We are heading into the second month of Autumn, and our shelves are packed full of incredible reads filled with adventure, romance, betrayal, and mysteries. Our beloved book club hosts Victoria Carthew and Lee Carseldine, are back for another round of book reviews for our QBD Books community.
You do not want to miss out on this month’s epic lineup and make sure to visit us in-store or online to secure your copy and compare reviews!
Let’s dive in…
May Fiction Book of the Month
“Red River Road” by Anna Downes
Solo traveller Katy is on a mission to discover her lost carefree sister who disappeared without a trace on the Coral Coast of Western Australia a year ago. But as she travels further into the wilderness, Katy realises there is much more to her sister’s disappearance than she first believed.
Quickly, she is hurtled into a thick web of lies, secrets, and myths that force Katy to interrogate everything she thought she knew about her sister. In this layered and breakneck story, Anna expertly shines a light on the correlation between our obsession with freedom and beauty as well as a primal fear of what lies in the wilderness.
Get your copy of “Red River Road” for a title that will grip you tightly until the very last page.
“You Are Here” by David Nicholls
Marnie is lost. Lost in her job and life alone in her London flat, lost battling the tedious afternoons and a life that progressively feels like it is leaving her behind. Michael is falling apart. Devastated from his wife’s departure he has taken to isolating himself and partaking in long, solitary walks across the moors.
An insistent mutual friend and the occurrence of some classic English weather collude to bring Marnie and Michael together. They abruptly find themselves alone on the most fantastic of walks and on the cliff of a new friendship blossoming. But can it survive the journey?
“You Are Here” is a must-have for your May reading list if you are looking to experience a roller coaster of heart-aching emotions, and a marvelous story to give your loved one for Mother’s Day.
“Funny Story” by Emily Henry
Daphne has always fancied how Peter told their love story. How they met, where they fell in love, and how they moved back to his hometown to embark on the rest of their epic journey together. However, their story became more of a prequel to Peter’s actual fairy tale with his childhood best friend, Petra. So, Daphne finds herself stranded in a cramped town and attempts to convince Petra’s heartbroken ex, Miles, to move in as flat mates. Miles is the opposite of Daphne, awkward, goofy, and shy. Until one night on a drunken adventure, a delicate friendship is struck between the two.
Miles convinces Daphne to grant the picturesque town one more summer and he will show her everything he loves about it, and if they happen to post deliberately disingenuous photos of their outings together, so be it. But as Daphne starts to fall for the quaint town, she must ask herself is Miles just a side note in her epic love story with Peter, or was Peter, not her prince charming after all?
“Funny Story” has every ingredient a reader could want in a cozy and delightful read with gorgeous characters, a charming township, an unexpected budding romance, and plenty of tricky crossroads that life loves to throw our way.
“Radio Hour” by Victoria Purman
This story follows Martha Berry an unassuming fifty-year-old spinster who goes to work each day without fuss or reward like many other women in 1956-era Sydney. Martha is employed by Australia’s national broadcaster; in her years she has seen highly talented employees come and go. But when she is sent to work as a secretary on an exciting new radio serial, Martha finds herself at the mercy of an arrogant young producer without experience, a conservative broadcaster, and a widely mixed bag of actors.
Martha is pushed to step in to rescue the new show from imminent cancellation, and she suddenly becomes the secret ghost-writer of scripts for As The Sun Sets, inciting mayhem with management, and creating storylines that connect with the increasing audience of female listeners. But secrets can’t last forever, and Martha is threatened with exposure. She quickly needs to decide whether to remain anonymous or finally step into the spotlight.
With a talented, witty, and charming female protagonist and an epic plot of facing adversity and realising your worth not only as a professional but as a person, “Radio Hour” is the perfect heart-warming and fierce story to dive into this May.
“Milking Time” by Rachael Treasure
The daughter of a fourth-generation Tasmanian dairy farmer, Connie Mulligan, has big dreams and big ideals, but her university degree is now in turmoil, and she has been sent home in disgrace. Connie has become frustrated and petulant with her family and community, the man responsible for her failure at university plagues her nightmares, her mother wants her to take anti-depressants and her father doesn’t care for any of her ideas to implement environmentally friendly changes to their family’s dairy farm.
It is not until an opportunity to travel to Ireland arises that Connie realises everything she desires back home – friends, community, family and a healthy, healing land is within her grasp. All Connie needs to do is reach out and make it happen.
With the help of a tight-knit group of passionate women, and all her willpower and intelligence, Connie is determined to seize her life, save her family farm, and heal her past.
Connie’s character and story will have you leaping up and cheering with joy, tearing up with brutal vulnerability and your heart aching and marveling at the power of a small community and family. “Milking Time” is a must-add to your May reading list and a great title to gift a loved one for Mother’s Day!
