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New & Notable
Whether you are a seasoned reader of international literature or
a reader just venturing out beyond your own literary shores, we know you
will find our New and Notable section a book browser's paradise! Reading
literature from around the world has a way of opening up one's perspective
to create as vast a world within us as there is without. Here are nearly 70 new
or notable books we hope will bring the world to you. Remember—depending on what country you are shopping in,
these books might be sold under slightly different titles or ISBNs, in different
formats or with different covers; or be published in different months. However, the author's name is always likely to
be the same! (a book published in another country may not always be available to your library or local bookstore,
but individuals usually can purchase them from the publishers or other online resources)
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AUSTRALIA & the PACIFIC ISLANDS
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INHERITED
Amanda Curtin
A dancer in a wheelchair. A collector of corks. One woman seduced by a mountain and another by Freddo Frogs. A man who hears his dead wife's voice. A poet whose voice has disappeared. A photographer distilling grief in his lens. A sound designer stealing the sound of a room. Inherited brings together nineteen stories about the gifts and burdens we inherit from the world or from those we love, and what we, in turn, leave behind.
Amanda Curtin has been a professional book editor for more than 20 years, and is the author of the novel, The Sinkings. She lives in Western Australia and is an Adjunct Lecturer at Edith Cowan University.
Univ. Western Australia (AUS, UK), paperback, 9781742582931
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DARK JELLY
Alice Tawhai
In this third collection of short stories, Alice Tawhai delves into the nature of reality, enabling readers to experience altered perceptions, encounters that weave madness and sanity, dreams and drug-induced hallucinations, darkenss and light. The perceptions of people and their lives are fresh and poignant, seeing the humanity and quiet hope alongside the darkness. The vivid imagery and intensely evocative writing make each story and those in them hauntingly memorable.
Alice Tawhai is of Tainui and Nga Puhi descent. Her life is a rich range of experiences, and this is reflected in her writing. Her previous critically-acclaimed short story collections are Festival of Miracles and Luminous.
Huia Books (NZ), paperback, 9781869694760
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TIGER MEN
Judy Nunn
Van Diemen's Land was an island of stark contrasts: a harsh penal colony, an English idyll for its landed gentry, and an island so rich in natural resources it was a profiteer's paradise. Its capital Hobart Town had its contrasts too: the wealthy elite in their sandstone mansions, the exploited poor in the notorious slum known as Wapping, and the criminals and villains who haunted the dockside taverns and brothels of Sullivan's Cove. Hobart Town was no place for the meek. Tiger Men is the sweeping tale of three families who lived through Tasmania's golden era and witnessed the birth of the Commonwealth of Australia, only to watch its young men consumed by the fires and horror of the First World War.
Random House Australia, paperback, 9781864712186
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FOAL'S BREAD
Gillian Mears
Set in hardscrabble farming country and around the country show high-jumping circuit that prevailed in rural New South Wales prior to the Second World War, Foal's Bread tells the story of two generations of the Nancarrow family and their fortunes as dictated by the vicissitudes of the land.
It is a love story of impossible beauty and sadness, a chronicle of dreams 'turned inside out', and miracles that never last, framed against a world both tender and unspeakably hard. Written in luminous prose and with an aching affinity for the landscape the book describes, Foal's Bread is the work of a born writer at the height of her considerable powers. It is a stunning work of remarkable originality and power, one that confirms Gillian Mears' reputation as one of our most exciting and acclaimed writers.
Allen & Unwin (AUS), paperback, 9781742376295 (November)
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DAUGHTERS OF THE DREAMING
Diane Bell
"Women are rarely mentioned in the literature as owners of country in their own right or as decision-making individuals; they appear as wives and mothers, their relationship to the jukurrpa always mediated through another. Yet I believe women enjoyed direct access to the jukurrpa from which flowed into rights and responsibilities in land, a power base as independent economic producers and a high degree of control over their own lives in marriage, residence, economic production, reproduction and sexuality."
Living in the community, developing friendships that have spanned decades, award-winning author Diane Bell shines a light on the importance of women's role in Australian Aboriginal desert culture. As maintainers of land, ritual and culture, Indigenous women of central Australia share the patterns of their lives in this remarkable and enduring book. Daughters of the Dreaming (first published in 1983) is an outstanding study of Aboriginal women's lives, and a fine precursor to her award-winning Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin.
Spinifex Press (AU, UK), paperback, 9781876756154
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