LANE BOOKSHOP

In a small South West town, an adolescent boy hitches a ride to the coast. Watching the group of surfers out on the water he begins a love affair with the sea that will open up worlds of both exquisite beauty and extreme danger.

Breath, Tim Winton’s first novel in 7 years, is an intense tale of the alluring nature of risk and the damage it can do. Deceptively simple on the surface, the story contains a deeply disturbing undercurrent that keeps you on edge throughout. Pure distilled Winton.

The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville $45.00 (Text)

In 1787, Lieutenant Thomas Rooke sets sail from Portsmouth with the First Fleet and its cargo of convicts destined for New South Wales . Inspired by the 1790 notebooks of William Dawes in which he recorded his conversations with a young Aboriginal woman, The Lieutenant is a story about a young man discovering his true self in extraordinary circumstances. This powerful novel will enthrall readers of Kate Grenville’s The Secret River, winner of The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.

The Rip by Robert Drewe $35 (Hamish Hamilton)

This is Robert Drewe’s greatest book of short stories since The Bodysurfers in 1983 which became an instant classic. The book covers similar ground but with even sharper wit and greater insight. It will certainly appeal to Drewe’s long-established readership but will also seduce a new generation with its mordant wit but often very funny take on contemporary relationships between children and parents, lovers, husbands and wives and old school mates and complete strangers. In small hardback this is a good book to hold as well as to relish.

Indignation by Philip Roth $45.00 (Jonathan Cape)

It is 1951 in America , the second year of the Korean War. A studious, law-abiding youngster from Newark , New Jersey , Marcus Messner is beginning his sophomore year. His father, the hardworking neighbourhood butcher, is beset with anxiety and apprehension about what lies in store for his beloved boy in the world as he perceives it to be.  This overwhelming parental fear and concern for his safety alienates Marcus and he leaves home for a college in the Midwest where he has to confront a very different American world. Classic Roth with all the shades and nuances of a great novel.

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Schaffer $29.95 (Allen & Unwin)

Juliet Ashton is a writer of witty newspaper columns during the war. She receives a letter from one Dawsey Adams of Guernsey who by chance has acquired a book Juliet once owned and they begin a correspondence. Dawsey is a member of the Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society and it is not long before the rest of the members write to Juliet. Through the letters we come to know these characters and what they suffered during the German occupation. Captivated by their letters Juliet decides to visit the island herself and unwittingly turns her life upside down. A novel of great charm.

Wanting by Richard Flanagan $35.00 (Knopf)

Bass Strait , 1839. Lady Jane, wife of Sir John Franklin, the most famous explorer of his age, adopts a young Aboriginal girl as an experiment to prove that the savage can be civilized – only to discover that among the most civilized can lurk the most savage. When Sir John disappears while searching for the Northwest Passage , and rumours arise that Sir John and his starving crew reverted to the barbaric, Lady Jane turns to the famous Charles Dickens for help. Based on historical events Wanting is about the fact that life is usually determined by desire rather than by reason. This fine novel affirms Flanagan’s reputation as one of Australia ’s finest writers.

A Mercy by Toni Morrison $39.95 (Chatto & Windus)

This is a powerful tragedy distilled into a small masterpiece. Set two centuries earlier, this could almost be a prelude to Morrison’s most famous book Beloved.  Jacob, a trader, accepts a small slave girl in part payment for a bad debt. This is Florens who can read and write and might be useful on his farm. Florens is hungry for love and when she is sixteen a handsome blacksmith – an African who has never been enslaved – rides into her life…

Home by Marilynne Robinson $45.00 (Virago)

Following on from the award winning Gilead, Home takes up the story of the wayward son Jack who, after decades away finally returns home He is the prodigal son and they believe against all evidence, that if they love him enough he will change and he will stay. But of course that is not how life really goes….Robinson’s understanding of the human condition, of how families operate, of how and why we continue to forgive and hope, cuts to the soul.

From A to X by John Berger $39.95 (Palgrave) Long listed for Booker Prize

Berger is the Booker prize winning novelist of the novel G. In the ramshackle town of Suse, lives Aida. Her insurgent husband Xavier has been imprisoned. Resolute, tender and sensuous, her letters to the man she loves tell of daily events in the town and its motley collection of inhabitants whose lives flow through hers. But things are not what they appear to be and this excellent novel is a powerful exploration of how humanity affirms itself in struggle.

The Spare Room by Helen Garner $29.95 (Text)

Helen prepares a room for her friend Nicola, who is flying down from Sydney for a three week visit. But this is no ordinary visit, Nicola has advanced cancer. She is coming to Melbourne to receive treatment she believes will cure her. From the moment Nicola steps off the plane, Helen becomes her nurse, her protector, her guardian angel and her stony judge. The Spare Room tells a story of compassion and rage as the two women, one sceptical, one stubbornly serene, negotiate their way through Nicola’s treatments. Garner’s dialogue is flawless and, as this novel draws to its terrible and transcendent finale, one finds oneself right in there in time, place, suffering and anger.

The Pages by Murray Bail $34.95 (Text)

This is Murray Bail’s first novel since Eucalyptus took us all by storm. Two women – Erica and Sophie – set out at dawn from Sydney on the long drive to where the late Wesley Antill, thinker and writer, lived. Erica’s task is to read the pages – Wesley’s great work on life and philosophy – that lie untouched in the woolshed where he wrote. Sophie is distracting herself from her most recent affair. On the property Wesley’s brother still manages 10,000 head of sheep. His sister dresses in dark velvet for dinner. Was Wesley a genius? No one seems to know and this is only one of the questions in the air. Witty, romantic and surprising – this is a brilliant book.

The Reserve by Russell Banks $35.00 (Bloomsbury)

In July 1936 the stunning Vanessa Cole, notorious for her scandalous affairs with the rich and famous, returns too her parents home in upstate New York . Rumours are rife as the family gathers to celebrate the 4th of July in their privately owned wilderness, The Reserve The scene of luxury and privilege is disturbed by the arrival of the internationally famous painter and political radical, Jordan Groves. Part scandalous love story, part murder mystery, this is a gripping novel from one of America ’s finest writers and author of The Darling one of our best books of 2006.