Australian Recent Release: The Clergyman’s Wife by Molly Greeley.
“Poignant, pensive and brilliant …” Laurel Ann Nattress, editor of Jane Austen Made Me Do It.
Charlotte Collins (nee Lucas) leads a quiet and respectable life as the wife of Hunsford’s vicar. She tends to the house, cares for her daughter and tolerates her husband’s dreary sermons. Anxious to avoid the humiliation of spinsterhood, Charlotte chose this life, but now she wonders how much more of it she can bear.
That is until she meets Mr. Travis, a local farmer and tenant of their patroness Lady Catherine. With Mr. Travis, Charlotte, for the first time in her life, feels seen and appreciated. As they grow closer, Charlotte begins to question the role of passion and love in a woman’s life, and whether, for the wife of a clergyman, they apply to her.
Tasmanian Recent Release: The Octopus and I by Erin Hortle.
“A stunning debut novel set on the Tasmanian coast that lays bare the wild, beating heart at the intersection of human and animal, love and loss, and fear and hope.” – Allen and Unwin.
Lucy and Jem live on the wild Tasman Peninsula, where Lucy is recovering from major surgery. As she adapts to her new body, navigating its changes through the world, she becomes fascinated with the local octopuses, which in turn brings her into a friendship with an old woman and her son. As the story progresses, the octopuses gain a deeper meaning for Lucy, coming to shape her body and her sense of self in ways Lucy couldn’t have imagined.
Erin Hortle is one of Tasmania’s most exciting emerging writers. Her short fiction and essays have been published across a range of both Tasmanian and Australian publications. Erin has recently completed her PhD at the University of Tasmania. Both her academic and creative writing explore the ways in which experimental writing may facilitate different ways of imagining our relationship as humans with the natural world, with a distinctly feminist bent.
Kids Recent Release: The Easter Bunnyroo by Susannah Chambers, illustrated by Laura Wood.
“A very Australian Easter story about an understandable misunderstanding, from the award-winning author of The Snow Wombat and the popular illustrator of The Cow Tripped Over the Moon” Allen and Unwin.
When a little girl’s father brings home an orphaned joey, she is convinced he has saved the easter bunny. What else is its special pouch other than a built in basket for storing easter eggs? This delightful picture book is a fun easter read for the whole family.
Tasmanian Classic: Skinnotes by Kristen Lang.
Evocative imagery and moving prose are what characterise this collection of poetry by Tasmanian writer Kristen Lang. The poems are divided into four sections. The first, titled “Blood Harmonies,” explores the genetic connections between family, and the distinction between the body and the mind. The second section, “The Fragile Mind,” looks at mental illness, and the vulnerability of the human psyche. “Being Here” is the third section, and as the title suggests expresses some philosophical enquiry as to the nature of the world, and the beings that may or may not inhabit it alongside us. The final section, titled, “The Heart,” encompasses a more personal tone. The poems here are about love, intimacy and the complications within relationships. Skinnotes is a sophisticated collection to be savoured.