Explore our books of the month for February; each of the below titles has been read and recommended by our booksellers, so all that's left to do is procure your copy.

FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH

A Country of Eternal Light by Paul Dalgarno

Reviewed by Tye Cattanach, Readings Kids

'A Country of Eternal Light is a startlingly ambitious novel.'

Margaret Bryce is dead. Since her death in 2014, she has spent her time watching over the lives of her two daughters: Eva in Madrid and Rachel in Melbourne. She also checks in on her estranged husband in Aberdeen. When not watching over the lives of those she left behind, she revisits pivotal moments in history, spanning the 75 years between 1945 to 2021.

Margaret sees it all now, yet cannot help but wonder why there isn’t more to death than this. It seems grief has demands, not just of the living, but also of the dead.

A Country of Eternal Light is a startlingly ambitious novel. Truly original in its premise, it poses deep philosophical questions that push the reader to wonder, ‘Do I believe what I think I believe?’ Margaret is a marvellous protagonist. Fully formed and entirely relatable, it feels as though we have the incredible privilege of watching over her (now non-existent) shoulder, following on her magical, often painful, journey through life and death.

CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH

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Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

Reviewed by Julia Jackson, assistant manager at Readings Carlton

'Age of Vice demonstrates Kapoor’s formidable talents as a storyteller.'

At the outset, five people are killed when an expensive car ploughs into pedestrians on a busy street in New Delhi. Narratively speaking, the ripples from this event propel readers into a tale of corruption, greed and revenge, with the legendary, criminal Wadia family at its centre. Orbiting this are Kapoor’s three central characters, who grapple with the powerful forces that only enormous amounts of money and influence can command, as well as their own deeply personal struggles. 

We first meet Ajay, a young man from a poverty-stricken neighbourhood in a village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, and follow his journey to become a ‘Wadia man’ in the employ of Sunny, the ultra-rich heir to the Wadia criminal enterprise. Ajay has a good heart, but the slow erosion of his spirit and moral compass leads him to pursue redemption through revenge. Sunny is a different kettle of fish, decidedly uneasy about his father’s amoral and unethical activities. He wants out, but like any other opponent of his father’s empire, finds it increasingly difficult to make a clean break. For Neda, an investigative reporter and erstwhile lover of Sunny’s, the challenge is to maintain her core and independence as a journalist to avoid losing her moral centre. All three characters are flawed, but Kapoor has written them with great empathy, such that readers willconnect with each. 

NONFICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH

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The God of No Good by Sita Walker

Reviewed by Elke Power, editor of Readings Monthly

'...this memoir is anything but grim – in fact, it is a joy.'

A Brisbane-based teacher and writer, Walker’s memoir reads like a novel and is by turns haunting and hilarious. She has an effortless way with prose, capturing something essential about everyday moments with a deft turn of phrase that gracefully moves between resonant sadness (‘Grief sits in the bones. It burrows deep into marrow and becomes a part of the way a person moves, how their eyes see the light.’) and amusing self-deprecation (‘You were really wonderful, exclamation mark? Hopeless. Earnest, rainbow Paddle Pop fool.’). She takes the reader with her as she recovers from the unexpected end of her marriage, and then finds new love. Along the way, she reflects on her family history and how it has shaped those she loves, and how they love. The tales flit back and forth in time over several generations, and across the world – Adelaide, Thursday Island, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Czech Republic, and beyond. Central to all the stories are five wonderful matriarchs, and their profound Bahá’í faith.

At the heart of this beautiful memoir is a trinity: Walker’s crisis of faith – in God and in herself; love, of all kinds; and family. By the end, it is apparent that Walker and her family have an extraordinary gift for love; also, that they have been overendowed with love’s excruciating losses. Death snatches the young with appalling frequency and colludes with illness to take those who have long borne stoic witness to the earlier tragedies. Yet, somehow, this memoir is anything but grim – in fact, it is a joy.

MIDDLE FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH

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Tumbleglass by Kate Constable

Reviewed by Athina Clarke, Readings Malvern

' Tumbleglass is a captivating time-slip adventure I inhaled in one sitting!'

When she helps her sister, Ash, paint her bedroom, Rowan finds a mysterious ring that transports them back in time to a party held in their home in 1999. Both sisters are intrigued and excited at this turn of events, but Rowan unintentionally disrupts the timeline and, on her return, finds her sister no longer exists in the present. Rowan enlists the help of her mother’s best friend and neighbour, the enigmatic and magical Verity, to repair the timeline and rescue Ash in a race against (and across) time.

Rowan’s adventures at significant moments in the 1970s, 1940s and 1900s yield important personal and historical discoveries: family secrets are exposed, critical events explored. But will Rowan’s tenacity and persistence be enough to recover her sister before she is erased from both time and memory forever?

Award-winning Kate Constable’s latest novel, Tumbleglass, is a captivating time-slip adventure I inhaled in one sitting! It’s a beautifully imagined, multifaceted novel that readers aged 9+ will love. Highly recommended.

YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE MONTH

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Two Can Play That Game by Leanne Yong

Reviewed by Lucie Dess, marketing assistant

...a hilarious, heartwarming story of family, Australian-Malaysian culture, friendship and first love.'

Sam Khoo’s ultimate dream is to make cool indie games for a living. And she is going to make that dream a reality. But first, she needs to get her hands on a super-rare ticket to a game-design workshop. But Jerky McJerkface, aka Jaysen Chua, plays dirty and nabs the last ticket. Sam will not go down without a fight, and threatens Jaysen with the ‘Asian Gossip Network’. He must either accept her challenge of a one-to-one competition of classic video games or she’ll broadcast just how conniving he is to the Australian-Malaysian community.

Despite not having much interest in games other than The Sims, I was drawn into Sam’s world and was captivated by her passion. (I did skim over some of the game play descriptions though!) Sam’s constant battle between the desire to chase her passions and the parental and societal pressures to go to university then get a good job is incredibly relatable.

CHILDREN'S CLASSIC OF THE MONTH

Baby Owls by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson (Illus.)

Reviewed by Gabrielle Williams, the much-loved Readings Prize manager and Readings Foundation grants officer

'...a keepsake that will remain in families for generations.'

The familiarity of a repetitive refrain is very comforting to children, and Owl Babies does this so very, very well. Sarah, Percy and Bill are owl babies, huddling close together on the branch of their tree while they wait for their owl mother to come home. The two older siblings give deep thought as to why their owl mother might be missing (because as we know from this beautiful book, ‘all owls think a lot’), but while Bill wants to believe them, he can’t help expressing his deepest fear: ‘I want my mummy’.

Martin Waddell’s deeply empathetic text confronts the anxiety that all children feel if they realise their parents (especially their mum) is out of sight and might never come back. Patrick Benson’s illustrations are magnificent, conveying both the smallness of three baby birds left alone in the forest, but at the same time depicting the group of three safely huddled together on the tree. This book was published 30 years ago and hasn’t been out of print since. It’s a keepsake that will remain in families for generations, parents reading to children, then grandchildren, everyone huddled together safely. For ages 18-months+.

CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE MONTH

To Listen, To Sing - Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers by Ensemble Offspring

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom, friend of Readings

'This is modern chamber music at its best.'

I have been a fan of Ensemble Offspring for the entirety of my working life. I love that their mission is to program, create and educate about contemporary classical music. Their focus on under-represented musical voices, drawing inspiration from and collaborating with First Nations, female-identifying, and emerging artists has supported the blossoming of whole genres of chamber music in Australia. I have had the great privilege of working with Lamorna, their resident flautist, and I learnt so much by sitting next to her. It was a joy to hear her heavenly sound again in these magnificent compositions from the Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers program.

This program is run in partnership with the Australian Music Centre and was created to ‘build bridges for First Peoples musicians to step forward, further develop their composing skills, and connect with the art music sector’. Along with the Moogahlin Performing Arts and ANU School of Music, the participants of this program also have the opportunity to work with Ensemble Offspring to create new repertoire for performance and recording, supported by respected mentors such as Dr Christopher Sainsbury of ANU and the Dharug nation.