July Recommended Reads

Australian Recent Release:  Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty.

At just fifteen, Dara McNulty became a published author with his debut, Diary of a Young Naturalist . This stunning book takes the reader on a sensory journey through Dara’s Northern Ireland home in the form of diary entries. Dara’s deep connection to the natural world and the wildlife that inhabit it are powerful and raw, and provide insight into the world of an autistic teenager.

Diary of a Young Naturalist  combines Dara’s connection to nature with the more ordinary concerns of a teenager like exams and relationships, as well as his experience campaigning for the protection of the wilderness. 

“In writing this book,’ Dara says, “I have experienced challenges but also felt incredible joy, wonder, curiosity and excitement. In sharing this journey my hope is that people of all generations will not only understand autism a little more but also appreciate a child’s eye view on our delicate and changing biosphere.” – Text Publishing.

Tasmanian Recent Release: The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott.

In the aftermath of a coup, Ren survives on the remote frontier country by hunting, trading, and forgetting. When a young soldier comes to the mountains in search of a myth, Ren can’t help but be drawn into her seemingly impossible mission.

As their lives become entangled, and myths merge into reality, Ren and the solider are forced to confront their fears, regrets, and hopes.

“Robbie Arnott’s stunning second novel remakes our relationship with the natural world. The Rain Heron is equal parts horror and wonder, and utterly gripping.” – Text Publishing.

Kids Recent Release: The End of the World is Bigger Than Love by Davina Bell.

She said we didn’t know what the world out there had become. We had been alone there so long on that tiny island, in that tiny church.
But in the night, I couldn’t bear it.
My chest beat like wings.

From the best-selling children’s author of Under the Love Umbrella and All The Ways to Be Smart comes a wonderful new story. Summer and Winter are identical twin sisters who live on a remote island, far away from what remains of their destroyed world. Their days are spent pleasantly, reading and re-reading their mother’s collection of classic literature, until a stranger comes to call whose presence threatens their carefully constructed reality.

The stranger’s name is Edward, and to begin with he is a welcome distraction. But questions relating to his identity simmer inside the sisters, and while love blooms, so do the secrets of the girls’ past, until escape becomes the only option. 

“…a novel of love and grief; of sisterly affection and the ultimate sacrifice; of technological progress and climate catastrophe; of an enigmatic bear and a talking whale—The End of the World Is Bigger than Love is unlike anything you’ve read before.” – Text Publishing.

Tasmanian Classic:

The Spirit of Kuti Kina by Jim Everett and Karen Brown.

A beautiful collection of poetry by celebrated Aboriginal writers Jim Everett and Karen Brown.

Inside you will find poignant descriptions of place and landscape, trauma, spirituality and tradition. This collection is an important and generous insight into Aboriginal culture, teachings and perspectives.