Top 8 new book releases

Kara Douglas, a New Zealand author, spent ten years researching this novel, which is a fictionalised account of one of Australia’s worst industrial disasters.

In the 1960s, Abele Moretti is recruited in Italy with the promise ofa house and financial security to work
at a blue asbestos mine in Wittenoom, WesternAustralia. Abele and his wife, Maria, leave their family and friends and relocate to the harsh and desolate outback. The work is backbreaking and despite health warnings to management, which are wilfully ignored, the mine continues to operate.

Thirty years later Abele becomes ill and the family begins a challenging journey to seek justice.

The story is told initially by Abele and the Wittenoom mine manager, and later also by the lawyer and Abele’s daughter.

AMNESTY, ARAVIND ADIGA

In Sydney, Sri Lankan immigrant Danny has overstayed his student visa, which makes him an illegal alien. Working as a cleaner for privileged Sydneysiders, Danny learns that one of his clients has been murdered by another.

Over the course of 24 hours, Danny is faced with the dilemma of giving up his livelihood and girlfriend and risking deportation by informing the police.

The book brings up the complex bureaucracy about people who have arrived in the country legally but then overstayed their welcome, and asylum seekers who enter illegally. In Danny’s case, he faces a legal dichotomy of having left a war-scarred, tsunami-ravaged homeland yet his asylum application is rejected because he wasn’t smuggled in.

WILD KINSHIP, CONVERSATIONS WITH CONSCIOUS ENTREPRENEURS, MONIQUE HEMMINGSON

Monique is an avid wellness advocate for our planet, mind and body. As a former owner of a popular café in Mount Maunganui, Monique came into contact with
a number of forward-thinking small businesses and felt they had an important story to tell the world. With that in mind, Monique has put together a collection

of conversations she’s had with entrepreneurs who are forging a new path and changing the world in their wake. Many of these businesses are from Australia’s Byron Bay, well known for its alternative lifestyle vibe.

Monique’s passion for design, whole foods, holistic wellness and creative entrepreneurship are evident in this beautifully presented hardcover book.

SCATTERLOGICAL WISDOM, FRANCES HALL

Scatterlogical is a word Frances Hall created to reflect the process of bringing all her varying careers and roles together – from lollipop making to sales, writing, journalism, tour leading and parenting, Frances has had a crack at most things that have come her way.

Frances is someone who has lived an extraordinary ‘ordinary’ life and in this book she writes about the best and worst parts of her life and the lessons learned. The book is a fairly quick read and is written with humour and grace – a down- to-earth memoir that embraces how unpredictable and messy real life can be.

MORE MYSELF, ALICIA KEYS

Fifteen-time Grammy Award-winning R&B singer Alicia Keys released her autobiography earlier this year. Most of the book is in her words and tells the story of her journey to success, from her childhood with an absent father, to being manipulated into a provocative magazine shoot, to fame and how she has found her way “to becoming who I am as opposed to being what I’ve been told to be”. Her passion for music shines through – there is an obvious innate talent but the book also covers some of the hard work she put in to become world famous. Although I’m not a big fan of her music the book includes some beautiful poetic writing that deserves to be read again and again.

Alicia also writes about the celebrities she
has met – Prince, Oprah and Barack Obama – and her campaign #NoMakeup, which she started to encourage women to show off their natural beauty.

THE SUPER WOMAN SURVIVAL GUIDE, JESS STUART

Jess Stuart is a Wellington-based author, coach and international speaker, who empowers women to be their best. Growing up, Jess was steered towards settling down and having a ‘proper’ job, which she did, but once she realised how unhappy she was, chucked it all in and rebuilt her life around her passions.

Her life experience is enormous – she’s travelled around Australia in a camper van, visited Bhutan (the happiness country), taught English to Buddhist monks in Thailand, lived in ashrams, studied Buddhism and qualified as a yoga teacher and life coach.

This book helps us understand that, as women, we often set ourselves up to fail because we place such high expectations on ourselves. Through her book, Jess teaches her readers how to master the art of self-belief, overcome imposter syndrome, focus on strengths, minimise the self-talk that often holds us back and put ourselves first on the list so we don’t burn out.

CRAZY BUSY, KERENE STROCHNETTER

‘Negativity bias’ – focusing on the likelihood of things going wrong – is designed to keep us safe, but can also make us prone to overlooking the good things that happen. That adds pressure to our lives and often causes us to be more self-obsessed, critical and negative, which, in turn, takes a toll on our health, happiness and relationships.

Crazy Busy is a book for busy people with active minds, who want to practise mindfulness. The author shares
her story of how she used mindfulness to jumpstart her life and explains that anyone can meditate with the right intention, instructions and support, which is exactly

what this book offers. There’s an easy-to-follow 8-week programme, free downloadable workbook and access to the Mindful at Work app, and requires only a few minutes of mindfulness meditation each day to have a positive impact.

BROKEN, DON WINSLOW

If themes of corruption, crime, vengeance, betrayal, guilt and redemption are your thing, then this book of six intense short novels will keep you entertained. A great collection of short crime fiction and ideal for a long, rainy weekend.