JUNE'S BIG RELEASES VIEW HERE
Abbey's Bookshop at 131 York Street Sydney is an Aladdin's cave for readers. Whatever your tastes - classic tales, historical fiction, epic sagas, romance, erotic, adventure, experimental, short stories, urban fiction, rural fiction, Australian stories, award winners, bestsellers - you will find them all here.
And if you ever need more assistance in picking your next reading adventure, email info@abbeys.com.au or phone 02 9264 3111 or ask our booksellers in the shop!
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ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- So far, this is my book of the year! Life-affirming, heart-warming, full of joy and warmth and sweetness and poignancy with beautifully realised characters, glorious writing and spot-on observations, this is a book I read slowly to spin out the experience, and when I got to the end, had to go straight back to the beginning to devour all over again!
It starts with Ulysses Temper, born-and-bred working-class Londoner, driving his captain through Italy in 1944. They meet eccentric middle-aged art historian spinster Evelyn Skinner (who is not what she might appear) and together have a night that Ulysses never forgets. He is an optimistic man with a wife back home, and no big ambitions, though he is open to the world. Years later, when the life he thought he would have turns into something unexpected, he finds himself back in Florence, where he makes a new home with an assortment of characters (including a Shakespeare-quoting macaw, a tree-listening handyman and the precociously wise daughter of his wife).
Stretching over 35 years, and alternating between Florence and London, with dashes of serendipity, a touch of nonchalant everyday magic, Luck that smiles and fortune that mocks (and an appearance from E M Forster) this is a story where art, music, love and beauty play out their grand themes in ordinary lives and extraordinary moments. Lindy
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK -----
Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray makes a worthy addition to the fine Indigenous novels that are appearing on the shelves these days. Heiss, who has shown herself to be an accomplished writer, has produced her best ever with this historical novel set on the Murrumbidgee in the nineteenth century.
Life is changing for the proud Wiradyuri (Heiss' preferred spelling) people of the river country, and Wagadhaany finds herself the servant of an ambitious colonial family. They may control her way of living, but they do not control her heart. When the settlement of Gundagai is flooded in 1852, her life is altered still further, and she is taken away from her country by a well-meaning Quaker mistress, who in wanting to do the right thing doesn't consider if it is right by the Indigenous people she wants to assist.
Always yearning for her place, Wagadhaany nonetheless carries on with strength, courage and grace, and finds love with Yindyamarra, a fine Wiradyuri man, employed as a stockman and so no freer than she is, to follow his own inclinations.
A novel that shows the disruption and cruelty of colonialism, but celebrates the enduring culture of the Wiradyuri and the indomitable spirit of a brave woman. Lindy
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Rick McLennan has just lost his New York music journalism job and his longterm partner has finally gotten so sick of him she's thrown him out, so he has nowhere to live. And to cap it off, he's been offered a job that is idea of hell - to write a book about Stevie Fracasso, one-time rock god with a very long list of problems.
Worse than that, Rick will have to collect flying-phobic Stevie and drive across the US to get him to the first gig he's played in years. And the very worst of it? They are long estranged brothers, and Rick definitely doesn't want to make up and play nice. But broke and homeless leave him no choice, so he takes the job...
A rollicking road-trip of a novel, highly entertaining but with touches of heartbreaking poignancy as the brothers learn how to human again with each other. Lindy
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Set in the early 90s, when the country is dealing with recession and increased unemployment, this charming debut novel celebrates the working class battlers of outer suburban Melbourne. Ron is an experienced fossicker at garage sales, roadside hard rubbish and Trading Post listings, but is having trouble since his wife died.
A chance meeting with a troubled woman at the local CES office sees him take on her son, 19yo Joseph, as his offsider. Joseph is listless and lost, but as the story unfolds the reasons for this are made clear. Together these two odd characters learn from each other, and the hope that one day the trash piles will turn out an authentic treasure - like a Fred McCubbin original - fuels their searches.
A novel full of heart that examines life on the outside of luck, without sentimentality but with a lot of gentle sympathy. Lindy
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Late at night, 14yo Sam finds himself about to commit suicide. What stops him is the old bloke, Vic, smoking a cigarette at the other end of the overpass - also on the wrong side of the railings. Vic has his own problems, but he can't let Sam make such a big mistake, and his non-judgemental kindness gives Sam time and room to think things through.
Sam is a sweet child struggling with his identity, and Vic has been carrying a sense of guilt and shame since his Vietnam days but as their friendship develops, each finds the strength and resilience to keep going and to help the other. There's still a lot for Sam to suffer, but he learns that there is help, and he learns eventually how to accept itÂ…
A beautiful story of friendship, redemption and self-acceptance, with truly believable characters you care about and wish only the best for! Lindy
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- When Pamela Robinson of inner-west Sydney misaddresses an email to her ex-husband, it hits the in-box of middle-aged teacher Chris in upstate New York. Pamela starts a correspondence with Chris, using her as a shoulder to cry on and a sounding board for her many insecurities; Chris is more circumspect and more formal in her replies - but as the emails go back and forth, there's plenty to read between the lines.
Pamela is struggling to understand and manage her three teenaged sons, and to navigate life without the husband she left. Chris is caught between her awful mother's expectations of what a daughter owes, and trying to do the right thing by everyone around her, much to her disadvantage. As they continue to correspond, they exchange information, encouragement and hard common sense with each other.
A very interesting novel of happenstance and chance, and of mismatched women finding friendship and support when they need it most. Lindy
Thirty years ago we were introduced to Kingsbridge in The Pillars of the Earth, and now in this masterful prequel international bestseller Ken Follett will take us on a journey into a rich past, which will end where his masterpiece begins.
Buy your copy now and receive a limited edition Ken Follett leather bookmark - while stock lasts!
Should We Stay or Should We Go
Paperback
$29.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Fall in love with this heart-wrenching underdog story about grief, friendship and sticking up for yourself.
Rae is ten years old, and she's tough. She's had to be - life with her mother has taught her the world is not her friend. Now suddenly her mum is gone and Rae is alone, except for her dog Splinter.
Rae can do a lot of things pretty well for a kid. She can take care of herself and Splints, stay under the radar at school and keep the front yard neat enough that the neighbours won't get curious. But she is gnawed at by fear and sadness; haunted by the shadow of a terrible secret.
The winner of the prestigious The Australian/Vogel's Literary Award for 2021.
In those first moments, that admission felt precious to me: it was something that I alone had been deemed worthy enough to carry and I was grateful. I was grateful to finally know, but I still couldn't speak.
Something was wrong, she knew it, but she was entirely unprepared for what he would tell her.
Viewed through the lens of a relationship breakdown after one partner discloses to the other that they are transgender, this autofiction spans eighteen months: from the moments of first discovery, through the eventual disintegration of their partnership, to the new beginnings of independence.
In diaries and letters, Now That I See You unfolds a love story that, while often messy and uncomfortable, is a poignant and personal exploration of identity, gender, love and grief.
The anticipation is building in the air, and Chris can feel it. It's been over a year since he and his uni mates Noah, Logan and Jock had been together, in the same place. Finally, the gang will be back together. Finally, the beers can start flowing!
However, as the night begins it becomes clear that one of them is hiding something. Little does Chris know, this night will take them down a dark path into the depths of each other's lives and the gambling dens of the Sydney underworld: to places that will test their friendship to its very limit.
A story of mateship, despair and redemption told in a Sydney not too far from our own, When Men Cry takes a sobering look at the world of mental health and masculinity: a world where dishonesty breeds dangerous consequences, and where the simplest things can be the hardest to talk about.
Warm, witty and wise, Lovebirds is an astute and uplifting novel about the power of love and family.
Not all marriages end in happily ever after... In their youth, lovebirds Elizabeth and Ray had to fight to be together. Their future was full of promise and, blessed with children and careers, their happiness complete. But a twist of fate changed their lives forever.
Now in her sixties, Elizabeth is desperately lonely. She rarely sees her two adult sons and her closest friend is a talkative budgie. But when her grandson, Zach, gets into trouble with the police, she decides to take him on a road trip to find his grandfather, her lost love Ray, in the hope of mending their broken family.
Two less compatible travelling companions would be hard to find, as they set off on an unlikely adventure into the wilds of the northern NSW hinterland. What they discover along the way, about Ray and each other, has the power to transform them all. In trying to save Zach, Elizabeth might just save herself.
Early 1800s. Thomasina Trelora is on her way to the colonies. Her fate: to be married to a clergyman she's never met. As the Australian coastline comes into view a storm wrecks the ship and leaves her lying on the rocks, near death. She's saved by an Aboriginal man who carries her to the door of a grand European house, Willowbrae.
Tom is now free to be whoever she wants to be and a whole new life opens up to her. But as she's drawn deeper into the intriguing life of this grand estate, she discovers that things aren't quite as they seem. She stumbles across a horrifying secret at the heart of this world of colonial decorum - and realises she may have exchanged one kind of prison for another.
The Ripping Tree is an intense, sharp shiver of a novel, which brings to mind such diverse influences as The Turn of the Screw, Rebecca and the film Get Out as much as it evokes The Secret River. A powerful and gripping tale of survival written in Nikki Gemmell's signature lyrical and evocative prose, it examines the darkness at the heart of early colonisation. Unsettling, audacious, thrilling and unputdownable.
The Queen's Captain
#3 Captain Ian Steele
Paperback
$32.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Mademoiselle Perle and Other Stories (riverrun editions)...
a new selection of the sharp, sensitive...
Paperback
$22.99
In Stock 😊
Collisions - Fictions of the Future
An Anthology of Australian Writers...
Paperback
$29.99
In Stock 😊
Good Citizens Need Not Fear
'Bright, funny, satirical and relevant'...
Paperback
$29.99
In Stock 😊
The Fire of Joy
Roughly 80 Poems to Get by Heart...
Hardback
$44.99
Not in-store but you can order this
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