The book that changed me: Hannah Kent, Sarah Wilson, Hilde Hinton and more
Holly Wainwright
'I read Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh when I was eight years old. It changed my life. It's about a nosy little girl who lives in New York City – a place I had never been; I grew up in Manchester, England. She lived in an apartment with a doorman and had a nanny. Her parents went to glamorous events, but what I related to was that she was a writer and obsessed with nosing about in other people's lives. I read it 10 times.
Harriet spies on her neighbours, writes about them in her notebook and observes her friends. They find out and are furious about it. It speaks about friend groups; one of the lessons it taught me was the difference between what you should say out loud and what you shouldn't.
I was a magazine journalist for years and then an online one. In those early years of online writing, you were rewarded for being raw and brutal, but it also made me think about Harriet. The book made me realise I wasn't the only kid who kept notebooks; I remember writing in my own journal, and the way I pictured the world was the way I write about it. Harriet's nanny encouraged her to be adventurous, and I wanted that for myself, too.'
Holly Wainwright is the author of He Would Never (Pan Macmillan Australia).
Sarah Wilson
'Viktor Frankl had been a prisoner in Auschwitz and afterwards wrote Man's Search for Meaning in nine days. I found it at a bus station in Malaga, Spain, before I went on a hike in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
I was hiking with a library bag, cucumber, orange, water and this book. I would sit under a tree each day in the 40-degree heat to read it. The book had a profound effect on me in my late 30s. It instilled in me a sense that life is meant to be hard, and that's when we rise to become our best selves.
Frankl was a psychologist who spent four years in the camps, where he observed which characteristics enabled some men to survive while others died. He watched the big, tough men perish; those who survived had a deeper purpose, something bigger than themselves – it was generally God or family.
I have been on a spiritual search for years and have endured tough times, and that notion of living for something bigger than yourself really struck me. The pendulum has swung to individualism and selfishness again; people are made to believe it's what we need to survive.'
Sarah Wilson is the author of This One Wild and Precious Life (Harper Collins).
Hilde Hinton
'The Deptford Trilogy by Canadian author Robertson Davies is a very obscure series I discovered as a 22-year-old with a new baby. I was a wayward youth, going from one dead-end job to another. I arrived in Perth from Melbourne with a suitcase, found a place to live and walked past a second-hand bookshop. The bookseller literally threw one of Davies' books at me. I threw it back. Then he threw it again. I thought bugger it, I'll keep it.
The book shaped the rest of my life because after I read it, I told my dad we should start a second-hand bookshop. I did that for 20 years. I'd read six books a week then – that background inspired me to write. I was 50 when my first book came out; it was autobiographical. I am now on book four and still have imposter syndrome.
There were periods when I felt isolated in Perth. I was regrouping, resetting and didn't have many friends there. Dad's way of bringing us up was very character building. It gave us the ability to think you can do anything. He told me to move away [from Melbourne] because my life wasn't going anywhere. It was a healing year for me, too. I never dealt with Mum's death [she died by suicide when Hinton was 12], and it was a good idea to reset. I came back to Melbourne with the love of the world and some direction again.'
Hilde Hinton is the author of The Opposite of Lonely (Hachette Australia).
Geraldine Brooks
'I discovered Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard when I was in my early 20s. It's a beautiful meditation by a woman who was in her early 20s and goes off to live in a rural place in the hills of Virginia, USA. She notices things for a year – the animals, the seasons, the way the light hits the mountains, and writes about it with grace and meaning.
It's a book someone gave to my mother, and I was visiting her once and took it off the shelf. At the time I was working as a young journalist on The Sydney Morning Herald and had the chance to write about environmental issues. I would write about wilderness campaigners, go bushwalking, and do more demanding trips to write about proposed developments. I got to go camping in the snow and went rafting on Tasmania's Franklin River.
The book gave me a sense of being out in nature and taught me what that means to humans. The book helped me to notice things on a deeper level. I am not a religious person, but there is something 'religious adjacent' that comes with being in nature.'
Geraldine Brooks is the author of Memorial Days (Hachette Australia).
Victoria Elizabeth Schwab
' Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein infected my mind with rhythm and cadence. I am someone who started writing poetry before I wrote my first novel many years later. I wanted to see if I could infect prose with poetic metre and use that as a way to make my voice stand out on the page.
I am an only child and my parents read me poems every night before bed. Shel Silverstein was the first voice in my head. The combination of dark material conveyed with a childlike metre intrigued me. By the time I was nine, I would think in metre and rhyming couplets. I would have to smooth out my writing so it sounded normal to everyone else.
To this day, when I am writing, I am very aware of the rise and fall of a sentence and syllabic rhythm of a sentence. Each one of my novels has a central sentence that exists for me, and me alone. For my upcoming work, there is a poem at the beginning. The sentence is, 'Bury my bones in the midnight soil.'
Growing up with poetry, I always think about the musicality of a sentence, and I owe that to Shel. His work also had a profound depth; it wasn't just playful, it was also dark. The sinister appeal has shown up in all my books. I read all his poetry collections until they almost turned to dust.'
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Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The book that changed me: Hannah Kent, Sarah Wilson, Hilde Hinton and more
Holly Wainwright 'I read Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh when I was eight years old. It changed my life. It's about a nosy little girl who lives in New York City – a place I had never been; I grew up in Manchester, England. She lived in an apartment with a doorman and had a nanny. Her parents went to glamorous events, but what I related to was that she was a writer and obsessed with nosing about in other people's lives. I read it 10 times. Harriet spies on her neighbours, writes about them in her notebook and observes her friends. They find out and are furious about it. It speaks about friend groups; one of the lessons it taught me was the difference between what you should say out loud and what you shouldn't. I was a magazine journalist for years and then an online one. In those early years of online writing, you were rewarded for being raw and brutal, but it also made me think about Harriet. The book made me realise I wasn't the only kid who kept notebooks; I remember writing in my own journal, and the way I pictured the world was the way I write about it. Harriet's nanny encouraged her to be adventurous, and I wanted that for myself, too.' Holly Wainwright is the author of He Would Never (Pan Macmillan Australia). Sarah Wilson 'Viktor Frankl had been a prisoner in Auschwitz and afterwards wrote Man's Search for Meaning in nine days. I found it at a bus station in Malaga, Spain, before I went on a hike in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I was hiking with a library bag, cucumber, orange, water and this book. I would sit under a tree each day in the 40-degree heat to read it. The book had a profound effect on me in my late 30s. It instilled in me a sense that life is meant to be hard, and that's when we rise to become our best selves. Frankl was a psychologist who spent four years in the camps, where he observed which characteristics enabled some men to survive while others died. He watched the big, tough men perish; those who survived had a deeper purpose, something bigger than themselves – it was generally God or family. I have been on a spiritual search for years and have endured tough times, and that notion of living for something bigger than yourself really struck me. The pendulum has swung to individualism and selfishness again; people are made to believe it's what we need to survive.' Sarah Wilson is the author of This One Wild and Precious Life (Harper Collins). Hilde Hinton 'The Deptford Trilogy by Canadian author Robertson Davies is a very obscure series I discovered as a 22-year-old with a new baby. I was a wayward youth, going from one dead-end job to another. I arrived in Perth from Melbourne with a suitcase, found a place to live and walked past a second-hand bookshop. The bookseller literally threw one of Davies' books at me. I threw it back. Then he threw it again. I thought bugger it, I'll keep it. The book shaped the rest of my life because after I read it, I told my dad we should start a second-hand bookshop. I did that for 20 years. I'd read six books a week then – that background inspired me to write. I was 50 when my first book came out; it was autobiographical. I am now on book four and still have imposter syndrome. There were periods when I felt isolated in Perth. I was regrouping, resetting and didn't have many friends there. Dad's way of bringing us up was very character building. It gave us the ability to think you can do anything. He told me to move away [from Melbourne] because my life wasn't going anywhere. It was a healing year for me, too. I never dealt with Mum's death [she died by suicide when Hinton was 12], and it was a good idea to reset. I came back to Melbourne with the love of the world and some direction again.' Hilde Hinton is the author of The Opposite of Lonely (Hachette Australia). Geraldine Brooks 'I discovered Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard when I was in my early 20s. It's a beautiful meditation by a woman who was in her early 20s and goes off to live in a rural place in the hills of Virginia, USA. She notices things for a year – the animals, the seasons, the way the light hits the mountains, and writes about it with grace and meaning. It's a book someone gave to my mother, and I was visiting her once and took it off the shelf. At the time I was working as a young journalist on The Sydney Morning Herald and had the chance to write about environmental issues. I would write about wilderness campaigners, go bushwalking, and do more demanding trips to write about proposed developments. I got to go camping in the snow and went rafting on Tasmania's Franklin River. The book gave me a sense of being out in nature and taught me what that means to humans. The book helped me to notice things on a deeper level. I am not a religious person, but there is something 'religious adjacent' that comes with being in nature.' Geraldine Brooks is the author of Memorial Days (Hachette Australia). Victoria Elizabeth Schwab ' Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein infected my mind with rhythm and cadence. I am someone who started writing poetry before I wrote my first novel many years later. I wanted to see if I could infect prose with poetic metre and use that as a way to make my voice stand out on the page. I am an only child and my parents read me poems every night before bed. Shel Silverstein was the first voice in my head. The combination of dark material conveyed with a childlike metre intrigued me. By the time I was nine, I would think in metre and rhyming couplets. I would have to smooth out my writing so it sounded normal to everyone else. To this day, when I am writing, I am very aware of the rise and fall of a sentence and syllabic rhythm of a sentence. Each one of my novels has a central sentence that exists for me, and me alone. For my upcoming work, there is a poem at the beginning. The sentence is, 'Bury my bones in the midnight soil.' Growing up with poetry, I always think about the musicality of a sentence, and I owe that to Shel. His work also had a profound depth; it wasn't just playful, it was also dark. The sinister appeal has shown up in all my books. I read all his poetry collections until they almost turned to dust.'
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
The book that changed me: Hannah Kent, Sarah Wilson, Hilde Hinton and more
Holly Wainwright 'I read Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh when I was eight years old. It changed my life. It's about a nosy little girl who lives in New York City – a place I had never been; I grew up in Manchester, England. She lived in an apartment with a doorman and had a nanny. Her parents went to glamorous events, but what I related to was that she was a writer and obsessed with nosing about in other people's lives. I read it 10 times. Harriet spies on her neighbours, writes about them in her notebook and observes her friends. They find out and are furious about it. It speaks about friend groups; one of the lessons it taught me was the difference between what you should say out loud and what you shouldn't. I was a magazine journalist for years and then an online one. In those early years of online writing, you were rewarded for being raw and brutal, but it also made me think about Harriet. The book made me realise I wasn't the only kid who kept notebooks; I remember writing in my own journal, and the way I pictured the world was the way I write about it. Harriet's nanny encouraged her to be adventurous, and I wanted that for myself, too.' Holly Wainwright is the author of He Would Never (Pan Macmillan Australia). Sarah Wilson 'Viktor Frankl had been a prisoner in Auschwitz and afterwards wrote Man's Search for Meaning in nine days. I found it at a bus station in Malaga, Spain, before I went on a hike in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I was hiking with a library bag, cucumber, orange, water and this book. I would sit under a tree each day in the 40-degree heat to read it. The book had a profound effect on me in my late 30s. It instilled in me a sense that life is meant to be hard, and that's when we rise to become our best selves. Frankl was a psychologist who spent four years in the camps, where he observed which characteristics enabled some men to survive while others died. He watched the big, tough men perish; those who survived had a deeper purpose, something bigger than themselves – it was generally God or family. I have been on a spiritual search for years and have endured tough times, and that notion of living for something bigger than yourself really struck me. The pendulum has swung to individualism and selfishness again; people are made to believe it's what we need to survive.' Sarah Wilson is the author of This One Wild and Precious Life (Harper Collins). Hilde Hinton 'The Deptford Trilogy by Canadian author Robertson Davies is a very obscure series I discovered as a 22-year-old with a new baby. I was a wayward youth, going from one dead-end job to another. I arrived in Perth from Melbourne with a suitcase, found a place to live and walked past a second-hand bookshop. The bookseller literally threw one of Davies' books at me. I threw it back. Then he threw it again. I thought bugger it, I'll keep it. The book shaped the rest of my life because after I read it, I told my dad we should start a second-hand bookshop. I did that for 20 years. I'd read six books a week then – that background inspired me to write. I was 50 when my first book came out; it was autobiographical. I am now on book four and still have imposter syndrome. There were periods when I felt isolated in Perth. I was regrouping, resetting and didn't have many friends there. Dad's way of bringing us up was very character building. It gave us the ability to think you can do anything. He told me to move away [from Melbourne] because my life wasn't going anywhere. It was a healing year for me, too. I never dealt with Mum's death [she died by suicide when Hinton was 12], and it was a good idea to reset. I came back to Melbourne with the love of the world and some direction again.' Hilde Hinton is the author of The Opposite of Lonely (Hachette Australia). Geraldine Brooks 'I discovered Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard when I was in my early 20s. It's a beautiful meditation by a woman who was in her early 20s and goes off to live in a rural place in the hills of Virginia, USA. She notices things for a year – the animals, the seasons, the way the light hits the mountains, and writes about it with grace and meaning. It's a book someone gave to my mother, and I was visiting her once and took it off the shelf. At the time I was working as a young journalist on The Sydney Morning Herald and had the chance to write about environmental issues. I would write about wilderness campaigners, go bushwalking, and do more demanding trips to write about proposed developments. I got to go camping in the snow and went rafting on Tasmania's Franklin River. The book gave me a sense of being out in nature and taught me what that means to humans. The book helped me to notice things on a deeper level. I am not a religious person, but there is something 'religious adjacent' that comes with being in nature.' Geraldine Brooks is the author of Memorial Days (Hachette Australia). Victoria Elizabeth Schwab ' Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein infected my mind with rhythm and cadence. I am someone who started writing poetry before I wrote my first novel many years later. I wanted to see if I could infect prose with poetic metre and use that as a way to make my voice stand out on the page. I am an only child and my parents read me poems every night before bed. Shel Silverstein was the first voice in my head. The combination of dark material conveyed with a childlike metre intrigued me. By the time I was nine, I would think in metre and rhyming couplets. I would have to smooth out my writing so it sounded normal to everyone else. To this day, when I am writing, I am very aware of the rise and fall of a sentence and syllabic rhythm of a sentence. Each one of my novels has a central sentence that exists for me, and me alone. For my upcoming work, there is a poem at the beginning. The sentence is, 'Bury my bones in the midnight soil.' Growing up with poetry, I always think about the musicality of a sentence, and I owe that to Shel. His work also had a profound depth; it wasn't just playful, it was also dark. The sinister appeal has shown up in all my books. I read all his poetry collections until they almost turned to dust.'
The Advertiser
6 days ago
- The Advertiser
Matildas star opens up about her eating disorder and IVF treatments
What's new: Logie-winning ex-AFL player Tony Armstrong has released his second book for children, Maggie the Dragon, and Matildas player Katrina Gorry's new memoir shares her story of football, motherhood and breaking down barriers. Katrina Gorry with Robert Wainwright. Allen & Unwin. $34.99. Billed as "a Matilda's story of football, motherhood and breaking down barriers", Katrina Gorry's memoir kicks off with some very classy front-cover endorsements. Former PM Julia Gillard describes the book as "full to the brim with love of family, of friends, of football" and Olympian Cathy Freeman calls it "a powerful testament to grit, endurance and agility". These talented and tenacious women would know a thing or two about the kind of courage, focus and resilience that has sustained Gorry through an eating disorder, IVF treatments, the birth of daughter Harper, meeting partner Clara Markstedt, the arrival of second child Koby and her on-again, off-again passion for soccer. Christie Brinkley with Sarah Toland. HarperCollins. $36.99. Christie Brinkley says it was the drinking that blew up her famous marriage to Billy Joel. "Booze was the other woman," she writes in her new memoir. But she thanks the piano man for being "an integral part of my life for decades" and giving her "one of my greatest gifts, my daughter Alexa Ray - and the title for this book". Over five decades in modelling, Brinkley has graced more than 500 magazine covers. She appeared in the 1983 music video for Joel's hit Uptown Girl after meeting him - in true celebrity style - on St Barts in the Caribbean, where fellow supermodel Elle Macpherson was also vying for his attention. Jacqueline Kent. NewSouth Books. $34.99. Jacqueline Kent profiles some of Australia's best-known writers of the 20th century. Her focus is the women who were the daughters of the suffragists of the early 1900s and the mothers of the feminists of the 1960s and 1970s. This generation, Kent writes, were "the bright and articulate women who went through two world wars, endured a massive economic depression and saw the rise of fascism and communism". The stories of writers such as Miles Franklin, Mary Gilmore, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Dymphna Cusack and Ruth Park are presented against the backdrop of the social and political events of the time. Grantlee Kieza. ABC Books. $35.99. Annette Kellerman was an early 20th century long-distance swimmer, fearless high-diver and vaudeville entertainer who became the first Australian woman to star in a Hollywood silent movie. Kellerman, who died in 1975, was also a pioneer of the one-piece swimsuit for women, refusing to wear the pantaloons of the time and helping to change fashion forever. After appearances as a mermaid in aquatic adventure movies, Kellerman shocked conservative audiences by appearing nude in A Daughter of the Gods in 1916. Her life of adventure included jumping into a pool of live crocodiles for a film and starting her own clothing line. Joseph Earp. Pantera Press. $34.99. Writer, painter and poet Joseph Earp explores the pain and pleasure of art and love through the comedic misadventures of painter Ellie Robertson, who wins a prestigious art prize at the age of 30 only to be immediately gripped by panic about what she's supposed to do next. Her solution: to paint portraits of all of her exes. She hopes the bizarre project will help her rediscover her passion and come to grips with her past relationships. But not everyone she has dated is happy to hear from her, which leads to some bittersweet truths about the emotional corner she has painted herself into. Tony Armstrong and illustrated by Emma Sjaan Beukers. Lothian Books. $24.99. When AFL-player-turned-TV-star Tony Armstrong visited his old primary school in Albury late last year to launch the promotional tour for his first book, George The Wizard, he told The Border Mail he preferred to entertain and inspire kids rather than write about his footy or Logies exploits: "When I'm older and on my last gravy train, I'll write a memoir!" His follow-up picture book with illustrator Emma Sjaan Beukers is set in the same vibrantly coloured fantasy world. A story about being loved for who you are, it follows dragon Maggie as she befriends wizard George and conquers the fiery hiccups triggered by her anxiety. Dervla McTiernan. HarperCollins. $34.99. Detective Cormac Reilly returns in the latest thriller from Dervla McTiernan, the former Irish lawyer now Perth-based crime novelist. Her murder mystery this time takes an archaeological twist as Reilly investigates a corpse discovered in a bog in Galway. For decades, the ancient boglands of Northern Europe have given up uncannily preserved bodies that are thousands of years old, some bearing strange injuries suggesting ritual torture or human sacrifice. But it turns out the Galway find is not historical but the body of Thaddeus Grey, a local high school principal who disappeared two years ago. So, why does his body show ritualistic mutilations? Letters to Our Robot Son Cadance Bell. Ultimo Press. $34.99. Mudgee-raised, Bathurst-based author and documentary film-maker Cadance Bell shared the story of her life growing up transgender in a small country town in her 2022 memoir The All of It: A Bogan Rhapsody. Her first novel, a science-fiction fable, follows a sweet little robot named Arto as he explores a desolate, post-human future Australia. In his quest to understand his existence, Arto is guided by a mysterious letter from the past and joined by a cheeky kitten companion. When he meets another robot named Indi, she claims to be his sister. But Arto begins to suspect she might be the reason the humans are all gone. Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page. Bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease. What's new: Logie-winning ex-AFL player Tony Armstrong has released his second book for children, Maggie the Dragon, and Matildas player Katrina Gorry's new memoir shares her story of football, motherhood and breaking down barriers. Katrina Gorry with Robert Wainwright. Allen & Unwin. $34.99. Billed as "a Matilda's story of football, motherhood and breaking down barriers", Katrina Gorry's memoir kicks off with some very classy front-cover endorsements. Former PM Julia Gillard describes the book as "full to the brim with love of family, of friends, of football" and Olympian Cathy Freeman calls it "a powerful testament to grit, endurance and agility". These talented and tenacious women would know a thing or two about the kind of courage, focus and resilience that has sustained Gorry through an eating disorder, IVF treatments, the birth of daughter Harper, meeting partner Clara Markstedt, the arrival of second child Koby and her on-again, off-again passion for soccer. Christie Brinkley with Sarah Toland. HarperCollins. $36.99. Christie Brinkley says it was the drinking that blew up her famous marriage to Billy Joel. "Booze was the other woman," she writes in her new memoir. But she thanks the piano man for being "an integral part of my life for decades" and giving her "one of my greatest gifts, my daughter Alexa Ray - and the title for this book". Over five decades in modelling, Brinkley has graced more than 500 magazine covers. She appeared in the 1983 music video for Joel's hit Uptown Girl after meeting him - in true celebrity style - on St Barts in the Caribbean, where fellow supermodel Elle Macpherson was also vying for his attention. Jacqueline Kent. NewSouth Books. $34.99. Jacqueline Kent profiles some of Australia's best-known writers of the 20th century. Her focus is the women who were the daughters of the suffragists of the early 1900s and the mothers of the feminists of the 1960s and 1970s. This generation, Kent writes, were "the bright and articulate women who went through two world wars, endured a massive economic depression and saw the rise of fascism and communism". The stories of writers such as Miles Franklin, Mary Gilmore, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Dymphna Cusack and Ruth Park are presented against the backdrop of the social and political events of the time. Grantlee Kieza. ABC Books. $35.99. Annette Kellerman was an early 20th century long-distance swimmer, fearless high-diver and vaudeville entertainer who became the first Australian woman to star in a Hollywood silent movie. Kellerman, who died in 1975, was also a pioneer of the one-piece swimsuit for women, refusing to wear the pantaloons of the time and helping to change fashion forever. After appearances as a mermaid in aquatic adventure movies, Kellerman shocked conservative audiences by appearing nude in A Daughter of the Gods in 1916. Her life of adventure included jumping into a pool of live crocodiles for a film and starting her own clothing line. Joseph Earp. Pantera Press. $34.99. Writer, painter and poet Joseph Earp explores the pain and pleasure of art and love through the comedic misadventures of painter Ellie Robertson, who wins a prestigious art prize at the age of 30 only to be immediately gripped by panic about what she's supposed to do next. Her solution: to paint portraits of all of her exes. She hopes the bizarre project will help her rediscover her passion and come to grips with her past relationships. But not everyone she has dated is happy to hear from her, which leads to some bittersweet truths about the emotional corner she has painted herself into. Tony Armstrong and illustrated by Emma Sjaan Beukers. Lothian Books. $24.99. When AFL-player-turned-TV-star Tony Armstrong visited his old primary school in Albury late last year to launch the promotional tour for his first book, George The Wizard, he told The Border Mail he preferred to entertain and inspire kids rather than write about his footy or Logies exploits: "When I'm older and on my last gravy train, I'll write a memoir!" His follow-up picture book with illustrator Emma Sjaan Beukers is set in the same vibrantly coloured fantasy world. A story about being loved for who you are, it follows dragon Maggie as she befriends wizard George and conquers the fiery hiccups triggered by her anxiety. Dervla McTiernan. HarperCollins. $34.99. Detective Cormac Reilly returns in the latest thriller from Dervla McTiernan, the former Irish lawyer now Perth-based crime novelist. Her murder mystery this time takes an archaeological twist as Reilly investigates a corpse discovered in a bog in Galway. For decades, the ancient boglands of Northern Europe have given up uncannily preserved bodies that are thousands of years old, some bearing strange injuries suggesting ritual torture or human sacrifice. But it turns out the Galway find is not historical but the body of Thaddeus Grey, a local high school principal who disappeared two years ago. So, why does his body show ritualistic mutilations? Letters to Our Robot Son Cadance Bell. Ultimo Press. $34.99. Mudgee-raised, Bathurst-based author and documentary film-maker Cadance Bell shared the story of her life growing up transgender in a small country town in her 2022 memoir The All of It: A Bogan Rhapsody. Her first novel, a science-fiction fable, follows a sweet little robot named Arto as he explores a desolate, post-human future Australia. In his quest to understand his existence, Arto is guided by a mysterious letter from the past and joined by a cheeky kitten companion. When he meets another robot named Indi, she claims to be his sister. But Arto begins to suspect she might be the reason the humans are all gone. Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page. Bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease. What's new: Logie-winning ex-AFL player Tony Armstrong has released his second book for children, Maggie the Dragon, and Matildas player Katrina Gorry's new memoir shares her story of football, motherhood and breaking down barriers. Katrina Gorry with Robert Wainwright. Allen & Unwin. $34.99. Billed as "a Matilda's story of football, motherhood and breaking down barriers", Katrina Gorry's memoir kicks off with some very classy front-cover endorsements. Former PM Julia Gillard describes the book as "full to the brim with love of family, of friends, of football" and Olympian Cathy Freeman calls it "a powerful testament to grit, endurance and agility". These talented and tenacious women would know a thing or two about the kind of courage, focus and resilience that has sustained Gorry through an eating disorder, IVF treatments, the birth of daughter Harper, meeting partner Clara Markstedt, the arrival of second child Koby and her on-again, off-again passion for soccer. Christie Brinkley with Sarah Toland. HarperCollins. $36.99. Christie Brinkley says it was the drinking that blew up her famous marriage to Billy Joel. "Booze was the other woman," she writes in her new memoir. But she thanks the piano man for being "an integral part of my life for decades" and giving her "one of my greatest gifts, my daughter Alexa Ray - and the title for this book". Over five decades in modelling, Brinkley has graced more than 500 magazine covers. She appeared in the 1983 music video for Joel's hit Uptown Girl after meeting him - in true celebrity style - on St Barts in the Caribbean, where fellow supermodel Elle Macpherson was also vying for his attention. Jacqueline Kent. NewSouth Books. $34.99. Jacqueline Kent profiles some of Australia's best-known writers of the 20th century. Her focus is the women who were the daughters of the suffragists of the early 1900s and the mothers of the feminists of the 1960s and 1970s. This generation, Kent writes, were "the bright and articulate women who went through two world wars, endured a massive economic depression and saw the rise of fascism and communism". The stories of writers such as Miles Franklin, Mary Gilmore, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Dymphna Cusack and Ruth Park are presented against the backdrop of the social and political events of the time. Grantlee Kieza. ABC Books. $35.99. Annette Kellerman was an early 20th century long-distance swimmer, fearless high-diver and vaudeville entertainer who became the first Australian woman to star in a Hollywood silent movie. Kellerman, who died in 1975, was also a pioneer of the one-piece swimsuit for women, refusing to wear the pantaloons of the time and helping to change fashion forever. After appearances as a mermaid in aquatic adventure movies, Kellerman shocked conservative audiences by appearing nude in A Daughter of the Gods in 1916. Her life of adventure included jumping into a pool of live crocodiles for a film and starting her own clothing line. Joseph Earp. Pantera Press. $34.99. Writer, painter and poet Joseph Earp explores the pain and pleasure of art and love through the comedic misadventures of painter Ellie Robertson, who wins a prestigious art prize at the age of 30 only to be immediately gripped by panic about what she's supposed to do next. Her solution: to paint portraits of all of her exes. She hopes the bizarre project will help her rediscover her passion and come to grips with her past relationships. But not everyone she has dated is happy to hear from her, which leads to some bittersweet truths about the emotional corner she has painted herself into. Tony Armstrong and illustrated by Emma Sjaan Beukers. Lothian Books. $24.99. When AFL-player-turned-TV-star Tony Armstrong visited his old primary school in Albury late last year to launch the promotional tour for his first book, George The Wizard, he told The Border Mail he preferred to entertain and inspire kids rather than write about his footy or Logies exploits: "When I'm older and on my last gravy train, I'll write a memoir!" His follow-up picture book with illustrator Emma Sjaan Beukers is set in the same vibrantly coloured fantasy world. A story about being loved for who you are, it follows dragon Maggie as she befriends wizard George and conquers the fiery hiccups triggered by her anxiety. Dervla McTiernan. HarperCollins. $34.99. Detective Cormac Reilly returns in the latest thriller from Dervla McTiernan, the former Irish lawyer now Perth-based crime novelist. Her murder mystery this time takes an archaeological twist as Reilly investigates a corpse discovered in a bog in Galway. For decades, the ancient boglands of Northern Europe have given up uncannily preserved bodies that are thousands of years old, some bearing strange injuries suggesting ritual torture or human sacrifice. But it turns out the Galway find is not historical but the body of Thaddeus Grey, a local high school principal who disappeared two years ago. So, why does his body show ritualistic mutilations? Letters to Our Robot Son Cadance Bell. Ultimo Press. $34.99. Mudgee-raised, Bathurst-based author and documentary film-maker Cadance Bell shared the story of her life growing up transgender in a small country town in her 2022 memoir The All of It: A Bogan Rhapsody. Her first novel, a science-fiction fable, follows a sweet little robot named Arto as he explores a desolate, post-human future Australia. In his quest to understand his existence, Arto is guided by a mysterious letter from the past and joined by a cheeky kitten companion. When he meets another robot named Indi, she claims to be his sister. But Arto begins to suspect she might be the reason the humans are all gone. Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page. Bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease. What's new: Logie-winning ex-AFL player Tony Armstrong has released his second book for children, Maggie the Dragon, and Matildas player Katrina Gorry's new memoir shares her story of football, motherhood and breaking down barriers. Katrina Gorry with Robert Wainwright. Allen & Unwin. $34.99. Billed as "a Matilda's story of football, motherhood and breaking down barriers", Katrina Gorry's memoir kicks off with some very classy front-cover endorsements. Former PM Julia Gillard describes the book as "full to the brim with love of family, of friends, of football" and Olympian Cathy Freeman calls it "a powerful testament to grit, endurance and agility". These talented and tenacious women would know a thing or two about the kind of courage, focus and resilience that has sustained Gorry through an eating disorder, IVF treatments, the birth of daughter Harper, meeting partner Clara Markstedt, the arrival of second child Koby and her on-again, off-again passion for soccer. Christie Brinkley with Sarah Toland. HarperCollins. $36.99. Christie Brinkley says it was the drinking that blew up her famous marriage to Billy Joel. "Booze was the other woman," she writes in her new memoir. But she thanks the piano man for being "an integral part of my life for decades" and giving her "one of my greatest gifts, my daughter Alexa Ray - and the title for this book". Over five decades in modelling, Brinkley has graced more than 500 magazine covers. She appeared in the 1983 music video for Joel's hit Uptown Girl after meeting him - in true celebrity style - on St Barts in the Caribbean, where fellow supermodel Elle Macpherson was also vying for his attention. Jacqueline Kent. NewSouth Books. $34.99. Jacqueline Kent profiles some of Australia's best-known writers of the 20th century. Her focus is the women who were the daughters of the suffragists of the early 1900s and the mothers of the feminists of the 1960s and 1970s. This generation, Kent writes, were "the bright and articulate women who went through two world wars, endured a massive economic depression and saw the rise of fascism and communism". The stories of writers such as Miles Franklin, Mary Gilmore, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Dymphna Cusack and Ruth Park are presented against the backdrop of the social and political events of the time. Grantlee Kieza. ABC Books. $35.99. Annette Kellerman was an early 20th century long-distance swimmer, fearless high-diver and vaudeville entertainer who became the first Australian woman to star in a Hollywood silent movie. Kellerman, who died in 1975, was also a pioneer of the one-piece swimsuit for women, refusing to wear the pantaloons of the time and helping to change fashion forever. After appearances as a mermaid in aquatic adventure movies, Kellerman shocked conservative audiences by appearing nude in A Daughter of the Gods in 1916. Her life of adventure included jumping into a pool of live crocodiles for a film and starting her own clothing line. Joseph Earp. Pantera Press. $34.99. Writer, painter and poet Joseph Earp explores the pain and pleasure of art and love through the comedic misadventures of painter Ellie Robertson, who wins a prestigious art prize at the age of 30 only to be immediately gripped by panic about what she's supposed to do next. Her solution: to paint portraits of all of her exes. She hopes the bizarre project will help her rediscover her passion and come to grips with her past relationships. But not everyone she has dated is happy to hear from her, which leads to some bittersweet truths about the emotional corner she has painted herself into. Tony Armstrong and illustrated by Emma Sjaan Beukers. Lothian Books. $24.99. When AFL-player-turned-TV-star Tony Armstrong visited his old primary school in Albury late last year to launch the promotional tour for his first book, George The Wizard, he told The Border Mail he preferred to entertain and inspire kids rather than write about his footy or Logies exploits: "When I'm older and on my last gravy train, I'll write a memoir!" His follow-up picture book with illustrator Emma Sjaan Beukers is set in the same vibrantly coloured fantasy world. A story about being loved for who you are, it follows dragon Maggie as she befriends wizard George and conquers the fiery hiccups triggered by her anxiety. Dervla McTiernan. HarperCollins. $34.99. Detective Cormac Reilly returns in the latest thriller from Dervla McTiernan, the former Irish lawyer now Perth-based crime novelist. Her murder mystery this time takes an archaeological twist as Reilly investigates a corpse discovered in a bog in Galway. For decades, the ancient boglands of Northern Europe have given up uncannily preserved bodies that are thousands of years old, some bearing strange injuries suggesting ritual torture or human sacrifice. But it turns out the Galway find is not historical but the body of Thaddeus Grey, a local high school principal who disappeared two years ago. So, why does his body show ritualistic mutilations? Letters to Our Robot Son Cadance Bell. Ultimo Press. $34.99. Mudgee-raised, Bathurst-based author and documentary film-maker Cadance Bell shared the story of her life growing up transgender in a small country town in her 2022 memoir The All of It: A Bogan Rhapsody. Her first novel, a science-fiction fable, follows a sweet little robot named Arto as he explores a desolate, post-human future Australia. In his quest to understand his existence, Arto is guided by a mysterious letter from the past and joined by a cheeky kitten companion. When he meets another robot named Indi, she claims to be his sister. But Arto begins to suspect she might be the reason the humans are all gone. Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page. Bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease.
