Staff Reviews

Bella grows a bicycle by Lellie Lopter and Chiara Franceschetti

Available as a picture book

Join clever and determined Bella on a delightful swapping adventure! Starting with a tiny seed, Bella dreams big and sets out to trade her way up to a shiny new bicycle.
Along the way, she learns the power of value, patience, and creative problem solving. With charming illustrations and a heartwarming storyline, Bella Grows a Bicycle introduces young readers to the basics of financial literacy in a playful and relatable way.

My Nonno loves by Adelle Frittitta and Claudia Frittitta

Available as a picture book

My Nonno loves being in his garden, with a coffee in hand and songs in the air. But most of all, my Nonno loves me! A story of love between grandfathers and their grandchildren.

A universe full of stories by Angela McAllister and Zanna Goldhawk

Available in print

Journey through the starry skies (and beyond!) with this illustrated collection of stories from around the world. This enchanting anthology gathers folktales and legends exploring the brightness of the sun, the gentle glow of the moon, the constellations that shine across our skies…and heavenly realms beyond our imagination…

Force of nature by Melissa Clark

Available in print

Mallee’s Living Histories Books 1 to 7

Available in print

That sense of connection is at the heart of the Mallee’s Living Histories series, a project that enriches the lives of older Mallee residents by helping them share their memories with others who may enjoy knowing a little of their journey. The project brings together personal histories of local people and each story preserves the knowledge, experience and voices of those who have experienced or shaped life in the Mallee.

For anyone interested in local history, family stories or the everyday details that make a community memorable, it is well worth taking the time to browse the series and discover the many lives recorded there.

To celebrate the journey so far, and to encourage others to share their stories will be held on Saturday 3 October from 10:30am to 3pm, at the SuniTAFE Auditorium. The Conversation, Connection and Community Forum will highlight the benefits of capturing local stories. Mallee’s Living Histories Book 8 will be released in December. Visit the website to find out more: malleelivinghistories.com.au

Monsters of the Mallee By Nathan Carnie

Available in print

Nathan Carnie’s Monsters of the Mallee series is a compelling exploration of the darker side of the Mallee’s history. Blending meticulous research with engaging storytelling, the books cover murders, missing persons, serial killers and unsolved disappearances that have shaped the region.

“Travelling around the region, I visited several locations where some of these monstrosities occurred and provide reconstructions to these events. After reading these, you too may see a side of our region that you were unaware of or may have tended to turn a blind eye to.”

Carnie brings forgotten local stories to life while maintaining sensitivity to the real people involved. For readers of Australian true crime, this series offers a fascinating and often chilling insight into little-known chapters of our region’s history.

Red Earth: A history of the Mildura region By Stuart Kells

Beginning with the region’s deep history, author and historian Stuart Kells unfurls the fascinating layers of this story, much of which has never been told in book form. Kells captures the richness of the pre-colonial history, the migrant experience, the region as a tourist destination and a canvas for arts and culture, and other unique developments that shaped the region and influenced Australia and the world.

Irrigation is central to Mildura’s story, and Kells presents a new perspective on the Chaffey Brothers’ land scheme, and Alfred Deakin’s role in it. Above all, the book captures the human stories that are the backbone of the region’s history.

Red Earth is a richly illustrated landmark book, ambitious in its scope, meticulous in its methods and full of heart and human drama.

A nowhere boy by Anne Cleary

Available in print

Three-year-old Oliver, known as Apple Man, vanishes from a remote car park while his young father, Scott, carries fishing gear down to the beach. When he returns, the car is empty. His son has vanished without a trace. Apple Man's mother, Fae, gets the call that shatters her life.

Enraged with her ex, Scott and drowning in her own guilt, she is pulled back into Scott's orbit as police launch a desperate search across a wild coastline and dense pine forest. With every hour that passes, the case tightens around them—and the question no parent can bear to answer grows louder: what if he's never coming back?

Nemesis by Patricia Wolf

Available in print, eBook & eAudiobook

DS Lucas Walker is on assignment for the Australian Federal Police, and it couldn't be more personal. This is his last chance to take down Stefan Markovich - leader of the Vandals outlaw motorcycle gang - the man who has managed to evade justice ever since Walker uncovered his drug operation in Australia's remote interior.

Having tracked Markovich to Berlin, Walker heads to Germany to lure his nemesis out of hiding and into custody. And there is another draw for Walker in Berlin: he finally gets to see Barbara Guerra again.

After meeting in Australia two years earlier, Lucas and the German detective have formed a long-distance friendship ... and maybe something more. 

Too deep to cross by Kerri Hakoda

Available in print

A shocking discovery on a remote beach brings Detective DeHavilland Beans back to his Yukon River hometown—and a missing person’s case turns into a murder investigation. On administrative leave after an unsettling officer-involved shooting, Beans comes to the aid of his childhood friend and sole police officer in the village, Felicia Gunnerson, who is leading the case. 

The new evidence suggests the missing man, Lloyd Paul, the overindulged scion of a prominent family, was murdered. Lloyd had a contentious relationship with many of the locals, especially with Beans and his mother, Mari.  As Beans and Felicia dig deeper, events that neither of them could have predicted are set in motion. Meanwhile, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mari uncovers secrets that threaten to rewrite the Beans family’s history. 

A long time dead by J.M. Dalgliesh

Available in print

A group of high school students gather on the Isle of Skye's remote Coral Beach for a party to celebrate the passing of their finals. Their future beckons, promising new hope and a fresh wind of optimism.

In the coming days, many will leave the island for work or to study on the mainland, whereas others will remain on Skye and forge a more traditional path much as their families have done for centuries before them.

That is, all but one... DI Duncan McAdam is dispatched home to the Misty Isle. A body has been found buried in a remote location on the Waternish peninsula. A teenage runaway is dead, and no one is talking...

Beautiful Lives: How We Got Learning Disabilities So Wrong by Stephen Unwin

Available in print 

For much of history, people with learning disabilities have been regarded as unworthy of interest - often seen as a threat to the social order and sometimes dismissed as barely human. While recent years have seen an improvement, learning-disabled people are still treated as fundamentally different.

Beautiful Lives is a personal and pragmatic account, told through the eyes of a father whose son has severe learning disabilities. From early civilisation to the chilling realities of twentieth-century eugenics, this powerful book uncovers a startling and rarely told history - one deeply embedded in the challenges still faced today.

Unwin shapes this history into a powerful story of love, lived experience and the long struggle for a better future. 

Gutted: How an Old House Remodelled Me by Maida Korte

Available in print

Fans of Under the Tuscan Sun and House Lessons will love Gutted, a witty, big-hearted tale of trading city lights for leaky pipes – and discovering that sometimes the best renovations happen on the inside.

What if the only way to rebuild your life is to begin by tearing down the walls?

When a successful designer, entrepreneur, and lifelong city dweller hesitantly agrees to follow her husband’s dream of country living, she doesn’t expect to be undone by a sagging Victorian farmhouse and the relentless wind howling through uninsulated walls. But as holes are patched and rooms slowly take shape, something surprising happens – space opens up. Not just in their crumbling home, but in her heart.

Told with humour, vulnerability, and the insight of a woman rebuilding more than just a house, Gutted: How an Old House Remodeled Me is a love story – not only between a wife and her husband but also between a woman shaped by fast-paced living and a slower, quieter way of life. With each creaky floorboard and stripped layer of old wallpaper, Maida Korte discovers unexpected beauty, remembers buried dreams, and finds strength in the women who came before her.

For anyone who has ever wondered what lies beyond the edge of timelines and control, this is a warm, wise, and deeply human invitation to slow down, dig deep, and make peace with change – one shingle at a time.

Way Makers: An Anthology of Women’s Writing about Walking Edited by Kerri Andrews

Available in print

The first in a warm, witty and wonderfully twisty new mystery series from much-loved Irish actor, writer and comedian Ardal O’Hanlon - perfect for fans of Graham Norton, Richard Osman and Death in Paradise.

The follow-up to the bestselling Wanderers, Kerri Andrews’s Way Makers, is the first anthology of women’s writing about walking. Moving from the eighteenth century to the present day, and across poetry, letters, diaries, novels and more, this anthology traces a long tradition of women’s walking literature.

Walking is, for the women included in this anthology, a source of creativity and comfort; it is a means of expressing grief, longing and desire. It is also a complicated activity: it represents freedom but is also sometimes tinged with danger and fear. What cannot be denied any longer is that walking was, and continues to be, an activity full of physical and emotional significance for women.

This anthology is testament to the rich literary heritage created by generations of women walker-writers over the centuries.

Redesigning You: Change Your Inner Story, Transform Your Health by Dr Kim Foster

Available in print

Are you caught in the web of promises spun by the wellness industry?

When Dr. Kim Foster was a practicing physician, her days were filled with telling people what to do and why to do it. Despite these efforts, her patients struggled to make the desired changes stick. In Redesigning You, Dr. Foster reveals that our collective preoccupation with the what, why, and how of healthy habits has distracted us from the most important piece: the who, the person at the heart of the matter.

Drawing on behavioural psychology, conversations with her patients, and her own encounter with a rare autoimmune disorder, Dr. Foster guides you to ground your wellness efforts in your own interests and values. Go deeper than surface-level with a method for wellness that is so true, so authentic, it feels effortless. The Redesigning You three-step framework empowers you to embrace holistic wellness in place of quick-fix solutions and fad diets.

• Step 1: Recognise. Uncover the hidden patterns, beliefs, and stories shaping your current reality.

• Step 2: Redesign. Create a new, empowering vision for yourself by rewriting those beliefs and reframing your self-concept.

• Step 3: Ritualize: Turn these changes into sustainable, daily practices that reinforce your transformation.

For any change to be sustainable, it must fit with your concept of yourself. This is your invitation to making changes that are rooted in positive, genuine beliefs about yourself, and which manifest in lifelong healthy habits that feel natural and authentic.

A history of women in piracy : life under the black flag by Roxanne Gregory

Available in print

The word 'pirate' conjures up images of the swashbuckling men featured in the likes of Black Sails and Pirates of the Caribbean, but the world of piracy has a centuries-long history that is filled with little-known women who wielded real power in a man's world long before they were able to even vote in democratic elections.

Their stories are compelling and encompass women of all ethnicities and cultures. From Sayyida al Hurra, Queen of the Barbary Pirates, a muslim woman who successfully preyed on the shipping of her enemies and became governor of Tétouan, to Zhèng Shì, an outlawed Tanka woman born in a brothel who rose to successfully command seventeen thousand men in the Red Flag fleet, which at the time outrivalled the Imperial Chinese Navy.

During the Golden Age of Caribbean Piracy, many transgendered women joined pirate crews even though the presence of a woman aboard ship meant death. Their stories have largely been ignored by history but A History of Women in Piracy uncovers the lives and loves of these daring women who flaunted convention and proved themselves to be every bit as capable (or more so) as their male brethren.

Captain Kidd : a true story of treasure and betrayal by Samuel Marquis

Available in print

Captain William Kidd stands as one of the most notorious “pirate” outlaws ever, but his legend is tainted by a bed of lies. Having captivated imaginations for more than three hundred years and inspired many stories about pirates, troubling questions remain. Was he really a criminal or is the truth more inconvenient: that he was a buccaneer’s worst nightmare, a revered pirate hunter turned fall guy for scheming politicians?

In Captain Kidd, his ninth-great-grandson, bestselling author Samuel Marquis, reveals the real story. Kidd was an English American privateer and leading New York husband and father. The King of England himself dubbed Kidd “trusty and well-beloved,” and some historians describe him as a “worthy, honest-hearted, steadfast, much -enduring sailor” who was the “victim of a deliberate travesty of justice.” With honours far more esteemed than the menacing Blackbeard, or any other sea rover at the turn of the seventeenth century, how can Kidd be considered both gentleman and pirate, both hero and villain?

Marquis’ biography recreates Kidd’s perilous world of explosive naval warfare and the daring integrity he exemplified as a pirate hunter, as well as the political scandal that entangled Kidd in British–American history, rocking the New World and the Old, and threatening England’s valuable trade with India.

Captain Kidd is both thrilling and tragic. Behind the legend is a real man woven into the tapestry of early America, rendering him a unique colonial hero and scapegoat whose life story was fascinating, exciting, bizarre, and heartrending.

Robert Louis Stevenson by Glenda Norquay

Available in print

This concise biography offers a fresh portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson: frail Edinburgh child turned globe-trotting author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

It charts his remarkable literary range – from fiction and poetry to essays and letters – crafted across three continents, often in poor health. Stevenson’s adventurous life and memorable characters captured both popular imagination and critical praise.

Drawing on new scholarship, the book explores his role as a literary innovator and cultural commentator, revealing how his work engaged with the anxieties of a rapidly changing world.

At once celebrity, critic and colonial observer, Stevenson emerges as a truly modern writer, whose influence remains potent today. This is essential reading for lovers of literature, history and global storytelling.

How to agree to disagree By Gabrielle Rifkind

Available in print

As much as we may try to avoid it, disagreement is inevitable -from work to family life, friendships and even internal dilemmas. But how many of us actually know how to deal with conflict effectively? How can you stop a disagreement escalating to an argument? And how can we all learn to communicate better?

World leading conflict mediator and psychotherapist Gabrielle Rifkind is here to help you navigate the discords of daily life with her groundbreaking book How to Agree to Disagree.

This book is a comprehensive, accessible and practical handbook, covering a wide range of different types of conflict. From finances to families, world issues to the workplace, Gabrielle is an encouraging guide through a modern world of conflict, empowering you to be confident when dealing with disagreements and to get along with - almost - anyone.

Victorian railways : echoes of the blue & gold by Nich Anchen

Available in print

Another excellent work from Nick Anchen chronicling Australian railway and social history with this work focusing on the Victorian Railways as it was in the 1960s and 1970s. The railway network back then was more extensive than it is today with many branchlines still servicing local communities with a once a week goods train or a daily return railmotor to a nearby junction. Wooden passenger carriages and four wheel goods wagons were commonplace right across the state.

However improvements in road transport and changes in government direction meant that considerable upheaval would change the railway landscape forever across the State. Richly illustrated with many never seen before photographs depicting typical scenes including busy suburban operation, shunting in sprawling yards and top link express trains including The Vinelander.

Japan's amazing bullet trains by Reirueizu Gurafikku

Available in print

This first ever photographic detailed history of the development of Japan’s well known and extensive high-speed rail network. Covers the development of the high-speed train sets commencing with Series 0 introduced from 1964, the track and new stations and the various services introduced over the decades. The book also documents the high speed network using existing narrow gauge track that was introduced from the mid-1950s.

The layered home : inspiration for creating cozy, collected rooms by Benjamin Reynaert

Available in print

The more patterns and colours combined, the more preloved pieces scooped up at the right time, the more surfaces to display treasured objects, the more a house will feel like home. Layers are key to achieving this maximalist alchemy. It's not a look that can be bought all at once, but one developed over time, leisurely and with intention, as you stay mindful of your space's personality. Most of all, layering a home requires listening to and respecting your own instincts and taste.

The author takes you on a journey through exquisitely decorated homes lived in by creative and curious people. These homes artfully integrate patterns, colours, textures, art, furniture, and objects to create interiors that are as unique as the people who live in them. More than 200 photographs capture home tours of stunning maximalist homes, and Benjamin's interviews with his favourite tastemakers reveal tips and tricks on collecting, arranging objects, and modifying rooms over time.

Arthur Boyd : St Francis tapestries

Available in print

Published to mark the 2026 exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia of 20 tapestries commissioned by renowned Australian artist Arthur Boyd.

Boyd commissioned the tapestries, part of his exploration of the life of Saint Francis, from the Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre, Portugal, and they were purchased by the National Gallery in 1975. This exhibition marks the inaugural presentation of the complete series.

At 2.5 by 3.4 metres, each tapestry is a scene in the artist’s retelling of the life of one of the most venerated figures in human history, St Francis of Assisi. Woven at a scale more than 20 times larger than Boyd’s original source images, and each containing between 4 and 8.5 million stitches, the finished textiles are a testament to the collaborative process of artistic creation.