The Best Presents for 2024: 12 Days of Christmas

This holiday season, we’re turning the classic carol into a literary celebration. Over the last 12 days, we’ve shared a new book recommendation on our socials. Whether you’re a fan of timeless classics, thrilling adventures, or heartwarming tales, there’s a story waiting to make your Christmas celebrations even brighter. Let the countdown to Christmas begin, one page at a time!

Day 1: All the Bees in the Hollows by Lauren Keegan

Marytè is a devoted beekeeper. She lives by the old rules: work with fellow beekeepers, be a good Christian and a good harvest will follow. These rules help her cope with her grief when she inherits her husband’s tree hollows. But as harsh conditions and tax increases threaten the harvest, Marytè begins to question her faith, her community and her own sanity. There is little help to be had from her eldest daughter. Austėja is no worker bee. She takes risks, speaks her mind and dreams of escaping their isolated community. As her mother works, she finds refuge in the ancient forest and the old beliefs instilled in her by her defiant grandmother. When Austėja discovers the mutilated body of the Hollow Watcher and uncovers a honeycomb of lies and betrayal, she is intent on finding the truth and protecting her family. Will mother and daughter overcome their differences, learn the truth behind the murder and complete the honey harvest?

Buy a copy of All the Bees in the Hollows here.

Day 2: Leave the Girls Behind by Jacqueline Bublitz

Nineteen years ago, Ruth-Ann Baker’s childhood friend was murdered by convicted killer Ethan Oswald. Haunted by what happened, Ruth has long been convinced Oswald had other victims. But no one has ever believed her. After dropping out of college and failing to prove her serial killer theory, Ruth is bartending when she hears that another young girl has gone missing from her hometown. With Oswald now deceased, she begins to suspect he had an accomplice. A partner in crime who is still active today. Crossing the globe from New York to New Zealand, Ruth unlocks parts of herself that she hasn’t dared to revisit, bringing her perilously close to three different women. The deeper she delves, the more she can’t shake the feeling that one of them knows the truth. About her childhood friend. About the missing girl. And, perhaps most dangerously of all, about Ruth herself…

Buy a copy of Leave the Girls Behind here.

Day 3: The Whole Truth by Jackie O

Jackie Henderson, known to most as ‘Jackie O’, has graced Australia’s airwaves since 1993. Through hard work and openness with her listeners, she rose from minor on-air roles to form one half of the country’s biggest radio programs alongside controversial co-hosts Kyle Sandilands and ‘Ugly Phil’ O’Neil. Here, for the first time, Jackie speaks candidly about her life in and out of the spotlight. She takes us behind the scenes of the spectacles and scandals of The Kyle and Jackie O Show and shares stories from thirty years spent working with huge celebrities, big egos and legions of both fans and detractors. Her body. Her relationships. Her parenting. Her salary. Her health. All have been discussed across gossip pages and on social media, but there are parts of her life Jackie has kept private. In this brave, no-holds-barred memoir, she is finally telling all. Forget everything you think you know about Jackie O. This is the whole truth.

Buy a copy of The Whole Truth here.

Day 4: Prize Catch by Alan Carter

When Ros Chen’s wife, Niamh, is killed in a hit-and-run on a lonely Tasmanian road, the grieving widow begins to wonder if Niamh’s death was an accident after all. Meanwhile, SAS veteran Sam Willard is hoping for a fresh start with a job at a salmon farm. But as allegations of old war crimes surface and Sam is ‘promoted’ as a special operative against anti-salmon farm activists, he and Ros form an unlikely alliance. Forced to retreat into the unforgiving Tasmanian wilderness, Ros and Sam find themselves scrambling for the truth with murderous thugs on their trail.

Buy a copy of Prize Catch here.

Day 5: Stories from the Otto Bin Empire by Judy Nunn

In these six captivating short stories, meet some members of the Otto Bin Empire – the homeless men and women who gather down by the docks. Adam, the teenage runaway, who has just one goal: to stay lost. Until life offers him a second chance. Oskar, the elderly Polish immigrant, who to outsiders cuts a lonely figure. But every afternoon, at the giant chessboard in the park, Oskar becomes a star. The poet Reginald, who claims he just wants to observe. Then he meets young Sally – and the scruffy kelpie who hangs around the bins – and is inspired in ways he’d never imagined. Johnny, the generous, charismatic, habitual criminal, who is finally determined to turn his life around – if only he can stay out of jail. Benny, the Big Issue vendor with a heart of gold, who loves nothing more than helping others. And finally Madge, the much-loved Otto Bin matriarch. Her past has always been shrouded in secrecy, but now she’s ready to share her story…

Buy a copy of Stories from the Otto Bin Empire here.

Day 6: Twist of Fate by Karly Lane

At twenty-nine years old, single, living in a very small country town, and working in the same job she’s had since she left school, some would say Bel Buckley’s life is mediocre at best. But Bel is content and always escapes to her beloved romance novels whenever she feels a bit lonely. No matter how hopeless a situation seems, there’s always a hero to swoop in and save the day with a happily-ever-after at the end. Despite her best friend, Emma, trying to set her up with every eligible man in town, no one holds a light to Bel’s perfect hero: Jax Lexington. Bel owns every book in the outrageously romantic series and loves them. Emma is concerned about her obsession, but Bel knows the line between fantasy and reality . . . until the day Jax Lexington arrives in town. Her fictional hero is real – and he’s best man at her cousin’s wedding.

Buy a copy of Twist of Fate here.

Day 7: Special Delivery by Leesa Ronald

Moving back to her hometown in country NSW, single, jobless and pregnant was never Poppy’s plan. With her best friend living hundreds of kilometres away and an ex who refuses to pick up the phone, she doesn’t know who to turn to for help. There’s definitely no point asking her midwife, James, because he’s the worst. Sure, he held her hand through the birth, but that’s only because it was his job. However, as Poppy and James keep crossing paths in the small country town, Poppy begins to realise she may have misjudged her midwife. And that complicates things. As Poppy stumbles from crisis to crisis in a town that feels unrecognisable, she learns that to build a future, sometimes you need to let go of the past. And often, the strongest relationships are those you forge when you’re at rock bottom.

Buy a copy of Special Delivery here.

Day 8: Everyone this Christmas has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong. So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection. THE MAGICIAN. THE ASSISTANT. THE EXECUTIVE. THE HYPNOTIST. THE TWIN. THE COUNSELLOR. THE STAGEHAND. My clues are even more abstract: A suspect covered in blood, without a memory of how it got there; A murder committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens; And an advent calendar. Because, you know, it’s Christmas. If I can see through the illusions, I know I can solve it. After all, a good murder is just like a magic trick, isn’t it?

Buy a copy of Everyone this Christmas has a Secret here.

Day 9: The Waiting by Michael Connelly

Renée Ballard and the LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit find a DNA link to a serial killer known as the Pillowcase Rapist. But when Ballard and her team move in on their suspect, they encounter a baffling web of secrets and legal hurdles. At the same time, Ballard’s badge, gun and ID are stolen – a theft she can’t report without giving her enemies in the department the ammunition they need to end her career. Forced to seek outside help, Ballard knocks on Harry Bosch’s door. Meanwhile, Ballard has taken on Patrol Officer Maddie Bosch, Harry’s daughter, as a new volunteer. But Renée soon learns that Maddie has an ulterior motive for getting access to the city’s library of lost souls. Ballard is determined to maintain her focus on justice – but this cold case opens a Pandora’s box…

Buy a copy of The Waiting here.

Day 10: Brainstorm by Richard Scolyer

Skin cancer is this country’s most common cancer, and melanoma the deadliest form of it. Richard, together with his colleagues at Melanoma Institute Australia, has dedicated years to groundbreaking research and succeeded in transforming even the most advanced forms of melanoma into a largely curable disease, bringing hope and healing to many. Then in 2023, at the peak of his life, Richard was diagnosed with brain cancer. As an internationally respected leading clinician and researcher, Richard was never going to accept the status quo—a medical approach unchanged in nearly two decades and an expectation of little more than a year to live. He instead chose to undertake world-first experimental treatment based on melanoma science. His brave decision could shorten his life or save it—the only certainty is that it will advance scientific understanding and ultimately help save the lives of others.

Buy a copy of Brainstorm here.

Day 11: Juice by Tim Winton

Two fugitives, a man and a child, drive all night across a stony desert. As dawn breaks, they roll into an abandoned mine site. From the vehicle they survey a forsaken place – middens of twisted iron, rusty wire, piles of sun-baked trash. They’re exhausted, traumatised, desperate now. But as a refuge, this is the most promising place they’ve seen. The child peers at the field of desolation. The man thinks to himself, this could work. Problem is, they’re not alone. So begins a searing, propulsive journey through a life whose central challenge is not simply a matter of survival, but of how to maintain human decency as everyone around you falls ever further into barbarism.

Buy a copy of Juice here.

Day 12: The Ledge by Christian White

When human remains are discovered in a forest, police are baffled, the locals are shocked and one group of old friends starts to panic. Their long-held secret is about to be uncovered. It all began in 1999 when sixteen-year-old Aaron ran away from home, drawing his friends into an unforeseeable chain of events that no one escaped from unscathed. In The Ledge, past and present run breathlessly parallel, leading to a climax that will change everything you thought you knew. This is a mind-bending new novel from the master of the unexpected.