The top 10 April 2018 release books as voted for by library staff around Australia is here. There are a nice mix of books, mainly fiction, a very interesting non fiction and a title (Amelia Westlake) described as “a queer yA rom-com”. Click on a title to reserve a copy now.
The Lace Weaver – Lauren Chater (Librarians’ Choice Favourite)
A breathtaking debut about love and war, and the battle to save a precious legacy.
Each lace shawl begins and ends the same way – with a circle. Everything is connected with a thread as fine as gossamer, each life affected by what has come before it and what will come after. 1941, Estonia. As Stalin’s brutal Red Army crushes everything in its path, Katarina and her family survive only because their precious farm produce is needed to feed the occupying forces. Fiercely partisan, Katarina battles to protect her grandmother’s precious legacy – the weaving of gossamer lace shawls stitched with intricate patterns that tell the stories passed down through generations.
While Katarina struggles to survive the daily oppression, another young woman is suffocating in her prison of privilege in Moscow. Yearning for freedom and to discover her beloved mother’s Baltic heritage, Lydia escapes to Estonia. Facing the threat of invasion by Hitler’s encroaching Third Reich, Katarina and Lydia and two idealistic young soldiers, insurgents in the battle for their homeland, find themselves in a fight for life, liberty and love.
The Paris Seamstress – Natasha Lester
Sunburn – Laura Lippman
Amelia Westlake – Erin Gough
The Death Of Noah Glass – Gail Jones
Circe – Madeline Miller
Every Note Played – Lisa Genova
Dear Mrs Bird – AJ Pearce
The Colour Of Bee Larkham’s Murder – Sarah J Harris
Growing Up Aboriginal In Australia – Anita Heiss (ed)
From a very diverse shortlist of six authors, Alexis Wright, for her book Tracker has won this year’s Stella Prize. Judging panel chair Fiona Stager said the winning book—a biography of Aboriginal leader, thinker and entrepreneur Tracker Tilmouth that incorporates interviews with family, friends, foes and Tilmouth himself—is an ‘extraordinary, majestic book’. ‘It is one man’s story told by many voices, almost operatic in scale. With a tight narrative structure, compelling real-life characters, the book sings with insight and Tracker’s characteristic humour. Wright has crafted an epic that is a truly rewarding read,’ said Stager.