Third instalment of another trilogy, incoming

This entire newsletter was almost on ode to my former ankles.

How are we all holding up in this weather? I’ve been suffering on two fronts: one, the shop has been pretty quiet with the barrage of heatwaves dear old Melbourne has been sent.

And two: holy shit my ankles! Please avert your eyes from the pair of be-sandaled blimps I’m dragging around the streets of Westgarth. More on that later.

The slow, lazy days have seen us able to do things like make a Valentine’s window display. That’s thanks to Mel, who text me on a morning I wasn’t working asking if I’d like her to rearrange the window for V-Day. I was imagining a couple of books with ‘love’ in their title and maybe something pink-covered. Sure thing.

Low and behold, I drive past later and she’s somehow procured pink and red paper to deck the shelving out with hearts, and it’s drawn a veritable crowd of admirers at 7pm. (Two, it counts.) God, the team is good.

The highlight of one exceptionally slow and very hot day last week was when a woman of a certain age announced she’d arrived for her 3pm appointment. Fantastic! I had nothing in the calendar, but also not much on, so enquired with who. The optometrist.

At least the scrabble to get her a taxi to deliver her swiftly and cooly 700 building numbers further northwards gave my afternoon a certain frisson it was otherwise lacking.

But then we hit release days! And with them came an absolute flurry of visits from the intimidatingly erudite local authors.

First up, Maryrose Cuskelly, whose new novel The Campers came out last Tuesday. It’s a brooding and atmospheric look at an inner-city enclave of tightly knit neighbours, and their Whatsapp group, who have their privilege checked when a group of itinerants camp out on ‘their’ park. Trigger warning: a fig tree gets it. We’ve got signed copies, thanks to the lovely and supportive Maryrose, in store.

Our next drop-in was Kylie Ladd, seven-times published author, who this week celebrated the release of The Mix-Up, a novel about what happens when an IVF clinic takes its eye off the ball (well, the eggs) and mistakenly switches two families’ embryos. The families only discover this when their children, who couldn’t be less alike, are fourteen. This fast-paced novel studies the dynamics and relationships within each family and raises questions around what makes a parent, a parent.

While we were chatting with the scarily-smart but super friendly Kylie (a doctor of neuropsychology, no less), who should amble past but her friend Graeme Simsion!

Naturally we lured him in and grabbed a wad of his books (The Rosie Project trilogy, plus the recently-released and soon to be followed-up, The Glass House) for signing. The place was buzzing!

And to close out the week we had Preston local Sean Wilson come by to sign his latest work of fiction, You Must Remember This, a beautifully tender account of dementia and what happens when you live on while your memory fades. It’s selling fast.

All four authors were just absolutely lovely and made me hook my thumbs into my britches and proclaim ‘there’s gold in them thar hills!’. If gold is smart, creative people and hills is High Street.

This week’s bestsellers at Ramona

There’s only one book on this list I have read 78 times.

1. Butter, Asako Yuzuki, fiction.

2. James, Percival Everett, fiction.

3. The Season, Helen Garner, non-fiction.

4. Bill’s Secrets: Class, War & Ambition, Belinda Probert, non-fiction.

5. You Must Remember This, Sean Wilson, fiction.

6. Nightbitch, Rachel Yodder, fiction.

7. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, fiction.

8. Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, fiction.

9. Saturday is Pancake Day, Bernadette Green, children’s picture book.

10. August Blue, Deborah Levy, fiction.

I love that there are books on this list released more than three years ago (things at Ramona we adore, as well as a TikTok sensation about an Octopus), alongside things released this week.

In other news,

Next time we chat, will be on the other side of this month’s heaviest new release… The third kiddo in my own trilogy. We’re booked in early next week, much to the relief of the Terra Madre lady who’s been on at me again to leave the store in my condition. To be fair, I probably have been lurking a little too long in the Arctic sub-climate of their chilled section, what with this heat and my swollen status.

Since finding out the date I’ve been in a new nesting mode. Clearing 70,000 UBD delivery notifications for recycling. Mania-prepping processes and spreadsheets. Worrying about having enough loo roll for the team while my head is in the clouds. Obsessively building my maternity book stack, which I’ll share more info on on our Instagram.

The last work happening for me ahead of the birth date will be this Saturday night’s Kinky History Live, at Capitol Theatre, where we’re the booksellers for Dr Esmé Louise. Being there at this late stage I guess is a kink all of its own.

Having never done one baby at a time before, I have this vague, optimistic sense that in the first couple of months I will be able to read a lot more than I am when working full time. I’ll be keeping you posted right here. If you hear nothing from me, you’ll know I wildly underestimated the whole 3 kid thing.

And as soon as able, I will be back in at Ramona, more than likely with him strapped on. In the meantime you’ll be in the very safe hands of Mel, Julia, Nic and Erica and in the less safe hands of Anthony. But even he’s on book number three of the year!

See you on the other side,

Katie

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What I’m reading:

Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens (restocking at Ramona next week). A three hundred year old ghost stuck in a Mallorcan former monastery has her senses shaken up when George Sand, comes to stay with her lover, Chopin, and two children. Published back in 2022, I’m not sure how this one suddenly arrived on my radar, nor my shop, but it is very much my jam and I expect it’ll be plenty of others’ too. It’s a historical but humorous, darkly descriptive, queer romance. With a really nice cover.

Nesting by Roisin O’Donnell this is the much-hyped debut from a new Irish writer and I’m happy to report it stands up to the fanfare. On the spur of the moment, Ciara decides to leave her coercive marriage, taking her two young daughters with her. Ahead of her is an unexpected pregnancy, the trials of navigating emergency accomodation, finding work and resisting her husband’s repeated attempts to get them home. It’s a tautly-written look at the raw drive of motherhood. I loved it.

Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl Our 4y/o kiddos are ND and can barely watch TV without also doing headstands, let alone sit still long enough to focus on a book with few pictures, but by jove, Roald Dhal has done it and I’m elated. Sharing here for other parents who may need to hear it. We started with just one chapter at a time, not at bedtime, when we normally do the bulk of their reading. A few chapters in and they were consumed, and wanted two or three chapters each night at bedtime, desperate to know what the naughty farmers would do next. A great place to start chapter books.