Must read book for November:

The Passage of Love
Alex Miller  $37

Filled with wry humour, incisive observation and rare wisdom, Alex Miller brilliantly merges memoir and novel. Arriving destitute in Melbourne from Queensland in the late 1950s, stockman Robert conceives the ambition to be a writer, believing that writing might be the saving of him. Introduced to Lena – beautiful, rich and educated – his life takes a very different path. But in the intimacy of their connection lies an ‘unknowability’ that both torments and tantalises as Robert and Lena long for something that neither can provide for the other. Their passionate struggles lie at the centre of this powerful story.

In the Midst of Winter
Isabel Allende  $40

From the bestselling author of The House of the Spirits and The Japanese Lover, this is a beautifully crafted, multi-generational novel about three very different people who are brought together in a mesmerising story that journeys from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil. Thrown together by a Brooklyn blizzard, two NYU professors are faced with a shocking dilemma when a young Guatemalan nanny enters their lives. Isabel Allende’s vivid and captivating novel explores the timely issues of human rights and the plight of immigrants with passion, humour and wisdom that transcend politics. 

The Rest of Their Lives
Jean-Paul Didierlaurent   $33

From the author of The Reader on the 6.27, this is another enchanting adventure filled with larger-than-life characters. It is difficult to find love in a profession like Ambroise’s. And while Manelle, a home-help for the elderly in the same small French town, adores her days with her eccentric clients, she too spends her evenings alone. So when an unusual request from Manelle’s favourite client – 82-year-old retired chef-gourmand Samuel – sends them both on an unlikely road-trip to Switzerland, along with Ambroise’s cake-loving grandmother, it might just be time for the rest of their lives to begin…

Life in the Garden  
Penelope Lively   $40

The two central activities in Penelope Lively’s life – alongside writing – have been reading and gardening. This book is partly a memoir of her own life in gardens: the large childhood garden in Cairo, her grandmother’s sloping Somerset garden, two of her own Oxfordshire gardens, and her current small urban garden in North London. It is also a wise, engaging and far-ranging exploration of gardens in literature, from Paradise Lost to Alice in Wonderland, and of other writers and the significance of their gardens, from Virginia Woolf to Philip Larkin. A treasure for gardeners and literature lovers alike.

French House Chic
Jane Webster   $65

The bestselling author of At My French Table and French Ties takes us on a private journey to reveal the never-before-seen stunning French properties that inspired the loving renovation of her Chateau Bosgouet: from supremely elegant Parisian apartments to lavishly upholstered sitting rooms in French country estates. From le salon to la sale de bain and every room in between, here is visual inspiration to achieve the most French look in any space. This is Jane Webster’s very personal story of a lifetime of cultivating an eye for style and bringing it to life in the home.

Hideaways
Sam Stuchbury  $55

This stunning showcase of tucked-away escape spots all over New Zealand, and a statement to a simpler way of life, is a celebration of quintessential New Zealand holiday escapes – mountain huts, coastal baches, riverside cribs, converted silos, hunting shacks and more. Breathtaking photography and evocative text explore far-flung retreats from around the country, with a focus on the unique, secluded and romantic – each offering a change of pace, a chance to disconnect. Hideaways is a beautiful tribute to getting away from it all.

200 Women  
Geoff Blackwell, Ruth Hobday & Kieran Scott $75

This magnificent landmark book is the realisation of an epic global journey to find two hundred women with diverse backgrounds, and to ask them what really matters to them. All were photographed against the same background and asked the same five fundamental questions. From well-known activists, artists and innovators to everyday women whose lives are no less exceptional, each woman shares her unique replies, revealing her deepest motivation, happiness, sadness and hope – and offering gifts of empowerment and strength, inviting us to bring positive change to our world.  A coffee table book to be treasured and enjoyed by all.