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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As If by Isabel Waidner

This is an almost impossible book to sum up in a few sentences. Two, or probably just one (or maybe three) men meet in a London apartment. They not only look very similar but also have many overlapping facets to their lives. What follows is a mind-bending and hallucinatory experience as we follow these men as they attempt to land acting roles or reconnect with their estranged families. I finished this novel and emerged back into our humdrum world bewildered and mesmerised by what I had just read. GAVIN

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ROSE

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A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck

Devout Mormon, family man and geologist Soren Johansson dies, and is immediately sent to hell. Hell, it turns out, is a vast library holding every book that could ever possibly exist, which he can only escape by finding the book that contains the story of his life. This 100-page novella, a modern classic first published in 2009 and inspired by Jorge Luis Borges’ short story “The Library of Babel”, has recently been reissued. It’s a beautiful, painful, near-perfect exploration of the absurdity of existence and the fragility of human meaning. 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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Said the Dead by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

This book is why we read. Profoundly gorgeous and Irish as heck. Haunted by the voices of women erased by a Victorian-era asylum’s records; this novel dissolves the line between the living and the dead, the researched and the imagined, in a deeply moving work of literary sorcery. Intense and elegiac, this is one of the most original and formally daring books I’ve read in a long time, written in language so precise and lyrical it reads like poetry made solid. LOVED. 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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Graciela in the Abyss by Meg Medina

Graciela was once living, but now she is a spirit floating through the ocean. The lives lived by the ocean’s slowly disintegrating dead are surprisingly colourful and busy! Sensitive Jorge (alive!) is withering under the weight of his vengeful family. They meet under unfortunate circumstances and embark on an underwater adventure which will test their courage to the limit.

Graciela in the Abyss recalls the world of Greek mythology. Fantastical creatures assisting mortals of long-beleaguered lineage to accomplish great tasks. It is a riveting read! As far as book-as-object goes this one is a beauty too; just look at those sprayed edges! 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.