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The
White Tiger by Aravind Adiga $32.95 (Penguin
Atlantic)
Winner Man Booker Prize 2008
The
White Tiger is
the tale of two Indias. Balram’s journey from the darkness of village life to the light of
entrepreneurial success is utterly amoral, brilliantly irreverent, deeply
endearing and altogether unforgettable. Born in a village in heartland India, Balram is taken out of school by his family and put to work in a tea shop. As
he crushes coals and wipes tables, he nurses a dream of escape – of breaking
away from the banks of Mother Ganga into whose depths have seeped the remains of
a hundred generations.
The
Good Mayor by Andrew Nicoll $27.99 (Fourth Estate)
This
is the most delightful Christmas read around. Set in the little town of
Dot
in a forgotten part of the Baltic, this is the story of Tibo Krovic, the good
and honest Mayor of Dot, and his love for his secretary the beautiful, lonely,
but married, Mrs Agathe Stopak. In the quiet, respectable town of
Dot
there is nothing that Tibo can do about his love for Mrs Stopak but one day,
when she accidentally drops her lunch into a fountain, everything changes and
their lives will never be the same again.
I
See You Everywhere by Julia Glass $32.95 (
Hutchinson
)
This
is a big, commanding novel about the accidents that determine our choices in
love and marriage by the author of the book we all loved a few years ago The
Three Junes. I See You Everywhere opens when two sisters, Louisa and Clem
who are very close, are in their early twenties. It then unfolds through their
lives in a vivid story of what we can and cannot do for those we love. Louisa
settles in
New York
while Clem moves restlessly about until she lands in the
Rocky Mountains
. Glass’s new novel is a powerful and moving double portrait that reveals the
very nature of sisterhood.
The
Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb $35.00 (HarperCollins)
Remember
This Much I Know is True? Well the
wait for the new Wally Lamb novel is finally over and here it is. A colossal
book about a school teacher at Colombine High school who happens to be away
burying a family member on a day when two teenage students, Eric Harris and
Dylan Klebold, commit a well-planned massacre of fellow students and teachers.
His wife is the school nurse who spends four hours during the massacre hiding in
a stationery cupboard. Their lives are changed forever but this book is much
broader than this well known massacre, it covers many issues, in fact it covers
most issues. Read it and be impressed.
I Dream of Magda by Stefan
Laszczuk $23.95 (Allen & Unwin)
This
novel is the winner of the Australian Vogel Literary Award. George is
twenty-six, he lives with his brother and is afraid of the dark. He works in a
bowling alley by day and finds rare solace in a giant painting of an alien that
sits outside his room. He is reeling from a broken heart, still coping with the
trauma of a childhood home invasion and has to contend with a dysfunctional
family to rival The Simpsons. His brother is not much better off, he recently
lost the love of his life in a car accident and finds solace in constant sleep
while he dreams of Magda. This is a quirky, left-field and wholly engaging story
about families, love, loss and grieving.
The
Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee $32.99
(harper
Collins)
‘Rarely does one encounter a
debut work as beguiling and assured as Janice Lee’s
The Piano Teacher. Rich with intrigue, romance and betrayal, this
wonderfully written novel dazzles with its sharp-eyed renderings of beau
monde
Hong Kong
as it is plunged into the crucible of war. With its fascinating interplay of
East and West, and caste of fascinating characters, this is an irresistible work
of fiction’ Chang-Rae Lee – author of
Aloft.
The
Road Home by Rose Tremain $24.95 (Vintage) Winner of the
Orange
Prize 2008
Rose
Tremain’s hugely enjoyable new novel is the story of Lev, newly arrived in
London
from
Eastern Europe
. It is a wise and witty look at the contemporary migrant experience. Readers
will become totally involved with Lev’s story, as he struggles with the
mysterious rituals of ‘Englishness’ and the fashions and fads of the
London
scene. We see the road Lev travels through his eyes and we share his dilemmas;
the intimacy of his friendships, old and new; his joys and suffering; his
aspirations and his hopes of finding his way home, wherever home may be.
Deliciously funny at times and very moving at others, this is excellent bookclub
material.
Azincourt
by Bernard Cornwell $32.99 (HarperCollins)
Cornwell produces annually,
some of the most entertaining and readable historical novels of this generation,
here is this year’s offering.
Agincourt
was a battle that was a turning point in English history. Fought on October 25,
1415 it was an unexpected and brilliant English victory and the first battle won
by the use of the longbow. Lively historical characters abound that, in
Cornwell’s hands, are authentic and vivid and the hour-by-hour view of the
battle is dramatic and gripping.
America
,America
by Ethan Canin $32.95 (
Bloomsbury
)
It
is the early 1970s. Nixon is in the White House. Corey Sifter, the young son of
working-class parents, is befriended by the powerful Metarey family whose
patriarch is a kingmaker in the world of
New York
state politics. Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and during one of
the most turbulent eras of twentieth century
US
politics,
America
,
America
possesses the mastery of pace and the voice of classic American fiction.
Richard Russo says of the novel ‘Rich, ambitious, intelligent, emotionally
satisfying and important….Read this novel and weep’.
Stray Dog Winter by David
Francis $32.95 (Allen & Unwin)
This
is a page-turning psychological thriller and love story set in 1980s
Moscow
. Darcy, a restless young artist, travels to
Moscow
to visit his half-sister Fin. Darcy and Fin are inextricably bound by the
secrets and betrayals of their childhood. Upon his arrival in the depths of a
bleak
Moscow
winter, Darcy is immediately embroiled in Fin’s mysterious life there and
also drawn to
Moscow
’s forbidden underground, where he finds himself caught up in political and
sexual intrigues of a nature he could never have imagined. With Stray
Dog Winter, David Francis enters Graham Greene territory.
A Life in Seven Mistakes by
Susan Johnson $32.95 (Bantam)
This
is a compelling story about the complexity of family life. At last Elizabeth
Barton’s career as a ceramist is finally taking off and she is about to
exhibit in New York. First though she has to survive Christmas with her family on the Gold Coast.
Why is it impossible to act our age in front of our parents? And how can we
begin to care for and understand ageing parents with whom we have had a
life-long conflict? This is a deeply moving portrait of a family trying to reach
each other. Beautifully written it is saved from any sentimentality by a strong
streak of comic black humour.
Dreams
of Rivers and Seas by Tim Parks $34.95 (Harville/Secker)
A
novel of India from one of England’s finest writers ‘For
some time now I have been plagued, perhaps blessed, by dreams of rivers and
seas, dreams of water.’ Just days after Albert James writes these lines to
his son John in London, he is dead. Abandoning his girlfriend and the lab where he is completing his
PhD, John flies to Delhi
to join his mother in mourning. A brilliant and controversial anthropologist,
the nature of Albert James’s research and the circumstances of his death, are
far from clear.
Found Wanting by Robert
Goddard $32.95 (Bantam)
Richard
Eusden is on his way to work one unremarkable winter morning when he is
intercepted by his ex-wife. She has sad news of his old friend, her other
ex-husband. Marty is dying, but he needs a favour done for him – now, today,
at once. Eusden sets off on what should be, a simple errand, but soon it turns
into a race for life – his and Marty’s – across
Belgium
,
Germany
and
Denmark
. Every move he makes threatens to be a step into disaster. But move he must –
in pursuit of truth, on the heels of history. It is his only hope. Here is the
new thriller from the master of the clever twist.
To Love, Honour and Betray by
Kathy Lette $32.95 (Bantam Press)
A
classic Lette story involving divorce, revenge, a puberty-blue teenager and surf
lifesaving. Jasper, Lucy’s husband
of eighteen years, has left her for her best friend. To make matters worse,
Lucy’s teenage daughter Tally blames her mum. While Tally is busy trying to
find a loophole in her birth certificate so she can put herself up for adoption,
Lucy tries to accept that a child is for life and not just for Christmas. But
it’s not till Lucy makes the Freudian discovery that her toy boy is also
dating her daughter – and that he has been paid to do so by her ex as
ammunition for a custody battle that she finally learns to stand on her own two
stilettos.
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
$32.95 (Doubleday)
Set
at the end of the Great War in an era of unprecedented uncertainty, The Given is
a family epic by the author of
Mystic
River
.
Boston
1918: Danny Coughlin is in charge of policing the Italian neighbourhoods of the
North End, where political dissent is rife. Meanwhile, suspected of a
drug-related shooting, Luther Lawrence abandon’s his wife and flees to
Boston
, finding work as a driver to the Coughlin household. While the intricacies of
this family’s relationships unravel, Luther resolves to return to his own
family but first he must settle scores…A fine broad drama that convincingly
chronicles time and place.
Man in the Dark by Paul Auster
$29.95 (Faber)
The
plot of Auster’s new novel revolves around the many realities we inhabit as
wars flare around us. August Brill is recovering from a car accident. Plagued by
insomnia, he tries to push back thoughts of things he would prefer to forget –
his wife’s recent death and the murder of his granddaughter’s boyfriend
Titus – by telling himself stories. He imagines a parallel world in which
America
is not at war with
Iraq
but with itself. . Meanwhile back in the real world Brill gradually opens up to
his granddaughter, recounting the story of his marriage and confronting the grim
reality of Titus’ death.
Red Dress Walking by Sarah
Jones $27.95 (Allen & Unwin)
Will
and Emily are very much in love. But when Will gives Emily a stunning red dress,
everything somehow changes. This is a playful, modern, sexy and engrossing first
novel by a new West Australian author. It is about beauty and books, love and
desire, men and women, breakdowns and break-ups, the fierce friendships women
have and what certain books mean to us. A welcome
new voice on the home front.
The
Devil’s Brood by Sharon Penman $32.95 (Penguin)
Here
is Penman’s long-awaited third novel about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
It has at its heart the implosion of a family, a story of devastating betrayal
as Henry’s three eldest sons and his wife Eleanor enter into a rebellion
against him, aligning themselves with his most bitter enemy, Louis of France. It
is also the story of a great king whose brilliance forged an empire but whose
blind spots led him to make the most serious mistake of his life. Fine stuff –
Penman is one of the most critically acclaimed historical novelists writing
today.
The Wasted Vigil by Nadeem
Aslam $32.95 (Faber)
This
is a sweeping epic novel that is moving and insightful. Lara, a young Russian
woman is on a quest to
Afghanistan
to find news of her brother, a veteran of the Soviet invasion. Does the key to
his disappearance lie with Marcus Caldwell, an Englishman who is grieving for
his wife and daughter or with the Americans who now live in this region? The
stories and histories that unfold tell of the terrible afflictions that have
plagued
Afghanistan
The Wasted Vigil presents a timely
portrait of this region and of love during war and conflict. It marks Aslam as a
writer of major importance.
My
Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates $32.95 ((Fourth Estate)
This
is a dark, wry, captivating tale, inspired by an unsolved American true-crime
mystery. My Sister, My Love is based
on the controversial true-crime mystery of the JonBenet Ramsey murder. When a
beautiful ice-skating child prodigy is found brutally murdered, suspicion
immediately mounts against friends, neighbours, and even the young girl’s own
family. Told from the point of view of the dead girl’s brother, and in the
inimitable style and gripping voice that has long been this author’s trade
mark, My Sister, My Love takes us into
a world that only the most daring and imaginative novelists can capture.
The Believers by Zoe Heller
$32.95 (Penguin/Figtree)
Joel
Litvinoff, a radical lawyer, has a stroke and lapses into a coma. This is the
story of the wife and children he leaves behind. Audrey his wife who discovers
that their relationship is far from as perfect as she thought it was; Rosa who
is grappling with a need for a spiritual focus, Karla who starts to believe in
herself when she finds someone that loves her and Lennie who is back on drugs
again. In the course of battling their own demons and each other, every member
of the family is called upon to decide what, if anything, they still believe in.
A compulsive read by the author of Notes
on a Scandal.
The
Elephanta Suite by Paul Theroux $24.95 (Penguin)
This
fabulous, far-reaching book captures the tumult, ambition, hardship and serenity
that mark modern India. Theroux’s characters risk venturing far beyond its well worn paths to
discover woe or truth or peace. We meet Indian characters as distinctive as they
are indicative of their country’s subtle ironies. The
Elephanta Suite urges us towards a fresh and compelling notion of
India
and its effects on those who try to lose or find themselves there. We might
think we know
India
but, Theroux insists, we need to think again…
Everything
I Knew by Peter Goldsworthy $32.95 (Hamish Hamilton)
Set
in a small town in
South Australia
’s Coonawarra this is the story of a young boy’s adolescent crush on his
teacher, except that it becomes much more than a crush and things get out of
hand. It is also the story of ordinary things like his dreams of becoming a
writer and his deep friendship with a young aboriginal boy. Everything
I Knew is a sexual farce with a serious heart. Goldsworthy takes the
teacher-student taboo and turns it on its head. We are all, he argues
expatriates from the country of our childhood, determined to believe we did
things more innocently there. But adolescence is far from innocent, and in this
novel it is a volatile interlude with tragic consequences. Goldsworthy always
manages to surprise and impress us.
I
See You Everywhere by Julia Glass $32.95 (Hutchinson)
This
is a big, commanding novel about the accidents that determine our choices in
love and marriage by the author of the book we all loved a few years ago The
Three Junes. I See You Everywhere opens when two sisters, Louisa and Clem
who are very close, are in their early twenties. It then unfolds through their
lives in a vivid story of what we can and cannot do for those we love.
Louisa settles in
New York
while Clem moves restlessly about until she lands in the
Rocky Mountains
. Glass’s new novel is a powerful and moving double portrait that reveals the
very nature of sisterhood.
The
Slap by Christos Tsiolkas $32.95 (Allen & Unwin)
One
of
Australia
’s best contemporary novelists turns his unflinching eye on to the modern
family. At a suburban barbeque, a man slaps a child who is not his own. This
event has a shocking ricochet effect on a group of people, mostly friends. What
unfolds is a powerful, haunting novel about love, sex and marriage, parenting
and children and the fury and intensity – all the passions and conflicting
beliefs – that family can arouse. In its clear-eyed and forensic dissection of
the middle class and its aspirations and fears,
The Slap is also a poignant novel about the nature of loyalty and happiness.
A Most Wanted Man by John le
Carré $32.99 (Hodder)
Here
is a new le Carré masterpiece: contemporary,
poignant and utterly gripping. A half starved young Russian man is smuggled into
Hamburg
in the dead of night. He has an improbable amount of cash secreted in a purse
around his neck. He is a devout Muslim. Or is he? He says his name is Issa.
Annabel, an idealist civil rights lawyer, determines to save Issa from
deportation and soon her client’s survival becomes more important to her than
her own career. Meanwhile, scenting a sure kill in the so-called War on Terror,
the spies of three nations converge upon the innocents.
Songs for the Butcher’s
Daughter by Peter Mansteau $29.95 (Simon & Shuster)
From
what I have heard, this first novel by a thirty-four year old promises to be an
undiscovered gem. In the last years of the twentieth century, two very different
lives unexpectedly converge; those of a Russian emigrant nearing the end of his
days, and of his future translator, a twenty-one-year-old
Boston
college student for whom life and love, is just beginning. Set in a Yiddish
bookshop, this is a story of adventure, passion and great friendship.
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