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The Indie Awards 2012

The Indie Awards 2012

The shortlists for this year's Indie Awards have been revealed and we are absolutely delighted to announce that the following Allen & Unwin titles have been nominated:

Fiction category
Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears

Non-Fiction category
After Words by PJ Keating
A Private Life by Michael Kirby

Debut Fiction
The Roving Party by Rohan Wilson

Children's
The Little Refugee by Anh & Suzanne Do, illustrated by Bruce Whatley
The Coming of the Whirlpool by Andrew McGahan

All of the shortlisted books will be vying for the top spot as Indie 'Book of the Year' for 2012, an award determined by votes cast by independent booksellers around the country. Previous Indie 'Book of the Year' winners include Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey and The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do.

Category winners and the overall 'Book of the Year' will be announced on 10 March 2012.

See all the shortlisted books here
Spotlight:

Sea Hearts

by Margo Lanagan

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?

Spotlight:

How to Walk a Puma

by Peter Allison

An intrepid African safari guide sets out to discover all he can about the wildlife of the South American continent in a hilarious book about walking pumas (can be dangerous), chasing jaguars (can be elusive) and finding love (can be tricky).

Spotlight:

Abandoned Women

by Lucy Frost

From the crowded tenements of Edinburgh to the Female Factory nestling in the shadow of Mt Wellington, dozens of Scottish women convicts were exiled to Van Diemen's Land with their young children. This is a rich and evocative account of the lives of women at the bottom of society two hundred years ago.

Out now
Coming soon
Spotlight:

The Ruins of Us

by Keija Parssinen

More than two decades after moving to Saudi Arabia and marrying Abdullah Baylani, Rosalie learns that her husband has taken a second wife, beautiful Palestinian Isra. The discovery plunges the powerful family into chaos as Rosalie grapples with leaving Saudi Arabia, her life, and her family behind. Driven by anger and heartache, she plots her departure, soliciting fellow American and Abdullah's best friend, lonely divorcee Dan Coleman, to help her.
Meanwhile, Abdullah and Rosalie's consuming personal entanglements blind them to the crisis approaching their sixteen year-old son Faisal, whose deepening resentment towards their lifestyle has led to his growing involvement with a controversial Sheikh. When Faisal makes an ill-fated choice that could destroy everything his embattled family holds dear, all must confront difficult truths as they fight to preserve what remains of their love.

Spotlight:

Hatched: The Grimstones 1

by Asphyxia

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 a gothic fairytale about a girl who keeps her secrets safe between two pieces of cardboard, a mother who sews garments lined with love, and a giant egg that seems to take forever to hatch.

Spotlight:

The Catch

by Samantha Brett

Sick of dating guys who want sex and fun without any commitment? Ever wondered how some women always have men chasing them?
These women are what dating guru Samantha Brett describes as The Catch: the ultimate single girl who knows her worth, doesn't settle for less and doesn't get caught up in the whirlwind of the dating game.
After the abrupt end of a fairytale eight-year relationship, Samantha found herself thrust back into single life. As part of the healing process she interviewed thousands of men, as well as the women they defined as the ultimate Catch. In the process she developed a foolproof method to help you become The Catch.
This book will teach you how to:
- move on from a break-up
- avoid the traps of the dating game
- become a stronger you through the 30-Day Catch Boot Camp
- get a man to propose in only six steps
Forget chasing him ever again!

Spotlight:

The Cold, Cold Ground

by Adrian McKinty

Northern Ireland. Spring 1981. Hunger strikes. Riots. Power cuts. A homophobic serial killer with a penchant for opera. And a young woman's suicide that may yet turn out to be murder.
On the surface, the events are unconnected, but then things - and people - aren't always what they seem. Detective Sergeant Duffy is the man tasked with trying to get to the bottom of it all. It's no easy job - especially when it turns out that one of the victims was involved in the IRA, but last seen discussing business with someone from the UVF. Add to that the fact that as a Catholic policemen, it doesn't matter which side he's on, because nobody trusts him - and Sergeant Duffy really is in a no-win situation.
Fast-paced, evocative and brutal, The Cold, Cold Ground is a brilliant depiction of Belfast at the height of the Troubles - and a cop treading a thin, thin line.

Spotlight:

Spoiled

by Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks

Sixteen-year-old Molly Dix has just discovered that her biological father is Brick Berlin, world-famous movie star and red-carpet regular. Intrigued (and a little terrified) by her Hollywood lineage, Molly moves to Los Angeles and plunges headfirst into the deep end of Beverly Hills celebrity life. Just as Molly thinks her life couldn't get any stranger, she meets Brooke Berlin, her gorgeous, spoiled half sister, who welcomes Molly to La-La Land with a smothering dose of "sisterly love" ... but in this town, nothing is ever what it seems.
Set against a world of Red Bull-fuelled stylists, tiny tanned girls, popped-collar guys, and Blackberry-wielding publicists, Spoiled is obsessively readable and great fun ... unless you are famous.

Spotlight:

The Wonderbox

by Roman Krznaric

What is the best way of improving our lives? There are many ways of looking for answers - we can turn to the wisdom of philosophers, the teachings of religions or the latest experiments of psychologists. But we rarely look to history for inspiration, and to how people have actually lived.
Cultural historian Roman Krznaric looks at what the Greeks have to say about being a good lover; what the pin factories of the industrial revolution can tell us about work, and how an encounter with Ming dynasty China might change our views on bringing up our children, or taking care of our parents. From love and creativity to money and travel, Krznaric unearths the customs and beliefs from ancient and modern history and reveals the wisdom that we've been missing.

Spotlight:

Lone Wolf

by Jodi Picoult

Edward Warren, twenty-four, has been living in Thailand for five years, a prodigal son who left his family after an irreparable fight with his father, Luke. But he gets a frantic phone call: His dad lies comatose, gravely injured in the same accident that has also injured his younger sister Cara.
With her father's chances for recovery dwindling, Cara wants to wait for a miracle. But Edward wants to terminate life support and donate his father's organs. Is he motivated by altruism, or revenge? And to what lengths will his sister go to stop him from making an irrevocable decision?
Lone Wolf explores the notion of family, and the love, protection and strength it's meant to offer. But what if the hope that should sustain it, is the very thing that pulls it apart? Another tour de force from Jodi Picoult, Lone Wolf examines the wild and lonely terrain upon which love battles reason.

Spotlight:

Pole to Pole

by Pat Farmer

In a feat that ranks with the brave and inspiring deeds of Scott of the Antarctic, Sir Edmund Hillary and Jessica Watson, famed Australian ultramarathon runner Pat Farmer did what no human has ever done: run from the North Pole to South Pole. His mission: to raise money for the Red Cross to fund water projects in the world's neediest regions.
Setting out from the North Pole in April 2011, Farmer ran 21,000 kilometres through 14 countries including Canada, the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia and Chile. In the run, which took him nearly a year to complete, he averaged an incredible 85 km a day - that's two marathons every day, with no days off.
On his epic adventure, Farmer faced freezing cold, polar bears and ice crevasses; searing heat and rattlesnakes; guerrillas, drug cartels and killer highway traffic; humidity and dangerous wildlife; and the stamina-sapping high altitudes of the Andes. He suffered injuries, collisions and saw first-hand the brutality of life in some of the most dangerous places on earth. He cheated death time and again.
The raw and honest chronicle of Pat Farmer's run from Pole to Pole is a deeply personal diary accompanied by stunning photography. Share in Farmer's triumphs, challenges and despair as he runs and runs and runs from one end of the earth to the other.

Spotlight:

Erebos

by Ursula Poznanski, translated by Judith Pattinson

'Enter. Or turn back. This is Erebos.'
Nick is given a sinister but brilliant computer game called Erebos. The game is highly addictive but asks its players to carry out actions in the real world in order to keep playing online, actions which become more and more terrifyingly manipulative. As Nick loses friends and all sense of right and wrong in the real world, he gains power and advances further towards his online goal - to become one of the Inner Circle of Erebos. But what is virtual and what is reality? How far will Nick go to achieve his goal? And what does Erebos really want?
Enter Erebos at your own risk. Exciting, suspenseful and totally unputdownable.

Spotlight:

Puppy Love

by Frauke Scheunemann

Hercules is a dachshund, and his new mistress Caroline is the greatest human being on earth. She's the one who rescued him from the animal shelter, who smells of summer and strawberries, and who laughs when the little pup snuggles up with her on the sofa. So when Caroline is badly treated by her bossy, dog-hating boyfriend, Hercules decides it's high time he rescued his mistress for a change. And so begins an epic quest to find his favourite woman the perfect man... Touching, original, and very funny, Puppy Love is a story about love, life, and the best friend a girl could ever have.

Spotlight:

Sex Drive

by Dr Bella Ellwood-Clayton

Is women's sexual desire in the western world at an all time low? When it comes to women's priorities, is sex on top? Recent studies tell us that lack of libido is women's most common sexual problem and that once in a secure relationship, women's sex drive begins to plummet. So, what's going on? Sexual anthropologist Dr Bella Ellwood-Clayton explores sexuality as it relates to body image, parenting, ageing, depression and the wear and tear of relationships. Traversing historical thought and contemporary culture, she argues that women are experiencing a mind-body disconnect in which they don't want sex because they don't feel sexy. At a time when women's libidos are being threatened by the wider forces of media, marketing and medication and our increasingly pressured work-places and lives, who can blame them? Sex Drive explores what our libido is, how it works, and why it is being depleted.
Increasing numbers of women with 'low libido' are being diagnosed as sexually dysfunctional, but the definition doctors are using come from pharmaceutical company-funded research. With the race on to create a 'pink Viagra', a sex drug for women, the state of our sexual wellbeing is under siege. Bella examines the designer drugs Oprah and others are advocating that bottle youth and sex drive.
Dr Bella asks: do we have unrealistic expectations about our sex drive, who defines what is normal and abnormal, and could 'low libido' in fact be the natural order of things? Perhaps it's not that we're sexually depleted or that our libido is 'low', but that our creative, vibrant energy is being directed elsewhere. Authoritative and engaging, Sex Drive: In pursuit of female desire is both fascinating reading and a book that is creating passionate debate.

Spotlight:

The Ink Bridge

by Neil Grant

Each step becomes a heartbeat and I feel the distance between Omed and me closing. I remember when I first met him - when he had showed me what bravery meant. How he had stood up for what he believed. In the end that had been his undoing.
Omed is a boy from Afghanistan. After making an enemy of the Taliban on the day the Buddhas of Bamiyan are destroyed, he undertakes a perilous journey to seek asylum in Australia. Hector is a grieving Australian boy who has given up on school and retreated into silence.
Their paths meet at a candle factory where they both find work. But secrets fester behind the monotonous routine of assembling wax and wicks - secrets with terrible consequences. And, ultimately, it is up to Hector to see how the story ends.
Omed's and Hector's beautifully told and compelling journeys will grip hold of your heart and not let go.