OUR BOOKSELLERS

Meet our Matilda booksellers - what they’ve liked lately and some of their all-time favourite books and authors.

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MOLLY

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Down in the Valley by Paolo Cognetti

Two estranged brothers from a mountainous village in Northern Italy meet up for a night of drinking to settle accounts after their father's death. Meanwhile, a wolf is roaming the highlands causing carnage, and a pregnant wife is learning the brutal lore of her husband's childhood. With the potent symbolism of short fiction, this novel uses trees, rivers, and wolves to tell an exquisite story of place and ferocious love. MOLLY

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JO

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A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan

This evocative and gripping novel, told from the perspective of a young girl and set over summer in a small New Zealand town,kept me enthralled until the last pages. From the outside everyone seems happy, but secrets, both big and small, are eventually uncovered which change things forever. Trevelyan writes beautifully and sustains a tone of barely-concealed tension throughout.
I really enjoyed this. Jo

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GAVIN

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Cure by Katherine Brabon

In the hands of a less-skilled author, Cure might be a trudge, mother and daughter share the same debilitating illness and travel to Italy together, where the mother once made the same journey, to find a mysterious healer. Brabon's pearlescent prose however elevates this to something special, the multiple and overlapping layers of connection between the two characters, beyond the familial, unfold across their travels in a truly compelling manner. This is a rich and deep novel to savour. Gavin

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ROSE

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Happiness and Love by Zoe Dubno

Fall under the spell of an unnamed writer and professional hater as she endures a single, hideous evening with a group of former friends she despises. Years after she fled her New York art-scene peers for a life in London, the protagonist returns to hear her former best friend, a failed actress, has killed herself. The day of the funeral she finds herself back on Eugene and Nicole’s sofa: this hateful artist-curator couple are hosting a dinner party, ostensibly to honour their mutual friend, but really to show off to a famous actress who is very late to arrive. I was hypnotised by this debut novel, by turns loving and hating the stream of vitriol that takes a final, unforgettable turn. ROSE

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KASEY

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Plastic Budgie by Olivia de Zilva

This brutally funny debut really nails the brutal, and yet finishes with a hopeful glimpse of things to come. Whether you consider this fiction / autofiction / memoir, you’ll find the narrator well-realised and haunting. The cultural touchpoints of growing up in Y2K Adelaide offer an accessible means to identify with the narrator, whilst also allowing glimpses of the ways that grappling with cultural heritage in the face of racism underpinned the narrator’s childhood and shaped their later years too. De Zilva’s voice is powerful and provoking. This is a stunning debut. KASEY

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HEATHER

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The Director by Daniel Kehlman

This might be my favourite read this year. A cinematic, puzzle-like novel, The Director is a darkly humorous page-turner that blurs historical fiction and biography. Loosely based on filmmaker G. W. Pabst’s entrapment in Nazi Germany, Kehlmann’s account is wholly original. Shifting perspectives, taut action, surreal sequences and sharp philosophical questions converge: How do we reconcile with art created in the shadow of atrocity? Propulsive and morally complex, this is fiction at its most addictive and inventive. My new go-to book to gift. HEATHER

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NADIA

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Djinns by Fatma Aydemir, tr. Jon Cho-Polizzi

A Turkish immigrant family, living in Germany in the 90s, is forced to travel to Istanbul after the sudden death of their father – a man who sacrificed everything to give his family a better life. Aydemir, weaving the past and the present, creates a full portrait of family life as these characters struggle with identity, intergenerational trauma, and a sense of belonging, when neither Germany or Türkiye feels like home. Djinns is incredibly nuanced and heart wrenching. I promise you will miss every single character once you close this book. NADIA

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EMILIE

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The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest

The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest is a legitimately lovely and complex middle grade read. The titular fox is an usher of dead souls into the afterlife. It's sensitive and a clever exploration of death, uncertainty, what it means to live a worthwhile life... all that good stuff! It can be a bit dark, but also I imagine a comfort, especially for young, grieving souls. Emilie.

ASK OUR BOOKSELLERS

Do you need a hand choosing your next book?

Our Matilda booksellers are now offering a book recommendation service. If you’d like to fill out the form here, our widely-read staff will be in touch soon with their personal selections.