Australian Recent Release: Top End Girl by Miranda Tapsell.
Sharing my story is important … I think it is true that you don’t aspire to be what you cannot see. I would like this book to show you that you can push yourself to do things you never dreamed you would do.
Growing up, Miranda Tapsell, a young Larrakia Tiwi girl, searched for faces like her’s on screens. She didn’t find many. When she did, too often they came attached to a negative narrative around First Nations lives, especially Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander women. As Miranda grew up, she stopped expecting that others would take action to change things, and began doing something herself. In this heartfelt memoir, Miranda opens up about her acting journey and how her roles in ‘The Sapphires’ and ‘Love Child’ inspired her to co-write, produce and star in the box-office hit, ‘Top End Wedding’, a film about coming back to family and culture that combines her pride in her Aboriginality and passion for romantic comedies with her love of Darwin, the Tiwi Islands and the Top End.
“A deadly memoir about being bold, black and brave in work, life and love” – Hachette Australia.
Tasmanian Recent Release: The Bluffs by Kyle Perry.
‘This atmospheric, scenery-rich crime tale embodies both the beauty and brutality of nature – especially human nature…The Bluffs establishes Perry as a fierce new talent.’ Apple Books
I won’t walk alone by the mountain trees, or the hungry man will come for me . . .
In the remote wilderness of Tasmania’s Great Western Tiers, a group of teenage girls go missing. The locals are immediately on high alert, with the disappearance of five young girls three decades ago still fresh in local memory, along with the legend of ‘The Hungry Man’ still haunting the local area.
Authorities know that the teacher, Eliza Ellis, was knocked unconscious, and suspect foul play. Jordan Murphy, local dealer and father of missing student Jasmine, immediately becomes the prime suspect. But Detective Con Badenhorst knows that in a town of this size – with corrupt cops, a teenage YouTube sensation and small-town politics – everyone has secrets, and bluffing is second nature.
Then a mauled body is found at the bottom of a cliff, and suspicion turns to a wild animal. But that doesn’t explain why the girl was discovered barefoot, her shoes placed at the top of the cliff, laces neatly tied.
‘Tense, atmospheric and unsettling, this book will stay with you long after you turn the last page, and long after you turn out the lights.’ – Christian White.
Kids Recent Release: The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead.
Bea’s life has become different in many ways since her parent’s divorce, but she knows she can always look inside her green notebook at the list she keeps as a record of all the things that will stay the same. The first and most important being: Mum and Dad will always love Bea, and each other.
When Bea’s Dad tells her that he and his boyfriend, Jesse, are getting married, she’s thrilled. Not only does Bea love Jesse, but when they get married, she’ll finally have a sister, something she’s always wanted. Bea has never met Jesse’s daughter, Sonia, but she’s sure that they’ll get along “just like sisters anywhere.”
As the wedding day draws nearer, Bea will learn that making a new family brings both questions and joy.
Tasmanian Classic: Vanishing Falls by Poppy Gee.
There have been so many excellent Tasmanian books published recently so we thought it only appropriate to fit another one into this month’s recommended reads.
Vanishing Falls, a remote town situated deep in the Tasmanian rainforest, is full of mystery. The town’s showpiece is Calendar House, built in the 1800’s and currently occupied by Jack Lily, a prominent art collector, his wife Celia, and their four daughters. The eccentrically designed mansion boasts fifty-two rooms, but Celia Lily isn’t in one of them. She has vanished.
Joelle Smithton knows that some people in Vanishing Falls believe that she’s a little simple. Yes, her brain works a bit differently—a legacy of horrific childhood trauma, but Joelle notices far more than most people realise, and remembers details that others disregard. That Celia’s husband, Jack, has connections to unsavory local characters whom he’s desperate to keep hidden, for instance. Even Joelle’s own husband, Brian, is acting suspiciously. As the police struggle to find Celia, Joelle gradually uncovers the truth from local gossip and the simple statements and gestures that can inadvertently reveal so much.
As the water from the falls vanishes into the ground, the secrets in Vanishing Falls are thrumming through the town, about to converge. Joelle knows that when they do, she must find the courage to reveal what really happened to Celia, even if she must expose her own past to do so.
“This literary thriller paints as vivid a landscape as any book coming out this summer… Gee creates a lush, tantalizing world that readers will want to travel into deeper and deeper.”—CrimeReads