Fiction-Hardback

‘She is a master of her material, a writer in whom great talent abides' Muriel Spark. This is wonderfully atmospheric, intricately woven, modern-day tale of the Pendle Witches at a time when politics and religion were closely intertwined. Winterson tells the tale in her inimitable magical prose.

A mesmerising literary novel, Questions of Travel charts two very different lives. Laura travels the world before returning to Sydney, where she works for a publisher of travel guides. Ravi dreams of being a tourist until he is driven from Sri Lanka by devastating events. Around these two characters de Kretser assembles an enthralling array of people, places and stories; from Theo, whose life plays out in the long shadow of the past, to Hana, an Ethiopian woman determined to reinvent herself in Australia. Award-winning author Michelle de Kretser illuminates travel, work and modern dreams in this brilliant evocation of the way we live now.

A conversation between strangers on a long-haul flight will change lives forever. One night in Baden-Baden will threaten to tear a couple apart. A meeting with an ex-lover will give a divorcee a second chance, and holiday lovers will struggle in the harsh reality of daily routine. As Schlink's characters navigate their lives, we discover the many faces of love: the small betrayals, hidden truths and abiding affections. In Schlink's spare prose, we come face-to-face with the desires and jealousies that define our daily lives.

Meet twelve-year-old Liam McKenzie, who patrols his suburban neighbourhood as the Masked Avenger - a superhero with powers so potent not even he can fully comprehend their extent. Along with his sidekick, Richie the Power Beagle, he protects the people of Franklin Street from chaos, mayhem, evil and low tyre pressure - but can he save them from sadness? This perfect jewel of a book by the award-winning author of Jasper Jones will hold all readers in its irresistible power.

She sat at a table opposite him, her back to the sea; slim, not particularly tall, auburn hair, close-cropped, rather more studious than beautiful, strong-featured. Or was it sharp-featured? A blend. In black jeans, a black jacket, silver bracelet on a slender wrist. A young woman and an older man meet by accident – a gust of wind – at a restaurant in Trieste and they find themselves dining together. They embark upon a conversation of the kind that can perhaps only happen between total strangers – risky, philosophical, full of the most intimate stories and confessions. She has questions. He finds, as the wine flows, delicious dishes come and go, and the velvet night deepens, that he doesn't have as many answers as he might have thought he had.

The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin $19.99 )Picador)

In a voice that is both tender and filled with rage, The Testament of Mary tells the story of a cataclysmic event which led to an overpowering grief. For Mary, her son has been lost to the world, and now, living in exile and in fear, she tries to piece together the memories of the events that led to her son's brutal death. To her he was a vulnerable figure, surrounded by men who could not be trusted, living in a time of turmoil and change. As her life and her suffering begin to acquire the resonance of myth, Mary struggles to break the silence surrounding what she knows to have happened. In her effort to tell the truth in all its gnarled complexity, she slowly emerges as a figure of immense moral stature as well as a woman from history.