Picks of the month
Spotlight: Libraries
The library that made me: 200 years of the State Library of NSW edited by Richard Neville and Phillipa McGuineess
The Library that Made Me celebrates 200 years of the State Library of NSW - its evolution, its remarkable collection and its people. The Library has earned its enduring place in the heart of the city, and in the hearts of readers and visitors everywhere. A love letter to libraries everywhere.
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The cat who saved the library by Sosuke Natsukawa; translated by Louise Heal Kawai
Thirteen-year-old Nanami Kosaki loves reading. The local library is a home from home and books have become her best friends. When Nanami notices books disappearing from the library shelves, she's particularly curious about a suspicious man in a grey suit whose furtive behaviour doesn't feel right. Should she follow him to see what he's up to?
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Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amanda Chapman
Book conservator Tory Van Dyne and a woman claiming to be Agatha Christie on holiday from the Great Beyond join forces to catch a killer. Aided by a found family of unlikely sleuths-including a snarky librarian, an eleven-year-old computer whiz, and an NYPD detective-Tory and the woman claiming to be her very much deceased literary idol begin to unravel the twists and turns of a murderer's devious mind.
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The Astral Library by Kate Quinn
Alix Watson works dead-end jobs to make ends meet and takes nightly refuge in the reading room at the Boston Public Library until she stumbles through a hidden door and is transported to the Astral Library. When a shadowy enemy threatens to destroy the library, Alix must flee from danger through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen and the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes' London as danger closes in...
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The secret society of librarians by Kate Thompson
London, 1939. When war breaks out on librarian Joyce Kindred's doorstep and a call for help rings out across the libraries of London, she's determined to act. Joyce knows only the world of books can offer safety and comfort to her neighbourhood - and she will make sure no one is left behind. Joyce sets up a mobile library scheme, but soon her acts of resistance go beyond sharing books.
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Book of the Month: May 2026
Sisters Under Fire by Colin Burgess
Sisters under fire is the heroic account of Australian Army Nursing Sisters Margaret Anderson and Vera Torney, who survived the perilous evacuation of Singapore in 1942.
This deeply researched book pays respectful homage to all Australian nurses: those who lost their lives during this tumultuous evacuation; those who became prisoners of the Japanese; and those who survived to offer their services to the wounded, time and time again.
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Featured Event: Author Talk with Colin Burgess, Sisters Under Fire
Join author Colin Burgess for a talk about his new book on
Monday 1 June at 10.30am.
You'll learn more about the perilous escape of medical staff as Singapore fell to Japanese forces, with nurses evacuated across several ships including the
Empire Star, the
Wah Sui and the ill-fated
Vyner Brooke. While under fire aboard the
Empire Star, the actions of Anderson and Torney would earn them the highest civilian awards for bravery.
Copies of
Sisters Under Fire will be available for purchase on the day from Gertrude & Alice Bookstore.
Book your tickets
Spotlight: Sydney Writers' Festival
She who tastes, knows: a memoir of food, exile and awakening by Durkhanai Ayubi
Durkhanai Ayubi was born in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and she and her family became refugees when she was a small child. Living in Australia, Durkhanai's only tangible connection to the histories of her homeland was through food. She Who Tastes, Knows is an expansive history of Durkhanai's homeland and a vivid, moving story about what it truly means to understand another's culture.
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The seven rules of trust: why it is today's most essential superpower by Jimmy Wales
From learning how to articulate a clear purpose to approaching collaboration with radical transparency, this book is where to start if you want to strengthen your relationships or simply bring more happiness and fulfilment into your life.
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Pissants by Brandon Jack
Nothing like this has ever happened at a footy club. Honest. The embittered fringe players of an unnamed football club follow rules of their own. Together, these characters present a jaw-dropping snapshot of life within the chaotic world of a professional sports club.
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Endling by Maria Reva
Ukraine, 2022. Yeva is a maverick scientist trying and failing to breed rare snails while her relatives urge her to settle down and start a family of her own. What they don't know: Yeva already dates plenty of men--not for love, but to fund her work--entertaining Westerners who come to Ukraine on guided romance tours believing they'll find docile brides untainted by feminism.
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Son of Nobody by Yann Martel
When Canadian classicist Harlow Donne is invited to Oxford University to work on a collection of papyrus fragments, it is a dream come true. He must leave behind his daughter and wife, but offers like this don't come twice. Then, while studying in the Bodleian Library, he unearths an undiscovered account of the Trojan War, a glimpse into the founding of Western civilisation itself.
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