a library between life and death where she gets to try all the other lives she could have lived. The Midnight Library is a gloriously relatable novel about life, death and the in-between. It is about finding hope, playing chess, dumping regrets, and picking the right people around you.

The Unravelling of Samantha X. 'I wanted to go back to the real me, Amanda Goff. Yet there was just one problem. I had no idea who she was. I had no idea who I was. I hadn't been Amanda for years, decades. Samantha wasn't leaving just yet; she wasn't going to make a quiet exit. She wasn't that type of woman.' Amanda Goff was a successful journalist in London and Sydney before ditching her nine-to-five job at the age of 38 to become Samantha X, Australia's most famous escort. A bipolar diagnosis changed everything: she retired from sex work, walked away from Samantha X, and went in search of Amanda. Misfit is her third memoir - but the first written as 'herself'. Raw, honest, provocative, wise and often laugh-out-loud funny, this is an unflinching record of her journey along the bumpy path to healing and self-acceptance. Beyond confronting her bipolar disorder and addiction issues, Amanda must also contend with prejudice and judgement, lingering trauma from her earlier life, and her own crushing self-doubt. As she struggles with the realities of so-called normality, the persistent voice of Samantha X is there to remind her of a former life that offered power, money, fame - and protection from the challenges that Amanda has courageously chosen to tackle head-on. 'Written with raw honesty, extraordinary courage and non-stop brio' PROFESSOR GORDON PARKER, founder, the Black Dog Institute.

BOOKMARK BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020!'A girl's own adventure...This is Rachel Joyce's best book yet ...Exciting, moving and full of unexpected turns.' THE TIMES 'Brilliant and elegant and wise...powerful and moving...I can't recommend it enough.' JOANNA CANNON'A beautiful portrayal of female friendship in all its frailties, contradictions and strengths.' RAYNOR WINN'The perfect escape novel for our troubled times.' PATRICK GALE____________________It is 1950. In a devastating moment of clarity, Margery Benson abandons her dead-end job and advertises for an assistant to accompany her on an expedition. She is going to travel to the other side of the world to search for a beetle that may or may not exist. Enid Pretty, in her unlikely pink travel suit, is not the companion Margery had in mind. And yet together they will be drawn into an adventure that will exceed every expectation. They will risk everything, break all the rules, and at the top of a red mountain, discover their best selves.This is a story that is less about what can be found than the belief it might be found; it is an intoxicating adventure story but it is also about what it means to be a woman and a tender exploration of a friendship that defies all boundaries.