Shirley
It’s been twenty years since her mother was photographed, blood-soaked, outside the family home. A famous TV food personality, she fled the country. Since that time, the girl has grown up. She’s bought an apartment, learned her own cooking style, fallen in love. She lives a quiet life, working as a copywriter for a health insurance company. She’s found happiness, finally.
But strange things are in the air. Her easygoing boyfriend has started sleeping with men. Her mother is selling the infamous family home. And a glamorous, pregnant neighbour has moved into the apartment downstairs, calling into question everything the girl believes about her own desires.
Among conspiracies, dubious loyalties, and mercenary impulses, how do we work out who is worthy of our devotion and who is just a fan? Shirley charts a search for meaning in a world where the fracturing of ambitions – work and purpose, real estate and home, family and love – has left us uncertain how to recognise ourselves.
This Is How It Always Is
An honest and insightful look into families, parenting and gender identity. This novel is emotional, thought-provoking and heartwarming. The complex, beautiful and genuine characters will stay with you long after this book is finished.
It Starts With Us
A sequel to the gripping It Ends with Us, this novel explores how Lily is able to reconnect with herself, her sense of worth and belonging after being a victim of domestic violence. Whilst fictional, it depicts in words a great consent scene whilst also discussing contraception. The novel shows how with the right support, one can learn to love again after an experience of trauma.
It Ends With Us
This book hits hard and reflects on the seemingly loving connections one can make, yet be hurt most by the one’s who “love” them. Through a fictional exploration of domestic and family violence, generational survival and tales of hope, Lily never loses her sense of self, worth or what matters most, protecting her daughter from being another witness of family and domestic violence.
It Ends with Us is Lily’s boundary and she firmly sticks to it after realising the truth of her experiences with husband Ryle and what she had also witnessed from her father’s behaviour in the past. Gripping and gets you in, you may need tissues!
The In-Between
In true Tsiolkas literary form, this book is an entertaining (sometimes raunchy), easy read. When two men, who have both suffered incredible heartbreak from their previous relationships, disclose their loneliness to each other, a modern love story evolves. Tsiolkas explores the complexities of the heart and what we hide from ourselves and others. A great exploration of relationships, friendships, connections and emotions.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Dive into the glamour and turmoil of icon Evelyn Hugo's Hollywood life from the 50s to the 80s. Follow the wild and engaging stories and marriages as she aims to follow her passions in acting and her truth of love and intimacy. You won't be able to put this book down.
I’m Not Really Here
Told in the first person, this rich, heartwarming coming of age, Aboriginal, queer story is authentic, vulnerable and believable.
When We Were Sisters
A heartwrenching and beautiful story of a young orphan coming of age as a Muslim in America. Asghar's lyrical novel transports you into Kausar's world and invites you to sit with her as she grows and grapples with gender, family, sisterhood and love.
Lessons In Chemistry
A smart, quirky, bittersweet feminist manifesto set in the 1960’s. A brilliant book, that was difficult to put down due to its pacy plot and characters you only wanted to know more about.
