What Will I Read Next? Our Spring Booklist

Spring has now officially sprung, and with the change in season comes a desire to read something new and different. Our new reading list is inspired by all things reminiscent of Spring – warmth, flowers, and sunshine – and is bound to make you want to slow down and smell the roses. Or, put your feet up and read a really good book:

The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton:

Those who enjoy beautiful settings, immaculate period detail and an intricate, unravelling puzzle will love this book from one of Australia’s best loved and most successful authors.Told by multiple voices across time, The Clockmaker’s Daughter,is a story of murder, mystery and thievery, of art, love. And flowing through its pages like a river, is the voice of a woman who stands outside time, whose name has been forgotten by history, but who has watched it all unfold: Birdie Bell, the clockmaker’s daughter.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland:

Spanning two decades, set between sugar cane fields by the sea, a native Australian flower farm, and a celestial crater in the central desert, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart follows Alice’s unforgettable journey, as she learns that the most powerful story she will ever possess is her own. An astonishingly assured debut, her story of love, loss and triumph, shines with courage, heart and love.

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh:

The Victorian language of flowers was used to express emotions: honeysuckle for devotion, azaleas for passion, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it has been more useful in conveying feelings like grief, mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. A mesmerising and elegantly written debut that vividly portrays a woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.

Springtime by Michelle De Krester:

When Frances met Charlie at a party in Melbourne he was married with a young son. Now she and Charlie live in Sydney with her rescue dog Rod and an unshakeable sense that they have tipped the world on its axis. They are still getting their bearings – of each other and of their adopted city. Everything is alien, unfamiliar, exotic: haunting, even. Worlds of meaning spin out of perfectly chosen words in this rare, beguiling and brilliant ghost story by Miles Franklin Literary Award-winning writer Michelle de Kretser.

The Botanist’s Daughter by Kayte Nunn:

In Victorian England, headstrong adventuress Elizabeth takes up her late father’s quest for a rare, miraculous plant. She faces a perilous sea voyage, unforeseen dangers and treachery that threatens her entire family. In present-day Australia, Anna finds a mysterious metal box containing a sketchbook of dazzling watercolours, a photograph inscribed ‘Spring 1886’ and a small bag of seeds. It sets her on a path far from her safe, carefully ordered life, and on a journey that will force her to face her own demons.In this spellbinding botanical odyssey of discovery, desire and deception, Kayte Nunn has so exquisitely researched nineteenth-century Cornwall and Chile you can almost smell the fragrance of the flowers, feel the touch of the flora on your fingertips…

Book Lists