Our books of the month in May include inventive Australian storytelling, a galvanising memoir, moving crime, a sensitive school-leaver tale and a heartfelt time-slip adventure.
FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH
Gunk Baby by Jamie Marina Lau
Throughout a childhood spent moving between different countries, one thing was constant for Leen. The local shopping centre. So, when it feels like the same day for far too long, Leen decides to open a healing studio – ear-cleaning, massage and cupping – in the Par Mars Topic Heights shopping complex. Here, Leen thinks she is making connections. But what if you trust the wrong person? And what if that person is not looking to heal but to destroy?
With a fierce intellect and inventive storytelling, Jamie Marina Lau brings to life a world where consumerism drives us to buy things we don’t need, where otherness can be used to manipulate, where a person’s worth is measured by the role they play or the way they look and where protective services isn’t about protecting others from violence but viciously punishing those who step outside the lines.
Our staff reviewer described Lau’s much-anticipated sophomore novel as ‘beautifully unique’. You can read the full review here.
NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH
Fury by Kathryn Heyman
At the age of twenty, after a traumatic sexual assault trial, Kathryn Heyman ran away from her life and became a deckhand on a fishing trawler in the Timor Sea. Coming from a family of poverty and violence, she had no real role models, no example of how to create or live a decent life, how to have hope or expectations. But she was a reader. She understood story, and the power of words to name the world. This was to become her salvation.
After one wild season on board the Ocean Thief, Heyman was transformed. Finally, she could name the abuses she thought had broken her. More than that, after a period of enforced separation from the world, she was able to return to it newly formed, determined to remake the role she’d been born into.
Our staff reviewer was glowing in her praise of this vital memoir, saying: ‘Heyman’s story is unputdownable, made even more compelling by her expert narrative structure and incredible control of language.’ You can read our full review here.
CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH
Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz
When she arrived in New York on her 18th birthday carrying nothing but $600 cash and a stolen camera, Alice Lee was looking for a fresh start. Now, just one month later, she is the city’s latest Jane Doe, an unidentified murder victim. Ruby Jones is also trying to start over; she travelled halfway around the world only to find herself lonelier than ever. Until she finds Alice’s body by the Hudson River.
From this first, devastating encounter, the two women form an unbreakable bond. Alice is sure that Ruby is the key to solving the mystery of her life - and death. And Ruby - struggling to forget what she saw that morning - finds herself unable to let Alice go. Not until she is given the ending she deserves.
Our staff reviewer said Before You Knew My Name is one of the best books she’s read this year, and found it to be ‘a moving meditation on the loss of women to male violence, as well as the resolve it takes…to bring about justice.’ You can read the full review here.
YA BOOK OF THE MONTH
Can’t Say it Went to Plan by Gabrielle Tozer
School’s out. Forget study, exams and mapping out the future. For the next seven days, the only homework is partying with friends, making new ones and living in the moment. There are no parents or curfews - and no rules. Zoe, Samira and Dahlia are strangers, but they have something in common: their plans for a dream holiday after their final year of school are flipped upside-down before they even arrive at the beach. Samira has just been unceremoniously dumped, Zoe is fearful about university admission and Dahlia struggles with grief after losing her best friend.
Amid the heady swirl of clubs, concerts, foam parties and theme parks, these three young school leavers must overcome their growing anxieties about who they are and what the future holds.
Our staff reviewer really appreciated Tozer’s handling of ‘sensitive topics, such as grief, mental health issues and friendship troubles, in a way that is engaging, honest and, most of all, inspiring.’ You can read the full review here.
KIDS BOOK OF THE MONTH
Elsewhere Girls by Emily Gale & Nova Weetman
Cat has recently started at a new school on a sports scholarship, and she’s feeling the pressure of early morning training sessions and the need for total commitment. Fanny loves to swim and she lives for racing, but family chores and low expectations for girls make it very hard for her to fit in even the occasional training session. Cat and Fanny have never met. They both live in the same Sydney suburb, but in different worlds, or at least different times- Cat in current-day Sydney, and Fanny in 1908. But one day, time slips and they swap places.
Narrated in alternating chapters by Cat and Fanny, Elsewhere Girls is a moving and funny story of two girls with a deep connection, one based on the Australian Olympic champion, Fanny Durack. It’s a fresh and engaging exploration of the challenges and pressures for young women growing up in the past and today.
Our staff reviewer loved this ‘heartfelt, insightful and humorous tale’ co-written by two beloved Melbourne authors. You can read the full review here.
