Books for Your Shelves

A regular update on recent releases in the fabulous world of books, by bookshelf editor Sarah Ayoub. This week, also keep a look out for reviews on vampire tales, Harry Potter’s history and the tell-tale signs of what kind of ‘bag lady’ you really are…

• Life Begins, by Amanda Brookfield (Penguin/Michael Joseph), RRP $32.95

If life begins at forty, Charlotte Turner’s not off to the best of starts. For one thing, her marriage has just ended. Then there’s the matter of her house not selling, and her son’s troublesome issues at school. And to top it all off, Charlotte’s friends have started to treat her differently now that she’s a single woman, and so have their husbands… in a totally unwelcome way.

But in a realisation that she is forced to make, Charlotte decides to stop blaming all of life’s negatives on her floundering marriage. In an emotional journey into a past she wasn’t quite prepared to re-visit, Charlotte faces some unexpected revelations and some challenging truths that force her to open up her heart, mind and eyes to the possibilities of life at forty, and beyond.

A warm tale that defines human behaviours, relationships and life’s complications through characters that are all too real.

• Dark Echo, by F.G Cottam(Hodder & Stoughton), RRP $32.99

Dark Echo is every man’s baby. A seductive and undeniably magnificent sailing yacht built for no less than an American playboy. But despite its reputation as an unlucky boat, due to its series of fatal accidents and the tragic and violent deaths of three of its previous owners, Martin Stannard falls under its spell and restores it to glory as he prepares to sail it across the Atlantic, much to the dismay of his lover Suzanne.

Burying herslef in Dark Echo’s past, Suzanne uncovers some terrifying news that could threaten the life of the man she holds dear. For she not only discovers that Echo is evil, but that her first owner, soldier and sorcerer Harry Spalding, who committed suicide almost a century earlier, still casts his spell over it and those who venture near it.

Knowing that his terrible secrets are the key to Martin’s survival, Suzanne sets about burying herself in its past, wrapping herself in a story that travels between modern day London and the trenches of the first World War, in a way that only an adventurous woman could.

A page-turning story that combines literary skill, harrowing characters and a mystery that is nail-biting to the end by the author of The House of Lost Souls.

• The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite, by Beatrice Colin (John Murray/Hachette), RRP $32.99

As the clock chimes the turn of the twentieth century, Lilly Aphrodite is born to a cabaret dancer, and later orphaned in a scandalous murder-suicide which leads her to find refuge at a Catholic orphanage.

There she forms a bond with teen prostitute Hanne Schmidt, in a relationship that will withstand the disasters of WWI and the great depression, tumultuous love affairs and disastrous marriages. As Lilly and Hanne move from glamourous nightclubs to the glitz of the motion picture world, Lily finds stardom… and love.

But could her affair with the Russian Director – which will span continents and decades – cost her everything she’s worked for and all that she’s built herself up to be?

An epic narrative of the transformative powers of love.

• Biting the Big Apple, by Bella Vendramini (Hachette), $32.99

Like every aspiring young actress, Bella Vendramini knew there was more too life than casual jobs and dreaming of the big time. And she knew NYC would take her there. Scraping enough money for a one-way ticket and dealing with the ugly roller-coaster ride that her move became, Bella overcome the odds and was accepted into the prestigious Lee Strasberg Institute.

Biting the Big Apple is her story of taking on New York like an Aussie girl should. With her own Mr. Big, a friendship with Quentin Tarantino, and the day-to-day life in the city of dreams, Bella’s tale is an honest reflection of risk told with humour, guts and drama-queen flair. Even with every writer fancying herself a Carrie Bradshaw…

• In Bed with…, Edited by Jessica Adams, Maggie Alderson, Imogen Edwards-Jones and Kathy Lette (Penguin), $32.95

Some of Australia’s most renowned female authors have shoved Mills and Boon and Harlequinn out of the limelight and into the back of the bookshelf with their sordid tales od romance, love, fantasy and lust. If this tickles your fancy, slip under the covers with award-winning bestselling writers; Jessica Adams, Maggie Alderson, Emma Darwin, Louise Doughty, Stella Duffy, Imogen Edwards-Jones, Esther Freud, Joanne Harris, Linda Jaivin, Rachel Johnson, Tobsha Learner, Kathy Lette, Emily Maguire, Chris Manby, Jane Moore, Adele Parks, Justine Picardie, Bella Pollen, Helen Razer, Santa Sebag Montefiore, Ali Smith, Joan Smith, Emma Tom, Daisy Waugh, and Fay Weldon.

And in a kinky twist, they’re writing under naughty pseudonyms to protect their identities (name of their first pet and first street name) – can you figure out who is who?