New Releases

Currawalli Street
Christopher Morgan $27.99

Currawalli Street reveals the echoes between past and present through the story of one ordinary street and its families, from the pre-war innocence of 1914 to the grim consequences of the Vietnam War.

Read more...

Our Recommendations

The Cartographer
Peter Twohig $29.99

Melbourne, 1959. An 11-year-old boy witnesses a murder as he spies through the window of a strange house. Just one year before, the he’d looked on helplessly as his twin brother suffered a violent death …

Read more...


The Sun Bookshop

10 Ballarat Street
Yarraville
Phone: +61 3 9689 0661
Fax: +61 3 9689 0661
Email: info@sunbookshop.com

Mon - Sat 10am - 9.30pm
Sun 10am - 6.30pm

You can now order online on those ocassions you can't come into the shop.

Great books that were big ...
Now littler and cheaper. Hooray!



February New Releases

To go straight to the Children's and Young Adult books click here

When Gods Collide: An Unbeliever's Pilgrimage Along India's Coroma, Kate James : Hardie Grant $19.95
Still wrestling with her own experience of growing up in India as the child among missionaries, Kate James is haunted by the story of murdered compatriot Graham Staines. Along with his two young sons, the manager of the mission at Baripada (who helped establish the Mayurbhanj Leprosy Home) was burned alive by Hindu fundamentalists in Orissa while asleep in his car. In search of the man behind the 1999 headlines – and the context behind the conflict in a country known for its religious tolerance – Kate returns to the subcontinent where she grew up. She travelsfrom the hill station of Ooty to Darjeeling via the steamy Coramandel Coast, visiting Catholic shrines, an atheist ashram, a temple to Hindu missionaries and the Kolkata slums, as well as Staines' Home and her own childhood school. Part detective story, part personal journey, Kate's engrossing reportage explores India's complex tapestry of religion and mysticism, assessing its Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and athiest heritage as she comes to terms with the faith she has rejected.
Other Hand The Last Thread, Michael Sala : Affirm $24.95
This poignant, haunting and beautiful novel retells Michael Sala's fascinating life through fiction. From his early years in the Netherlands to moving (twice) to Australia in the 1980s, 'Michaelis' recalls the mysterious secret surrounding his estranged father, the relentless bullying of his stepfather, his mother's cheerful apathy, and his own struggles to fit into a world that often made no sense. With breathtaking prose, reminiscent of the great autobiographical novels of J.M. Coetzee and Michael Ondaatje, The Last Thread is the work of an exceptional new Australian writer.
Religion for Atheists, Alain de Botton : Hamish Hamilton $35.00
What if all religions are neither all true nor all nonsense? The boring debate between fundamentalist believers and non-believers is finally moved forward in Alain de Botton's inspiring new book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are of course entirely false – and yet religion still has very important things to teach the secular world. For too long non-believers have faced a stark choice between either swallowing lots of peculiar doctrines or doing away with a range of consoling and beautiful rituals and ideas. At last in Religion for Atheists bestselling author Alain de Botton has fashioned a far more interesting and helpful alternative.
Memoirs of an Addicted Brain, Marc Lewis : Scribe $24.95
Marc Lewis knows addiction: that desperate ambition to get high accompanied him around the world for many years. In the 1960s, Lewis was a teenager in boarding school, experimenting with cough syrup and alcohol to assuage his depression. When he moved to Berkeley, California, the pulsing heart of the counter-cultural movement, he began using LSD and heroin. This was the beginning of his descent into a moonlit world of crime, poverty, and desperation. Lewis lived a double life: by day, he was a psychology student; and by night, he stole from homes and laboratories to get high. Thirty-four years on, Lewis is a neuroscientist, and he studies the brains of troubled children. But he never forgets that he was once one of those kids – and that, no matter how many scientific conferences he attends, he always will be. A gripping, triumphant memoir about the power of addiction and its effect on the brain.
The Phantom, Jo Nesbo : Harvil/Secker $32.95
Summer. A boy is lying on the floor of an Oslo apartment. He is bleeding and will soon die. In order to place his life and death in some kind of context he begins to tell his story. Outside, the church bells toll. Autumn. Former police inspector Harry Hole returns to Oslo after three years abroad. He seeks out his old boss at Police Headquarters to request permission to investigate a homicide. But the case is already closed: the young junkie was in all likelihood shot dead by a fellow addict. Yet Harry is granted permission to visit the boy's alleged killer in jail. There, he meets himself and his own history. What follows is the solitary investigation of what appears to be the first impossible case in Harry Hole's career. And while Harry is searching, the murdered boy continues his story. A man walks the dark streets of Oslo. The streets are his and he has always been there. He is a phantom.
The Chemistry of Tears, Peter Carey : Hamish Hamilton $39.95
When her lover dies suddenly, all Catherine has left is her work. The long affair had been kept secret from their colleagues at London's Swinburne Museum and now she must grieve in private – or almost. In an act of compassion, the head of her department gives Catherine a very particular project, something to cling onto: a box of intricate clockwork parts that appear to be the remains of a nineteenth-century automaton, a beautiful mechanical bird. Once she discovers that the box also contains the diary of the man who commissioned the machine, one obsession merges into another.  The Chemistry of Tears is a portrait of love and loss that is both wildly entertaining and profoundly moving, simultaneously delicate and anarchic. At its heart is an image only the masterful Peter Carey could breathe such life into – an object made of equal parts magic, love, madness and science, a delight that contains the seeds of our age's downfall.
The Cartographer, Peter Twohig : 4th Estate $29.99
If you enjoyed Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, you are going to want to read this book. Melbourne, 1959. An 11-year-old boy witnesses a murder as he spies through the window of a strange house. God, whom he no longer counts as a friend, obviously has a pretty screwed-up sense of humour: just one year before, the boy had looked on helplessly as his twin brother, Tom, suffered a violent death. Now, having been seen by the angry murderer, he is a kid on the run. With only a shady grandfather, a professional standover man and an incongruous local couple as adult mentors, he takes refuge in the dark drains and grimy tunnels beneath the city, transforming himself into a series of superheroes and creating a rather unreliable map to plot out places where he is unlikely to cross paths with the bogeyman. A bold, captivating and outrageously funny novel about a boy who refuses to give in and the numerous shifty, dodgy and downright malicious bastards he has to contend with on his grand adventure of loss and discovery, The Cartographer is an astounding, fresh and unforgettably poignant novel.
Suddenly, a Knock on the Door, Etgar Keret : Vintage $19.95
Etgar Keret is an ingenious and original master of the short story. Hilarious, witty and always unusual, declared a “genius” by the New York Times, Keret brings all of his prodigious talent to bear in this, his sixth bestselling collection. Long a household name in Israel where he has been declared the voice of his generation, Keret has been acknowledged as one of the country's most radical and extraordinary writers. Exuding a rare combination of depth and accessibility, Keret's tales overflow with absurdity, humour, longing and compassion, and though their circumstances are often strange and surreal, his characters are defined by a familiar and fierce humanity. A man barges into a writer's house and, holding a gun to his head, demands that he tell him a story, something to take him away from the real world. A pathological liar discovers one day that all the lies he tells come true. A young woman finds a zip in her boyfriend's mouth, and when she opens it he unfolds to reveal a completely different man inside. Suddenly, a Knock on the Door is at once Keret's most mature and most playful work yet, and establishes him as one of the great global writers of our time.
Mateship With Birds, Carrie Tiffany : Picador $19.99
On the outskirts of an Australian country town in the 1950s, a lonely farmer trains his binoculars on a family of kookaburras that roost in a tree near his house. Harry observes the kookaburras through a year of feast, famine, birth, death, war, romance and song. As Harry watches the birds, his nex door neighbour has her own set of binoculars trained on him. Ardent, hard-working Betty has escaped to the country with her two fatherless children. Betty is pleased that her son, Michael, wants to spend time with the gentle farmer next door. But when Harry decides to teach Michael about the opposite sex, perilous boundaries are crossed.
Currawalli Street, Christopher Morgan : Allen & Unwin $27.99
With simplicity and great beauty, Currawalli Street reveals the echoes between past and present through the story of one ordinary street and its families, from the pre-war innocence of early 1914 to the painful and grim consequences of the Vietnam War. In only three short generations, working horses and wagons are lost to cars, wood-fired ovens are replaced with electric stoves, and the lessons learned at such cost in the Great War seem forgotten. But despite all the changes, the essential human things remain: there will always be families and friends reaching out for connection; people will always have secrets to keep hidden from view; and desire and love are as inevitable as war and violence. Deep, rich and satisfying, Currawalli Street links families and neighbours, their lovers and friends, in a powerful and moving dance through time.
What Remains, Denise Leith : Allen & Unwin $29.99
“Before you fall in love, or find a dear friend, you should know: this is the day I will meet someone whose memory will touch my heart and change my world forever. I believe the ability to do this is buried deep within each of us, and if we could find it we could imprint on our minds what the world looked like before so we could take the full measure of what remains.” Sometimes only a work of fiction can reveal the truth. Following the tumultuous life of journalist Kate Price from her first assignment as a naive and idealistic young correspondent in Riyadh in 1991, to Baghdad in 2004, this is an epic story of love, war and friendship that will stay with you forever.
Miles Off Course, Sulari Gentill : Pantera $29.99
In early 1933, Rowland Sinclair and his companions are ensconced in the superlative luxury of the Hydro Majestic, Medlow Bath, where trouble seems distant indeed. But then Harry Simpson vanishes. Croquet and pre-dinner cocktails are abandoned for the High Country where Rowland hunts for Simpson with a determination that is as mysterious as the disappearance itself. Stockmen, gangsters and a belligerent writer all gather to the fray, as the investigation becomes embroiled with a much darker conspiracy.
Why We Broke Up, Daniel Handler : Hardie Grant Egmont $24.95
Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up. Min has written a letter explaining why. She's delivering it with a box that's full of the debris of their relationship: two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, Ed's protractor, some sugar they stole, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings and the rest of it. Each item is illustrated and accounted for; each memory played out until the heartbreaking end. Min will dump the box on Ed's porch – but it is Ed who is being dumped. This is the story of why they broke up.
Dark Parties, Sara Grant : Indigo $22.99
Neva keeps a list of The Missing – the people like her grandmother who were part of her life but who have now vanished. The people that everyone else pretends never existed. In a nation isolated beneath the dome of the Protectosphere – which is supposed to protect, but also imprisons – Neva and her friends dream of freedom. But life is becoming complicated for Neva. She's falling for her best friend's boyfriend – and she's learning more than she ever wanted to know about what might be happening to The Missing ...
Sea Hearts, Margo Lanagan : Allen & Unwin $19.95
On remote Rollrock Island, the sea-witch Misskaella discovers she can draw a girl from the heart of a seal. So, for a price, any man might buy himself a bride – an irresistibly enchanting sea-wife. But what cost will be borne by the people of Rollrock – the men, the women, the children – once Misskaella sets her heart on doing such a thing? Margo Lanagan weaves an extraordinary tale of desire and revenge, of loyalty, heartache and human weakness, and of the unforeseen consequences of all-consuming love. A hauntingly beautiful novel from the winner of four world fantasy awards.
Torn, Amanda Hocking : Macmillan $16.99
Acknowledging that she was different from everyone else wasn't difficult for Wendy Everly – she'd always felt like an outsider. But a new world and new family is a little hard for any girl to accept easily. Leaving behind the mysterious country of her birth, she’s determined to fit back into normal life. But the world she's left behind won't let her go that easily. Kidnapped and imprisoned by her true family's enemies, Wendy soon learns that the lines between good and evil aren't as defined as she thought, and that the things she'd taken for granted may have been lies all along. With the help of the dangerously attractive Loki, she escapes back to the safety of Frening – only to be confronted by a new threat. Can she put aside her personal feelings for the sake of her country? Torn between duty and love, she must make a choice that could destroy her one chance at true happiness.
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green : Penguin $19.95
Despite the tumour-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten. The fantastic new novel from bestselling author John Green is not to be missed!
The Grimstones #1: Hatched, Asphyxia $14.99
Hello, my name is Martha Grimstone. Shall I tell you my best secret? One day I'm going to be Lady Martha the Magnificent. I don't know what my special talent is, but I hope to find it any day now. I live in a grand old house in a valley full of rare and precious herbs, which my grandfather uses to heal and comfort people. But they haven't worked on Mama; she cries a lake of tears every night. If only I could get into Grandpa Grimstone's apothecary and work my very own spell! Hatched is the first book in this exciting new series for beginning readers.
Finger Lickin Fifteen Red Dirt Diary #2: Blue About Love, Katrina Nannestad : ABC Books, $14.99
'Come round here!' called David. 'We've found something.'
'I'm showing them.' Andrea pushed him aside. 'It's my cave!' She lowered herself into the hole. Her head disappeared, and a moment later they heard her voice, faint and slightly hollow. 'Come on!'
A network of tunnels leading under the park, a secret exit to an abandoned mansion, a hidden box of documents...all very mysterious, but it's just a game, right? Wrong. When shadowy figures start watching every move they make, Kitty, David, Andrea and Martin know they've stumbled onto more than a forgotten piece of history. They need to find all the answers fast, before someone beats them to it.
Hey Jack, Sally Rippin : Hardie Grant Egmont $7.95
The only thing that the 'B' in Sally Rippin’s oh-so-popular series Billie B Brown doesn’t stand for is BOY! In response to demands from the market, industry, children, parents and teachers: introducing the coolest, the funniest, the most imaginative dude that the early reader scene has ever seen in this brand new series, Hey Jack!
Alice-Miranda in New York, Jacqueline Harvey : Random House $15.95
Alice-Miranda is in bustling New York City. It's a blur of skyscrapers, hot dog carts, chats with zoo animals and classes at Mrs Kimmel's School for Girls, right next to glorious Central Park. Her family's glamorous department store, Highton's on Fifth, has just been renovated, but plans for the fabulous re-opening party are going curiously wrong. Is that why Alice-Miranda's father Hugh seems so worried? And why is her new friend Lucinda so shy about inviting Alice-Miranda home?
Animal Rescue #1: Elephant Alert & #2: Gorrilla Grab, Jackie French : Scholastic $9.99
Brand new first chapter series from Jackie French! Leo thinks he's an ordinary kid, but he isn't – he can talk to animals and his best friend's a guinea pig! And Mozz knows she's anything but ordinary. She's cool and clever, lives in a mansion with her mad scientist grandmother, and soars through the sky in a rocket called “The SkyTiger” saving wild animals around the world! Together, with the SkyTiger ready to take off, Leo and Mozz make an unstoppable animal rescue force.
Chicken Big, Keith Graves : Scholastic $15.99
The farm is tiny. The coop is itsy-bitsy. The chickens are very small. But the egg is humungous, and so is the huge yellow fellow who pops out! This feathered giant is so big, the flock is sure he's no chicken. The big guy has an equally big heart, however, and longs to be accepted as one of the chickens. Little by little, his kindness and brave rescue of the flock's eggs prove to the silly chickens that he really is one of them.
The Little Old Man Who Looked Up at the Moon, Pamela Allen : Viking $24.95
The little old man looked up at the moon. “Does the sky go on forever and ever?” he asked. “Where do we come from? Where do we go? Why are we here?”
In this touching story, one of Australia's most celebrated author-illustrators takes young readers on a journey that asks some of life's big questions. Playful and thought-provoking by turns, The Little Old Man Who Looked Up at the Moon touches on universal themes and will spark many a  conversation between young and old.
December January February