The 117-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths

$14.99 AUD

Category: 9-12 Years Middle Readers | Series: Treehouse

Andy and Terry's treehouse now has 13 new storeys, including a tiny-horse level, a pyjama-party room, an Underpants Museum, a photo-bombing booth, a waiting room, a Door of Doom, a circus, a giant-robot-fighting arena, a traffic school, a water-ski park filled with flesh-eating piranhas and a treehouse visitor centre with a 24-hour information desk, a penguin-powered flying treehouse tour bus and a gift shop. Well, what are you waiting for? Come on up! ...Show more

Boy Swallows Universe (PB) (Indie Book & Debut Fiction Winner 2019) by Trent Dalton

$19.99 AUD

Category: General

An utterly wonderful debut novel of love, crime, magic, fate and a boy's coming of age, set in 1980s Australia and infused with the originality, charm, pathos, and heart of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The mind can take you anywhere you want to go. Eli Bell's life is complicated. His father is lost, his mother is in jail, and his stepdad is a heroin dealer. The most steadfast adult in Eli's life is Slim--a notorious felon and national record-holder for successful prison escapes--who watches over Eli and August, his silent genius of an older brother. Exiled far from the rest of the world in Darra, a seedy suburb populated by Polish and Vietnamese refugees, this twelve-year-old boy with an old soul and an adult mind is just trying to follow his heart, learn what it takes to be a good man, and train for a glamorous career in journalism. Life, however, insists on throwing obstacles in Eli's path--most notably Tytus Broz, Brisbane's legendary drug dealer. But the real trouble lies ahead. Eli is about to fall in love, face off against truly bad guys, and fight to save his mother from a certain doom--all before starting high school. A story of brotherhood, true love, family, and the most unlikely of friendships, Boy Swallows Universe is the tale of an adolescent boy on the cusp of discovering the man he will be. Powerful and kinetic, Trent Dalton's debut is sure to be one of the most heartbreaking, joyous and exhilarating novels you will experience. ...Show more

The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You'll Ever Need Updated 2019 by Scott Pape

$29.95 AUD

Category: Personal Finance

** Fully reviewed and updated for the 2018-2019 financial year** This is the only money guide you'll ever need That's a bold claim, given there are already thousands of finance books on the shelves. So what makes this one different? Well, you won't be overwhelmed with a bunch of 'tips' ... or a stri ct budget (that you won't follow). You'll get a step-by-step formula: open this account, then do this; call this person, and say this; invest money here, and not there. All with a glass of wine in your hand. This book will show you how to create an entire financial plan that is so simple you can sketch it on the back of a serviette ... and you'll be able to manage your money in 10 minutes a week. You'll also get the skinny on: Saving up a six-figure house deposit in 20 months Doubling your income using the 'Trapeze Strategy' Saving $78,173 on your mortgage and wiping out 7 years of payments Finding a financial advisor who won't rip you off Handing your kids (or grandkids) a $140,000 cheque on their 21st birthday Why you don't need $1 million to retire ... with the 'Donald Bradman Retirement Strategy' Sound too good to be true? It's not. This book is full of stories from everyday Aussies -- single people, young families, empty nesters, retirees -- who have applied the simple steps in this book and achieved amazing, life-changing results. And you're next. ...Show more

The New Girl (Gabriel Allon #19) by Daniel Silva

$32.99 AUD

Category: Crime/Thriller | Series: Gabriel Allon Ser.

From the internationally bestselling author of The Other Woman and House of Spies comes another stunning thriller in his latest action-packed tale of high stakes international intrigue. NOW YOU SEE HER. NOW YOU DON'T. THE NEW GIRL - A novel of intrigue, betrayal, and revenge. At an exclusive private s chool in Switzerland, mystery surrounds the identity of the beautiful girl who arrives each morning and leaves each afternoon in a heavily protected motorcade fit for a head of state. She is said to be the daughter of a wealthy international businessman. She is not. And when she is brutally kidnapped across the border in the Haute-Savoie region of France, Gabriel Allon, the legendary chief of Israeli intelligence, is thrust into a deadly secret war with an old enemy that will determine the future of the Middle East-and perhaps the world ... Extraordinary acclaim for The Other Woman and the Gabriel Allon Series "Another jewel in the bedazzling crown of a spy-fiction master. . . . There is an even more elaborately detailed backstory than usual, and it is every bit as compelling as the tension-drenched drama slowly unspooling in the present and leading to a socko finale." Booklist (starred review) "Excellent. . . . Readers will be enthralled by both the history and the up-to-the-minute plot that Silva spins with such finesse." Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A world-class practitioner of spy fiction" Washington Post "Perhaps his most enthralling novel to date. Twists, turns, and nonstop action fill every page. . . . An instant classic from Daniel Silva, whose latest masterpiece puts him firmly alongside le Carre and Forsyth as one of the greatest spy novelists of all time." The Real Book Spy "The Other Woman is one of summer's biggest titles ... It's not hard to see why: This story of love and betrayal ... is hard to put down." Entertainment Weekly ...Show more

Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture by Bruce Pascoe

$19.99 AUD

Category: Indigenous

'Dark Emu injects a profound authenticity into the conversation about how we Australians understand our continent ... [It is] essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what Australia once was, or what it might yet be if we heed the lessons of long and sophisticated human occupation.' Jud ges for 2016 NSW Premier's Literary Awards Dark Emu puts forward an argument for a reconsideration of the hunter-gatherer tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians. The evidence insists that Aboriginal people right across the continent were using domesticated plants, sowing, harvesting, irrigating, and storing -- behaviours inconsistent with the hunter-gatherer tag. Gerritsen and Gammage in their latest books support this premise but Pascoe takes this further and challenges the hunter-gatherer tag as a convenient lie. Almost all the evidence in Dark Emu comes from the records and diaries of the Australian explorers, impeccable sources. Bruce's comments on his book compared to Gammage's: " My book is about food production, housing construction and clothing, whereas Gammage was interested in the appearance of the country at contact. [Gammage] doesn't contest hunter gatherer labels either, whereas that is at the centre of my argument." ...Show more

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

$29.99 AUD

Category: General

#1 New York Times Bestseller A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick "I can't even express how much I love this book! I didn't want this story to end!" Reese Witherspoon "Painfully beautiful." The New York Times Book Review For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life - until the unthinkable happens. Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Celeste Ng, Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps. ...Show more

The Postmistress by Alison Stuart

$32.99 AUD

Category: General

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

$19.99 AUD

Category: General | Reading Level: good

Eleanor lives a highly regulated life, struggles with social cues, has no mouth “filter” and relaxes on the weekend eating pizza and consuming two bottles of vodka, feeling she’s completely fine.  When her work computer malfunctions, tech support Raymond enters Eleanor’s lif e, unintentionally ending her profoundly sad and isolated existence.  Eleanor is cranky but so very funny, her humour contrasting her underlying dark past. The human need for connection is the central theme of this endearing, original, heartfelt novel. I absolutely loved it.   No one's ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine. Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.   But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond's big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.   Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .   The only way to survive is to open your heart. ...Show more

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

$19.99 AUD

Category: General

'Educated is a remarkable memoir of a young woman raised in a survivalist family in Idaho who strives for education while still showing great understanding and love for the world she leaves behind.' - BARACK OBAMA ________________________ Tara Westover grew up preparing for the End of Days, watching f or the sun to darken, for the moon to drip as if with blood. She spent her summers bottling peaches and her winters rotating emergency supplies, hoping that when the World of Men failed, her family would continue on, unaffected. She hadn't been registered for a birth certificate. She had no school records because she'd never set foot in a classroom, and no medical records because her father didn't believe in doctors or hospitals. According to the state and federal government, she didn't exist. As she grew older, her father became more radical, and her brother, more violent. At sixteen Tara decided to educate herself. Her struggle for knowledge would take her far from her Idaho mountains, over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd travelled too far. If there was still a way home. EDUCATED is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty, and of the grief that comes with the severing of the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, from her singular experience Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes, and the will to change it. ________________________ · Shortlisted for the 2018 BAMB Readers' Awards · Recommended as a summer read by Antony Beevor, India Knight, Blake Morrison and Nina Stibbe 'A memoir to stand alongside classics by the likes of Jeanette Winterson and Lorna Sage ... a compelling and ultimately joyous account of self-determination' - Sunday Times ...Show more

Before I Forget by Geoffrey Blainey

$45.00 AUD

Category: General | Reading Level: 3 Biography

Now in his late-eighties, and listed by the National Trust as a 'Living Treasure', in Before I Forget Geoffrey Blainey reflects on his humble beginnings as the son of a Methodist Minister and school teacher, one of five children, and a carefree childhood spent in rural Victoria, from Terang to Leongatha , Geelong to Ballarat. From a young age these places ignited for Blainey a great affection for the Australian landscape, and a deep curiosity in Australia's history. He longed to travel, and would climb atop the roof of their home to stare out at the Great Dividing Range and imagine the world beyond. His mother created gardens wherever they went and had literary ambitions of her own; his father spent more on books than he could ever afford, and the library travelled with the family. Blainey's devotion to the Geelong Football Club began in Newtown from where he'd watch his team play at Corio, and as a newsboy he developed an early interest in current affairs, following the dramas and triumphs of the Second World War and the political careers of local identities John Curtin and Robert Menzies. With a burning desire to see Sydney but barely a penny to his name, he hitched there with a schoolfriend to see the harbour that greeted the First Fleet, and visited the national theatre of Parliament House on the way home to see Billy Hughes, JT Lang, Arty Fadden, Arthur Calwell, Enid Lyons and hero Ben Chifley in action. The course of Blainey's life changed when he was awarded a scholarship to board at Wesley College in Melbourne - an opportunity that instilled in him a great love of learning, under the tutelage of a group of inspiring teachers. This flourished further at the University of Melbourne, first as a wide-eyed student at Queen's Collage, where he was lectured by Manning Clarke, and later as a professor of history. Later he and Manning Clarke became great friends, both sitting on the Whitlam Government's new Literature Board. Hours spent at Melbourne?s State Library as a student poring over the country's old newspapers cemented his calling to become a professional historian. Like Clarke Blainey has always been compelled to visit the places of our historical interest, including places of archaeological and Indigenous significance. Now the author of over forty books, Geoffrey Blainey claims he has discovered Australia's history his own way - and is still learning. Warm, insightful and lyrically written, Before I Forget recounts the experiences and influences that have shaped the astonishing mind of Australia's most loved historian. But in this book Blainey has given us something more - a fascinating and affectionate social history in and of itself. ...Show more

52 Mondays by Anna Ciddor

$14.99 AUD

Category: 9-12 Years Middle Readers

A new historical novel from Anna Ciddor, in the same beautiful, classic storytelling tradition as The Family With Two Front Doors. We're going to look everywhere,' said Anna. And they did. When Anna sets out to find the doll of her dreams, her two younger sisters are eager to help. But it's not easy. This is 1960s Australia and there's no computer or internet yet. This is a time when teachers still write with chalk, cars have no seatbelts, and Mr Whippy sells ice-cream cones for half a penny. Anna and her sisters fill their days with fun, mischief and adventure - like the time Anna glues a block of wood to her middle sister's foot, then worries it will be stuck there forever! They celebrate birthdays and Passover together, cope with friends being mean, and feed peanuts to the bears at the zoo. But through it all, Anna never loses sight of her dream. Inspired by the author's real childhood, this is a warm, funny and fascinating family story from the author of The Family with Two Front Doors. ...Show more

Dear Mrs Bird by A. J. Pearce

$17.99 AUD

Category: General | Reading Level: very good

This charming, irresistible debut novel set in London during World War II about a young woman who longs to be a war correspondent and inadvertantly becomes a secret advice columnist is "a jaunty, heartbreaking winner" (People)--for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Lilac Girl s. Emmeline Lake and her best friend Bunty are doing their bit for the war effort and trying to stay cheerful, despite the German planes making their nightly raids. Emmy dreams of becoming a Lady War Correspondent, and when she spots a job advertisement in the newspaper she seizes her chance; but after a rather unfortunate misunderstanding, she finds herself typing letters for the formidable Henrietta Bird, renowned advice columnist of Woman's Friend magazine. Mrs. Bird is very clear: letters containing any Unpleasantness must go straight into the bin. But as Emmy reads the desperate pleas from women who many have Gone Too Far with the wrong man, or can't bear to let their children be evacuated, she begins to secretly write back to the readers who have poured out their troubles. "Fans of Jojo Moyes will enjoy AJ Pearce's debut, with its plucky female characters and fresh portrait of women's lives in wartime Britain" (Library Journal)--a love letter to the enduring power of friendship, the kindness of strangers, and the courage of ordinary people in extraordinary times. "Headlined by its winning lead character, who always keeps carrying on, Pearce's novel is a delight" (Publishers Weekly). Irrepressibly funny and enormously moving, Dear Mrs. Bird is "funny and poignant...about the strength of women and the importance of friendship" (Star Tribune, Minneapolis). ...Show more