This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is about the deeply traumatic years of the US Civil War and its conflicts and shortages of resources. Its focus is on a family that is falling apart and that eventually finds sanctuary in a lunatic asylum (a building that is now listed). I loved this book, although some of the time changes and changes of voice were a bit confusing in the audiobook version. I would suggest reading this in paper or ebook format.
From one of our most accomplished novelists, a mesmerizing story about a mother and daughter seeking refuge in the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War
In 1874, in the wake of the War, erasure, trauma, and namelessness haunt civilians and veterans, renegades and wanderers, freedmen and runaways. Twelve-year-old ConaLee, the adult in her family for as long as she can remember, finds herself on a buckboard journey with her mother, Eliza, who hasn’t spoken in more than a year. They arrive at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, delivered to the hospital’s entrance by a war veteran who has…
A first person story written from the viewpoints of a female character at ages twelve and sixty. Twelve year-old Andie grew up In Brisbane Australia in a dysfunctional gambling family that was obsessed by greyhound racing, although Andie herself was more interested in the family greyhound Tenderfoot and her beloved family. The novel is a moving coming-of-age tale in which mature Andie reveals a tender wisdom for her younger self and comes to realize at last that her difficult mother loved her and that the father she adored was flawed.
'Tenderfoot is magnificent. Deeply moving. Beautiful. Powerful' TRENT DALTON
By the bestselling, award-winning author of Addition, an exhilarating novel about coming of age in 1970s Australia.
Wait for the boxes to open, wait for the race to begin. Wait, and your greyhound will cease to be the dog you know and become an entirely different kind of animal.
Brisbane, 1975: Andie Tanner's world is small but whole. Her mum is complicated, but she adores her dad and the kennel of racing greyhounds that live under their house. Andie is a serious girl with plans: finish school with her friends, then…
A complex clever cosy mystery written from a number of different viewpoints, each character with their own problems. The author has a gift for getting into different point-of-view characters' heads and writes with much humor, so much so that I occasionally laughed out loud.
THE INSTANT #1 BESTSELLER (SUNDAY TIMES, UK) • The highly anticipated return of "irresistible" (New York Times) private eye Jackson Brodie in the newest installment of the bestselling series hailed as "unputdownable" by Time
“How delicious to have Jackson Brodie back, this time in a story that starts off in Agatha Christie's world but soon becomes a landscape that could only have been crafted from the pen of the incomparable Kate Atkinson.”–Ian Rankin, author of the Inspector Rebus Novels
Welcome to Rook Hall. The stage is set. The players are ready. By night’s end, a murderer will be revealed.
Publication date August 2025 Buy the book Australian Author
‘A deftly crafted and atmospheric murder myster with compassionately drawn characters. Highly recommended.’
Nicole Alexander, author of The Limestone Road
‘A L Booth is a gifted and subtle storyteller who combines the excitement of a murder mystery with meticulous historical research and deep feeling for the atmosphere of Australian small-town life.’
FRANK BONGIORNO, author of Dreamers and Schemers, A Political History of Australia
‘A page-turner... a remarkable historical novel.’
JULIA LEVITINA, author of The Girl from Moscow
‘An immersive historical page-turner with a well-elaborated plot containing strikingly contemporary issues.’
LUC LERUTH, author of Rumble in A Village” Death at Booroomba cover.jpg
In 1915, two days before being sent to fight in WWI, Jack O'Rourke dived into Sydney Harbour to save a drowning stranger, Samuel Lomond. Four years later, battle-scarred and weary, Jack returns home only to discover that Samuel has been brutally murdered - and that he's been left his rural property, Booroomba.
When Jack arrives in Warrawolong, a small town near Eden, to claim his inheritance, he finds only hostile stares. Suspected of the crime by the townsfolk and local constable, Jack launches his own investigation into Samuel's death - and soon discovers the townsfolk aren't as innocent as they seem.
Now Jack must expose a killer hiding in plain sight - before he becomes the next victim of a decades-old conspiracy. A neighbour coveting water rights, a struggling newspaper proprietor, a vengeful labourer, a secret affair and two Russian émigrés lead Jack right to the heart of the crime.
A small town hides big secrets, in A L Booth's deeply evocative historical whodunnit.
