May 2024 at Jeffreys Books
It's delightful to be in the midst of Writers Festival season. If you didn't make it to the Clunes Booktown Festival, Adelaide Writers' Week, or the Sorrento Writers Festival, the Melbourne Writers Festival is running 8-12 May and has many wonderful authors - local and visiting. Check out the program here.
And if you're looking for a reason to travel, check out a list of other festivals on artshub, as a starting point.
On Thursday 9 May a few of your local Malvern stores will be open until 7pm including Jeffreys Books. As the evening draws in, we'll keep the lights on and doors open. And scroll down for details on author Lisa Medved visiting this Saturday.
And if you're looking for a reason to travel, check out a list of other festivals on artshub, as a starting point.
On Thursday 9 May a few of your local Malvern stores will be open until 7pm including Jeffreys Books. As the evening draws in, we'll keep the lights on and doors open. And scroll down for details on author Lisa Medved visiting this Saturday.
Warm wishes,
Linda and the Jeffreys Team
Linda and the Jeffreys Team
It's Mother's Day!!!
The calendar this year has somehow given Mother's Day a bit more preparation time, as it falls so late in the month this year. The second Sunday is 12 May and we have a beautiful array of books and gifts perfect for your mum.
We have a few suggestions below but click on the link to see our Spotlight on Mother's Day, a whole grab-bag of nifty novelties for mums and nannas alike!
The calendar this year has somehow given Mother's Day a bit more preparation time, as it falls so late in the month this year. The second Sunday is 12 May and we have a beautiful array of books and gifts perfect for your mum.
We have a few suggestions below but click on the link to see our Spotlight on Mother's Day, a whole grab-bag of nifty novelties for mums and nannas alike!
Author Talks
We have been fortunate to have many authors already this year drop into our store, signing books and writing shelftalkers, those little cardboard signs that stick out from the shelf, tempting you to that next read you didn't know you always wanted.
We are seeing more authors coming to speak with customers too, and this coming Saturday, May 4th, Lisa Medved will be in-store from 2.30pm to have a chat with us about her novel The Engraver's Secret.
We have limited places, so if you're interested, please let us know. You can RSVP by calling us on 9509 5133.
We have been fortunate to have many authors already this year drop into our store, signing books and writing shelftalkers, those little cardboard signs that stick out from the shelf, tempting you to that next read you didn't know you always wanted.
We are seeing more authors coming to speak with customers too, and this coming Saturday, May 4th, Lisa Medved will be in-store from 2.30pm to have a chat with us about her novel The Engraver's Secret.
We have limited places, so if you're interested, please let us know. You can RSVP by calling us on 9509 5133.
Prizes and Awards News
The prizes and awards calendar for May is enormous! So many prizes and lists being announced it's difficult to keep track of them all. We have a list of prizes on our website, if you haven't already checked it out, but several of the upcoming announcements include:
※ The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs)
※ The Miles Franklin (Longlist)
※ The Australian/Vogel Prize (for the last year!)
※ The Pulitzer Prize
※ The International Booker Prize
The Stella Prize Shortlist was announced 2 May, at the State Library Victoria, and we extend our heartfelt congratulations to Alexis Wright for Praiseworthy. Had you picked the winner? Make a plan to pick up your copy in store soon!
The prizes and awards calendar for May is enormous! So many prizes and lists being announced it's difficult to keep track of them all. We have a list of prizes on our website, if you haven't already checked it out, but several of the upcoming announcements include:
※ The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs)
※ The Miles Franklin (Longlist)
※ The Australian/Vogel Prize (for the last year!)
※ The Pulitzer Prize
※ The International Booker Prize
The Stella Prize Shortlist was announced 2 May, at the State Library Victoria, and we extend our heartfelt congratulations to Alexis Wright for Praiseworthy. Had you picked the winner? Make a plan to pick up your copy in store soon!
Book Club News
Last Tuesday Book Club (Fiction)
The Mark - Frida Isberg
In the near future, in Reykavik, two thirds of the country have undergone the Empathy Test, measuring compassion and identifying anti-social behaviour. One third remains 'unmarked' and more and more private and public spaces are closing their doors to them. A national referendum will soon determine whether the test should be mandatory or not.
Amid the rising tension and via the voices of four compelling characters, we are confronted with urgent ethical dilemmas, prejudice, injustice, and private trauma. The suspense intensifies as these four individuals try to navigate a brave new world. The rules of the game have changed. What are the consequences? For fans of Black Mirror, or readers of the novels of Jennifer Egan and Naomi Alderman, The Mark is a brilliant, topical novel by an exciting new writer. Frida Isberg's book asks: Do we want to live in a world defined by our faith in each other, or by our fear of the future?
In-store on Tuesday 28 May at 7pm.
Connection Book Club
James - Percival Everett
The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson’s Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town.
Thus begins a dangerous and transcendent journey by raft along the Mississippi River, toward the elusive promise of free states and beyond. As James and Huck begin to navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise. With rumours of a brewing war, James must face the burden he carries: the family he is desperate to protect and the constant lie he must live. And together, the unlikely pair must face the most dangerous odyssey of them all...
From the shadows of Huck Finn’s mischievous spirit, Jim emerges to reclaim his voice, defying the conventions that have consigned him to the margins.
Tuesday 28 May at 10.30am.
Quarto Book Club
Watership Down - Richard Adams
“All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed...”
Fiver is very worried. He senses something terrible is about to happen to the warren, the only home he's ever known. While the other rabbits ignore him, his big brother Hazel knows that Fiver's instincts are always right...
They must leave immediately.
Hazel and Fiver lead the rabbits on a thrilling quest through the human world to their new home, Watership Down, where they must work together to overcome their biggest challenge yet..
Secure your place now by emailing or calling us on 9509 5133.
Essie on Station St, Malvern on Wednesday 5 June at 7pm.
Dear Uncle Jeffrey,
I've only known my mum for my whole life but every year I have no idea what to get her for Mothers Day! She reads all kinds of crime and mystery novels and gardening books and what have you. I'd really like to get her something that she wouldn't normally buy for herself - but that she will enjoy.
Has this ever been a challenge for you? How do you find a present for someone that isn't what they'd buy but is exactly what they'd like?
Sincerely,
Dumbfounded
Dear Dumbfounded,
"Has this ever been a challenge for you?" Of course! I wasn't always the insouciant paragon of present purchasing you have directed your maternal musings towards...
But I digress. My own mother was exceedingly difficult to buy for because her chief mode of relaxation was reading biographies and memoirs of Victorian-era coroners and medical examiners. It is no slur to say she was neither an interested nor gifted cook who largely left the gardening to my father. Her favourite gift from me was a paper cut-out cadaver made from a tattered old copy of Gray's Anatomy.
My only advice is to be unafraid to think creatively. Perhaps you can concoct a mystery of her own to solve?
Cheering you on,
Uncle Jeffrey
I've only known my mum for my whole life but every year I have no idea what to get her for Mothers Day! She reads all kinds of crime and mystery novels and gardening books and what have you. I'd really like to get her something that she wouldn't normally buy for herself - but that she will enjoy.
Has this ever been a challenge for you? How do you find a present for someone that isn't what they'd buy but is exactly what they'd like?
Sincerely,
Dumbfounded
Dear Dumbfounded,
"Has this ever been a challenge for you?" Of course! I wasn't always the insouciant paragon of present purchasing you have directed your maternal musings towards...
But I digress. My own mother was exceedingly difficult to buy for because her chief mode of relaxation was reading biographies and memoirs of Victorian-era coroners and medical examiners. It is no slur to say she was neither an interested nor gifted cook who largely left the gardening to my father. Her favourite gift from me was a paper cut-out cadaver made from a tattered old copy of Gray's Anatomy.
My only advice is to be unafraid to think creatively. Perhaps you can concoct a mystery of her own to solve?
Cheering you on,
Uncle Jeffrey
Featured Fiction
Table For Two - Amor Towles
Millions of Amor Towles fans are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter fiction:a novella set in Golden Age Hollywood and six stories based in New York City, most of which take place around the year 2000, consider the fateful consequences that can spring from brief encounters and the delicate mechanics of compromise that operate at the heart of modern marriages.
In Towles's novel Rules of Civility, the indomitable Evelyn Ross leaves New York City in September 1938 with the intention of returning home to Indiana. But as her train pulls into Chicago, where her parents are waiting, she instead extends her ticket to Los Angeles.
Told from seven points of view, "Eve in Hollywood" describes how Eve crafts a new future for herself--and others--in a noirish tale that takes us through the movie sets, bungalows, and dive bars of Los Angeles. Written with his signature wit, humor, and sophistication, Table For Two is another glittering addition to Towles's canon of stylish and transporting fiction.
Featured Non-Fiction
Mickey - Helen Brown
It was 1966 and the times they were a-changing, even in the provincial New Zealand coastal town of New Plymouth. Skirts were getting shorter, the Vietnam War was on TV every night and French nuclear tests in the Pacific turned the night sky a violent red.
Twelve-year-old Helen, the youngest daughter of an eccentric engineer and a musical theatre fanatic, was living in a crumbling castle overrun by nature, and overshadowed by the majestic Mount Taranaki.
On the eve of puberty, everything suddenly is uncomfortable and unfamiliar to Helen. She feels lonely and lost, adrift in this new turbulent sea. That is, until her father gifts her a tiger-striped kitten with extra toes on each paw. Noticing an M on the cat's forehead, Helen names her new companion Mickey. Inquisitive, clever and skittish, Mickey disrupts the already rambunctious household with his mischief. But as it turns out, he's just the ally Helen needs to explore the new world waking up around her.
Featured Older Children (9+)
Sound the Gong (#2 Kingdom of Three) - Joan He
The dazzling and sweeping conclusion to The Kingdom of Three duology.
All her life, Zephyr has tried to rise above her humble origins as a no-name orphan. Now she is a god in a warrior's body, and she has never felt more powerless. Her lordess, Xin Ren, holds the Westlands, but her position is tenuous. In the north, the empress remains under Miasma's thumb. In the south, the alliance with Cicada is in pieces. Fate seems to have a different winner in mind for the three kingdoms, but Zephyr has no intentions of respecting it.
She will pay any price to see Ren succeed and she will make her enemies pay, especially one dark-haired, dark-eyed Crow. What she'll do when she finds out the truth - that he worked for the South all along - only the heavens know...
Featured Younger Children (under-9)
Where is the Green Sheep? Happy 20th Birthday - Mem Fox and Judy Horacek
CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER!
A special foiled edition of Mem Fox and Judy Horacek's wildly wonderful adventure in search of the green sheep.
Table For Two - Amor Towles
Millions of Amor Towles fans are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter fiction:a novella set in Golden Age Hollywood and six stories based in New York City, most of which take place around the year 2000, consider the fateful consequences that can spring from brief encounters and the delicate mechanics of compromise that operate at the heart of modern marriages.
In Towles's novel Rules of Civility, the indomitable Evelyn Ross leaves New York City in September 1938 with the intention of returning home to Indiana. But as her train pulls into Chicago, where her parents are waiting, she instead extends her ticket to Los Angeles.
Told from seven points of view, "Eve in Hollywood" describes how Eve crafts a new future for herself--and others--in a noirish tale that takes us through the movie sets, bungalows, and dive bars of Los Angeles. Written with his signature wit, humor, and sophistication, Table For Two is another glittering addition to Towles's canon of stylish and transporting fiction.
Featured Non-Fiction
Mickey - Helen Brown
It was 1966 and the times they were a-changing, even in the provincial New Zealand coastal town of New Plymouth. Skirts were getting shorter, the Vietnam War was on TV every night and French nuclear tests in the Pacific turned the night sky a violent red.
Twelve-year-old Helen, the youngest daughter of an eccentric engineer and a musical theatre fanatic, was living in a crumbling castle overrun by nature, and overshadowed by the majestic Mount Taranaki.
On the eve of puberty, everything suddenly is uncomfortable and unfamiliar to Helen. She feels lonely and lost, adrift in this new turbulent sea. That is, until her father gifts her a tiger-striped kitten with extra toes on each paw. Noticing an M on the cat's forehead, Helen names her new companion Mickey. Inquisitive, clever and skittish, Mickey disrupts the already rambunctious household with his mischief. But as it turns out, he's just the ally Helen needs to explore the new world waking up around her.
Featured Older Children (9+)
Sound the Gong (#2 Kingdom of Three) - Joan He
The dazzling and sweeping conclusion to The Kingdom of Three duology.
All her life, Zephyr has tried to rise above her humble origins as a no-name orphan. Now she is a god in a warrior's body, and she has never felt more powerless. Her lordess, Xin Ren, holds the Westlands, but her position is tenuous. In the north, the empress remains under Miasma's thumb. In the south, the alliance with Cicada is in pieces. Fate seems to have a different winner in mind for the three kingdoms, but Zephyr has no intentions of respecting it.
She will pay any price to see Ren succeed and she will make her enemies pay, especially one dark-haired, dark-eyed Crow. What she'll do when she finds out the truth - that he worked for the South all along - only the heavens know...
Featured Younger Children (under-9)
Where is the Green Sheep? Happy 20th Birthday - Mem Fox and Judy Horacek
CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER!
A special foiled edition of Mem Fox and Judy Horacek's wildly wonderful adventure in search of the green sheep.
Here is the blue sheep, and here is the red sheep.
Here is the bath sheep, and here is the bed sheep.
But where is the green sheep?
Here is the bath sheep, and here is the bed sheep.
But where is the green sheep?
"It's hard to believe that Where Is The Green Sheep? is now 20 years old! It feels like we've had it on our shelves forever and yet until I saw a child unwrap it for a birthday gift, I didn't know it had been missing from my own childhood. Mem Fox's story of how she and Judy Horacek co-wrote this modern classic is almost as entertaining for grown-ups as their creation is for children. Happy Birthday, Green Sheep!" -- Adam (staff)
We acknowledge we are gathered on the Traditional Lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong peoples of the East Kulin Nations and pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.
140 Glenferrie Road Malvern 3144 JEFFREYS BOOKS +61 3 9509 5133