Booklover Mailbox – Beauty in Thorns, The Student & The High Places

Three distinctly different titles this fortnight – a fairytale reimagining, gritty neo-noir and an award winning short story collection.

Beauty in Thorns by Kate Forsyth

I am long time fan of Forsyth’s writing (Bitter Greens, The Wild Girl, The Beast’s Garden).  Beauty in Thorns is one of the 2017 book releases I have been looking forward to ever since hearing Kate speak so passionately about it at the Brisbane Writers Festival last year.

A spellbinding reimagining of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ set amongst the wild bohemian circle of Pre-Raphaelite artists and poets.

3 July 2017 release. Review copy thanks to Penguin Books Australia.

UPDATE: Read our review of the enthralling Beauty in Thorns

The Student by Iain Ryan

A new novel set in my home state from Iain Ryan, whom none other than Adrian McKinty describes as an exciting new voice in Australian crime fiction.

The Student takes the campus novel and mines within it a dark seam of violence, deception and suspense in prose that burns with a fierce propulsion.” — David Whish-Wilson

3 July 2017 release. Review copy thanks to Echo/Bonnier Publishing.

The High Places by Fiona McFarlane

That Australian author Fiona McFarlane was recently awarded the International Dylan Thomas Prize for this title, was the push I needed to take it from my wishlist to my reading pile.

The dazzling stories in this collection find those moments when people confront the strangeness and mystery of their lives…

Ranging around the world from a remote Pacific island to outback Australia to the tourist haunts of Greece, these stories are written with extraordinary invention, great emotional insight and wry humour. Each one of them is as rich and rewarding as literature can be.

My own copy. Published by Penguin Books Australia.

Which of these titles most interest you?

Linking to Caffeinated Book Reviewer’s The Sunday Post and Mailbox Monday