If, like us, you’re planning on staying indoors and no more than two metres away from an air conditioner this coming month, you could do a lot worse than spending most of that time reading Text’s February books.
Have a look at our offerings below and then head over to Text’s Facebook page for your chance to win one.
The Cage by Lloyd Jones is a profound and unsettling novel about humanity and dignity and the ease with which we’re able to justify brutality.
Two mysterious strangers appear at a hotel in a small country town.
Where have they come from? Who are they? What catastrophe are they fleeing? The townspeople want answers, but the strangers are unable to speak of their trauma. And before long, wary hospitality shifts to suspicion and fear, and the care of the men slides into appalling cruelty.
Off the Record: A Novel by Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlisted author Craig Sherborne is the tale of Words, a tabloid journalist whose conscience left town decades ago. When his life begins to disintegrate, he vows to do whatever it takes to get back into everyone’s good books.
And that is what he sets out to do, in a series of ever more calamitous, destructive and amoral adventures.
Will the irredeemable Words win back his family? Or is comeuppance around the corner?
This I Would Kill For: Natalie King, Forensic Psychiatrist by Anne Buist is the latest instalment in the Natalie King series.
Natalie finds herself reluctantly embroiled in a custody dispute where it becomes clear the mother’s claims of child sexual abuse have some basis in fact – but was the abuse at the hands of the ex-husband, or someone else?
At the same time Natalie has her own challenges to sort through regarding her surprise pregnancy and uncertainty around who the father is.
The most compelling episode in the Natalie King saga yet, This I Would Kill For is a gripping, intelligent page-turner that will keep readers on the edge of their seat.
The Story of Shit by Midas Dekkers delves into a subject that affects all of us – though we rarely talk about it.
While plenty of attention is paid to cooking and eating, the act of shitting has been shunned as one of shame and embarassment. But given the average person spends a year of their life on the toilet, perhaps it’s time this changed!
Dutch biologist Midas Dekkers presents a personal, cultural, scientific, historical and environmental account of shit, from the digestive process and the fascinating workings of the gut, to the act of defecation and toilet etiquette. With irreverent humour and a compelling narrative style, Dekkers brings a refreshing, entertaining and illuminating perspective to a once-taboo subject.
A Week in the Life of Cassandra Aberline by Glenda Guest takes us on a philosophical journey across Australia and into the past of a woman with an unresolved secret.
After forty-five years in Sydney, Cassandra Aberline returns to her home town in the Western Australian wheat belt in the same way she left: on the Indian Pacific train.
As they cross the emptiness of the vast Australian inland, Cassie travels back through her memories, too, frightened that she’s about to lose them forever – and with them, her last chance to answer the question that has haunted her almost all her life.
The classic art-world mystery from one of Australia’s most iconic novelists, The Brush-Off by Shane Maloney, winner of the 1996 Ned Kelly Award for Crime Fiction, joins the Text Classics list.
Murray Whelan, hero of Stiff, is back at his richly futile best in The Brush-Off. When the body of an artist is fished from the moat outside the National Gallery, Murray – political minder, brushed-off lover and art buff on the make – goes looking for the big picture.
Griffith Review 59: Commonwealth Now, edited by Julianne Schultz and Jane Camens, considers the role the Commonwealth of Nations in a time of geopolitical uncertainty. Is it a legacy of another age, or capable of exercising real power and influence?
Commonwealth Now features writers from around the world who explore the contemporary experience of Commonwealth citizens: reconciling the past, confronting new challenges, and opening new exchanges to create a sustainable and equitable future.
And to coincide with Clint Eastwood’s thrilling film version of The 15:17 to Paris: In the Face of Fear Ordinary People Can Do the Extraordinary by Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone and Jeffrey E. Stern, Text is releasing a film tie-in edition.
On 21 August 2015, Ayoub al-Khazzani boarded a train in Brussels bound for Paris. We now know that he was an ISIS terrorist. Khazzani’s mission was clear: he had an AK-47, a pistol, a box cutter, and enough ammunition to obliterate the 554 passengers on the crowded train. But as he began to execute his plan, he encountered an unstoppable line of defence: three American friends.
The 15:17 to Paris is a gripping account of the foiled attack by the three men who lived it – Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone. It is also the story of what compelled three lifelong friends to run towards danger instead of from it – towards humanity, not away from terror.
Please Ignore Vera Dietz is A. S. King’s standout novel about a young girl coming to terms with her best friend’s death.
Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything. So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone – the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?
In true A. S. King style, Please Ignore Vera Dietz covers a vast terrain of themes such as bullying, grief, abandonment and dysfunctional families.
Yes, we know – we were right. These are the books you’re looking for.
To win one of these riveting reads, visit our Facebook page now and tell us which book you would like (an epigram would be epic).
The competition is open to AU/NZ residents only and entries close midnight AEST Sunday 4 February. Winners will be notified via Facebook (one book per person only).
