Download book club notes for the Readings Prize shortlist 2017
Calling all book clubs! If you’re looking for your next book club read we highly recommend one of the six books on this year’s shortlist for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. You can read more about each title below, as well as download book club notes.
This year, we’re also pleased to be running a special reading challenge to tie in with our shortlist. Participants can win a $100 Readings gift voucher, and you find the details here.
The Windy Season by Sam Carmody
A young fisherman is missing from the crayfish boats in the West Australian town of Stark. There’s no trace at all of Elliot, there hasn’t been for some weeks and Paul, his younger brother, is the only one who seems to be active in the search. Taking Elliot’s place on the boat skippered by their troubled cousin, Paul soon learns how many opportunities there are to get lost in those many thousands of kilometres of lonely coastline.
You can download book club notes here
Australia Day by Melanie Cheng
Australia Day is a collection of stories about people who are young, old, rich, poor, married, widowed, Chinese, Lebanese, Christian, Muslim. What they have in common is the desire we all share to feel that we belong. The stories ask crucial questions about the possibility of human connection in a globalised world.
You can download book club notes here
Jean Harley Was Here by Heather Taylor Johnson
A woman opens her car door, knocking a passing cyclist into the path of an oncoming van. That cyclist is Jean Harley, but this is not her story. It is the stories of the people she leaves behind – her husband, her mother, her friends, her son, her former lover and the man who was driving the van.
You can download book club notes here
The Good People by Hannah Kent
Setin a remote valley of south-west Ireland in 1825, three women are brought together by a four-year-old boy. Michaél suffers from a mysterious malady. His grandmother, Nóra Leahy, cares for him with help from Mary, a hired girl. When, amid darkening rumours, they seek advice from the resident wise woman, tragedy appears inevitable.
You can download book club notes here
The Lost Pages by Marija Peričić
The Lost Pages is the imagined memoir of Franz Kafka’s literary executor, Max Brod. Opening in Prague, 1908, he is the rising star of the literary world. But when a rival, the talented newcomer Franz Kafka, appears on the scene, Max discovers how quickly he can lose everything he has worked so hard to attain.
You can download book club notes here
From the Wreck by Jane Rawson
From the Wreck reimagines the remarkable story of George Hills, who survived the real-life sinking of the steamship Admella off the South Australian coast in 1859. Haunted by his memories and the disappearance of a fellow survivor, George’s fractured life is intertwined with that of a woman from another dimension, seeking refuge on Earth.
You can download book club notes here
