by Hannah Kent

A brilliant literary debut, inspired by a true story: the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829.

Set against Iceland’s stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes’s death looms, the farmer’s wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they’ve heard.

Riveting and rich with lyricism, Burial Rites evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, and asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?

Amazon: Paperback $17.70, Kindle $12.99

Sutherland Library: 2 copies, also eBook, Audiobook, and Hoopla

Kmart: Doesn’t stock

Big W: Doesn’t stock

by Joanna Glen

From the author of the Costa shortlisted debut, The Other Half of Augusta Hope, comes the story of one girl’s journey to find her birth mother, and her realisation that mothers – and family – can be discovered in the most unexpected of places…

London, 1980s. Though she has a comfortable, privileged life, Eva Martínez-Green is deeply unhappy. The only child of an emotionally absent mother and a physically absent father, Eva has grown up in a cold, unloving house. But Eva is convinced that all is not as it seems. Why are there no baby pictures of her? Why do her parents avoid all questions about her early years?

When her parents’ relationship crumbles, Eva begins looking for a different, better life: a proper family, a perfect mother, and, importantly, real love. Her desire to find where she belongs leads Eva on a journey spanning years and continents – and, along the way, she meets women who challenge her idea of what a mother should be, and who will change her life forever…

Amazon: Paperback $17.70, Kindle $8.99

Booktopia: Paperback $20.35

Sutherland Library: Paperback – 3 copies, eBook (on Hoopla), eAudiobook 

Kmart: Doesn’t stock

Big W: Doesn’t stock

by Kristin Harper

Ruby rocks in her favourite chair and tries not to think about the past. This family inn, with views across the grassy dunes to the lighthouse standing against bright blue sky, is all she’s ever known. But Ruby has been keeping a secret all these years… this summer, has the time finally come to share it?

Meg Carter can’t wait to spend the summer with her great-aunt Ruby, helping renovate her charming—if a little old-fashioned—inn by the ocean. But a surprise arrival changes their plans. Simon, grandson of the former owners, is selling his land next door to a luxury resort developer. The plans are certain to ruin the beautiful view of the lighthouse, which has guided lost seafarers home for generations… and put Ruby’s inn out of business for good.

Forget sorting through Ruby’s classic book collection and spring cleaning the bedrooms: there might not ever be any new guests if the plans go ahead. Simon may be tall and handsome, with eyes like green sea glass, but he’s stubborn to boot… and Meg’s discussions with him always end in fireworks.
Then Ruby says she has a secret about Simon to share. But the elderly lady only has time to say “the lighthouse holds the key” before becoming desperately ill.
Distraught, all Meg cares about is her beloved aunt’s health. Ruby is in no state to share her secret now: but what if it could save the inn for good? A tour of the lighthouse, with its glittering glass lamp and red-and-white stripes, brings Meg no closer to the truth… and it’s against her better judgment that she takes long walks on the beach with Simon, and even grows close to his sweet children.
But is she wrong to open her heart to the one person who could hold the answers? And will Meg ever solve the secret of the lighthouse—before it’s too late for the inn, and for Ruby?

Amazon: Paperback $21.99, Kindle $4.99

Booktopia: Paperback $21.99

Sutherland Library: Doesn’t stock 

Kmart: Doesn’t stock 

Big W: Doesn’t stock

by Mitch Albom

A moving new novel from the beloved author of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven

When the Nazis invade his home in Salonika, Greece, a German officer offers eleven-year-old Nico Krispis a chance to save his family. Nico must convince his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading ‘north’, where safety and protection awaits.

But when the final train is loaded, Nico sees his family being herded into a boxcar. Only then does he realise that he has helped send them, and everyone he knew, to their doom at Auschwitz. Nico escapes but he never tells the truth again.

In The Little Liar, Nico’s story is interweaved with those of his family, friends and even the Nazi officer who changed their lives. Through the war years and the decades that follow, Albom reveals the consequences of their decisions, eventually bringing them back to where it all started.

The Little Liar is a timeless tale of the harm we inflict with our deceits, and the power of love to redeem us.

Amazon: Paperback $24.99, Kindle $16.99

Sutherland Library: 4 copies (current availability), also 3 large print copies (current availability)

Kmart: Doesn’t stock this title

Big W: Doesn’t stock this title

by Kate Quinn

The New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye and The Rose Code returns with a haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.

Washington, DC, 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic room, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss, whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; policeman’s daughter Nora, who finds herself entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Beatrice, whose career has come to an end along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears the house apart, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: who is the true enemy in their midst?

Capturing the paranoia of the McCarthy era and evoking the changing roles for women in postwar America, The Briar Club is an intimate and thrilling novel of secrets and loyalty put to the test.

Amazon: Paperback $17.24, Kindle $11.99

Booktopia: Paperback $20.40

Sutherland Library: Paperback (8 copies, not many holds), eBook (on Hoopla), Large print (2 copies) 

Kmart: Doesn’t stock

Big W: Doesn’t stock

by Patti Callahan Henry

Can a fairytale solve the mystery of her lost sister?

1939: Fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated from London to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the Aberdeen family in a charming stone cottage, Hazel distracts her young sister with a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own: Whisperwood.

But the unthinkable happens when Flora vanishes near the banks of the River Thames. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, carrying the guilt into adulthood.

Twenty years later, Hazel is back in London, ready to move on from her job at a cosy rare-book shop for a career at Sotheby’s. With a cherished boyfriend and an upcoming Paris getaway, Hazel’s future seems set. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing a picture book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the storybook world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years? Or is something sinister at play?

For fans of Kate Morton and Kristin Hannah, this is a captivating, poignant celebration of sisterhood and the magic of storytelling.

‘A beautiful blend of love and mystery, The Secret Book of Flora Lea is captivating from the first page. Intriguing, atmospheric, rich in detail, it will break your heart and warm it at the same time. Definitely a book for booklovers; you’ll want to race through the pages but linger over the beautiful descriptions and superbly rendered characters. I loved it.’ Belinda Alexandra, author of The French Agent

‘A heartrending, captivating tale of family, first love, and fate’ Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author

‘Two sisters, dual time periods, a magical secret place, an abiding mystery — The Secret Book of Flora Lea is an enchanting story of survival against all odds. Transporting, heartfelt, and atmospheric.’ Christina Baker Kline, New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train

Amazon: Paperback $25.40, Kindle $11.99

Sutherland Library: Paperback (4 copies, out but no holds), eBook (Hoopla – currently available), eAudiobook (currently available)

Booktopia: Paperback $26.95

Kmart: Doesn’t stock 

Big W: Doesn’t stock

by Clare Leslie Hall

Everyone in the village said nothing good would come of Gabriel’s return. And as Beth looks at the man she loves on trial for murder, she can’t help thinking they were right.

Beth was seventeen when she first met Gabriel. Over that heady, intense summer, he made her think and feel and see differently. She thought it was the start of her great love story. When Gabriel left to become the person his mother expected him to be, she was broken.

It was Frank who picked up the pieces and together they built a home very different from the one she’d imagined with Gabriel. Watching her husband and son, she remembered feeling so sure that, after everything, this was the life she was supposed to be leading.

But when Gabriel comes back, all Beth’s certainty about who she is and what she wants crumbles. Even after ten years, their connection is instant. She knows it’s wrong and she knows people could get hurt. But how can she resist a second chance at first love?

Amazon: Paperback $16.00, Kindle $12.99

Booktopia: Paperback $26.95

QBD Books: Paperback $32.99 (currently 15% off $28.04)

Sutherland Library: 15 copies (currently 31 holds)

Kmart: Doesn’t stock this title

Big W: $16 but listed as ‘Sold Out’

by Cassie Hamer

A family gathering, but not everyone who sits down to dinner will survive it. Poisonous lies, family secrets, addiction and revenge – always a dish best served cold – are all on the menu.

For readers of Sally Hepworth, Jo Dixon and Ali Lowe, this twisty domestic suspense holds you captive from its gripping beginning to its shocking denouement.

Maz Antonio has spent the last two years in prison so is determined to make the first major family gathering in their new home deep in Australian suburbia as perfect as possible. She owes it to everyone after the terrible mistakes she’s made … mistakes for which she will always be trying to atone. This special lunch is her chance to make things right for her husband and children, to show everyone that she can maintain her sobriety, that things can go back to normal. (Whatever normal looks like when you have traumatic, confusing flashbacks of that fateful day where two innocent lives were lost.)

Her sister, Elli, is in. So is her husband’s brother. Her distant father-in-law is gracing them with his presence and her mum Margaret is on the way from Newcastle, bringing a colleague – a virtual stranger she impulsively invited.

But is this man really a stranger? Or could it be that he is intimately connected to the past that Maz has so desperately been trying to put behind her – a past that’s about to explode across the dinner table in the deadliest of ways…

Amazon: Paperback $18.00, Kindle $12.99

Booktopia: Paperback $28.50

Sutherland Library: Paperback (9 copies, no holds), eBook (Borrow Box – checked out) & eAudiobook (Borrow Box – checked out), Large print – on order

Kmart: Doesn’t stock

Big W: Paperback $18.00

by Kristin Hannah

In Kristin Hannah’s Night Road, the consequence of one terrible night changes a group of young people’s lives forever.

Lexi and Mia are inseparable from the moment they start high school. Different in so many ways – Lexi is an orphan and lives with her aunt on a trailer park, while Mia is a golden girl blessed with a loving family and a beautiful home – yet they recognize something in each other that sets them apart from the crowd, and Mia comes to rely heavily on Lexi’s steadfast friendship.

Mia’s beloved – and incredibly good-looking – twin brother Zach finds life much less complicated than his sister. Jude thought she’d never have to worry about her son, that he’d always sail through life, easily achieving whatever he, and his family, wanted and expected – but then he fell in love.

The summer they graduated is a time they will always remember, and one they could never forget. It is a summer of love, best friends, shared confidences and promises. Then one moment, one night, changes them all forever. As hearts are broken, loyalties challenged and hopes dashed, the time has come to leave childhood behind and learn to face the future.

Amazon: Paperback $14.00, Kindle $12.99

Sutherland Library: Paperback (5 copies, 18 holds), Large Print (1 copy, 0 holds)

Booktopia: Paperback $19.90

Kmart: Doesn’t stock this title

Big W: $14 (listed as sold out)

by Lucy Score

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED FOLLOW-UP TO TIKTOK SENSATION AND MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER THINGS WE NEVER GOT OVER

Police Chief Nash Morgan is known for two things: being a good guy and the way his uniform accentuates his rear end.

But two bullets put a dent in his Southern charm and now he’s facing a criminal still on the loose and a town full of citizens that consider the law more of a ‘guideline’. The last thing he needs is the leggy, smart-mouthed Lina Solavita moving in next door, making him feel things he doesn’t have the energy to feel.

Lina is on a mission. As soon as she gets what she’s after, she has no intention of sticking around. The town of Knockemout has other ideas. Soon she finds herself sucked into small-town life. Dog-sitting. Saying yes to a bridesmaid’s dress. Listening to the sexy chief of police in the shower.

But when Nash discovers Lina’s secret these friends become furious enemies – though the sparks flying between them don’t know the difference between love and hate.

Amazon Paperback $17:70, Kindle $12.99

QBD Books Paperback $22.99

Sutherland Library Paperback (many available copies), Large Print (multiple available copies)

Kmart has her other books but not this one

Big W has her other books but not this one

by Evie Woods

‘The thing about books,’ she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.’

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found…

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems.

Readers have fallen in love with The Lost Bookshop:

‘Beautifully written and captures the wonder and awe that a story can bring to its reader…a delightful story for any book lover…an ode to storytelling and the connections that books can make!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 Amazon: Paperback $14.00, Kindle $13.99

Sutherland Library Paperback (7 copies, 9 holds), eBook (Hoopla) & eAudiobook (Hoopla – Available)

Kmart Paperback $14.00

Big W – Doesn’t stock

by Jane Tara

When Tilda Finch is diagnosed with invisibility, she’s not overly surprised – she’s felt invisible for years.

She has a good life and a successful business selling inspirational quotes on merchandise. But she’s never really recovered from her divorce. Or, if she’s honest, her childhood. Tilda’s past has taken a toll and she’s lost sight of herself. Now, with the possibility of completely disappearing, she must face the trauma of her past and rewrite the way she perceives the world, and herself.

Entertaining, hilarious and poignant, Tilda Is Visible addresses the power of our thoughts and how childhood trauma shapes our adult experience.

‘Pitch-perfect.’ Kathy Lette
‘Fresh, funny, smart and warm.’ Rachael Johns
‘Delightfully original.’ Joanna Nell
‘Oh, my heart! What a story! I feel so seen.’ Josephine Moon
‘Clever, layered, funny.’ Vanessa McCausland
‘Genuinely empowering.’ Julietta Henderson

Amazon Paperback $28.50, Kindle $17.99, Hardcover $52.20

Sutherland Library Paperback (10 copies, some borrowed, 0 holds), eBook (checked out), eAudiobook (checked out)

QBD Books Paperback $34.99

Kmart – Doesn’t stock

Big W – Doesn’t stock

by Adele Parks

HIS FIRST WIFE DIED. NOW THERE’S A VACANCY…

When Emma meets Matthew, a kind, handsome widower, he seems to be just what she needs.

Yet as their relationship moves fast, Emma’s friends worry Emma might be exploited. She’s a rich woman after all.

Emma doesn’t care Matthew has no money. But as the memory of his perfect first wife hangs over them, Emma does have one tiny doubt.

If Matthew’s wife hadn’t died, he wouldn’t be with her. And Emma wonders if she’s second best. Can she ever fill the dead woman’s shoes?

As jealousy and suspicion blossom between Emma and Matthew, events take a darker, dangerous turn.

Suddenly Emma doesn’t know who she can trust. Her friends? Her husband? Or even herself…?

Amazon Paperback $22:55, Kindle $12.99

Sutherland Library Book (many copies and most are available), eBook on Hoopla

Kmart – Not stocked

Big W – Not stocked

by Kate Storey

Life can begin with a single story. You just have to bring your own book…

For three decades, Grace supported her husband Frank’s passion for books, despite not being a reader herself. Since his passing, their shelves echo longingly, and Grace’s heartache has only grown.

When Grace’s grandson suggests joining Frank’s old book club to feel closer to him again, Grace reluctantly agrees. Yet, upon arrival, she discovers this isn’t a typical book club: here, members settle in for an hour of reading… in silence.

Disappointed by the sparse attendance and confused by the lack of chatter, Grace flees. But when fellow member, Annie, convinces her to stay, Grace is determined to ensure that neither Frank – nor his beloved book club – are forgotten.

And as she breathes new life into the group, Grace might just find this is where she truly belongs. Because this next chapter of life could just be the beginning of her story…

The perfect story for book lovers everywhere. Ideal for fans of Sally Page and Evie Woods.

Amazon: Paperback $22.99, Kindle $14.99

Sutherland Library – Doesn’t stock

Kmart – Doesn’t stock

Big W – Doesn’t stock

by Mandy Robotham

London, 1952. Seven years after the chaotic aftermath of World War II, London has is coming alive again, with jazz clubs and flickering cinema awnings lighting up the night sky.

But for widowed Helen ‘Dexie’ Dexter, she’s still a woman in a man’s world. She longs to prove herself as an officer in the London Metropolitan Police, yet she’s stuck intervening in domestics and making tea for her male colleagues.

Then Harri Schroder arrives, seconded from Hamburg to the Met. Haunted by the loss of his wife and child, Harri is unlike any man Dexie has ever known. Compassionate and sharp-witted, he sees her not as a threat, but as an intelligent, canny officer full of potential.

And when Harri is tasked with hunting down a Nazi war criminal-turned-respected-businessman, with connections to the upper echelons of British society, it’s Dexie he turns to for help.

But as their bond deepens, a deadly fog engulfs London. Dexie and Harri must expose the fugitive before he vanishes, risking everything for justice – and each other…

The new gripping and heart-wrenching historical fiction novel from international bestseller Mandy Robotham. Perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Kristin Hannah.

Amazon Paperback $16:00, Kindle $14.99, 

Sutherland Library – multiple copies – some available, eAudiobook at BorrowBox

Kmart – $16:00

Big W – $16:00

by Kelly Rimmer

In 1942, Europe remains in the relentless grip of war. Just beyond the tents of the Russian refugee camp she calls home, a young woman speaks her wedding vows. It’s a decision that will alter her destiny…and it’s a lie that will remain buried until the next century.

Since she was nine years old, Alina Dziak knew she would marry her best friend, Tomasz. Now fifteen and engaged, Alina is unconcerned by reports of Nazi soldiers at the Polish border, believing her neighbors that they pose no real threat, and dreams instead of the day Tomasz returns from college in Warsaw so they can be married. But little by little, injustice by brutal injustice, the Nazi occupation takes hold, and Alina’s tiny rural village, its families, are divided by fear and hate. Then, as the fabric of their lives is slowly picked apart, Tomasz disappears. Where Alina used to measure time between visits from her beloved, now she measures the spaces between hope and despair, waiting for word from Tomasz and avoiding the attentions of the soldiers who patrol her parents’ farm. But for now, even deafening silence is preferable to grief.

Slipping between Nazi-occupied Poland and the frenetic pace of modern life, Kelly Rimmer creates an emotional and finely wrought narrative that weaves together two women’s stories into a tapestry of perseverance, loyalty, love and honor. The Things We Cannot Say is an unshakable reminder of the devastation when truth is silenced…and how it can take a lifetime to find our voice before we learn to trust it.

by Meg Bignell

By the acclaimed author of Welcome To Nowhere River comes a heart-warming and uplifting story about a remarkable group of women who discover they are all capable of incredible things – if they’re strong enough, and angry enough, to take up the cause.

Once in a while, everyone needs to be heard.

Freycinet Barnes has built herself the perfect existence. With beautiful children, a successful husband and a well-ordered schedule, it’s a life so full she simply doesn’t fit.

When she steps outside her calendar and is accidentally thrown into the generous bosom of the West Moonah Women’s Choir, she finds music, laughter, friendship and a humming wellspring of rage. With the ready acceptance of the colourful choristers, Frey learns that voices can move mountains, fury can be kind and life can do with a bit of ruining.

Together, Frey and the choir sing their anger, they breathe it in and stitch it up, belt it out and spin it into a fierce, driving beat that will kick the system square in the balls, and possibly demolish them all.

by John Boyne

‘His relish is infectious’ Times‘The funniest book I’ve read in ages. Savage but compelling’ Ian Rankin‘Funny, rumbustious, unstinting and wonderfully Hogarthian’ The Observer’Sharp, funny, and beautifully written… a brilliant reflection on the landscape we now live in’ Joanna Cannon

What a thing of wonder a mobile phone is. Six ounces of metal, glass and plastic, fashioned into a sleek, shiny, precious object. At once, a gateway to other worlds – and a treacherous weapon in the hands of the unwary, the unwitting, the inept.

The Cleverley family live a gilded life, little realising how precarious their privilege is, just one tweet away from disaster. George, the patriarch, is a stalwart of television interviewing, a ‘national treasure’ (his words), his wife Beverley, a celebrated novelist (although not as celebrated as she would like), and their children, Nelson, Elizabeth, Achilles, various degrees of catastrophe waiting to happen.Together they will go on a journey of discovery through the Hogarthian jungle of the modern living where past presumptions count for nothing and carefully curated reputations can be destroyed in an instant. Along the way they will learn how volatile, how outraged, how unforgiving the world can be when you step from the proscribed path.

Powered by John Boyne’s characteristic humour and razor-sharp observation, The Echo Chamber is a satiric helter skelter, a dizzying downward spiral of action and consequence, poised somewhere between farce, absurdity and oblivion. To err is maybe to be human but to really foul things up you only need a phone.