SMSA (Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts)
ANIMAL STORIES
| Shaw, Chloe | What is a dog? |
What is a dog / Chloe Shaw
Shaw debuts with a beautiful paean to dogs in this touching memoir recounting the canines who changed her life. When she and her husband Matt put their 15-year-old wolfdog Booker to sleep in 2015, she reckoned with the fact that “I’ve always felt safest, among the soft, oystered muzzles of dogs.” After a year of mourning with her family, she decided to spend a week in what she refers to as the “Dog House”—alone with her two cats and two dogs, “where I can be less human for a while, more beast”—while her husband and kids went on vacation. In heartbreaking, lyrical prose, she meditates on the dogs “that shepherded me into adulthood,” motherhood, and her decade of “hard-earned” marriage. Her first dog, an Afghan hound named Easy, was considered less a pet than a sibling to Shaw, who grew up an only child. When Easy died early of cancer, her family cycled through dogs, including two terriers named Agatha. However, Shaw’s story never strays far from Booker and his “lion-sized heart,” and the ways he taught her bravery and strength in the face of great loss. “He was my baby-dog-nonhuman-person-wolf. We were, every one of us in that house, in love.” Dog lovers, take note and grab some tissues. (Publishers Weekly, July 2021)
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BIOGRAPHY
| Bastow, Clem | Late bloomer |
| Haigh, Gideon | The brilliant boy |
| Haydar, Amani | The mother wound |
The mother wound / Amani Haydar
Domestic violence is a national crisis in Australia, with an average of one woman a week being killed by a current or ex-partner. In this powerful memoir Haydar looks at how culture shapes one’s experience of patriarchy, the intergenerational trauma of war and how this exacerbates gender inequality. In 2015, Amani’s mother, Salwa Haydar, was murdered by her husband, in a final act of ongoing domestic violence. This memoir follows Amani Haydar as she looks back on her parent’s relationship and dissects the sustained emotional abuse and coercive control her father exerted over her mother over years. Her mother and father grew up in a small war-torn village in Lebanon and were one of many children in their families. Haydar examines how cultural circumstances contribute to gender inequality; when her mother agreed to an arranged marriage and moved to Australia to be with her new husband, she had limited English and no support network, leaving her isolated. Despite this, her mother showed immense resilience and created a life for herself in Australia. Over the course of the memoir, Haydar reflects on motherhood and her own relationships on her matriarchal side. Her grandmother fell victim to war in Lebanon in 2006, devastating her family and imparting further trauma on them. When her mother was murdered, we learn how insidious and culturally embedded misogyny is – with much of her family siding with the perpetrator of the crime and resorting to victim blaming. This memoir sheds light on an endemic issue that continues to devastate women and families across Australia. (Good Reading Magazine, July 2021)
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CLASSICS
| London, Jack | Martin Eden |
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GENERAL FICTION
| Arnett, Kristen | With teeth |
| Behrendt, Larissa | After story |
| Brabon, Katherine | The shut Ins |
| Brandi, Mark | The others |
| Clark, Paige | She Is Haunted |
| Lemaitre, Pierre | All human wisdom |
| Mackintosh, Clare | Hostage |
| McAfee, Annalena | Nightshade |
| Murphy, Sara Flannery | Girl one |
| Sahota, Sunjeev | China room |
| Silber, Joan | Secrets of happiness |
| Silvey, Catriona | Meet me in another life |
| Steadman, Catherine | The disappearing act |
| Yoder, Rachel | Nightbitch |
China room / Sunjeev Sahota
India, 1929 – to be a woman is to be little more than a possession. The nation is riot-torn, with the Hindu majority fighting both the Muslim population and the British colonisers. Within that environment, three young women are married off to three brothers. This part of the narrative revolves around the youngest wife, Mehar, who is soon enslaved under her authoritarian mother-in-law, Mai. England, 2019, and Mehar’s great-grandson remembers travelling to India 20 years previously. His first-person narration interweaves with the story of Mehar’s early married life. The great-grandson is fighting a heroin addiction. In India, he initially lives with his mother’s brother, but moves to the now derelict farm where Mehar lived. He is visited by a young female doctor, Rhadika, and together they repair the farmhouse – the renewal matching his own repair. The three brides sleep together in the china room, where the porcelain is stacked. Like the porcelain, they are hidden away and easily broken. They live with downcast eyes behind veils and never told which brother is their husband. Sex with their respective husbands is carried out in a dark room. The wives whisper to each other, which of the brothers is theirs? Jeet, the eldest son, is actually Mehar’s husband, but the youngest brother, Suraj, has eyes for Mehar and takes advantage of her innocence and the darkened room to seduce her. She is powerless to resist. The 70-year difference in narratives allows for a comparison of life for women in India. Male superiority still exists, but Rhadika refuses to be subservient. This magnificent novel holds a mirror to Indian society and the empathy shown to Mehar’s character is integral to its beauty. (Good Reading Magazine, August 2021)
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GRAPHIC NOVELS
| Bancks, Tristan | Ginger Meggs |
| Bechdel, Alison | The secret to superhuman strength |
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HISTORICAL FICTION
| Benedict, Marie | The personal librarian |
| Macneal, Elizabeth | Circus of wonders |
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MYSTERY
| Aegisdottir, Eva Borg | The creak on the stairs |
| Brett, Simon | Guilt at the garage |
| Byron, John | The tribute |
| Campbell, Ramsey | Somebody’s voice |
| Casey, Jane | The killing kind |
| Connolly, John | The nameless ones |
| Finch, Charles | Home by nightfall |
| Finch, Charles | The last passenger |
| Knox, Joseph | True crime story |
| Lippman, Laura | Dream girl |
| Mahmood, Imran | I know what I saw |
| Mark, David John | Into the woods |
| Morrison, Robbie | Edge of the grave |
| O’Neill, Louise | After the silence |
| Robotham, Michael | When you are mine |
| Woollett, Laura Elizabeth | The newcomer |
When you are mine / Michael Robotham
Constable Philomena McCarthy, the daughter of a London gangster, is called to the scene of a domestic assault. The female who answers the door looks familiar. Her name is Tempe, and she will not let the Constable inside the house. Despite her bloody appearance she says she is okay, and even though Philomena suspects that there is someone behind the door controlling her, she leaves. At a later point Tempe contacts Philomena asking her to help. Philomena discovers Tempe is the mistress of the abuser, a decorated detective, Darren Goodall, and finds her a safe place to stay. Even though the incident is hushed up Goodall starts to make life difficult for the Constable and for Tempe. When he discovers Philomena has befriended his wife, he then becomes threatening. As Goodall pursues them, Philomena wants justice with her job at stake. Meanwhile Philomena and Tempe strike up a friendship and with Philomena’s wedding imminent, Tempe gets involved in the plans. Despite Tempe’s sweetness, friends and Philomena’s fiancé, Henry, think ‘she’s weird’, warning Philomena. Unsettling coincidences begin to happen. Robotham is a master of crime and yet again he does not disappoint. In this book, a stand-alone thriller, he has created another non-stop page-turner which instantly draws you in. (Good Reading Magazine, August 2021)
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NON FICTION
| Pollan, Michael, | This is your mind on plants | 581.6 POLL |
| Reynolds, Henry, | Truth-telling | 994 REYN |
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POETRY
| Chong, Eileen, | A thousand crimson blooms |
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SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
| Barry, Max | The 22 Murders of Madison May |
| Hendrix, Grady | The final girl support group |
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New additions to eBooks at SMSA
EBOOKS
| Biography | Robert Wainwright | Nellie |
| General novels | Antonio Iturbe | The Prince of the skies |
| General novels | Catherine Jinks | The attack |
| General novels | Danielle Steel | The butler |
| Historical novels | Brian Staveley | The empire’s ruin |
| Mystery | Andrea Camilleri | Riccardino |
| Mystery | Ann Cleeves | The heron’s cry |
| Mystery | Caroline Overington | The cuckoo’s cry |
| Mystery | Chris Hammer | Treasure and dirt |
| Mystery | Estelle Ryan | The Dante connection |
| Mystery | Estelle Ryan | The Gauguin connection |
| Mystery | Gigi Fenster | A good Winter |
| Mystery | Håkan Nesser | The lonely ones |
| Mystery | Hillary Clinton & Louise Penny | State of terror |
| Non fiction | Charlotte Wood | The luminous solution |
Riccardino / Andrea Camilleri
In an amusing metafictional twist, Camilleri (1925–2019) plays a part in his elegiac 28th and final mystery featuring Sicilian police inspector Salvo Montalbano (after The Cook of the Halcyon). Just shy of five o’clock in the morning, Montalbano’s phone rings. The caller identifies himself as Riccardino and says, “We’re all here already, outside the Bar Aurora, and you’re the only one missing!” Peeved at being disturbed, Montalbano tells the stranger he’ll be right there, hangs up, and goes back to bed. A second call comes an hour later—from his police colleagues, who ask him to come to the Bar Aurora to investigate the murder of Riccardo Lopresti. Montalbano feels “strangely certain—with a certainty as absolute as it was inexplicable—that the poor bastard who was shot was the same person who had called him on the phone before dawn by dialing a wrong number.” As motives begin to multiply, Montalbano’s investigation is muddled by phone calls from “the Author” spouting far-fetched suggestions on how to proceed. Incisive wit colors this insightful and intriguing farewell. The sad, poetic ending is perfect. (Publishers Weekly, 26 July 2021)
The heron’s cry / Anne Cleeves
In Agatha Award winner Cleeves’s well-crafted sequel to 2019’s The Long Call, Det. Matthew Venn investigates the murder of retired physician Nigel Yeo, who was found by his glassblower daughter, Eve Yeo, in her Devon, England, studio with a shard from one of her handmade vases in his neck. As director of a patient advocacy group, Nigel was probing the death of a paranoid patient who killed himself after being released from a psychiatric hospital. The CEO of the health trust in charge of the hospital, who met with Nigel the morning before the murder, can’t afford to have his reputation sullied by blame for the suicide. But when a second victim is found murdered by glass from one of Eve’s vases, Matthew reconsiders her involvement. Conflict erupts at home, as Eve’s a friend of Matthew’s husband, Jonathan, who thinks Matthew’s suspicion of Eve is misguided. Jonathan also dislikes Matthew drawing rigid lines between his personal and professional life. Though Matthew’s inflexible personality mutes the narrative at times, the intricate plotting, complex characters, and rich atmosphere more than compensate. Both new and existing fans will be pleased. (Publishers Weekly, 5 July 2021)
Prince of the sky / Antonio Iturbe
Iturbe (The Librarian of Auschwitz) exuberantly tells the story of author Antoine de Saint-Expuery and his passion for flying, poetry, and beautiful women. In 1922, Saint-Ex meets fellow pilots Jean Mermoz and Henri Guillaumet, and they become pioneering aviators, opening up mail routes in North Africa and South America for Aeropostale. As the years pass, their paths cross and re-cross through crashes, rescues, deaths and enormous changes in aviation technology. Mermoz goes on to become the most famous pilot in France, and Saint-Ex a celebrated author. Both have marriages that crash and burn, and the one constant is their love of flying. When France declares war on Germany in 1939, Saint-Ex volunteers at 40 for the army and flies hazardous reconnaissance missions. Then, his American editor asks if he would like to write a children’s book for Christmas—and a literary legend is born. The author does a wonderful job of dramatizing how exhilarating and dangerous the early years of civil aviation were for a handful of bold and intrepid pilots. He also recreates in sparking fashion interwar French society. Saint-Ex, his colleagues, and their loves come to life in a novel that would do the author of The Little Prince proud. (Publishers Weekly, 9 August 2021)
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AUDIOBOOKS
| General novels | Davis, Jane | An unknown woman |
| General novels | Strong, Ava | His other wife |
| General novels | Thornton, Stephanie Marie | A most clever girl |
| Mystery | Blacke, Oliva | No memes of escape |
| Mystery | Graham, Heather | The unknown |
| Mystery | Hammer, Chris | Treasure and dirt |
| Mystery | Miscellaneous | The best mystery stories of the year |
| Mystery | Parin, Sonia | Murder in the cards |
| Mystery | Parker, Robert B. | Stone’s throw |
| Mystery | Penrose, Andrea | Murder at Queen’s Landing |
| Mystery | Pierce, Blake | If she knew |
| Mystery | Rowell, Simon | The long game |
| Mystery | Stone, Mary | Winter’s secret |
| Mystery | Tombs, Kerry | The Malvern murders |
| Romance | Quinn, Julia | The other Miss Bridgerton |
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New Books – October 2021
We hope you enjoy them!
- New books may be borrowed for a period of two weeks only and may not be renewed.
- Books remain listed as “New Books” for two months.
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