Baumgartner’s life has been defined by his deep, abiding love for his wife, Anna. But now Anna is gone, and Baumgartner is embarking on his seventies whilst trying to live with her absence. Rich with compassion, wit and Auster’s keen eye for beauty in the smallest, most transient episodes of ordinary life, Baumgartner is a tender late masterpiece of the ache of memory. It asks: why do we find such meaning in certain moments, and forget others?
I have a flush of happiness with any Ann Patchett release, but a new novel is especially exciting. It’s cherry season in Michigan, and the narrator’s three daughters have returned to the family orchard to help with picking. While they work among the trees their mother recounts her youthful romance while performing in a season of Our Town, Thornton Wilder’s beloved 1938 play. Almost by accident, Lara discovers a talent for playing the lead Emily, and over a beguiling summer by Tom Lake falls for her charismatic co-star. He goes on to become a Hollywood celebrity.
Tom Lake touches on the present day subtly; Lara’s children are home because it is almost impossible to find seasonal workers during the pandemic, and neighbours have moved away with fruit too unprofitable to pick still on the tree. Even so, their farm is an idyll almost all the way removed from the crises of the outside world and the book moves from a nostalgic summer past to a sun-dappled present with notes of reflective regret and glowing contentment. Just lovely!
These six stories by Nobel Prize-winner J. M. Coetzee show us, once more, a writer confronting moral and emotional quandaries, often with wry humour. In the lead story, ‘The Pole’, concert pianist Witold attempts to play out a romantic fantasy with local music devotee Beatriz. In person and in their correspondence, he is persistent, she resistant, but curious. It doesn’t end quite as she might have imagined.
The redoubtable character of Elizabeth Costello appears in four stories, engaging in philosophical discussions about death, motherhood and ethics with her adult children, in particular her son John.
The Pole and Other Stories will make you think differently about life, death and animals
Most Australians see their world through eucalypts. From towering forests to straggly woodlands, in city parks, by the coast and in the bush, these are the trees that inhabit our familiar landscapes and national psyche. Yet the resilience of our eucalypt ecosystems is being tested by logging and land clearing, disease and drought, fire and climate change. In many places they are a faded remnant of those known by past generations. How important is the memory of these trees?
In search of answers, Viki Cramer takes us on a journey through the richest botanical corner of the continent, exploring forests of rugged jarrah and majestic karri, woodlands of enduring salmon gum and burnished-bark gimlet. Spending time with the people caring for these precious places, she interrogates the decisions of the past, takes a measure of the present and glimpses hope for the landscapes of tomorrow.
The Memory of Trees will make you look anew at the trees and environments that sustain us and show the many ways that, together, we can ensure their future.
We are thrilled to be holding the launch for this spectacular book. Head here for more information.
‘With the trees, we find our ancestors. With the trees, we connect to the past, bring knowledge forward, and walk into the future’ – Noel Nannup
The Forests Atlas is a field guide to the forests of south west Australia. It blends maps with artworks, photography and story in celebration of the life and colour of these forests. From the waterways, to the ancient jarrah, the numbats, to the black cockatoos and towering karri, the Forests Atlas paints a shimmering picture of the interconnectedness of trees.