November Recommended Reads

Australian Recent Release: Unnecessary Drama by Nina Kenwood

From the author of the much-loved It Sounded Better In My Head comes a fabulously entertaining new rom-com.

“Eighteen-year-old Brooke is the kind of friend who not only remembers everyone’s birthdays, but also organises the group present, pays for it, and politely chases others for their share. She’s the helper, the doer, the guarder-of-drinks, the minder-of-bags, the maker-of-spreadsheets. She’s the responsible one who always follows the rules—and she plans to keep it that way during her first year of university.
Her new share house is rules-lite. But ‘no unnecessary drama’ means no fights, tension, or romance between housemates. When one of her housemates turns out to be Jesse, her high-school nemesis, Brooke is nervously confident she can handle it. They’ll simply silently endure living together and stay out of each other’s way. But it turns out Jesse isn’t so easy to ignore…

Channelling the screwball comedy of New Girl with an enemies-to-lovers twist, Unnecessary Drama is a joyful story about leaving home, dealing with the unexpected complications of life, and somehow finding exactly what you need.”

 ‘Adorable, this book made us laugh, cry and feel all the warm and fuzzies. We just loved every single page.’ – Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus

‘Takes readers through the tumultuous uncertainty that exists on the cusp of transitioning out of high school into adulthood.’ – Bohdi Byles, Books + Publishing

‘I laughed out loud several times and fell in love with flawed protagonist Brooke…Completely charming from start to finish.’ – Karys McEwen

 

Tasmanian Recent Release: Sons of Burke by Zachary Harris

The province of Southern Atropos is a wild and savage land, where towns and villages stand as bastions of civilisation in an unforgiving wilderness of towering mountains and forbidding forests. It is a land scarred and haunted by dark magic, monsters and evil men, where every man, woman and child must fight for survival. Into this nightmare stride the Sons of Burke! The militant arm of the Burke family.

Yet to simply fight is not enough, for this is a land of killers. To secure the land, one must champion and raise up the common soul; they must lead them to the belief of their own greatness! This champion is Thomas Burke, Paladin and Knight Errant. He is a ray of light in a gritty, grim, dark world. He is hope, and hope’s promise comes on the edge of a sword.

But there are those that would see him fall.

You can read an interview with Zachary here 

Kids Recent Release: The Raven’s Song by Bren MacDibble and Zana Fraillon

‘This is how we have to live now.’

“Shelby and her best friend Davy live quiet low-tech lives in a closed community that is made up of exactly three hundred and fifty kind, ethical people living on exactly seven hundred hectares.

When they climb through a hole in the perimeter fence to venture into the surrounding jungle, what they find is more astonishing than anything they could have imagined.

And when Shelby realises the terrible danger that is unfolding, it will take all of her daring and determination to ensure the past does not repeat itself.

Intriguing, absorbing and spine-tinglingly good, The Raven’s Song is a brilliant novel by two esteemed writers at the height of their powers.”

‘The Raven’s Song is a story that has stuck with me long after closing it.’ – Better Reading

Tasmanian Classic: The axe had never sounded’: Place, people and heritage of Recherche Bay, Tasmania by John Mulvaney

“This book meets well the triple promise of the title – the inter-connections of place, people and heritage. John Mulvaney brings to this work a deep knowledge of the history, ethnography and archaeology of Tasmania. He presents a comprehensive account of the area’s history over the 200 years since French naval expeditions first charted its coastlines. The important records the French officers and scientists left of encounters with Aboriginal groups are discussed in detail, set in the wider ethnographic context and compared with those of later expeditions.

‘The topical issues of understanding the importance of Recherche Bay as a cultural landscape and its protection and future management inform the book. Readers will be challenged to consider the connections between people and place, and how these may constitute significant national heritage.”