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Reviewed by Robert at Angus & Robertson Bookworld: 

Last year, the great Jimmy Barnes stunned us all with his incredibly touching story of a childhood marked by poverty and abuse. Working Class Boy was described as Australia’s answer to Angela’s Ashes, and went on to win the ABIA Biography of the Year. A year later, in Working Class Man, we see how the poor boy became a self-destructive and troubled rock star.

This is not a celebration of hedonism and drugs - what you get here is a reflection on how not to do it, told with sincerity and clarity. Barnes looks at the destruction of decades and asks how it happened. He laments his friends departed too early, lost to recklessness, and he speaks of depression and suicide amidst the glowing backdrop of champagne and gold records. The best biographies tell you what it was like to be there, to be that person in those circumstances, and this book delivers that in spades with humour, with shocking candour, and with a life-affirming outcome. Insightful and entertaining, this book is not just for Chisel fans. It is the biography of the year. .. more  

$49.99   $39.99
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Reviewed by Olivia at Angus & Robertson Bookworld:

A.S. Patric’s followup to his Miles Franklin-winning novel Black Rock White City is a captivating achievement in storytelling. Claustrophobic in feel yet colossal in emotional scale, Atlantic Black is an unsettling glimpse at how the echoes of past violence ring through into the present.

Patric sets his story in 1939, where young Katerina Klova is aboard a passenger ship heading away from the tumult of pre-war Europe. Her mother lies below deck, sedated and strapped down as she retreats into a hallucinogenic hell, leaving her daughter to face the uncertainties of the ship alone. In Patric’s hands, this ship feels like a liminal space devoid of the trappings of reality that are anchored by dry land, in which many strange and unearthly things happen. The story unfolds as a series of episodes that seem shallowly innocuous but which carry malevolent undertones, over which the threat of impending war hangs like fog. The result is an atmospheric book that will wrap itself around your mind, slowly filling you with a sense of foreboding that seeps in before it floods...  more  

$29.99   $23.99 
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Reviewed by Robert at Angus & Robertson Bookworld: 

Iceland has long commanded our imaginations as a place of violent sagas and rugged unearthly landscapes that is unlike any other country in the world. It seems every mountain, volcano and glacier in this land has been a stage for the legendary bickerings of the gods, and there could be no better guide to these legends than Richard Fidler and Kári Gíslason.

Saga Land is part-travelogue, part-potted-history, but mainly an ode to the strange wonder of Iceland, with its isolation and harsh conditions that find expression in the wonderful and extraordinary sagas of its history. Kári, an Icelandic-Australian academic with a love of these sagas, is the guide and Richard the eager student, swotting on Icelandic history and asking odd questions. In this book we get two thoughtful voices nicely balancing each other as they alternate chapters. The resulting blend is very satisfying and lively, an earthy representation of the country itself; sometimes sweet, sometimes dour.

Saga Land is a special book on a special place; evocative and reflective, humorous and informative. It would make a great gift for the curious... more  

$39.99    $31.99 
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Reviewed by Olivia at Angus & Robertson Bookworld:

In a time where young adult dystopias have mostly retreated out of the limelight, newcomer Emily Suvada has managed to bring something new to the table in This Mortal Coil, an exciting novel that offers a refreshing take on a YA staple.

This book has all the right elements to make it a favourite amongst dystopian YA fans: an explosive plot (involving a deadly virus, a mysterious cure and an evil corporation), a plucky main character, fascinating world-building, romance, and twists that are the farthest thing from cliched. If you’re looking for a new great read, this is it - read This Mortal Coil and discover one of the best YA debuts of 2017...  more  

$17.99   $13.99 
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Reviewed by Olivia at Angus & Robertson Bookworld:

If there was ever a character that deserved an origin story, that would be Lyra Belacqua of Philip Pullman’s groundbreaking His Dark Materials trilogy. Thankfully Pullman saw fit to give us one, because La Belle Sauvage is both the perfect start to that incredible series and a stunning book in its own right.

Taking place ten years before the events of Northern Lights and telling the story of how Lyra ended up in Jordan College, La Belle Sauvage is Pullman’s magnificent return to the world of Dust and dæmons, and it sings with the same intrigue and wonder that the original trilogy inspired. If you’ve loved the series and want to introduce your kids to this incredible narrative world, look no further than La Belle Sauvage. Or read it yourself and be astounded all over again...  more  

$32.99   $25.99 
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