Warm Winter Read 2024

Welcome back to Warm Winter Read! To keep you inspired to read daily this season, this year's author-ambassadors Michael Earp, Pip Williams, Matt Preston, Shelley Parker Chan, Melissa Lucashenko, Alison Goodman, Garry Disher and Ahona Guha have recommended thirty-two books across a wide variety of forms and genres, fiction and non-fiction, for you to enjoy.

Stay warm and get reading this winter!

Updated May 22, 2024
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Wyndham Library
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An unexpected party
Malacari, Seth
Paper Book
From fantastical realms to real-world struggles, this young adult anthology champions queer identity by challenging stereotypes and exploring the many facets of identity. Written with wit, heart and honesty, these stories take queer protagonists outside the box of YA romance and centre them at the...
The quiet and the loud
Fox, Helena
Paper Book
OUR HOPELESS, HOPEFUL WORLDA novel about the contours of friendship, family, forgiveness, trauma and love that explores the stories we suppress and the stories we speak - and the healing that comes when we voice the things we've kept quiet for so long.George's life is loud. On the water, though,...
The spider and her demons
Khoo, Sydney
Paper Book
Between surviving high school and working at her aunt's dumpling shop, all Zhi wants is to find time for her friends . . . and make sure no one finds out she's half spider-demon. But when she accidentally kills and eats a man in front of the most popular girl in school, she discovers...
A hunger of thorns
Wilkinson, Lili
Paper Book
Be swept up in this brilliant, witchy, Victorian Premier's Literary Award-winning tale about forbidden magic and missing girls who don't need handsome princes to rescue them. Perfect for fans of the Serpent & Dove series.
The hummingbird effect
Mildenhall, Kate
Paper Book
An epic, kaleidoscopic story of four women connected across time and place by an invisible thread and their determination to shape their own stories, from the acclaimed author of The Mother Fault. Shortlisted for the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the...
Girl in a pink dress
Needham, Kylie
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE MUD LITERARY PRIZE 2024 Far away from the glittering lights and famous personalities of the Sydney art world she once knew, Frances now lives a quiet life in a remote mountain town, pursuing her art. When an invitation arrives from a former lover to attend his...
We come with this place
Dank, Debra
Paper Book
A deeply personal, profound tribute to family and the Gudanji Country to which Debra Dank belongs.
Sunbirds
Riwoe, Mirandi
Paper Book
Shortly before the Japanese invade, the van Hoorn family throws their famous Sinterklaas party at their tea plantation. One of their guests, Mattijs, a Dutch pilot, hopes to forge a future in the Dutch East Indies, possibly with the family's daughter, Anna, but she is torn between her dreams of...
Your time starts now
Goodwin, Julie.
Paper Book
Julie Goodwin was catapulted into our hearts as the first-ever winner of MasterChef Australia.In many ways her win was unlikely. As a child Julie adored music and art, but her career began in youth work, including in a juvenile detention centre housing troubled boys and a toxic all-male staff...
OTK : extra good things
Murad, Noor
Paper Book
Ottolenghify every meal. Yotam Ottolenghi and his superteam are back, with flexible, flavour-packed dishes that all lend a little something to the next meal. It's harissa butter on a roasted mushroom, then tossed with steamed veg or stuffed into a baked potato. It's tamarind...
Spanish at home
Warren, Emma
Paper Book
Away from the tapas bars and eateries of Spain's bustling cities, you'll find another world of Spanish cuisine. From the inland mountainous regions and fiercely independent provinces of Basque Country and Catalonia, to the glittering coastlines of the Mediterranean and across to the Balearic...
Taste : my life through food
Tucci, Stanley
Paper Book
Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, and the perfect Negroni, he grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the table. Taste is an intimate reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with...
Dark rise
Pacat, C. S.
Paper Book
The first book in a brilliant YA fantasy trilogy from internationally acclaimed Australian author CS Pacat.
A marvellous light
Marske, Freya
Paper Book
Set in an alternative Edwardian England, this is a comedy of manners, manor houses, and hedge mazes: including a magic-infused murder mystery and a delightful queer romance. 'Lush historical fantasy . . . A delightful book, with richly developed characters' - ...
Only a monster
Len, Vanessa
Paper Book
Joan Chang-Hunt has no idea she's part monster until she's thrust into a battle between the boy she has a crush on and one of the most ruthless monster families of London. A brilliantly compelling YA fantasy from a dazzling new Australian talent.
A strange and stubborn endurance
Meadows, Foz
Paper Book
"Many a reader longing for a sense of homecoming in the realm of romantic fantasy will find it in A Strange and Stubborn Endurance."--Jacqueline Carey "Stolen me? As soon to say a caged bird can be stolen by the sky." Velasin vin Aaro never...
And then she fell
Elliott, Alicia
Paper Book
And Then She Fell is an unflinching and fiercely witty debut novel of Indigenous life, womanhood and mental health, heralding the arrival of an important and urgent new voice in genre-bending fiction.
Always will be
Saunders, Mykaela.
Paper Book
In this stunningly inventive and thought-provoking collection, Mykaela Saunders poses the question: what might country, community and culture look like in the Tweed if Gooris reasserted their sovereignty?Each of the stories in Always Will Be is set in its own future version of the Tweed. In one, a...
Songs for the Dead and the Living
Saleh, Sara.
Paper Book
Non-Essential Work
Sakr, Omar.
Paper Book
In this exciting follow-up to his acclaimed collection The Lost Arabs, award-winning poet Omar Sakr delves deep into his loves and losses to create a riveting literary experience. Asking questions of timeliness and timelessness, Non-Essential Work is a restless and relentless volume that showcases a...
Here for the right reasons
McAlister, Jodi
Paper Book
A hilarious and heartwarming romantic comedy that examines how the unlikeliest of loves can bloom in - well, the most likely of places. Perfect for fans of The Hating Game and The Soulmate Equation. When Cece James agrees to be cast as a 'Juliet' on...
Digging up dirt
Hart, Pamela
Paper Book
Renovations are hell. And that's before you find the body beneath the floorboards. An intriguing mystery from a stylish new voice in crime fiction, for readers of Kerry Greenwood and Holly Throsby. When your builder finds bones under the floor of your heritage home, what do...
The escapades of Tribulation Johnson : a woman writes back
Brooks, Karen (Australian author)
Paper Book
From the author of The Good Wife of Bath comes this brilliant recreation of the vibrant, optimistic but politically treacherous world of London's Restoration theatre, where we are introduced to the remarkable playwright Aphra Behn, now a feminist icon but then an anomaly, who gravitated to the...
The jam queens
Moon, Josephine
Paper Book
Award-winning jam maker Aggie is determined to take her Barossa Valley cafe to new heights. She has put the pain of unsuccessful IVF treatments and a broken relationship behind her, and is focused on the many wonderful possibilities life still holds in store. When an invitation to...
The murder rule
McTiernan, Dervla
Paper Book
No one is innocent in this story ... The unmissable new standalone from the no.1 bestseller of The Good Turn First Rule: Make them like you. Second Rule: Make them need you. Third Rule: Make them pay. They think I'm a young, idealistic law student,...
The Wiregrass
Hyland, Adrian.
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE DANGER AWARD - BEST CRIME FICTION 'A brilliant Aussie thriller, The Wiregrass is perfect for fans of Jane Harper, Chris Hammer and Candice Fox.' - Books and Publishing 'Adrian...
The Mystery Writer
Gentill, Sulari.
Paper Book
'A writer's writer, who never disappoints.' --Australian Women's Weekly 'It's the perfect cosy crime read!' --Woman's Day She needs to write the ending ... before she meets hers. ...
Wake
Burr, Shelley
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE DEBUT CRIME ACWA NED KELLY AWARD 2023WINNER OF THE ABIA'S MATT RICHELL AWARD FOR NEW WRITER OF THE YEAR 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE DEBUT FICTION INDIE BOOK AWARD 2023'Politically savvy, cleverly plotted . . . the kind of book that invites the ravenous language of...
Wandering with intent : essays
Mahood, Kim
Paper Book
In these finely observed and probing essays, award-winning artist and writer Kim Mahood invites us to accompany her on the road and into the remote places of Australia where she is engaged in long-established collaborations of mapping, storytelling, and placemaking. Celebrated as one of the few...
Rewilding the urban soul : searching for the wild in the city
Dunn, Claire
Paper Book
Once upon a time, a burnt-out Claire Dunn spent a year living off the grid in a wilderness survival program. Yet love and the possibilities of human connection drew her back to the city, where she soon found herself as overscheduled, addicted to her phone, and lost in IKEA as the rest of us. Given...
Put your feet in the dirt, girl : a city doctor goes bush
Henry, Sonia
Paper Book
The bestselling author of Going Under recounts her real-life journey from hard-partying Sydney medical intern to dust-covered rural GP.
Nobody really has their shit together : doodles to make you feel kind of better
Arnold, Luke John Matthew
Paper Book
In Nobody Really Has Their Sh*t Together, illustrator star Luke John Matthew Arnold shares his no-bullshit, somewhat inspirational and very hilarious doodles. This bold little book is a beautiful gift for yourself or anyone you love, to bring a smile in tough moments....

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