April 2024 at Jeffreys Books
It is well-recognised that many of the renowned authors have their books come out in time for the summer holiday reading.
March and April often bring the books that sell right through the year - little gems from new authors. Like flower bulbs, they are planted early, start small and by Spring, everyone knows about them. I'm thinking of Lesssons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - original publication date 29 March 2022.
Have you spotted a gem? We'd love to hear about it.
Lest we forget - ANZAC Day falls on the last Thursday of this month and Jeffreys Books will be closed for the day.
March and April often bring the books that sell right through the year - little gems from new authors. Like flower bulbs, they are planted early, start small and by Spring, everyone knows about them. I'm thinking of Lesssons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - original publication date 29 March 2022.
Have you spotted a gem? We'd love to hear about it.
Lest we forget - ANZAC Day falls on the last Thursday of this month and Jeffreys Books will be closed for the day.
Warm wishes,
Linda and the Jeffreys Team
Linda and the Jeffreys Team
Prizes and Awards News
The Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction will see their Shortlists announced on 24 April, while the International Booker Prize Shortlist will be announced earlier, on 9 April.
In local prize news, The Stella Prize Shortlist was announced April 4. From the modest in page-length to the enthralling saga, the winner of these six finalists will be announced 2 May. What is your pick for the gong? Drop in and pick up a potential prizewinner!
The Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction will see their Shortlists announced on 24 April, while the International Booker Prize Shortlist will be announced earlier, on 9 April.
In local prize news, The Stella Prize Shortlist was announced April 4. From the modest in page-length to the enthralling saga, the winner of these six finalists will be announced 2 May. What is your pick for the gong? Drop in and pick up a potential prizewinner!
Book Club News
Last Tuesday Book Club (Fiction)
Kind of, Sort of, Maybe, But Probably Not - Imbi Neeme
Librarian Phoebe Cotton lives with misophonia. The sound of other people crunching an apple, slurping their tea or snapping chewing gum fills her with a rage that she buries deep within.
Mortified by her 'Not Quite Right' brain, she hides away inside 6 Salmon Street, the family home that her formidable grandmother Dorothy has abandoned for a more convivial life at the Western Retreat Retirement Village. But when Phoebe begins receiving mysterious postcards in the mail, she slowly, but surely, finds herself being pulled back out into the world and towards Monty, the sweet postal clerk.
Across town, Suze, a university student with a high distinction in study avoidance, is clinging to the hope that the neglectful J might actually be her boyfriend. When J's attention turns to Ky and her (un)art ways, it sets Suze on a path that leads her to 6 Salmon Street and Phoebe Cotton.
Together with Suze and Monty, Phoebe goes on a mission to solve the mystery of the postcards but ends up finding much, much more, including acceptance, strength and love... maybe even for her grandmother Dorothy.
In-store on Tuesday 30 April at 7pm.
Connection Book Club
The Benevolent Society Of Ill-Mannered Ladies - Alison Goodman
Lady Augusta Colebrook, 'Gus', is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. One soon presents itself: to rescue their friend's goddaughter, Caroline, from her violent husband.
The sisters set out to Caroline's country estate with a plan, but their carriage is accosted by a highwayman. In the scuffle, Gus accidentally shoots the ruffian, only to discover he is Lord Evan Belford, an acquaintance from their past who was charged with murder and exiled to Australia twenty years ago. With Lord Evan injured and unconscious, the sisters have no choice but to bring him on their mission to save Caroline. What follows is a high adventure full of danger, clever improvisation, heart-racing near misses, and a little help from a revived and rather charming Lord Evan.
Tuesday 30 April at 10.30am.
Quarto Book Club
Clear - Carys Davies
1843. On a remote Scottish island, Ivar, the sole occupant, leads a life of quiet isolation until the day he finds a man unconscious on the beach below the cliffs. The newcomer is John Ferguson, an impoverished church minister sent to evict Ivar and turn the island into grazing land for sheep. Unaware of the stranger's intentions, Ivar takes him into his home, and in spite of the two men having no common language, a fragile bond begins to form between them. Meanwhile on the mainland, John's wife Mary anxiously awaits news of his mission.
Against the rugged backdrop of this faraway spot beyond Shetland, Carys Davies's intimate drama unfolds with tension and tenderness: a touching and crystalline study of ordinary people buffeted by history and a powerful exploration of the distances and connections between us. Perfectly structured and surprising at every turn, Clear is a marvel of storytelling, an exquisite short novel by a master of the form.
Secure your place now by emailing or calling us on 9509 5133.
Essie on Station St, Malvern on Wednesday 1 May at 7pm.
Dear Uncle Jeffrey,
I am married with a wife, two children, and a cat, and every year I begin to dread the turning back of the clocks at the end of daylight savings. We may be used to a special sleep-in, and evenings becoming suddenly so much darker, but our children - and the cat - are still operating on instinct and melatonin!
Do you have any suggestions for how we can navigate the stormy mornings that are approaching? I ask for help each year but maybe your advice is what I've always been seeking until now...
Thanks in advance,
Wide-Eyed
Dear Wide-Eyed,
Like so many things in life that we obtain on credit, daylight savings presents a bill each autumn that can feel outsized for the gains we have enjoyed since the previous spring. I have ever been a creature of the hours entre chien et loup: I love the dawn and the dusk.
My father was an early riser and would sometimes treat me to a cup of cocoa or a milky cup of tea and spirit me out of the house and up the hill to watch the sunrise spread over the shops and homes of where I grew up. We would quietly sip from our cups and silently observe the transition from night to morning, in fog, in sun, or sometimes in rain.
These became sacred moments for us - perhaps you can find some way to evoke a similar awe and stillness in your own children. As for the cat, I'm afraid I can't help you.
Good luck,
Uncle Jeffrey
I am married with a wife, two children, and a cat, and every year I begin to dread the turning back of the clocks at the end of daylight savings. We may be used to a special sleep-in, and evenings becoming suddenly so much darker, but our children - and the cat - are still operating on instinct and melatonin!
Do you have any suggestions for how we can navigate the stormy mornings that are approaching? I ask for help each year but maybe your advice is what I've always been seeking until now...
Thanks in advance,
Wide-Eyed
Dear Wide-Eyed,
Like so many things in life that we obtain on credit, daylight savings presents a bill each autumn that can feel outsized for the gains we have enjoyed since the previous spring. I have ever been a creature of the hours entre chien et loup: I love the dawn and the dusk.
My father was an early riser and would sometimes treat me to a cup of cocoa or a milky cup of tea and spirit me out of the house and up the hill to watch the sunrise spread over the shops and homes of where I grew up. We would quietly sip from our cups and silently observe the transition from night to morning, in fog, in sun, or sometimes in rain.
These became sacred moments for us - perhaps you can find some way to evoke a similar awe and stillness in your own children. As for the cat, I'm afraid I can't help you.
Good luck,
Uncle Jeffrey
Featured Fiction
Sanctuary - Garry Disher
Grace is a thief - a good one. She was taught by experts and she's been practising since she was a kid. She specialises in small, high-value items - stamps, watches - and she knows her Jaeger-LeCoultres from her Patek Philippes. But it's a solitary life, always watchful, always moving. It's not the life she wants.
Lying low after a run-in with an old associate, Grace walks into Erin Mandel's rural antiques shop and sees a chance for something different. A normal job. A place to call home.
But someone is looking for Erin. And someone's looking for Grace, too. And they are both, in their own ways, very dangerous men.
Featured Non-Fiction
Hope - Rosie Batty
What happens when you become an accidental hero? What happens the day after the worst day of your life? What happens when you are forced to confront the emptiness and silence of a house that once buzzed with the energy of a young son?
You go to dark places from which you're not sure you'll ever recover.
Following on from her runaway best-seller A Mother's Story, which detailed the lead up to her son's murder, Hope shares what happened to Rosie the day after the worst day of her life and how she reclaimed hope when all hope was lost.
She shares her struggles with anxiety, PTSD, self-doubt and self-loathing and how she finally confronted her grief. She shares the stories of those who have inspired her to keep going, and given her hope when she needed it most. In this heartfelt, and at times heartbreaking memoir, Rosie tells how she found the light on her darkest days and how she found the hope to carry on.
Featured Older Children (9+)
Wrong Asnwers Only - Tobias Madden
Marco's always done the right thing. But now it's time for wrong answers only. Marco should be at university, studying biomedicine. Instead, he's been sent to live on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean with his estranged uncle, all because of a 'blip' everyone else is convinced was a panic attack. (Which it most definitely was not.)
Even though Marco's trip is supposed to provide answers - about himself, about his family - all he finds on board the Ocean Melody are more questions.
But then his best friend CeCe proposes a new plan - for someone who has always done the right thing, in every possible way, it's time for Marco to get a few things wrong. And hooking up with a hot dancer from the ship is only the beginning...
Featured Younger Children (under-9)
Wurrtoo: The Wombat Who Fell in Love with the Sky - Tylissa Elisara and Dylan Finney
Wurrtoo the wombat lives a quiet and solitary life in his burrow on Kangaroo Island, hoping to one day travel to the mainland and marry the love of his life, the sky. When Wurrtoo inadvertently saves Kuula the koala from a bushfire, he acquires the adventure companion he didn't know he needed.
Sanctuary - Garry Disher
Grace is a thief - a good one. She was taught by experts and she's been practising since she was a kid. She specialises in small, high-value items - stamps, watches - and she knows her Jaeger-LeCoultres from her Patek Philippes. But it's a solitary life, always watchful, always moving. It's not the life she wants.
Lying low after a run-in with an old associate, Grace walks into Erin Mandel's rural antiques shop and sees a chance for something different. A normal job. A place to call home.
But someone is looking for Erin. And someone's looking for Grace, too. And they are both, in their own ways, very dangerous men.
Featured Non-Fiction
Hope - Rosie Batty
What happens when you become an accidental hero? What happens the day after the worst day of your life? What happens when you are forced to confront the emptiness and silence of a house that once buzzed with the energy of a young son?
You go to dark places from which you're not sure you'll ever recover.
Following on from her runaway best-seller A Mother's Story, which detailed the lead up to her son's murder, Hope shares what happened to Rosie the day after the worst day of her life and how she reclaimed hope when all hope was lost.
She shares her struggles with anxiety, PTSD, self-doubt and self-loathing and how she finally confronted her grief. She shares the stories of those who have inspired her to keep going, and given her hope when she needed it most. In this heartfelt, and at times heartbreaking memoir, Rosie tells how she found the light on her darkest days and how she found the hope to carry on.
Featured Older Children (9+)
Wrong Asnwers Only - Tobias Madden
Marco's always done the right thing. But now it's time for wrong answers only. Marco should be at university, studying biomedicine. Instead, he's been sent to live on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean with his estranged uncle, all because of a 'blip' everyone else is convinced was a panic attack. (Which it most definitely was not.)
Even though Marco's trip is supposed to provide answers - about himself, about his family - all he finds on board the Ocean Melody are more questions.
But then his best friend CeCe proposes a new plan - for someone who has always done the right thing, in every possible way, it's time for Marco to get a few things wrong. And hooking up with a hot dancer from the ship is only the beginning...
Featured Younger Children (under-9)
Wurrtoo: The Wombat Who Fell in Love with the Sky - Tylissa Elisara and Dylan Finney
Wurrtoo the wombat lives a quiet and solitary life in his burrow on Kangaroo Island, hoping to one day travel to the mainland and marry the love of his life, the sky. When Wurrtoo inadvertently saves Kuula the koala from a bushfire, he acquires the adventure companion he didn't know he needed.
With Kuula by his side, Wurrtoo leaves the safety of his burrow and sets out on an epic journey to cross the island, reach the mainland and climb to the top of tallest tree in the Forest of Dreaming.
But it's fire season, and danger and strange creatures lurk behind every gum tree. To make it, the pair must face their fears together, learn the importance of friendship and discover the power of wombat wishes.
We acknowledge we are gathered on the Traditional Lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong peoples of the East Kulin Nations and pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.
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