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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The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

With a new character stepping into the frame, history teacher, Artie Dam, Strout effortlessly reveals the tensions between our responsibilities to others and truth-telling. Fall in love with Artie as he learns that the things we never say can be both touchstones for transformation and devastation. MOLLY

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JO

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Land by Maggie O’Farrell

Starting in Ireland in the 1860’s this beautiful novel tells the story and the history of a family. O’Farrell explores themes of family, religion, separation, history and ancient land. Through the art of mapping, and her deep understanding of peoples connection with the landscape, she weaves a beautiful, lyrical tale of Tomas, his son Liam and their family. I loved every page and cried at the end. Jo

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GAVIN

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The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley

Tracing the graceful arc of a lifetime's friendship with her trademark surgeon's clarity and finesse, this is the latest novel in Gwendoline Riley's singular body of work. At once tender, the non-romantic friendship between Laura and Edmund is portrayed gently and warmly, but occasionally very waspishly as she dissects the eternal vicissitudes and inanities of friends, lovers and contemporary society. Riley's style is her own, not a word is wasted. She is a compelling author, and The Palm House is an eminently readable novel. GAVIN

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ROSE

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John of John by Douglas Stuart

On a tiny, remote, barren island off the coast of Scotland in an insular and deeply conservative Calvinist community, artistic and sensitive Cal Macleod hides the fact that he is gay from everyone, especially his devout and complicated father - who also happens to be hiding his sexuality. Intimate but epic in scale, the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain articulates the deep loneliness of denying who you are. 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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Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash

I knew from page one that I loved this book. The ‘funny-and-moving family drama’ book market is saturated with mediocre reads; this one is a unicorn. Shifting between perspectives of the unravelling Flynn family, our characters are richly drawn, darkly humorous and magnetic. The book flirts with becoming a mystery in the second half, but always remains anchored in the gravitational pull of the family dynamic. My cup was left feeling full. A break-the-glass book for when you need a bit of levity in your reading. HEATHER

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NADIA

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Body Double by Hanna Johansson

Consider this my official formation of the Hanna Johansson fan club! This Swedish literary thriller, with Hitchcockian levels of tension, had me gripped from the very first page. Two women accidentally swap coats, and a transcriber hears someone speaking to her at the other end of the tape. In typical Johansson style, she weaves desire, obsession and loneliness seamlessly, which makes for an utterly intoxicating read. NADIA

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EMILIE

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Once Upon Tomorrow by Karen Comer

Three tales interweave; in the present a girl dreams big (appropriately for a Jungian analyst hopeful), in the future another finds solace from constant digital brain input at the library, while the last dwells… in a fairytale? A world between worlds? She spins tapestries and tales in desperate hope.

What an astonishing, ambitious verse novel! As much as I was entranced by the telling of each girl's plight, the magic of Once Upon Tomorrow for me was the way it inspired further pondering. It encouraged me to think deeper than ever before about archetypes (their uses and limitations), how to balance hope and fear for the future, and to contemplate in what ways the stories we tell ourselves affect who we become and how our lives unfold. 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.