The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim

$24.99 AUD

$32.99 (24% off)

Category: Chick novels

'Suspenseful and deeply felt...raises questions about the reality of the American dream and illuminates stories that often go untold, in life as well as fiction' Chloe Benjamin, bestselling author of The Immortalists Reminiscent of Celeste Ng's page-turning meditations on identity, this searing mother- daughter story explores the diverse and unsettling realities of being an immigrant in America. Margot Lee's mother is ignoring her calls. Margot cannot understand why, until she makes a surprise trip home to Koreatown, LA. What she finds there makes her realise how little she knows about her mother, Mina. Thirty years earlier, Mina Lee steps off a plane to take a chance on a new life in America. Stacking shelves at a Korean grocery store, the last thing she expects is to fall in love. But that moment will have shattering consequences for Mina, and everything she left behind in Seoul. Through the intimate lens of a mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand each other, Margot and Mina's story unravels the unspoken secrets that can drive two people apart - or perhaps bind them closer together. 'Carefully illuminates the two sides of the silence between a Korean immigrant mother and her Korean American daughter, a silence only too familiar to many of us - and emerges with a stunningly powerful and original novel' Alexander Chee, bestselling author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel ...Show more

Flying the Nest by Rachael Johns

$32.99 AUD

Category: Chick novels

They say a change is as good as a holiday...but what if you don't want either? Is her family's happiness more important than her own? The first time Ashling Wood realises her marriage is on the rocks is when her husband, Adrian, suggests they try nest parenting. Heartbroken, Ash suddenly finds herself living a double life - one week with her children, the next cohabiting with her happily single sister-in-law. Her friends think the modern custody solution is an exciting opportunity for her to spread her wings, but all Ash wants is her family back together. An offer to renovate a seaside cottage seems like the perfect distraction for Ash while waiting for Adrian to come to his senses. She's determined to fix her marriage as well as the cottage, but life gets even more complicated when she meets local fisherman Dan Emerson. Soon, each home-stay becomes more dysfunctional, while for the other week Ash enjoys the peaceful life of the beachside community. The more time Ash spends in Ragged Point, the more she questions what she really wants. Is a sea-change the fresh start she needs to move on? When tragedy calls Ash back to the city, she's torn between the needs of her family and her future. Can her family life fit in with a permanent move to the beach or could Ash's new-found independence attract Adrian back to the nest? ...Show more

Wherever You Go - Around the World Supper Club by Monique Mulligan

$29.99 AUD

Category: Chick novels

A life-shattering tragedy threatens to tear apart chef Amy Bennet's marriage. Desperate to save it, she moves with her husband Matt to Blackwood, a country town where no one knows who they are.   Forced to deal with her crumbling marriage and the crippling grief that follows her wherever she goes, Amy turns to what she knows best: cooking. She opens a caf showcasing regional seasonal produce, and forms the Around the World Supper Club, serving mouth-watering feasts to new friends. As her passion for food returns, she finds a place for herself in Blackwood. But when a Pandora's Box of shame and blame is unlocked, Matt gives Amy an ultimatum that takes their marriage to the edge.   Rich with unexpected characters and extraordinary insight, Wherever You Go is a powerful and ultimately uplifting tale of heartbreaking loss, recovery, and redemption. ...Show more

Kokomo by Victoria Hannan

$27.99 AUD

Category: Chick novels

A stunning debut novel from the winner of the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. 'Hannan's Kokomo is a sharply observed novel of one woman's facade and how it falls; an undoing that is both ordinary and compelling. This debut heralds an exciting new Australian voice with a story of estrangement from kin, friendship, love, self and country - one that will be familiar to many, and surprising, for it is often a shock to see one's reflection.' - Anna Krien, author of NIGHT GAMES and ACT OF GRACE When Mina receives an urgent call from her best friend back in Melbourne, her world is turned upside down. Her reclusive mother, Elaine, has left the house for the first time in twelve years. Mina drops everything to fly home, only to discover that Elaine will not talk about her sudden return to the world, nor why she's spent so much time hiding from it. Their reunion leaves Mina raking through pieces of their painful past in a bid to uncover the truth. Both tender and fierce, heartbreaking and funny, Kokomo is a story about how secrets and love have the power to bring us together and tear us apart. ...Show more

The Novel Habits of Happiness (#10 Isabel Dalhousie) by Alexander McCall Smith

$16.99 AUD

Category: Chick novels | Series: Isabel Dalhousie Novels

Isabel Dalhousie is one of Edinburgh's most generous (but discreet) philanthropists - but should she be more charitable? She wonders, sometimes, if she is too judgmental about her niece's amorous exploits, too sharp about her housekeeper's spiritual beliefs, too ready to bristle in battle against her en emies. As the editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, she doesn't, of course, allow herself actual enemies, but she does feel enmity - especially towards two academics who have just arrived in the city. Isabel feels they're a highly destabilizing influence; little tremors in the volcanic rock upon which an Enlightened Edinburgh perches. Equally troubling is the situation of the little boy who is convinced he had a previous life. When Isabel is called upon to help, she finds herself questioning her views on reincarnation. And the nature of grief. And - crucially - the positioning of lighthouses. The only questions Isabel doesn't have to address concern her personal life. With her young son and devoted husband her home life is blissfully content. Which is the best possible launching pad for the next issue of the Review - the Happiness issue. As Isabel is beginning to appreciate, happiness, for most people, is not quite what it seems ... ...Show more

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

$19.99 AUD

Category: Chick novels

Teeming with energy, humour and heart, a love song to black Britain told by twelve very different people. Grace is a Victorian orphan dreaming of the mysterious African father she will never meet. Winsome is a young Windrush bride, recently arrived from Barbados. Amma is the fierce queen of her 1980s squatters' palace. Morgan, who used to be Megan, is blowing up on social media, the newest activist-influencer on the block. Twelve very different people, mostly black and female, more than a hundred years of change, and one sweeping, vibrant, glorious portrait of contemporary Britain. Bernardine Evaristo presents a gloriously new kind of history for this old country- ever-dynamic, ever-expanding and utterly irresistible. ...Show more

HRT: Husband Replacement Therapy by Kathy Lette

$24.95 AUD

Category: Chick novels

Ruby is generous, sunny and funny - which is why all her friends, family and colleagues have turned up to celebrate her 50th birthday. But with a few too many glasses of champers under her belt, Ruby's speech doesn't go exactly to plan. Instead of the witty and warm words guests are expecting, Ruby take s her moment in the spotlight to reveal what she really thinks of them. Shocking them all, she also accuses her husband, Harry, of having an affair, and reads to the audience the evidence she found on his phone that very morning. And, saving the best till last, Ruby lambasts her calculatingly cruel mother for spending her life playing her three daughters against each other. It's blisteringly brutal. As the stunned gathering gawk at Ruby, the birthday girl concludes her bravura monologue with the throwaway comment that she has terminal cancer. She has cashed out her life savings and plans on taking her two sisters cruising until she dies. Only, do they really want to go with her? And, was it her medical results she read?         ...Show more

The Muse by Jessie Burton

$13.00 AUD

Category: Chick novels | Reading Level: very good

A picture hides a thousand words ...On a hot July day in 1967, Odelle Bastien climbs the stone steps of the Skelton gallery in London, knowing that her life is about to change forever. Having struggled to find her place in the city since she arrived from Trinidad five years ago, she has been offered a j ob as a typist under the tutelage of the glamorous and enigmatic Marjorie Quick. But though Quick takes Odelle into her confidence, and unlocks a potential she didn't know she had, she remains a mystery - no more so than when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery. The truth about the painting lies in 1936 and a large house in rural Spain, where Olive Schloss, the daughter of a renowned art dealer, is harbouring ambitions of her own. Into this fragile paradise come artist and revolutionary Isaac Robles and his half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the Schloss family, with explosive and devastating consequences ...Seductive, exhilarating and suspenseful, The Muse is an unforgettable novel about aspiration and identity, love and obsession, authenticity and deception - a masterpiece from the million-copy bestselling author of The Miniaturist. ...Show more

River Run by Nicole Alexander

$12.95 AUD

Category: Australian authors

Taking place over just one week, River Run is an unputdownable rural drama from the bestselling author of The Bark Cutters and Wild Lands. It is January 1951, and after a year away Eleanor Webber has returned home to River Run, her family's sprawling sheep property in western New South Wales. Fleeing a failed love affair back in Sydney, she hopes for some time and space to heal. But with shearing of over 25,000 sheep about to commence, and the infamous and moneyed Margaret Winslow and her husband Keith staying in the main house as her mother's guests, that dream is quickly dashed. More worryingly, her half-brother Robbie is increasingly running wild, playing tricks on his governess, antagonising the jackeroos and obsessing about a communist invasion. Though only eleven, Robbie has appointed himself guardian of the property and, in his treehouse by the river, he readies for an imminent attack. Armed with a gun. Then, with a storm looming and tensions rising in the shearing shed, a mysterious stranger appears on the horizon. And in one disastrous moment young Robbie entangles Eleanor in a situation that will have serious repercussions for every mem ...Show more

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

$23.99 AUD

Category: Chick novels

Queenie Jenkins can't cut a break. Well, apart from one from her long term boyfriend, Tom. That's definitely just a break though. Definitely not a break up. Stuck between a boss who doesn't seem to see her, a family who don't seem to listen (if it's not Jesus or water rates, they're not interested), and trying to fit in two worlds that don't really understand her, it's no wonder she's struggling. She was named to be queen of everything. So why is she finding it so hard to rule her own life? Perfect for fans of Dolly Alderton, Sally Rooney and Diana Evans, and anyone who loved Fleabag and Dear White People. ...Show more

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

$32.99 AUD

Category: Chick novels

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Te n years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' story lines intersect?  Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, THE VANISHING HALF considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. ...Show more

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George; Simon Pare (Translator)

$22.99 AUD

Category: Chick novels | Reading Level: very good

An International BestsellerMonsieur Perdu is a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life to mend broken hearts and souls.The only person he can't heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a litter, which he has never opened. Finally tempted to read the letter, Perdu hauls anchor and departs on a mission to discover the end of the story. ...Show more