Browse our Father's Day gift guide - Readings
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
FREE
SE P T E M BE R
2018
Browse our Father’s
Day gift guide
page 11
The Readings Prize for
New Australian Fiction
2018 shortlist
page 6
B OOK S
M USI C
F I LM
EVENTS
TO R D
G USTAV SE N
T R IO
YOTAM page 23 GURRUMUL
ST E PH AN I E S ALLY YU VAL NOAH OT TOLE N G H I page 22
BISH OP R OON E Y HAR AR I page 18
page 7 page 7 page 15
CARLTON 309 LYGON ST 9347 6633 KIDS 315 LYGON ST 9341 7730 DONCASTER WESTFIELD DONCASTER, 619 DONCASTER RD 9810 0891
HAWTHORN 701 GLENFERRIE RD 9819 1917 MALVERN 185 GLENFERRIE RD 9509 1952 ST KILDA 112 ACLAND ST 9525 3852 STATE LIBRARY
VICTORIA 328 SWANSTON ST 8664 7540 | SEE SHOP OPENING HOURS, BROWSE AND BUY ONLINE AT WWW.READINGS.COM.AU
NEWS September 2018 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 3
September Fiction are Flames by Robbie Arnott
(Text), Pulse Points by Jennifer Down CLASSICAL MUSIC SALE
cookbook, Ottolenghi SIMPLE, will be
available from 6 September at the very
News
(Text), The Fireflies of Autumn by Moreno The Readings classical music sale is on special price of $39.99 (RRP $49.99) and
Giovannoni (Black Inc), Pink Mountain on again! With discounts of up to 50% on will include a bookplate signed by the
Locust Island by Jamie Marina Lau (Brow CDs and classical box-sets. This year’s author. Finally, we’ll have signed first edition
Books), The Town by Shaun Prescott sale includes recordings of Bach, Mozart, hardback copies of Marcus Zusak’s new
(Brow Books), and The Lucky Galah by Haydn, Beethoven, Einaudi, Schubert, novel Bridge of Clay available in all of our
Tracey Sorenson (Picador). Chair of the Vivaldi, Wagner, Weiss, John Cage, Arvo shops from 9 October, for the special price
judging panel, Ellen Cregan, says ‘all six Pärt and Philip Glass and featuring artists of $29.99 (RRP $39.99) – you can pre-order
FATHER’S DAY books challenge conventional ideas of now online or in-store. All signed copies are
such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Isabelle
It’s Father’s Day on Sunday 2 September. what the contemporary Australian novel Faust, Kiri Te Kanawa, Matthias Goerne, limited, while stocks last.
We’ve included a handy guide in this issue can achieve’. This year’s guest judge, Paul Lewis, The Jerusalem Quartet and the
of Readings Monthly to help you find the Tony Birch, will now join our staff judging Takács Quartet. The sale is available in all
perfect gift, and you’ll also find plenty of panel to select a winner. The winning book Readings shops (except Readings Kids and READINGS STAFF TO BE PUBLISHED
ideas in our seven shops. will be featured in the November edition the State Library) and online from now until We are delighted that four Readings staff
of Readings Monthly and the author will 30 September, while stocks last. members have signed publishing contracts
receive prize money of $3000. Read more for their debut books in recent months. The
READINGS STATE LIBRARY RELOCATION about the shortlisted titles on page 6. forthcoming authors are Gerard Elson from
Our State Library shop is getting a new PURCHASE A SIGNED COPY Readings St Kilda for a music biography
look and a new location! As part of the If you’d like a signed copy of Tim Winton’s with Scribe Publications; Fiona Hardy
State Library Victoria’s Vision 2020 MARK RUBBO WINS PHILANTHROPY latest novel, The Shepherd’s Hut, you’re in from Readings Carlton for a middle grade
redevelopment project, our shop will be AWARD luck – we’ll have signed copies available novel with Affirm Press; Sean O’Beirne
moving to a larger space situated at the The Creative Partnerships Awards honour in our shops and online from 30 August, from Readings St Kilda for a collection of
library’s new Russell St entrance (285- leaders from philanthropy, business and just in time for Father’s Day. We also short stories with Black Inc; and marketing
321 Russell St, Melbourne). Our shop will the arts for their contribution to Australia’s have signed copies of Stephanie Bishop’s manager Nina Kenwood for a young adult
be significantly bigger, with an expanded cultural life. We are thrilled that Mark Man Out Of Time (our fiction book of the novel with Text Publishing (which won this
children’s section and a beautiful new fit- Rubbo, Readings' Managing Director month) available in-store and online for year’s Text Prize). Congratulations to all four
out. Our current site will close on Monday 17 (pictured on the cover of this month’s issue, the special price of $26.99 (RRP $29.99). staff members – we can’t wait to see their
September, and the shop will reopen at the alongside his son Joe Rubbo), was the joint Yotam Ottolenghi’s hotly anticipated new books on our shelves in 2019.
Russell St entrance on Friday 21 September. winner of the 2018 Emerging Philanthropy
Leadership Award. Mark shared the award
with philanthropist, volunteer and advocate
20% OFF SALE Beau Neilson. Rubbo was recognised for
To celebrate the reopening of our shop in his contribution to the Wheeler Centre’s
its new location, we’re running a 20% off Hot Desk Fellowships. Supported by the
sale at Readings State Library on Saturday Readings Foundation, these fellowships
22 September. We’re offering 20% off all include a small stipend, a workspace in
books, stationery, gift items, CDs, DVDs the Wheeler Centre over a 10-week period,
and more, for one day only. You’ll find the and recognition and endorsement of the
new Readings State Library shop at the writer’s work.
Russell St entrance of the library (open
from Friday 21 September). Please note,
this sale is only available at the Readings INDIGENOUS LITERACY DAY
State Library shop on Saturday 22 This year Indigenous Literacy Day is on
September, and excludes gift vouchers, Wednesday 5 September. Indigenous
lay-bys, special orders and some specialty Literacy Day is run by the Indigenous Literacy
items. For more information, visit the Foundation (ILF), and it is a national day of
Readings website at readings.com.au celebration of Indigenous culture, stories,
language and literacy. In acknowledgement of
the day, 10% of sales from books sold in all of
THE READINGS PRIZE FOR NEW our shops on Wednesday 5 September will be
AUSTRALIAN FICTION 2018 SHORTLIST donated to the ILF.
The six brilliant books shortlisted for this For more information about ILF, please visit
year’s Readings Prize for New Australian indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au
R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY EDITOR E V E N T S C U R AT O R CAR TOON
Free, independent monthly newspaper Elke Power Chris Gordon Oslo Davis
published by Readings Books, Music & Film elke.power@readings.com.au oslodavis.com
ADVERTISING
SUBSCRIBE E D I T O R I A L A S S I S TA N T Ellen Cregan P R I C E S A N D AVA I L A B I L I T Y
Subscribe to Readings Monthly and our Judi Mitchell ellen.cregan@readings.com.au Please note that all prices and release
e-news by visiting our website: judi.mitchell@readings.com.au dates in Readings Monthly are correct at
readings.com.au/sign-up GRAPHIC DESIGN time of publication, however prices and
PROOFREADERS Cat Matteson release dates may change without notice.
DELIVERY CHARGES FOR Marie Matteson, Judi Mitchell, colourcode.com.au Special price offers apply only for the
M A I L- O R D E R P U R C H A S E S and Ellen Cregan month in which they are featured in the
$5 flat rate for anywhere in Australia FRONT COVER Readings Monthly.
K I D S / YA C U R AT O R S The September Readings Monthly cover
DELIVERY CHARGES FOR Angela Crocombe and Dani Solomon features Mark and Joe Rubbo in our
ONLINE PURCHASES Readings donates 10% of its profits each
newly renovated Carlton shop. Cover and year to The Readings Foundation:
$5 flat rate for anywhere in Australia for M U S I C C U R AT O R Father’s Day Gift Guide photography by readings.com.au/the-readings-foundation
orders under $100. Free delivery on orders Dave Clarke Lian Hingee.
$100 and over.
D V D S C U R AT O R
Lou Fulco
4 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY September 2018 E V EN T S
September the very best in the world. Join us for a
mushroom workshop, a glass of wine and a
Loose Units, is part father–son story
and part true-crime race through the
Events
chat about cultivating a nourishing garden. underbelly of 1980s policing in Sydney.
Come along to hear Paul in conversation
Readings St Kilda,
with comedian Tegan Higginbotham.
112 Acland Street, St Kilda
Tickets are $45 per person and include a Readings Carlton
signed copy of Milkwood, everything you 309 Lygon Street, Carlton
need for cultivating mushrooms, and a glass of Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events
Event times and locations are subject to change. wine. Places are strictly limited, please book at
For the most up-to-date information on readings.com.au/events
events, please check readings.com.au/events
Monday 17 September,
Monday 3 September, 6.30pm
6.30pm
CAROLINE OVERINGTON
TARYN BRUMFITT IN Wednesday 12 September,
IN CONVERSATION WITH
CONVERSATION WITH 6.30pm VIRGINIA TRIOLI
JESSICA SMITH Walkley Award-winning Australian journalist
Come along to an event supported by FIONA PATTEN ON and author Caroline Overington’s latest novel,
the Victorian Women’s Trust to hear SEX, DRUGS AND THE The Ones You Trust, is a psychological thriller
international keynote speaker and leader of that will have you thinking twice about who
The Body Image Movement Taryn Brumfitt
ELECTORAL ROLL you can really trust in your life. Come along to
discuss her new book, Embrace Yourself: We are delighted to have Fiona Patten joining hear Overington discuss her new book with
Learn to Love the Skin You’re In, with former us to discuss her book, Sex, Drugs and the ABC News Breakfast’s Virginia Trioli.
paralympian Jessica Smith. Electoral Roll: My Unlikely Journey from Sex Tuesday 25 September,
Worker to Member of Parliament. Sex worker, Readings Hawthorn 6.30–8pm
Church of All Nations 701 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn
fashion designer, anti-censorship activist,
180 Palmerston Street, Carlton fierce campaigner, political lobbyist, and Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events
CLEMENTINE FORD IN
Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events Member of Parliament – Fiona Patten’s life
has been nothing if not eventful!
CONVERSATION
In Boys Will Be Boys, bestselling and
Readings Carlton Thursday 20 September,
ground-breaking author Clementine Ford
309 Lygon Street, Carlton 6.30pm
dismantles the age-old idea that entitlement,
Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events aggression and toxicity are natural realms
JOHN TESARSCH IN for boys, and reveals how the patriarchy we
CONVERSATION WITH live in is as harmful to boys and men as it
MICK MCCOY is to women and girls. Join us to hear Ford
discuss her incendiary new book in an event
A gripping portrayal of tumultuous times
supported by the Victorian Women’s Trust.
and a thrilling story of love, courage and
deception, John Tesarsch’s latest novel, Melbourne Athenaeum
Dinner with the Dissidents, centres on the 188 Collins Street, Melbourne
Soviet Union in 1970. Tesarsch will be in Tickets are $50 per person ($45 concession) and
conversation with Mick McCoy, whose include a first edition, signed copy of Boys Will
own novel, What the Light Reveals, also Be Boys. Please book at readings.com.au/events
looks at Russia.
Readings Hawthorn
701 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn Wednesday 26 September,
6.30pm
Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events
Monday 3 September,
6.30pm
TIM DUNLOP IN
CONVERSATION WITH
MATT AND LENTIL Sunday 23 September,
JONATHAN GREEN
2pm for a 2.30pm start
PURBRICK ON THE In his latest book The Future of Everything,
VILLAGE
Thursday 13 September, DON WATSON IN Guardian journalist Tim Dunlop argues the
Matt and Lentil’s second cookbook is here! In case for more public ownership of essential
The Village they share more about growing,
6.30pm CONVERSATION WITH assets, more public space, a transparent
cooking and eating together, and making the MARTIN FLANAGAN media system, and an education that
most of every meal. We are thrilled to have ZOYA PATEL IN With characteristic wit, Don Watson has prepares us for the future, not the past.
Matt and Lentil joining us to share top tips CONVERSATION WITH updated his classic essay On Indignation to Join him as he discusses his vision
with our friends from St Kilda Veg Out! SONIA NAIR explore indignation in our post-truth world. for democracy and society with fellow
Join Watson as he discusses this seemingly journalist Jonathan Green.
Readings St Kilda Zoya Patel’s debut collection of essays on
ineradicable emotion with Martin Flanagan
112 Acland St, St Kilda race, identity, and the diaspora has received Readings Carlton
and takes us, via his forebears, Flaubert
Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events rave reviews. We are thrilled to have Patel 309 Lygon Street, Carlton
and The Sopranos, from the Old Testament
in conversation about her book No Country
to Donald Trump. Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events
Woman with fellow writer Sonia Nair from
human rights media organisation Right Now. Cinema Nova
Wednesday 5 September, 380 Lygon Street, Carlton
6.30pm Readings Carlton Sunday 30 September,
309 Lygon Street, Carlton Tickets are $45 per person and include a
2pm
champagne afternoon tea by Nova and a copy
ROBYN WILLIAMS IN Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events of On Indignation. Please book at
CONVERSATION WITH readings.com.au/events LAURA TINGLE IN
SONYA PEMBERTON CONVERSATION WITH
Join Robyn Williams, presenter of The Sunday 16 September, JAMES BUTTON
2pm–3.30pm Monday 24 September,
Science Show on ABC Radio, as he Laura Tingle’s latest Quarterly Essay, Follow
discusses his latest book, Turmoil: Letters 6.30pm the Leader – Democracy and the Rise of
from the Brink, with Emmy Award-winning A MUSHROOM-GROWING the Political Strongman, asks what has
documentary producer Sonya Pemberton. WORKSHOP WITH PAUL F. VERHOEVEN IN gone wrong with political leadership in
Turmoil is an honest and often darkly funny
MILKWOOD CONVERSATION WITH Australia? Come along to hear Tingle and
reflection on Williams’ life, the people he James Button discuss political leadership
loves and loathes, and a multi-faceted career We are very fortunate to have Kirsten TEGAN HIGGINBOTHAM in general and styles of leadership from
that includes over forty years on radio. Bradley and Nick Ritar, the authors of Paul F. Verhoeven’s father, John, is an Macron and Merkel to Keating and Obama.
Milkwood: Real Skills for Down-To-Earth ex-cop. John spent years embroiled in
Readings Hawthorn Living, coming in to show us exactly how some of the seediest, scariest escapades Readings Hawthorn
701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn and why mushrooms grown at home – in imaginable. Paul, however, is a writer, 701 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn
Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events your very own mushroom-growing kit – are broadcaster and entertainer. Paul’s book, Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events
E V E N TS September 2018 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 5
Coming Thursday 4 October,
with Readings very own Mark Rubbo. An
Open Book celebrates the power of poetry September
Up Launches
6.30pm and reaffirms Malouf as one of Australia’s
most celebrated and beloved writers.
A DINNER TO CELEBRATE Cinema Nova
MIRKA & GEORGES MORA 380 Lygon Street, Carlton
Join us in celebrating the release of Mirka Tickets are $30 per person and include a signed
& Georges: A Culinary Affair by Lesley first edition of An Open Book. Please book at The Helpline by Katherine Collette
Harding and Kendrah Morgan. Mirka and readings.com.au/events Join Katherine Collette for the launch of The
Georges shares the extraordinary story Helpline, her sharp, big-hearted comedy
of the Moras, along with recipes, family about people power and brain power – and
photographs and glorious images from the difficulty of getting them to work together.
Mirka’s studio by internationally renowned Monday 3 September, 6.30pm
photographer Robyn Lea. Hear previously Readings Carlton | Free, no booking required
untold anecdotes about these influential
cultural and culinary figures and enjoy a Active Labour by Percy Rogers
curated meal of classic French recipes at Professor Janet McCalman will launch Active
the Tolarno Eating House & Bar, home to a Labour, an inspiring memoir from Percy
number of Mirka’s iconic murals. Rogers, one of Australia’s most pioneering
and compassionate health practitioners.
Tolarno Eating House
Tuesday 4 September, 6.30pm
42 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda
Readings Carton | Free, no booking required
Tickets are $120 per person and include a meal
and a signed copy of Mirka & Georges: A
Fifty-Something Male... by Dr Ted Todd
Culinary Affair. Places are strictly limited, please
Join Dr Ted Todd for the launch of his
book at readings.com.au/events
Monday 1 October, short-story collection, Fifty-Something
6.30pm Thursday 8 November, Male, Fit, Self Employed, Gsoh, Looking for a
6.30pm–7.30pm Charming, Intelligent, Good Looking Woman,
CLARE WRIGHT IN Into Philosophy and Fun.
CONVERSATION WITH MARKUS ZUSAK IN Wednesday 5 September, 6.30pm
Readings St Kilda | Free, no booking required
SALLY WARHAFT CONVERSATION WITH
We are thrilled to have historian Clare MAGDA SZUBANSKI A Letter from Paris by Louisa Deasey
Wright joining us to talk about her excellent Join us for an incredible opportunity to Join Joanna Murray-Smith as she launches
new book, You Daughters of Freedom: The hear two of Australia’s most-loved authors Louisa Deasey’s new memoir, A Letter
Australians Who Won the Vote and Inspired in conversation. Markus Zusak (The Book from Paris, a true story of hidden art, lost
the World. Come along to hear Wright Thief) and Magda Szubanski (Reckoning) romance, secrets, and family reclaimed.
discuss women’s suffrage, democracy and will discuss Bridge of Clay, Zusak’s highly Thursday 6 September, 6.30pm
the history of women’s political activism anticipated new novel. Readings Carlton | Free, no booking required
with Sally Warhaft.
Melbourne Athenaeum Verandah 33
Church of All Nations 188 Collins Street, Melbourne
Thursday 4 October, Verandah’s annual journals showcase
180 Palmerston Street, Carlton 6.30–7.30pm Tickets are $25 per person and bookings are established and emerging writers and
Tickets are $10 per person and funds will go to essential. Please book at readings.com.au/events artists curated by Deakin University
the Victorian Women’s Trust and the Readings
Foundation. Please book at readings.com.au/events
SHAUN TAN IN students. Come along to celebrate the
release of Verandah 33.
CONVERSATION WITH
Thursday 6 September, 6pm
BERNARD CALEO Thursday 8 November,
6.30pm Readings Hawthorn | Free, no booking required
We are delighted to give you the opportunity
to hear much-loved artist Shaun Tan talk Brezania by Anthony Breslin
about his new book, Tales from the Inner ANNABEL CRABB IN Join Anthony Breslin for the launch of
City with Bernard Caleo. It is a collection CONVERSATION WITH Brezania. With its unique illustrations, zany
of original stories that are rich with feeling, SHARLEE GIBB stories and rhyming verse, it will delight and
strangely moving, and almost numinous. inspire children of all ages.
In Special Guest, the brilliant Annabel Crabb
has created the cookbook for when you Saturday 8 September, 2pm
Church of All Nations
Readings Kids | Free, no booking required
180 Palmerston Street, Carlton want to welcome friends for a meal but
your dining table is decorated with a pile of
Tickets are $35 per person and include a signed Collecting Sunshine by Rachel Flynn
bills and homework rather than an artfully
copy of Tales from the Inner City, or $5 per Join us for the release of Rachel Flynn’s
person without the book. Bookings are essential, arranged bunch of flowers and homemade
Collecting Sunshine, a beautiful picture
please book at readings.com.au/events. terrarium! Come along to hear Crabb and
book that celebrates the joy of imagination
Sharlee Gibb (Mr & Mrs Wilkinson’s How
and the wonders of the natural world.
it is at Home) talk about how to turn easy,
basic fare into something of a celebration. Saturday 15 September, 10.30am
Thursday 4 October, Readings Kids | Free, no booking required
6.30pm Church of All Nations
180 Palmerston Street, Carlton Death and Digital Media
Wednesday 3 October,
6.30pm KRISSY KNEEN IN Tickets are $40 per person and include a Join the Melbourne-based contributors to
celebrate the release of Death and Digital
CONVERSATION signed copy of Special Guest. Please book at
readings.com.au/events Media, a critical overview of how people
LEIGH SALES IN Come along to hear Krissy Kneen in mourn, commemorate and interact with the
CONVERSATION WITH conversation about her thrilling new dead through digital media.
novel. Wintering is set in the remote
RAFAEL EPSTEIN south of Tasmania and follows PhD Wednesday 21 November,
Tuesday 18 September, 6.30pm
Readings Carlton | Free, no booking required
As a journalist, Leigh Sales often student Jessica, whose abusive partner 6.30pm
encounters people experiencing the worst disappears into the wilderness. Blue Lake by David Sornig
moments of their lives in the full glare of the
DAVID MARR IN Join us for the launch of David Sornig’s
media. But one particular string of bad- Readings Carlton
news stories – and a terrifying brush with 309 Lygon Street, Carlton CONVERSATION Blue Lake, a powerful account of lives lived
on the margins in Melbourne’s notorious
her own mortality – sent her looking for Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events David Marr is one of Australia’s most
8km-square Depression-era shanty town.
answers about how vulnerable each of us is unflinching, forensic reporters of political
controversy, and one of its most subtle Thursday 20 September, 6.30pm
to a life-changing event. In her latest book,
Readings Carlton | Free, no booking required
Any Ordinary Day, she asks what happens and eloquent biographers. A handsome
Thursday 11 October, hardback, My Country is the definitive
when the worst does happen? Come along
6.30pm Shakespeare Now! by Goldie Alexander
to hear Sales in conversation with fellow David Marr collection. Come along to hear
Join Virginia Lowe as she launches
ABC journalist Rafael Epstein. Marr discuss a lifetime of writing.
DAVID MALOUF IN Goldie Alexander’s Shakespeare Now!
Church of All Nations trilogy for older young adult readers (The
Melbourne Athenaeum
188 Collins Street, Melbourne
CONVERSATION WITH 180 Palmerston Street, Carlton Trytth Chronicles, Gap-Year Nanny, and
Tickets are $45 per person, and include a signed
MARK RUBBO Tickets are $40 and include a signed, first- Changing History?).
copy of Any Ordinary Day. Please book at We are honoured to have David Malouf in edition hardback copy of My Country. Please Saturday 22 September, 2pm
readings.com.au/events conversation about his new book of poetry book at readings.com.au/events Readings Kids | Free, no booking required
6 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY September 2018 C O LU M N S
Mark’s Dear The Readings
Prize for
Say Reader New Australian
Fiction 2018
shortlist
The cover of this month’s In the month that we
Readings Monthly features reveal the brilliantly
a picture of my son Joe and eclectic shortlist for this
me in our newly refurbished year’s Readings Prize, it is
Carlton shop, which Joe entirely appropriate that
manages. It made me think of my own the 2015 recipient of that same prize should
father, who’d died when I was 20 and had be publishing a new novel. Indeed, there
never been able to see a glimpse of what I could be no better Fiction Book of the by Ellen Cregan, chair of the 2018 judging panel
would become; all he’d seen was a rather Month than Man Out of Time, the new work
confused uni student who’d just failed his from Stephanie Bishop. Bishop is a superb Congratulations to the six authors shortlisted for The Readings Prize for New Australian
first year of medicine and was embarking on writer – one of our best. Bishop has also Fiction 2018. Now in its fifth year, the prize recognises exceptional new contributions to
an arts degree (which was never finished, by given us a beautiful glimpse into her craft local literature.
the way). My son Joe has the degree, and a in a Q&A published on our website which I Over the past twelve months, the judging panel considered more than ninety books
post-graduate diploma in creative writing, recommend to you too; quite honestly, I will which made for some difficult decisions. The six books listed here represent the most
and is now becoming an integral part of read absolutely anything she writes. daring new voices in Australian literature. All six books challenge conventional ideas of
Readings; I’m very proud of him. Plenty of our staff have been anxious what the contemporary Australian novel can achieve, whether via experimental prose,
Thinking of my father made me wonder to read Sally Rooney’s Normal People, surprising plots or exploration of form.
what he’d have felt if he’d been at the and it has gone down very well. In fact,
Art Gallery of New South Wales (where a for a while there it felt like a ‘who loved it
painting by his father, Antonio Dattilo- more’ competition amongst readers of the
Rubbo, hangs proudly) in August when advance proofs! I agree: it is great. I also The Town Pulse Points
I, at the tender age of 69, received the couldn’t get enough of Pretend I’m Dead: Shaun Prescott Jennifer Down
Emerging Philanthropy Leadership Award believe me, you haven’t read anything Brow Books. PB. $29.99 Text. PB. $29.99
from Creative Partnerships Australia. The like this before. Our reviewers should also In this incredibly Jennifer Down’s first
Award recognised my, and The Readings convince you entirely of the need to read accomplished debut, a story collection is a
Foundation’s, support for the Hot Desk the new work from Pat Barker, Patrick young man investigates stunning achievement.
Fellowships at the Wheeler Centre. deWitt, Krissy Kneen, Katherine Collette, the unexplained Connected by a single
The support and promotion of Australian Patrick Gale, Andrew Miller and Roberto disappearance of rural thematic thread, her
writing and publishing has been a passion of Saviano. Also out this month are local towns in regional short fictions
mine and of Readings since the early eighties. notable novels from Greg Fleet, Janet Lee Australia. Shaun complement each
The Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowships and John Tesarsch; a great-sounding novel Prescott’s prose is other in subtle, elegant
came about when Michael Williams, the from Canadian Claudia Dey, Heartbreaker intelligent, surreal and ways. By meticulously
amazing director of the Wheeler Centre, and (recommended by Sheila Heti, Miriam brilliantly perceptive. The Town is both an depicting the minutiae
I sat down together to think of ways we could Toews, Lauren Groff and Leslie Feist!); a interrogation of, and response to, the of everyday life, Pulse Points examines big
help emerging writers. We came up with a US debut causing a big stir in the review existing literary canon. ideas about death, ageing and love.
plan to provide emerging writers with a $1000 pages overseas, The Incendiaries, by R.O.
stipend and workspace in the Wheeler Centre Kwon; the satirical Severance by Ming La;
over a ten-week period. John Boyne’s latest, A Ladder to the Sky;
That was seven years ago and 142 the illustrated fable, Sea Prayer, by Khaled
Hosseini; and the long-awaited final
Pink Mountain on The Fireflies of
writers have passed through since the first
instalment of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My
Locust Island Autumn
intake in 2012. I now have the great pleasure
Struggle series, called, fittingly, The End. Jamie Marina Lau Moreno Giovannoni
of having books on Readings’ shelves that
Brow Books. PB. $27.99 Black Inc. PB. $29.99
have been produced by Wheeler Centre Look out, too, in the middle of the month
for major releases from Kate Atkinson, This is a thrilling debut Moreno Giovannoni
Hot Desk Fellows. I’m particularly excited
Liane Moriarty, and Sebastian Faulks (see from a remarkable depicts life in the small,
by the fact that Wheeler Centre Fellow
our October RM for full reviews). young voice. Jamie little-know Tuscan
Jennifer Down has her second book on the
With his two bestselling books, Sapiens Marina Lau experiments village of San Ginese
shortlist for the Readings Prize for New
and Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari has with language and form through a series of stories
Australian Fiction this year.
emerged as a public intellectual for our to capture the heady that have been shared
Michael and his team and I catch up
century. His essential new book, 21 Lessons confusion of a teenage across generations. With
regularly to discuss the fellowships and how
for the 21st Century, is our Nonfiction Book girl in a highly digitised themes of migration, war
we could improve and expand them. Michael
of the Month. Meanwhile, Patrick Nunn’s world. Pink Mountain on and love at its heart, this
wondered if we could provide a residency
The Edge of Memory is another important Locust Island has a beautiful strangeness to novel has a fable-like quality that is at once
for regional writers. So, the Wheeler Centre
contribution exploring the authority and it that electrifies the reader. charming and gently ironic.
applied for a grant from the Copyright
Agency to fund a residency program for complexity of Indigenous knowledges.
regional writers. Where could they stay? This month you can also read about
My dad, who was a professor at Melbourne bees (The Honey Factory), living queer
University, had a little bolthole off Cardigan (Queerstories), Australia’s housing crisis Flames The Lucky Galah
Street in Carlton. When he died, he left it to (No Place Like Home), the West Melbourne Robbie Arnott Tracy Sorensen
his partner, the acclaimed sculptor Norma swamp (Blue Lake), the increasing Text. PB. $29.99 Picador. PB. $29.99
Redpath. Next door to it was a slightly urbanisation of Australia (City Life), the This weird and gripping This warm and heartfelt
rundown, but charming bluestone cottage connections between astrophysics and the work is set in the wilds of novel gives a fresh
owned by the university. Norma proposed military (Accessory to War), plus memoirs Tasmania, and centres perspective of a key
a deal to the university: to let her turn the from Percy Rogers, Bill Cunningham, on the lives of a single moment in Australia’s
cottage into a residence and studio, and then Robin Green, Osher Günsberg, David family. Robbie Arnott past – when the Parkes
when she died she would leave dad’s bolthole Attenborough, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, Robyn combines a number of radio telescope brought
to the university. Norma died a few years Williams, and Fiona Patten. And if that’s genres and styles to pictures of the US moon
ago and the university has since established not enough, make way for a brand new create something landing to the world.
the Redpath Studio for visiting artists. Dad’s book from our favourite celebrity chef, entirely distinct. His Lucky the galah is a
bolthole is a self-contained space and with Yotam Ottolenghi: Ottolenghi SIMPLE is Tasmania is an island state with magical born storyteller and her wry observations
a bit of renovation would be a perfect place out on 6 September. qualities that will draw you in completely. will inspire a new appreciation of birds.
to house our regional writers. The residency And finally, dear reader,
is aimed at providing opportunities to congratulations to our Dead Write
emerging writers from all over the country columnist and long-time staffer, Fiona
The 2018 judging panel includes Deborah Crabtree (Readings Carlton); Mark Luffman (Readings Hawthorn);
who could not ordinarily participate in such Hardy, who will publish her middle Jan Lockwood, human resources manager; and Ellen Cregan, marketing and events coordinator. Readings’
a scheme due to the challenge of living too fiction debut with Affirm Press next managing director Mark Rubbo and celebrated author Tony Birch will join the panel to select the winner. The
far away. So, next year, if you are a writer year; AND to even-longer-time staffer, winner will be announced online in late October, and will be featured in the November issue of Readings
who lives in Ararat or Sydney or Hobart, Sean O’Beirne, whose debut short-story Monthly. They will receive $3000 in prize money.
watch this space! Maybe you’ll complete your collection will be published by Black Inc.
You can find more information about The Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and the 2018 shortlist at
masterpiece in Dad’s bolthole. Such great news, you two! readings.com.au/the-readings-prize-for-new-australian-fiction.
F I C T I ON September 2018 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 7
New to avoid thoughts of her past, and to put
all her energy into ensuring her
world. Nine-year-old Ada discovers an
abandoned well beneath a rusting
Fiction
relationship with Matthew endures and windmill, and when she witnesses a
thrives, despite his awful behaviour. shocking and confusing event, the well
When Matthew goes missing, looms large in her mind as events lead
suddenly disappearing from his car into inexorably towards tragedy.
the thick Tasmanian wilderness, Jessica
is heartbroken. The search for Matthew Ladies in Black
Stephanie Bishop took themes of nostalgia, memory and
is stagnant from the beginning, with the Madeleine St John
BOOK OF THE migration and made them her own in her stunning 2015
police implying drugs are involved, and Text. PB. $22.99
MO N T H Readings Prize-winning novel, The Other Side of the World.
Matthew’s family assuming he’s taken Film tie-in edition
Bishop’s third novel, Man Out of Time, is another triumph. It
Fiction is, quite simply, the work of one of our most talented literary
off with another woman. As Jessica Previously published as
searches for her own answers, she meets The Women in Black, this
writers. Here Bishop returns to the landscape of memory, but
a group of women whose boyfriends, Australian classic is now a
the terrain she illuminates in this new work is not shaped by
husbands and partners have been, they major film directed by
the ambivalences of motherhood or the longing for home,
say, taken by the woods and transformed Bruce Beresford and
but rather by a complex relationship between father and
into literal monsters. starring Julia Ormond,
daughter, and the lives formed by and lived under the weight
Krissy Kneen’s books always surprise Angourie Rice, Rachael
of mental illness.
and delight me, and make me think Taylor, Ryan Corr, Shane
about the world from a new angle. Jacobson, Susie Porter, Alison McGirr,
Stephanie Bishop’s Wintering is no different in its impact Noni Hazlehurst and Vincent Perez. Set in
on me, but is quite a different book for 1950s Sydney, the women of the Ladies’
singular talent has made a Kneen stylistically. This novel is at Cocktail section at F. G. Goode’s are run off
their feet, but there’s just enough time left
fearless, beautiful, elegiac once a supernatural thriller and a sharp
meditation on the legacy abusive men on a hot and frantic day to dream and
gift of a novel. leave behind. More than this, though, it scheme. Written by a superb novelist of
Man Out of Time is a book about grief, and the feelings that contemporary manners, Ladies in Black
Stephanie Bishop may come out when the people you love illuminates the extraordinariness of
The novel opens with Stella receiving the news that her
Hachette. PB. Was $29.99 the most are also the ones who hurt you. ordinary lives.
father, Leon, is missing. Leon is the ‘man’ of the title: a man
$26.99 If you enjoy reading novels that challenge
running out of time, a man out of step with his times, a man
your concept of genre, I recommend this
outside of time itself. Photographs, perhaps the ultimate
book to you wholeheartedly. International Fiction
technology for making time stand still, appear in the text as
ciphers of Leon’s attempts to place himself back into the world. Frances, Stella’s mother, is Ellen Cregan is the marketing and events
coordinator for Readings Normal People
both in between and in the way. Shuttling between multiple temporal periods and points
of view, Bishop masterfully explores the losses meted out by depression – the lives half Sally Rooney
lived in its grips, and the love it sometimes overpowers but never entirely vanquishes. Dinner with the Dissidents Faber. PB. $29.99
This is an incredibly well-crafted novel, and most striking about the book is the John Tesarsch At just 27, Sally
quality of the writing and its innovations of form. Man Out of Time has not a word out of Affirm Press. PB. $29.99 Rooney is one of
place. It is at times completely mesmerising, and total immersion will reward the reader’s In 1970, the Kremlin is the most exciting new
experience. As I write, I fear that I am unable to express adequately the depth of feeling struggling to quell dissent writers to emerge in
I have for this piece of writing. Stephanie Bishop’s singular talent has made a fearless, and Alexander recent years. Her debut
beautiful, elegiac gift of a novel. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Solzhenitsyn is lauded in novel, Conversations
the West for exposing the with Friends, about a
Alison Huber is the head book buyer for Readings
underbelly of communism. complicated love affair
The KGB turns to Leonid in post-crash Dublin,
Krasnov and promises to caused a literary stir when it was released
make him Moscow’s next literary star if he last year, and her second book, Normal
Australian Fiction recognises as the disgraced sudoku
player Alan Cosgrove. Keen to further
can infiltrate Solzhenitsyn’s inner circle and
uncover what he’s hiding. Years later,
People, was longlisted for the Man Booker
Prize two months before its publication.
her career, and to impress Don, Germaine Leonid, now a recluse in Canberra, is It’s a deserving pick.
The Helpline takes to the assignment with vigour. Of haunted by his past and seeks one last, In simplest terms, this is the story of a
course, things don’t quite go to plan and desperate chance to make amends. Dinner relationship between two people, Connell
Katherine Collette
Text. PB. $29.99 Germaine finds herself growing to like, with the Dissidents is a thrilling story of love, and Marianne, from their teens through to
and to become friends with, the very courage and deception. adulthood. The novel opens in Marianne’s
Earlier this year I
people she is working against. kitchen as Connell waits for his mother
attended a
bookseller’s conference, Inspired by real-life events involving The Killing of Louisa to finish cleaning her family’s glamorous
where, in one session, a tyrannical president of a senior citizens Janet Lee house. We immediately know two things:
two authors had to centre, Katherine Collette has created an UQP. PB. $29.95 Marianne is wealthy and Connell is not;
present a Gruen-like endearing story about power, ambition, To lose one husband may Connell is popular and Marianne is not.
pitch for their greed and friendship. The Helpline is a light- be regarded as a From there, we see events unfold from
forthcoming novels. The hearted, feel-good novel that will no doubt misfortune; to lose both their alternating perspectives as they
winner was Melbourne based author appeal to fans of both The Rosie Project and looks like murder. In New both grow up and learn to navigate others’
Katherine Collette. She had us all in Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. South Wales in 1888, expectations, as well as their own.
stitches with her hilarious pitch for The Sharon Peterson is the manager of Readings Louisa Collins was A premise like this could easily feel
Helpline. Curious to see if Collette’s first St Kilda sentenced to hang after trite – damaged rich girl meets good boy
novel was as funny as her presentation, I being tried multiple from the wrong side of the tracks etc
eagerly volunteered to take on the task of Wintering times for the alleged murders of her two etc – but as with Rooney’s early book,
reviewing it. Krissy Kneen husbands. But as she faces her final days, Normal People moves beyond its expected
Germaine Johnson is very good at Text. PB. $29.99 reflecting on the grief and loss that boundaries to operate on multiple levels.
understanding numbers, but not so good Jessica is a PhD delivered her to her Darlinghurst prison This is a love story that is also a nuanced
at understanding people. When Germaine candidate living in cell, will Louisa confess to her crimes? Or exploration of class, trauma, mental
loses her job at Wallace Insurance, she southernmost Tasmania, is an innocent woman about to be hanged? illness, adolescence, friendship, loneliness
discovers there aren’t too many prospects studying the activity of and the ways in which we change other
for a mathematician of her calibre. With the glow worms that The Last Summer of Ada Bloom people’s lives. It is also an extraordinarily
her meagre funds running low, Germaine inhabit Winter Cave, an Martine Murray intimate novel. Rooney is such a smart and
reluctantly accepts help from her cousin, untouched haven she Text. PB. $29.99 perceptive writer about people. In both
Kimberly, who gets her a job with the local discovered herself. Aside her books she demonstrates a remarkable
In a small country town
council. Initially her role is answering from study and work, Jessica spends most ability to pinpoint and describe emotions
during one long, hot
calls for the senior citizens helpline, but of her time with her controlling partner, in all their complexity and changeability.
summer, Martha is
it’s not long though before the mayor, Matthew. While he claims to love Jessica, I cried a few times in this book, simply
straining against the
Verity Bainbridge, assigns Germaine to a Matthew is physically and emotionally from the immense feeling contained in the
confines of her life when
secret project – to orchestrate the closure abusive towards her. In her past, Jessica prose. Normal People is the kind of novel
an old flame shows up.
of the senior citizens centre, which is has suffered a number of traumas: she that casts a spell over the reader – pick it
Her husband, Mike,
causing trouble for the neighbouring was raised in a doomsday cult, and was up and you won’t want to put it down.
becomes frustrated with
golf club. The golf club is owned by the surrounded by cruel and damaged adults his increasingly distant wife. Teenagers Bronte Coates is the digital content
handsome Don Thomas, whom Germaine for her formative years. It is easier for her Tilly and Ben are about to step out into the coordinator and Readings Prizes manager
8 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY September 2018 FIC T IO N
French Exit Pretend I’m Dead is an entertaining they want to be just like the infamous Now We Shall Be Entirely Free
Patrick deWitt read, yet it is also extremely touching. Camorra. The Piranhas, however, are made Andrew Miller
Bloomsbury. PB. $29.99 Threaded through the novel is the story of up of the youth – teenagers addicted to Sceptre. PB. Was $32.99
‘French Exit’: hastily Mona’s childhood, before she was ‘shipped social media. They terrorise the locals to $29.99
leaving a social off’ to her father’s cousin, Sheila, at age let them know they mean business. English author
gathering without saying twelve. Through Mona’s narrative, and This book, and learning about the Andrew Miller has
goodbye (see also, Irish occasional phone calls with her father, we members of the Piranhas, is sad because been winning awards for
Goodbye, taking English learn subtly of the rejection and trauma she the rampant violence and bleakness that his writing ever since his
Leave, ghosting). Frances, suffered. However, this trauma is managed follows the characters is an unfortunate first book, Ingenious Pain,
her adult son Malcolm and with a light touch and the book can also be everyday reality for the youth of Naples. was published in 1997 and
their cat, Small Frank, are viewed as a belated ‘coming of age’ novel. I Gang life, controlling neighbourhoods won the James Tait Black
out of money. They’re also sick of the social recommend this book for readers who like combined with the power of social media Memorial Prize, the
obligations of their life on the Upper East quirky and unusual characters (think Otessa and a hunger for status, leaves the young International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
Side of Manhattan. What’s a bankrupt, Moshfegh’s Eileen), and I was delighted to with no choice but to either join or be ruled. and the Grinzane Cavour Prize. His third
scandal-clad trio to do? Apparently hop on read that Beagin is working on a sequel. Saviano crafts the story of Nicholas, book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize
an ocean liner to Paris and self-destructively Annie Condon is from Readings Hawthorn the wannabe head honcho, with careful and the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award
spend what little money they have left. observation and respect as he makes in 2001, and his sixth, Pure, won the Costa
Told with Patrick deWitt’s signature The Silence of the Girls his way to the top of the pecking order. (formerly Whitbread) Book Award in 2011.
black humour, French Exit turns the Nicholas has few redeeming features, but
Pat Barker Best known for his historical fiction, and
strange into the banal and the banal into Hamish Hamilton. PB. Was $32.99 watching this relentless and ambitious now on his eighth book, Miller is well-
the strange. At the core of the novel is the fifteen-year-old fight his way to the top is established – in fact, the Observer’s reviewer
$29.99
mother–son relationship between Frances brilliant. When the violence he inflicts and has stated that Now We Shall Be Entirely
Pat Barker won the
(in her sixties) and Malcolm (in his thirties). witnesses spirals out of control, he is faced Free’s absence from this year’s Man Booker
Booker Prize in 1995
Malcolm spends his early years being with a tough decision. It will bring into longlist is ‘already something of a travesty’.
for Ghost Road, the third
neglected by his infamously immoral lawyer question both his ambition and whether Now We Shall Be Entirely Free is set
book in her trilogy about
father, Frank, and his suave, strong-willed ruling the city is his true calling. in 1809 in the aftermath of a disastrous
the horrors of the First
mother. However, when Frank passes away, Saviano carefully lures readers into the retreat in the Peninsula War against
World War. In The Silence of
Frances pulls twelve-year-old Malcolm out lurid glamour of Nicholas’s story with all Napoleon’s forces. Captain John Lacroix
the Girls, Barker reaches
of boarding school and the two develop a the rashness and insight one can expect is delivered home to Bath on the brink of
much further back into
co-dependent relationship that Oedipus from a writer who is held in such high death, and while his housekeeper skilfully
history to bring us the story of Briseis: a
and Freud would both have a few things to esteem for the genre. This a great first nurses him back to some semblance of
princess enslaved by the Greeks and
say about. This relationship informs their novel from the author and I expect we shall physical health, his mind remains severely
awarded to Achilles in the lead up to the fall
interactions with the rest of French Exit’s be hearing more from him and Naples. troubled. Lacroix’s regiment requests
of Troy. It’s a tale most commonly presented
zany cast of characters: a short-tempered Anna Rotar is from Readings Carlton his return and, back on the continent,
as an epic love story (in The Iliad Achilles
psychic, a soft-spoken private eye, and an two other soldiers, Calley (British) and
brings the entire Trojan campaign to a
overly friendly American expat. The plot Take Nothing With You Medina (Spanish), are given seemingly
grinding halt when he is forced to surrender
is a bit meandering but this hilarious and traceless orders to be carried out in secret
Briseis to Agamemnon); but Barker strips the Patrick Gale
heartbreaking portrayal of a (very small) Tinder Press. PB. Was $32.99 retribution for recent events. Rather than
romance from the narrative, reminding
family in decline is not to be missed. immediately returning to his regiment,
readers that from Briseis’s perspective it is a $29.99
Full disclosure: I’ve been a major deWitt story of slavery, rape, and murder. Lacroix journeys north to the Hebrides in
In an attempt to
fan since The Sister Brothers was shortlisted his struggle to make sense of the world and
The Silence of the Girls presents the rebound from his
for the Man Booker Prize back in 2011. Not the horrors he witnessed.
women of The Iliad, the sisters, wives, previous relationship,
to mention I have a soft spot for my fellow Miller is in full command of his
mothers and daughters whose war is waged Eustace meets the calm
Canadians. That being said, deWittland is varied ensemble cast, which ranges from
on rough pallets and in grimy tents. Once and confident Theo on a
definitely worth a visit. Especially for those dangerous sticklers to frolicking free-
their cities fall they become no more than dating app. Twenty years
who enjoy the dark wit of Paul Beatty and thinkers. All prompt consideration of
spoils of war; they are treated like objects to his junior, Theo is
George Saunders – fellow North Americans what humans are capable of in war – and
be used and traded among men, and have stationed on a military
with plenty of plaudits to their names. in peace. Now We Shall Be Entirely Free
no power but that of prayer, patience, and base, and their romance is confined to
Tristen Brudy is from Readings Carlton obedience. In The Silence of the Girls, Briseis is a page-turning novel that will engage
Skype calls. As they plan for Theo’s visit to
is given a formidable strength, intelligence, historical fiction readers, as well as those
London, Eustace, somewhere in his fifties,
and consuming female rage that’s glaringly seeking an immersive adventure tale.
Pretend I’m Dead is diagnosed with cancer, and as part of his
Jen Beagin absent from other retellings. Barker’s treatment must sit in a lead-lined room Elke Power is the editor of Readings Monthly
Oneworld. HB. $32.99 blunt and straightforward writing style with nothing but a cheap MP3 player and a
Pretend I’m Dead is a
eliminates the distance and pomposity that paperback book. A Ladder to the Sky
often plagues adaptations of epic stories. As he stares at his house just on the John Boyne
stunning debut
Like the best kind of historical fiction, other side of the hospital window, Eustace Doubleday. PB. $32.99
novel; its cover is filled
The Silence of the Girls rips the story of the takes us back through his childhood. A chance encounter in a
with recommendations
Trojan War right out of ancient Greece and He grew up a quiet, introspective child Berlin hotel with
from established authors,
into the modern era. whose artistic pursuits never satisfied his celebrated novelist Erich
and it tops my best reads
for 2018. Jen Beagin has Lian Hingee is the digital marketing manager parents until he found the cello. Under Ackermann gives would-be
created a wonderful for Readings the guidance of the professional cellist, writer Maurice Swift an
character in Mona, a self-described Carla Gold, Eustace’s life has meaning. opportunity to ingratiate
‘cleaning lady’ who adores vintage vacuum The Piranhas But trying to make friends while his dad himself with someone
cleaners and performs wonders with a Roberto Saviano rents out their spare bedrooms as an old more powerful than him;
bottle of Windex. When we meet Mona she Picador. PB. $29.99 person’s home has always been difficult, Erich is lonely, and he has a story to tell.
is nearly twenty-four, has recently dropped Available 11 September and he’s never been very good at school, Whether or not he should do so is another
out of college, and ceased both medication Roberto Saviano is so through his relationship with the cello matter entirely. Once Maurice has made his
and therapy. Taking her self-destructive probably best known and the music he creates with it, he is able name, he sets off in pursuit of other people’s
tendencies to a new level, Mona begins a for his internationally to put his life, all his achievements and his stories. Stories will make him famous but
relationship with a man she meets while best-selling book shortcomings, into perspective. they will also make him beg, borrow and
volunteering with a needle exchange Gomorrah. Both the book While at times the technical aspects of steal. They may even make him do worse.
program. Privately she calls him ‘Mr and the subsequent movie the music felt unnecessarily detailed, and
Disgusting’ due to his dirty and dishevelled catapulted the author and led to the impression this was more memoir The Incendiaries
appearance, but she is devastated when he the Italian mafia into the than fiction, Gale’s beautiful prose more R.O. Kwon
breaks up with her and relapses. literary limelight and also guaranteed him a than makes up for it. His cast of characters, Virago. HB. $35
On a whim Mona moves to New Mexico life of hiding and 24-hour police protection. also, have been drawn with such sympathy Phoebe Lin is a glamorous
and starts her own cleaning business. She Although the story is fictitious, one and vividness it is impossible to not feel for student at prestigious
encounters off-beat characters, such as her can’t help but think these are real events he every one of them as they grow. By the end, Edwards University. She
Zen-like next-door neighbours who want to is unable to write about through his regular I felt like I’d known them forever. doesn’t tell anyone she
help her achieve greater stability, and Betty yet dangerous non-fiction channels. Having Take Nothing With You is a blames herself for her
the psychic who employs Mona twice a spent most of his life either in the mafia or heartwarming tale of self discovery that mother’s recent death.
week to clean and to spy on her ex-husband. in hiding and writing about them, Saviano will appeal to readers of Ian McEwan, Will Kendall is a misfit
Mona takes all this in her stride, and still is heavily influenced by his beloved Naples. and paves the way for a republication of scholarship boy who
pursues her photography passion by using We learn about the beating heart of the city Gale’s previous works, all with beautiful, transfers to Edwards from Bible college.
her cleaning clients’ homes as background from its gritty and dangerous streets. matching covers. Will loves Phoebe. Grieving and guilt-
for her unusual self-portraits. The Piranhas are a new breed of gang; Tom Davies is from Readings Doncaster ridden, Phoebe is increasingly drawn into
F I C T I ON September 2018 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 9
a secretive extremist cult connected to exploration of postcolonial identity and a
North Korea. When the group bombs radical reinvention of both the ‘immigrant’
several buildings in the name of faith, and ‘campus’ novels that extends upon the
killing five people, Phoebe disappears. work of Flaubert, Sebald and Naipaul.
The Incendiaries is a powerful, darkly
glittering novel that is already receiving Learning to Die
rave reviews. Thomas Maloney
Scribe. PB. $29.99
Washington Black Is thirty already too late
Esi Edugyan to reconsider? Natalie
Serpent’s Tail. PB. $29.99 can’t remember why her
Available 12 September life is following Plan B.
Longlisted for the 2018 Dan’s unclouded vision
Man Booker Prize, of the universe has
Washington Black is based never extended to
on an infamous understanding his wife.
nineteenth century Meanwhile, trader Mike, mountaineer
criminal case. Two Brenda, and James, pacing and fidgeting
English brothers take over in a cage of his own design, have their
a Barbados sugar own issues. This vivaciously intelligent
plantation and Washington Black - an novel follows five characters as they
eleven-year-old field slave - is aghast to be confront a painful truth that none is
selected as personal servant to one, the expecting so soon, but that might just
eccentric Christopher Wilde. After help them learn how to live.
introducing Black to a world of wonder,
Wilde disappears on a disastrous voyage. Sea Prayer
Later, a man appears in Black’s new life, Khaled Hosseini
making claims. Is this truly the long-lost Bloomsbury. HB. $24.99
Wilde? And why has he returned? On a moonlit beach a
father cradles his sleeping
The End: My Struggle, Book 6 son. He tells his boy of the
Karl Ove Knausgaard long summers of his
Harvill Secker. PB. Was $32.99 childhood, and of the
$29.99 bustling city of Homs
The sprawling, intimate, before the sky spat bombs Please note: All prices are recommended unless otherwise indicated. Publication month and prices are subject to change without notice. We recommend confirmation of stock,
and spectacularly and they had to flee. price and publication date before undertaking advertising and promotion.
unorthodox literary When the sun rises they and those around
autobiography that them will embark on a perilous sea journey
unleashed a media in search of a new home. This is a deeply
frenzy upon its release in moving, gorgeously illustrated short work
Norway and sold millions of fiction from the internationally
of copies worldwide, now bestselling author of The Kite Runner.
reaches its climactic conclusion. The End
is the sixth and final book in the Severance
monumental My Struggle cycle. Karl Ove Ling Ma
Knausgaard examines life, death, love Text. PB. $29.99
and literature and begins to count the Candace Chen, a
cost of his project. The End is at once a millennial drone self-
meditation on writing and its relationship sequestered in a
with reality, and an account of a writer’s Manhattan office tower, is
relationship with himself. devoted to routine: her
work, watching movies
Heartbreaker with her boyfriend, and
Claudia Dey avoiding thoughts of her
HarperCollins. PB. $29.99 recently deceased Chinese immigrant
In subzero temperatures, parents. So she barely notices when a
mother Billie Jean plague of biblical proportions sweeps the
Fontaine walks out of her world. Candace joins a small group of
bungalow barefoot, takes survivors, led by the power-hungry Bob.
her husband’s truck and But Candace has a secret she knows Bob
drives off into the will exploit. Severance is a deadpan satire
wilderness alone. She and a heartfelt tribute to the connections
never returns. But no one that drive us to do more than survive.
ever leaves The Territory, a community
cut off from the rest of the world – a place Also out this month:
warped by its own strange ways, where In Australian fiction we have the
the people believe the year is 1985. breathlessly awaited new novel from Big
Heartbreaker shines an electrifying light Little Lies author Liane Moriarty, Nine
on a woman who has risked everything Perfect Strangers (Pan Mac, was $32.99,
for freedom and love, and left dark special price $27.99, available 18 September)
secrets in her wake. and The Clockmaker’s Daughter by much-
loved author Kate Morton (A&U, PB, $32.99,
Immigrant, Montana available 12 September).
Amitava Kumar In international fiction we have Lake
Faber. PB. $29.99 Success from the inimitable Gary Shteyngart
Immigrant, Montana is (Hamish Hamilton, PB, was $32.99, special
the story of AK, an price $29.99, available 17 September); Paris
Indian academic Echo by Sebastian Faulks (Hutchinson, PB,
working in America. It was $32.99, special price $27.99, available 17
is a love story, or rather September); Transcription by Kate Atkinson
the story of what a man (Doubleday, PB, was $32.99, special price
can fall in love with: in $27.99, available 17 September); and The Cold
AK’s case, literature, Summer by Gianrico Carofiglio (Text, PB,
radical politics, and women. AK’s $29.99, available 17 September).
education is both an intellectual and an Look out for more about these late-
emotional journey. The novel itself is an month releases in our October issue.
You can also read
