Friday Finds | 30th – 7th July

Well, it’s Friday again, so let’s see what books I’ve found this week to read!

There are two Australian published books on my list for this week, which I’m eagerly awaiting release dates in the UK for, and an indie book!

Synopsis: In the long, hot summer of 1989, Ben and Fab are best friends.

Growing up in a small country town, they spend their days playing cricket, yabbying in local dams, wanting a pair of Nike Air Maxes and not talking about how Fab’s dad hits him or how the sudden death of Ben’s next-door neighbour unsettled him. Almost teenagers, they already know some things are better left unsaid.

Then a newcomer arrived in the Wimmera. Fab reckoned he was a secret agent and he and Ben staked him out. Up close, the man’s shoulders were wide and the veins in his arms stuck out, blue and green. His hands were enormous, red and knotty. He looked strong. Maybe even stronger than Fab’s dad. Neither realised the shadow this man would cast over both their lives.

Twenty years later, Fab is still stuck in town, going nowhere but hoping for somewhere better. Then a body is found in the river, and Fab can’t ignore the past any more.

 

Small town, big secrets? I’m there! Doesn’t this book just sound so creepy and incredible? I neeeeeeed it! I’m eagerly awaiting a UK ARC copy of this either physically or on NG. I MUST get my hands on it!

 

Synopsis: Out in that country the sun smeared the sky and nothing ever altered, except that one day a scrap man came by . . .

Her name is scarcely known or remembered. All in all, she is worth less than the nine shillings and sixpence counted into her father’s hand. She bides her time. She does her work.

Way back in the corner of her mind is a thought she is almost too frightened to shine a light on: one day she will run away.

 

Another horrifying sounding Australian novel. I’m totally grossed out by the rusty, bloody looking cover art, but that then just makes me more intrigued. This sounds like an abusive story, which isn’t always my thing – I tend to find them too distressing – but I want to give this one a go when I get the chance.

 

Synopsis: Amrapali Anna Singh is an historian and analyst capable of discerning the most cryptic and trivial details from audio recordings. One day, a mysterious man appears at her office in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, having traveled a great distance to bring her three Type IV audio cassettes that bear the stamp of a library in Buenos Aires that may or may not exist.

On the cassettes is the deposition of an adventure journalist and his obsessive pursuit of an amorphous, legendary, and puzzling “City of Dreams.” Spanning decades, his quest leads him from a snake-hunter in the Louisiana bayou to the walled city of Kowloon on the eve of its destruction, from the Singing Dunes of Mongolia to a chess tournament in Istanbul. The deposition also begs the question: Who is making the recording, and why?

Despite being explicitly instructed not to, curiosity gets the better of Singh and she mails a transcription of the cassettes with her analysis to an acquaintance before vanishing. The man who bore the cassettes, too, has disappeared. The journalist was unnamed.

Here—for the first time—is the complete archival manuscript of the mysterious recordings accompanied by Singh’s analysis.

 

I found this one thanks to Inside My Library Mind! This is an indie published book and sounds very exciting and intriguing. I also super love the cover of it too! It reminds me of the Wolf in White Van cover!

 

So there you have it, those are the three books I added to my TBR this week.

Have you guys read any of these books / want to read any of these books? I’d love to hear what you think!