Reader's Feast - Fiction

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Apocalypse for Beginners
Price: AUD 29.99 Author: Nicolas Dickner

French-Canadian Nicolas Dickner gives us a story that moves between Canada and Japan and tells the story of Mickey falling in love with Hope; a girl strangely named given that she (and her forebears) believe Doomsday approaches.

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Dark Matter
Price: AUD 24.95 Author: Juli Zeh

Juli Zeh, a young and much awarded German author, has delivered a book that is complex and riveting. Sebastian and Osker studied physics together at university and seemed destined for bright futures. Years pass and Sebastian feels he has not quite lived up to expectations whilst Oskar forges a stellar career. When Sebastian's son is kidnapped, he turns to Oskar as his one source of hope and help.

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The Elephant Vanishes
Price: AUD 24.95 Author: Haruki Murakami

First published in Japan in 1993, this collection of stories is indicative of the sensitive, superbly articulate writing that has made Murakami such a tour de force in the literary community. The story of the title takes place in a Tokyo suburb where the disappearance of a private zoo's elephant causes one man such disquiet that he feels life will never be the same again.

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Smut: Two Unseemly Stories
Price: AUD 24.99 Author: Alan Bennett

Readers can, in the case of Alan Bennett's work, forgive publishers for pushing the boundaries of what is technically a short-story collection. This slim (!) volume of two stories is vintage Bennett. Smut is really slightly overstating it - it is more a case of the unseemly, in the most British of settings. Both stories have middle-aged women at their centre who are not quite what they seem and who find themselves in situations that are anything but usual.

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The Registrar's Manual for Detecting Forced Marriages
Price: AUD 29.99 Author: Sophie Hardach

"They all hesitated that fraction of a second after they picked up the pen, before they placed the nib on the paper...I was sure no one else noticed it. They probably didn't even notice it themselves. But I noticed it always...." So writes the nameless narrator of this story, a junior civil servant in the Registrar's Office in Paris. She reads the recently arrived pamphlet on detecting forced marriages as she worries about a bride-to-be and recalls her own marriage years earlier. She was in Germany, living the life of a teenage anarchist, when she met and helped a young Kurdish boy. The author is a well-travelled, multilingual journalist who brings all her experience to the work, imbuing it with a sense of worldliness that crosses geographical and cultural borders.

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22 Britannia Road
Price: AUD 32.95 Author: Amanda Hodgkinson

War, and how those embroiled in it, manage to survive, is a theme that seems to forever intrigue us. Human resilience is endlessly fascinating. How do those who survive the most unimaginable traumas manage to take up ordinary lives again? How do you rebuild your life after losing everything and how do these experiences change you? These themes are explored in 22 Britannia Road. Janusz, his wife Silvana, and son Aurek are separated at the start of the war as Poland is invaded. Six years later Janusz, now settled in Britain, locates them in refugee camps. Silvana and Aurek have survived by living wild in the forest and are inseparable. Janusz almost inadvertently became a deserter while trying to join his regiment before eventually making his way to Britain. Six years is a long time to be separated, especially in wartime. The couple desperately try to embrace their new life in a foreign country by putting their pasts behind them. Their common bond is their love for Aurek. However, their secrets once revealed, must be dealt with as their future unfolds. - Reviewed by Helen Mac

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The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead
Price: AUD 29.99 Author: Paul Elwork

'Spirit rapping' was the name given to a form of trickery that suggests someone is talking to the dead. The case of the Fox sisters in the 1840s was a catalyst for this fictional rendering that has a 13 year-old girl convincing adults around her that she is in touch with people beyond the grave, a claim they are eager to believe.

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The Pale King
Price: AUD 39.95 Author: David Foster Wallace

Working with the scantest information of the intent and scope of this novel, Michael Pietsch spent months assembling this unfinished novel by the late David Foster Wallace. Pietsch was David's editor on his work Infinite Jest. Set in an Internal Revenue Service office Pietsch describes the novel thus: "As I read and reread this mass of material, it...became clear that David had written deep into the novel, creating a vividly complex place....and a remarkable set of characters doing battle there against the hulking, terrorizing demons of ordinary life." The book displays all of David Foster Wallace's trademark quirks - the pages-long footnotes, the obsessive, discursive detail and the endless fascination with technical minutiae.

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Before I Go To Sleep
Price: AUD 29.95 Author: S. J. Watson

When she wakes up every morning, Christine believes the new day is full of possibilities. After an appalling accident, Christine is incapable of retaining memory. She has to be reminded that she has a husband and her life is in fact already determined by choices from the past. She begins a therapeutic program that will slowly force memories on her, so much so that she will wonder if in fact the truth is best left unknown.

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Girl Reading
Price: AUD 32.99 Author: Katie Ward

This original and inventive novel sets out the stories of seven females captured forever in portraiture. Drawing on real paintings for her subjects, Katie Ward takes the reader on a journey that spans centuries, countries and cultures. Although set out as individual stories, the author deftly weaves connections into her theme and the result is a beautiful rendering of what it is to be female.

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The Tiger's Wife
Price: AUD 29.99 Author: Téa Obreht

As a tiny child Natalia remembers visits to the zoo with her grandfather, watching the tigers and listening to him recite The Jungle Book. Now a grown woman, she is visiting orphanages in the Balkans when she hears her grandfather has died. He had been a child in the Balkans of the 1940s, an intersection of history that is just one of many in this story of family, mystery, myth, tragedy and fairytale.

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The Girl in the Polka- Dot Dress
Price: AUD 32.99 Author: Beryl Bainbridge

Beryl Bainbridge's long-standing editor prepared this novel for publication after Bainbridge died. It was left uncompleted - however, no material was added. Rose embarks on a trip to America from her native England with just her ticket and a polka-dot dress in hand. It has been organised that she will travel with Harold, a middle-aged American, a man she doesn't know but who shares a common interest - that of finding Wheeler. Rose is looking for the man she thinks of as her guru, whilst Harold is seeking revenge. The search for Dr. Wheeler and the turn of events takes on a political tinge when we remember the setting is 1960s America and the Kennedy assassination is about to change the course of history.

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River of Smoke
Price: AUD 32.99 Author: Amitav Ghosh

Continuing the stories of some of the major characters from Sea of Poppies, the action in Ghosh's new book moves from India to China, at a time when Chinese authorities were first starting to seriously crack down on the opium trade. The intricate narrative is based on extensive research and genuine archival documents from the period. With his trademark stylistic flair and love of language, the author seamlessly weaves together fact and fiction to create a brilliant and immensely enjoyable historical novel. - Reviewed by James

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Far To Go
Price: AUD 29.99 Author: Alison Pick

Alison Pick draws on personal family history to create an evocative and memorable novel of life and loss. Czech couple Pavel and Anneliese Baur, their son Pepik, and his nanny Marta, are depicted against the backdrop of the lead up to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. The story moves between the past and present, and deftly explores themes of family, inhumanity and the imperative to bear witness.

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The Life
Price: AUD 32.99 Author: Malcolm Knox

Malcolm Knox draws on his own passion for surfing and weaves a story of ambition, obsession and unrealised dreams in his latest novel. His main character, Dennis, was once at the very heart of surfing fame, living the life of a winner. But a cocktail of drugs, poor choices, personal tragedies and disputed surfing results all add up to a man looking back with bitterness.

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Caleb's Crossing
Price: AUD 32.99 Author: Geraldine Brooks

With Caleb's Crossing Geraldine Brooks has once again created a rich and authentic narrative from a few little-known facts and presented a totally absorbing work of historical fiction. This work was inspired by the life of Caleb Cheeshahteacmuck - the first native American to graduate from the college at Newtowne founded in 1636 (later renamed Harvard). He was one of only 465 graduates during the 17th century. It is known that he was born around 1646 on the island of Neope or Capawock, inhabited by the native Wôparáak and a small colony of English Puritan settlers. In 1652 Thomas Mayhew Jnr, a missionary who dedicated his life to converting the Wôparáak to Christianity, founded a day school for 30 Indian pupils. Caleb's life is revealed alongside that of the fictional Bethia Mayfield, the daughter of the founding Puritan missionary. Her life is one of hard work and restriction but she is able to briefly escape these confines and explore the beautiful island. During these excursions she encounters and eventually befriends the intriguing son of a local Chieftain. They are both fascinated by the other's culture and learn a great deal from each other. Eventually Caleb joins the fledgling Christian community in order to become fully educated in European ways. As a female, Bethia is denied formal education but she has an enormous thirst for knowledge and is able to educate herself by listening to her father as he teaches firstly his son, and then Caleb and another Indian student, preparing them for continuing studies on the mainland. After a series of tragedies, Bethia becomes the indentured housekeeper at the boys' college on the mainland where she is able to follow their progress. Both tragic and triumphant, you cannot fail to be totally absorbed by this story. - Reviewed by Helen M

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The Butterfly Cabinet
Price: AUD 29.99 Author: Bernie McGill

In the late 1800s in Ireland, a mother of nine was convicted of murdering her daughter by leaving her for hours, tied up in a wardrobe room in her grand house. Based on a factual case, Bernie McGill weaves a story of generational secrets, desperate actions and intolerable sadness.

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Underground Time
Price: AUD 29.99 Author: Delphine de Vigan

Paris in 24 hours - no, this is not a travelogue, but rather the story of two people in that most beautiful city, traversing its streets but utterly alone. Both are in their forties and although bombarded by disappointment and inescapable reality, they manage to survive and make the reader believe they all will be right.

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King of the Badgers
Price: AUD 32.99 Author: Philip Henser

A coastal village on the river Hain in Devon becomes the centre of national attention when a young girl vanishes. The villagers are suddenly thrust into the spotlight, a focus that uncovers their hopes, failures and distinctly unique characters. The author uses the storyline to raise issues of what privacy really means in today's world.

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Last Man in Tower
Price: AUD 32.99 Author: Aravind Adiga

Money and power usually hold sway, but not with Masterji who refuses to leave his home in Vishram's Tower in Mumbai. The developer who wants his building is angered but so too are Masterji's neighbours who are enticed by the promise of money. People at their most overtly selfish and a city of contrasts are the central characters in this work.

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The Forgotten Waltz
Price: AUD 32.95 Author: Anne Enright

Gina is our guide in this story of love and loss. She is a married woman living in Dublin as it goes from boom to hard times. Seán is a married man who is Gina's lover. His daughter Evie is 'different' and will become a central figure in Gina's recollections of how life unfolded. The decline of Dublin's fortunes sits as a metaphor for the nature of relationships and the differences between what is and what seems to be.

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History of a Pleasure Seeker
Price: AUD 32.99 Author: Richard Mason

At age 24, Piet is in his element as tutor in an opulent household in Amsterdam in the early years of the 20th century. His age and attractiveness inevitably create opportunities for him, and all members of the house, to engage in unbridled passion and pleasure.

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Please Look After Mother
Price: AUD 32.99 Author: Kyung-Sook Shin

This story of familial ties and shared memories is moving and emotional. So-nyo has raised her family and been a good wife and mother. She has been ill after a stroke but nonetheless boards a train for Seoul to visit her adult children. When she becomes separated from her husband and goes missing, he and the children desperately try to find her whilst thinking of all that they should have told her when they had the opportunity.

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While the Women are Sleeping
Price: AUD 27.95 Author: Javier Marias

This slender volume collects 15 years' worth of short stories by acclaimed Spanish novelist Javier Marias. Told in the author's characteristic voice and dealing with a range of subjects, these sketches incorporate elements of magical realism and social observation.

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We Had it so Good
Price: AUD 29.99 Author: Linda Grant

Stephen and Andrea Newman are babyboomers. Born in L.A., Stephen moved to England to avoid the Vietnam War draft and whilst there met Andrea. We Had it so Good is a vehicle for the author to explore themes of family dysfunction and generational tensions. With each new story that Stephen and Andrea tell their children, they build a fantasy of how good they had it whilst at the same time uneasily realising their parents sacrificed so much for them. In turn, Stephen and Andrea subliminally suggest they too make sacrifices for their children - the seemingly inevitable generational legacy that beleaguers families.

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The Succubus
Price: AUD 17.95 Author: Vlado Zabot

A disturbing tale of murder and madness. The protagonist, Valent Kosmina, trapped in a claustrophobic marriage in an anonymous city, gradually succumbs to a world of nightmare and hallucination. This is the first novel to be translated into English by this Slovenian author and is a haunting and evocative tale of the inner workings of the human mind.

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The Report
Price: AUD 27.99 Author: Jessica Francis Kane

Set in London's East End, this meticulously crafted work of fiction is based on a true event in 1943 at the height of the Blitz. When air-raid sirens sounded one spring evening, the ensuing panic resulted in 173 deaths and the worst civilian disaster of WWII. Decades later a survivor has the investigation into the disaster re-opened in a bid to find the truth.

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The Messenger
Price: AUD 29.95 Author: Yannick Haenel

The Messenger is a biographical novel of Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski. It is divided into three parts: an interview with Karski; a summary of Karski's book Story of a Secret State; and a fictional account of Karski's life. It speaks of a courageous man living through confronting and appalling times.

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The Lake of Dreams
Price: AUD 29.95 Author: Kim Edwards

After years of travelling, a young woman returns to her family in the small country town where she grew up and is forced to face up to her past. The discovery of some hidden letters and a beautiful silk scarf lead her on a quest to uncover the identity of the writer and in the process some unwelcome family secrets come to light. A modern setting with insights into the past keep the reader turning the pages as the mystery unfolds.

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The Gordian Knot
Price: AUD 32.99 Author: Bernhard Schlink

First published in 1988 The Gordian Knot is the story of a translator commissioned to translate military plans. He is curious about the mysterious disappearance of his predecessor and his quest to uncover the truth leads him down many unknown and dangerous paths.

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