KILLING FOR COUNTRY
By David Marr
$39.99
David Marr has written a compelling and shocking personal history of the brutal frontier killings of First Peoples in the quest for the colony’s expansion and take-over of indigenous land. What makes it personal are his direct ancestral links with the Native Police, the para-military group acting with indiscriminate violence and appalling impunity. Tactics such as using armed Indigenous troopers from other First Nations, far from their own bush homes, to carry out cullings masked as ‘dispersion’, served to impersonalise and allow officers to act without familiarity of those they slaughtered.
Marr is a master of carefully researching and analysing historical sources and evidence. The result is disarming for a contemporary reader with access to the past voices and thinking of colonist actors – squatters, lawyers, judges, business owners and politicians – determined to make the rich richer at all costs. Sentiments do not seem to change over time. Endless inquiries are toothless, reports are demonised as per virtue signalling, accusations are outrightly denied, policies are muddied and ineffectual, protests are attacked similarly to ‘virtue-signalling’ today, and political word-smithing masks revolting actions.
Killing for Country is not an easy read, but it is an important one. Post the Voice outcome, it is especially galling and devasting to read of push-back, excuses and hyperbole used by the agitated establishment.
MY BRILLIANT SISTER
By Amy Brown
$32.99
This debut novel from poet Amy Brown takes inspiration from Stella Miles Franklin and her autobiographical novel My Brilliant Career to explore sisterhood and changing societal values towards women.
In reimagining Stella’s life, Brown follows three different women at different stages of history and following different aspirations. Ida, a New Zealander stuck in contemporary Melbourne during lockdowns, is taking a break from her literary career to care for her child and teach My Brilliant Career at a high school. Linda, the sister of the iconic author and posthumous founder of Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, struggles to find her voice under the shadow of the more confident Stella. In the last section, a famous New Zealand singer reflects on what she has given to her career and the costs, as her personal life comes crashing in.
From the finely-tuned ear of a poet, there are beautiful twists in the language and innovative uses of metaphors, but is grounded in the real, tangible lives of women. It reads easy with arresting moments of insights. There is a fun blending of genres, taking inspiration from both classical and contemporary fiction, as well as life-writing. Great for fans of Anna Funder’s Wifedom or Kate Grenville’s fiction.
LITTLE WHITE LIES
By Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Ages 12+
$19.99
For as long as Sawyer Taft can remember, it’s just been her and her mother, with very little money and a million unanswered questions about her family. That is, until her estranged (and very wealthy) grandmother, Lillian, comes knocking with the promise of a trust fund that will change everything. Her only stipulation is that Sawyer is presented in this year’s debutante season – A.K.A. Sawyer’s worst nightmare. Polite society turns out to be anything but, and soon Sawyer is involved in more than one morally questionable scheme!
Little White Lies is a page-turning mystery complete with pearls, politics and plenty of puzzles that will leave your jaw dropped at every chapter, and begging for more!
IF YOU TELL ANYONE YOU’RE NEXT
By Jack Heath
Ages 12+
$17.99
A suspenseful mystery, full of dark figures lurking around the corner waiting to attack their next victim. The young teenager, Zoe Gale, embarks on her adventure to find her missing best friend Jayden. However, in an ultimate plot twist, an astonishing betrayal emerges from the shadows of the small town’s infamous abandoned house.
This novel is truly a horror-lover’s kryptonite, full with chaotic rebellious teenagers as they all want to be on top of the food-chain. It will undoubtedly make you feel like you are a part of this teenage drama.
