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This week we've got everything from brief and powerful ethical debates to mother-daughter relationships (in humans, as well as between motherless lambs and lambless mother ewes), a bit of something for fighters of tyranny and oppression, and, for the crime lovers, a debut novel from the former director of the FBI.
Get reading to pick your next read...
Ethics in the real world: 90 essays on things that matter.
Peter Singer. Text Publishing. $24.99.
This edition contains 37 new essays by the Australian philosopher as well as revisions of previously published pieces (some co-authored). Singer tackles many subjects, sometimes with an extra twist - for example, not only does he discuss euthanasia but raises the question of whether children should have the right to die. Other discussions look at stopping Vladimir Putin, adult sibling incest, colonising outer space, COVID victims of the unvaccinated, doping and artificial intelligence. The essays are brief but provide plenty of food for thought.
The Remarkable Mrs Reibey
Grantlee Kieza. ABC Books/HarperCollins. $34.99.
If you look at a $20 note, you'll see a portrait of Mary Reibey. This book by journalist and prolific author Kieza tells the amazing true story of the woman behind the image. Reibey, a runaway and horse thief, was sentenced to transportation and in 1791 arrived in Sydney Cove as a teenage convict. Within two decades she had become the richest woman in colonial Australia, developing a family business that would become an international trading empire and expanding what would become Sydney's CBD while also bankrolling many public services.
Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding).
Laura Dern & Dianne Ladd. Hachette Australia. $32.99.
Laura Dern is Hollywood royalty, the daughter of veteran actors Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern. This is a collection of mother-daughter conversations recorded during walks after Ladd's health took a turn for the worse, and while they chat about acting and their careers, there are also deeply personal discussions about life, family, resentments and other topics that will strike a chord. Both contribute individual reflections and there are also recipes and photographs. Reese Witherspoon (who played Dern's daughter in Wild) contributes an affectionate foreword.
Graft: motherhood, family and a year on the land.
Maggie Mackellar. Penguin Random House Australia. $35.
Historian and memoirist Mackellar is back, relating her experiences and reflections through the seasons from the time she lived and worked on a Merino wool farm in Tasmania. The title comes from her efforts to "graft" motherless lambs to lambless mothers. Having been widowed and lost her mother (covered in previous memoirs), Mackellar is now dealing with a new partner and a new home, being an "empty nester" and coping with the challenges of farm life. Interspersed throughout are "words that are useful to know" (farming terminology) as well as descriptions and pictures of birds she encounters.
Central Park West
James Comey. Head of Zeus Bloomsbury. $32.99.
If Comey's name sounds familiar, it's because he's the former director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. In his debut novel he draws on three decades of experience in law enforcement (including the prosecution of organised crime figures). Comey tells the story of a New York prosecutor Nora Carleton, who has spent years building a case against a New York mobster. But another case, in which the murder victim was a former state governor, complicates matters. This is the first of a planned series. Presumably any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Resistance and Revenge.
Catherine McCullagh. Big Sky Publishing. $29.99.
The dedication reads "For those who fight tyranny and oppression" and McCullagh's novel explores what might have happened if the British forces had not been rescued from Dunkirk and the Royal Air Force had lost the Battle of Britain to Nazi Germany. The story takes place in 1941 after German forces have occupied Britain. In a remote English village, Louisa Carmody discovers her husband and father-in-law are operating a resistance group and as things escalate she finds herself doing things she never imagined. At the end there is a list of suggested book club questions for discussion.
Sunshine on Vinegar Street.
Karen Comer. Allen & Unwin. $17.99.
In Comer's debut novel, narrated in verse by the main character, 12-year-old Freya's life is full of change. She and her mother have moved to an apartment in inner-city Melbourne and she is the new girl at school, having to explain her unusual family to people. Although she is a good basketball player, jealous teammates give her a hard time. But she makes friends, such as Ashok the apartment manager, and despite everything life throws at her, Freya copes. Different fonts and the use of text messages liven up the text as the story unfolds.
The True Love Experiment.
Christina Lauren. Hachette Australia. $22.99.
Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings combined their talents and first names for a writing partnership. In their latest collaboration, bestselling romance novelist Felicity "Fizzy" Chen is asked to deliver a commencement address. But Fizzy, despite her success as a romance writer, has never really been in love, and she feels like a fraud. When documentary filmmaker Conor Prince has to create a reality TV show, a chance encounter with Fizzy leads to an idea: make a show about her seeking love. Could there possibly be romantic sparks between Fizzy and Conor?
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