Picks of the month
Spotlight: History
Thomas More: a Tudor Life by Joanne Paul
Worshipped as a saint, detested as a torturer, admired as revolutionary, condemned as dogmatic- the definitive biography of the man who dominated England in the first half of the 16th century.
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The children of Hiroshima by Sadako Teiko Okuda with Pamela Bea Wilson Vergun; with contributions by Paul Joseph [and five others]
Told simply and powerfully in daily diary entries, The Children of Hiroshima is an extraordinary and deeply moving human story of loss, innocence and hope.
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Warra Warra Wai: how Indigenous Australians discovered Captain Cook & what they tell about the coming of the Ghost People by Darren Rix & Craig Cormick
First Nations accounts of the Endeavor have been handed down in local communities through the generations. Darren Rix and Craig Cormick travelled the east coast to record them, including what these communities want all Australians to know about Cook’s voyage.
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The buried city : unearthing the real Pompeii by Gabriel Zuchtriegel; translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch
The Buried City reconstructs the catastrophe that destroyed Pompeii on 24 August 79 CE, but it also offers a behind-the-scenes tour of the city as it was before: who lived here, what mattered to them, and what happened in their final hours.
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The lives of the Caesars by Suetonius; translated by Tom Holland
Giving a deeper understanding of the personal lives of the Caesars and of how they inevitably informed what happened across the vast expanse of empire, The Lives of the Caesars is an astonishing, immersive experience of a time and culture at once familiar and utterly alien to our own.
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History Events
With Australasian Family History Month in August and National History Week from 6–14 September, we’re celebrating with two special Local History talks:
Friday 29 August - Suzanne Hyde from the Society of Australian Genealogists will share fascinating stories of 19th century migration.
Book your place here
Friday 12 September - Our Local History staff will explore maritime tales from ancient times through to the shipping era.
Book your place here
Book of the Month: August 2025
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
New York bookseller Cassie Andrews is not sure what she's doing with her life. She lives quietly, sharing an apartment with her best friend, Izzy. Then a favourite customer gives her an old book. Full of strange writing and mysterious drawings, at the very front there is a handwritten message: "This is the Book of Doors. Hold it in your hand, and any door is every door."
Suddenly, Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is Drummond Fox who has a secret library of magical books hidden in the shadows for safekeeping, a man fleeing his own demons. The Book of Doors is a clever and beautiful novel about the power of books.
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Booked All Winter
Our title of the month is full of secret libraries and magical books. If you love reading, there's still time to join our Booked All Winter adult reading club on Beanstack. Track your reading, explore themed lists, share reviews and complete fun challenges for your chance to win Woollahra Bookshop vouchers and other great prizes. The challenge runs until Sunday 31 August, with winners announced on Monday 8 September.