HISTORICAL FICTION
ROBYN CADWALLADER Harpercollins Canberra-based Middle-ages scholar Cadwallader follows up her internationally acclaimed 2016 debut novel,
The Anchoress, with another captivating medieval tale about women, love and faith. In London, three masters of their craft create an exquisite Book of Hours for a noblewoman whose position in the world is precarious following her husband’s death. A multilayered exploration of power— and the power of words. (Out now)
LOVE & RUIN
PAULA MCLAIN Fleet In 2011’s The Paris Wife, Mclain introduced us to Hemingway’s first bride, and muse, Hadley Richardson. In this hearttugging follow-up we meet Martha Gellhorn, a correspondent during the Spanish Civil War, who was the third—and perhaps most intriguing—of his wives. Fuelled by passion and ambition, their love powers over continents— before crashing hard. The title says it all. (Out now)
WARLIGHT
MICHAEL ONDAATJE Jonathan Cape In his first novel in seven years, the author of 1992’s The
English Patient revisits World War II in a haunting mystery set in London. Two teenagers whose mother has abandoned them for a secret mission get entangled in the bombed-out city’s shadowy underworld. By turns lyrical and wrenching, this story of their adventure and its sombre aftermath is a rich, satisfying read. (Out now)
WHITE HOUSES
AMY BLOOM Granta Bloom deftly explores what might have been in this novel about the real romance between US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist Lorena Hickok, a relationship President Roosevelt (a cheater himself) knew about—he even got Hick, as she was known, a job in the White House. It’s a sensuous, captivating account of a forbidden affair between two women, one of them viewed by all the world as a saint. (Out now) When you think “dark comedy,” Oyelowo ( Selma) might not be the first actor who comes to mind. But that’s exactly the kind of star Australian director Nash Edgerton wanted for the role of Harold—a mild-mannered pharmaceutical exec who gets kidnapped while on a business trip. “Having someone as grounded as David playing the role [is] what makes the film funny,” says Edgerton, who began his career as a stuntman. The scene right shows the beleaguered Harold meeting his captor, a notorious cartel leader— who speaks only Spanish—with a penchant for chopping off limbs. “David has no idea what’s going to happen.” Fingers crossed he makes it out alive—and with his fingers. (Out now)