3 page-turners
Friendship GRACE UNDER PRESSURE
by Tori Haschka, Simon & Schuster Female friendship and mummy angst fuel this frothy, heartwarming tale of cookbook creator Grace Harkness, who teams up with a group of harried Sydney mums who’ve decided to leave the tiresome men in their lives and set up a “mummune”.
It should be a dream sharing the load of school pick-ups and boring chores, while having a sympathetic ear to call on, but of course there’s trouble in utopia. Grace’s mums will have you chuckling, while also empathising with
their plight.
Thriller THE GOOD TEACHER
by Petronella McGovern,
Allen & Unwin
The principal chooses kindy teacher Allison to take Gracie into her class because she is the best. Holding her dad’s hand, the four-year-old is grieving – her mother died, and she’s battling
a rare cancer. Allison was looking forward to a 50th birthday trip to the Great Barrier Reef, when her husband of 24 years left her for another woman – son Felix, 15, opting to go too. As heartbroken Allison lavishes love
on the bald girl in a bandana, will she
cross a line?
Royal fiction THE TOUR
by Andrew Mackie,
Michael Joseph
It’s 1954 and Queen Elizabeth II is coming to
Australia. Against the backdrop of that historic tour, Andrew Mackie spins a fictional tale of 19-yearold identical twins – quiet
Violet and irrepressible Daisie – who are hired from the UK as maids to HM’s lady-in-waiting. Sailing on the SS Gothic, Violet is all aflutter when she spies
her idol, the Queen, and handsome Prince Philip. Yet, of course, it’s Daisie who attracts royal attention. Through calamities and pomp, we follow the girls across Australia as their
lives change forever.