New Releases

When his fiancée breaks off their engagement, Patrick Oxtoby leaves home and moves into a boarding house in a remote seaside town. But in spite of his hopes and determination to build a better life, nothing goes to plan and Patrick is soon driven to take a desperate and chilling course of action.

This Is How is a mesmerising and meticulously drawn portrait of a man whose unease in the world leads to his tragic undoing. With breathtaking wisdom and an astute insight into the human mind, award-winning M J Hyland’s new book is a masterpiece that inspires horror and sympathy in equal measure.

A beautiful, moving collection of short stories, in many of which Updike revisits the haunts of his childhood from the vantage point of old age. In 'Fiftieth' old friends reconnect at a class reunion, and one of them is left wondering, 'What does it mean: the enormity of having been children and now being old, living next to death.' In the story 'The Full Glass' the protagonist describes somewhat ruefully the rituals of old age. Before going to bed, he raises his nightly water glass 'drinking a toast to the visible world, his impending disappearance from it be damned.' In 'Varieties of Religious Experiences' a grandfather, visiting his daughter in Brooklyn Heights, watches the tower of the World Trade Centre fall, and his view of a God is forever altered.

Again and again in these memorable stories, Updike strikes to the heart, giving words to what is so often left unsaid. He is at once witty, devastatingly observant, touching — and, of course, a consummate storyteller. This is a collection that will be admired and cherished.

England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, and later his successor.

Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.

From one of our finest living writers, Wolf Hall is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion and suffering and courage.

By June 1940, most of Europe had fallen to the Nazis and Britain stood alone. So, with Winston Churchill in charge, the British bluffed their way out of trouble, drawing on the trickery which had helped them win the First World War. They broadcast outrageous British propaganda on pretend German radio stations, broke secret codes, conjured up phantom armies and fake airfields with model planes, and sent captured spies back to Germany with false intelligence.

Culminating in the spectacular misdirection that was so essential to the success of D-Day in 1944, Churchill’s Wizards is a thrilling work of popular history filled with almost unbelievable stories of bravery, creativity and deception.

In the early hours of June 14th 1940, Nazi troops paraded through the streets of Paris, marking the beginning of the city's four-year occupation. French troops withdrew in order to avoid a battle and the potential destruction of their capital. It wasn't long before German tanks rumbled past the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs Elysées to the Place de la Concorde.

The American community in Paris was the largest in Continental Europe, totalling approximately 30,000 before the Second World War. Although Ambassodor Bullitt advised those without vital business in the city to leave in 1939, over half of the Americans in Paris chose to stay. Many had professional and family ties to the city; the majority, though, had a peculiarly American love for the city, rooted in the bravery of the Marquis de la Fayette and the 17,000 Frenchmen who volunteered to fight for American independence in 1776.

An eclectic group, they included black soldiers from the Harlem Hellfighters, who were determined not to return to the racial segregation that they faced at home, rich socialites like Peggy Guggenheim and Florence Jay Gould, as well as painters, musicians, bankers and businessmen. There were those whose lives went on as if the Germans were ephemera, those who collaborated and those like Dr. Sumner Jackson and Etta Shiber who worked underground for the resistance movement.

This is a book about adventure, intrigue, passion and deceit, and one which follows its characters into the Maquis, the concentration camps and overseas. Filled with a huge amount of new analysis on WWII, Americans in Paris is a fascinating, revealing and moving read.

On the evening of 19 July 1916 on a strip of farmland north of Fromelles, the AIF fought its first battle in France. Outnumbered two to one, a well-organised German division faced two divisions, one Australian and the other British, and yet inflicted a costly defeat. By dusk the following day there were 2436 Allies dead and 4123 wounded, no territory gained and only 501 Germans killed and 943 injured.

As far as the Australians were concerned, at the disastrous battle of Fromelles, their commander, Major General McCay, was obsessed with ambition and glory on the battlefield. At dawn on 20 July, McCay went to survey the aftermath and was heard to remark that 'they'll get used to it'. After the war McCay's powerful friends ensured that Fromelles was never examined in any depth, and when it was, all blame was put on the British.

Don't Forget Me, Cobber is the extraordinary story of the lead up to the battle, the battle itself, as well as the successful search for the 'missing of Fromelles'. Lost in mass grave pits since 1916, some 190 Australians and 328 British soldiers have been discovered after seven years of campaigning by Lambis Englezos, who also writes of his experience here. The book also includes a complete Roll of Honour of the British and Australians killed, as well as some of the Germans.

My mother had just turned ten in mid-1933 when a young woman approached her as they were both leaving Mass at St Joan of Arc's in Brighton… The woman was an artist… and she would like to paint her portrait…

After her mother's death in 2005, Anne Summers inherits a portrait of her mother as a child. Mesmerised by this image, she finds herself drawn into the story of how the portrait was painted and eventually found its way into her family. She soon learns the artist painted another portrait of her mother; this time as the Madonna.

In a gripping narrative that is part art history, part detective story and part meditation on the relations between mothers and daughters, Anne's search for the Madonna painting and the mysterious Russian émigré collector who bought both paintings takes her down unexpected paths. Her search soon turns into a parallel quest to rescue Constance Stokes, the artist, from obscurity, and to learn why the collector suddenly abandoned the paintings. Along the way Anne finds she must face the truth of the relationship she had with her mother.

In turn hypnotic and moving, The Lost Mother is a powerful exploration of art, loss and love.

Roger’s World unfolds over the course of Charles Siebert’s last night with Roger, a chimpanzee in a Florida retirement home for former ape entertainers: stars of the big screen, TV, and Big Top circuses. Of the 46 retirees at this facility, Roger, a 28-year-old former Ringling Brothers entertainer, is the only one who still lives alone. Born in captivity, and raised all his life around human beings, he still prefers human company to that of his fellow chimps.

Charles and Roger sit together, a chimpanzee and a man, two beings separated by no more than some metal bars and a few strands of DNA; each of them trying, in a sense, to get past himself in order to get at the other’s essence.

Within this account, Siebert tells a larger story: the tales of his travels in Africa — where he encountered, among other things, elephants suffering from a collective nervous breakdown, and some of the last remaining chimps in the wild — and his travels in the U.S. through the dark heart of captive chimpdom at a moment in history when the number of chimps in the wilderness is rapidly declining, even as those in captivity continues to rise.

In the end, Siebert’s vigil with Roger leads to a number of moving revelations — not only about Roger and himself, but also about the fraught moment that we humans have arrived at in our relationship with the animal world. Roger’s World suggests a new way for human beings to see our fellow creatures, and to see ourselves in relation to them.

With its perfect combination of new and old, romance, nostalgia and comfort, country style has universal appeal. From a converted barn in the English Cotswolds to a Mallorcan finca, and from a Russian dacha to a grand Swiss villa, the 100 fabulous interiors featured in this book will provide endless inspiration for city dwellers seeking to escape the fast pace of urban living, and committed countryside lovers contemplating the restoration or refurbishment of their rural idyll. Johanna Thornycroft describes how colour, pattern and the sympathetic use of traditional materials and finishes have been employed in each project to create a confident and relaxed style, while beautiful images by leading interiors photographer Andreas von Einsiedel bring to life the charm and character of every house.

• A delightful collection of country homes from around the world, from a farmhouse in Tuscany to a former hunting lodge near Aix-en-Provence
• The ideal companion to Merrell's bestselling Dream Homes and More Dream Homes
• An invaluable reference for anyone refurbishing their country home or wanting to create their ideal rural retreat

Little Vietnam brings together 80 authentic recipes that capture the energy, colour and excitement of Vietnamese cooking.

Acclaimed Vietnamese-Australian Chef Nhut Huynh shares his passion for the food that sustained his family during times of war and separation, and that remains a defining feature of Vietnam's wonderfully rich culture. He introduces traditional classics alongside the eclectic street-stall dishes he has collected on his many trips back to visit friends and family. We learn how to cook restaurant favourites such as Beef Noodle Soup and Salt & Pepper Squid, as well as more exotic dishes like Crab with Tamarind & Chilli. Throughout, Nhut offers practical tips on sourcing ingredients and mastering cooking techniques.

Beautifully photographed, this book inspires us to re-create the food so many of us have enjoyed as travellers or in the Vietnamese restaurants that are now so much a part of Australian life.