FW x HACHETTE AUSTRALIA
WELCOME TO BOOK CLUB
Each month we’ll be reading a compelling book, that is guaranteed to spark great conversation.
Supported by
Is there anything better than a hot cup of tea and a really good book? Yep, there sure is. Getting together with mates to discuss the book afterwards.
The FW x Hachette Book Club is curated by the Future Women team and hosted by Jamila Rizvi and Astrid Edwards.
We gather together online to discuss, dissect, debate and delight in the title we’ve been reading.
From romantic tales to political turmoil, from identity and ideals to relationships and rescues, we discuss books that are making headlines and best seller lists.
Here’s how you can get involved:
1. Get your hands on a copy of the book and read it!
2. Participate in the discussion in the private Future Women Member-Only Facebook Group.
3. Mark your diary with upcoming virtual Book Club events.
And if this many book discussions are still not enough, then Hachette and Future Women have got you covered.
Anonymous Was a Woman, our podcast about women in books, women who read books and women who write books, is currently in its third season.
Also hosted by Jamila and Astrid, new episodes drop twice weekly. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, so that you never miss an episode.
FW COMMUNITY
Join the conversation in the Member-Only Facebook Group
April 2021
CHERIE JONES
HOW THE ONE-ARMED SISTER SWEEPS THE HOUSE
Lala is eight months pregnant when her waters break unexpectedly during the night. Her husband is nowhere to be found, so she flees the house in search of him. Adan has been out doing a burglary that has gone horribly wrong, and now he’s killed a white man.
Mira Whalen has only recently married Peter, the husband who now lies dead in their bed. He loved her, and she loved him. But last night they had a row, and she wishes they hadn’t. Just as she wishes that she hadn’t confronted her husband’s murderer and pulled the stocking off his face. As now he knows exactly who she is.
This is the story of two marriages, and a beautiful island paradise where, beyond the white sand beaches, lies poverty, menacing violence and a desire among women to speak out and survive.
June 2021
GINA WILKINSON
WHEN APRICOTS BLOOM
At night, in Huda’s fragrant garden, a breeze sweeps in from the desert encircling Baghdad, rustling the leaves of her apricot trees and carrying warning of visitors at her gate. Huda, a secretary at the Australian embassy, lives in fear of the secret police, who have ordered her to befriend Ally, the deputy ambassador’s wife. Huda’s former friend Rania, an artist, enjoyed a privileged upbringing as the daughter of a sheikh. Now her family’s wealth is gone, and Rania is battling to keep her child safe and a roof over their heads.
As the women’s lives intersect, their hidden pasts spill into the present. Facing possible betrayal at every turn, all three must trust in a fragile, newfound loyalty, even as they discover how much they are willing to sacrifice to protect their families.
“I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”
― TAHEREH MAFI, best selling author
July 2021
NADIA OWUSU
AFTERSHOCKS
Nadia Owusu is a woman of many languages, homelands and identities. She grew up in Rome, Dar-es-Salaam, Addis Ababa, Kumasi, Kampala and London.
For every new place there was a new language, a new identity and a new home. At times she has felt stateless, motherless and identity-less. At others, she has had multiple identities at war within her. It’s no wonder she started to feel fault lines in her sense of self. It’s no wonder those fault lines eventually ruptured.
Aftershocks is the intimate story behind the news of immigration and division dominating contemporary politics. Nadia Owusu’s astonishingly moving and incredibly timely memoir is a nuanced portrait of globalisation from the inside in a fractured world in crisis.
September 2021
CLAIRE THOMAS
THE PERFORMANCE
As bushfires rage outside the city, three women watch a performance of a Beckett play.
Margot is a successful professor, preoccupied by her fraught relationship with her ailing husband. Ivy is a philanthropist with a troubled past, distracted by the snoring man beside her. Summer is a young theatre usher, anxious about the safety of her girlfriend in the fire zone.
As the performance unfolds, so does each woman’s story. By the time the curtain falls, they will all have a new understanding of the world beyond the stage.
“An enigmatic, elegant and assured novel that explores the power of art in revealing us to ourselves.” – Charlotte Wood, author of The Weekend
October 2021
ALEXANDRA ANDREWS
WHO IS MAUD DIXON
Florence Darrow wants to be a writer. Correction: Florence Darrow IS going to be a writer.
Fired from her first job in publishing, she jumps at the chance to be an assistant to the celebrated Maud Dixon, the anonymous best-selling novelist.
The arrangement comes with conditions – high secrecy, living in an isolated house in the countryside. Before long, the two of them are on a research trip to Morocco, to inspire Maud’s much-promised second novel.
Beach walks, red sunsets and long, whisky-filled evening discussions . . . win-win, surely?
Until Florence wakes up in hospital, having narrowly survived a car crash. How did it happen – and where is Maud Dixon, who was in the car with her?
‘Stylish and sharp, with wicked hairpin turns, Who is Maud Dixon is part Patricia Highsmith, part All About Eve and pure fun.’ – Maria Semple
“Books may well be the only true magic.”
― ALICE HOFFMAN, American novelist
December 2021
The publishing world is abuzz with new feminist texts, which is a great thing for those of us who love to read. However there have been significant and serious questions about borrowing, inspiration, and imitation between Florence Given's Girls Don't Owe You Pretty and Chidera Eggerue's How to Get Over a Boy and What a Time to be Alone. What's a diligent book lover to do? Read both, of course. To consider, compare and make up our own minds.
FLORENCE GIVEN
WOMEN DON’T OWE YOU PRETTY
Women Don’t Owe You Pretty will tell you to…
love sex, hate sexism,
protect your goddamn energy,
life is short, dump them,
And that you owe men nothing, least of all pretty.
Florence Given’s debut book explores all progressive corners of the feminist conversation; from insecurity projection and refusing to find comfort in other women’s flaws, to deciding whether to date or dump them, all the way through to unpacking the male gaze and how it shapes our identity.
Women Don’t Owe You Pretty is an accessible leap into feminism. It will help you tackle and challenge the limiting narrative you have been bombarded with your whole life, and determine feminism on your own terms. After all, you are the love of your own life.
Buy your copy here.
RSVP to Book Club here.
CHIDERA EGGERUE
WHAT A TIME TO BE ALONE
In What A Time To Be Alone, The Slumflower will be your life guru, confidante and best friend.
She’ll show you that being alone is not just okay: it’s just about the best freaking thing that’s ever happened to you. As she says, ‘You’re bad as hell and you were made with intention.’ It’s about time you realised.
Peppered with insightful Igbo proverbs from Chidera’s Nigerian mother and full of her own original artwork, What a Time to be Alone will help you navigate the modern world.
We can all decide our own fates and Chidera shows us how, using a three-part approach filled with sass, wisdom and charm. Learn how to celebrate YOU, Don't worry about THEM and Feel the togetherness in US.
PAST READS
