Picks of the month
Book of the Month: April 2025
The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida
The Convenience Store by the Sea is the heartwarming international bestseller from award-winning Japanese author Sonoko Machida and translated by Bruno Navasky, that celebrates the joy of connection and community.
Set in a 24/7 Japanese convenience store, the novel tells the delightfully quirky and heartfelt stories of the store's customers and employees in a series of interconnected vignettes, offering us all a unique recipe for a good, fulfilling life.
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The book gently explores themes of connection, routine and community - values we see reflected every day in our library spaces. If you pick it up and feel like sharing your thoughts, drop into one of our BYO Book Clubs this month. We’d love to know what resonated with you.
Spotlight: Crime, Mystery & Thrillers
The Garden Party by B P Walter
The day of the garden party should've been a celebration of love for Raphael and his fiancée, as they toast their engagement with their families. But for someone, it's an opportunity to unveil the lies that have bound the family together over the years. With their nearest and dearest gathered at the family manor, as the first glass is raised, the secrets that bind them begin to crack. And what should have been the happiest day of their lives, might just end as a day they'd rather forget.
Unfinished Business by Shankari Chandran
Sri Lanka, 2009. Decades of civil war and bloodshed are being brought to an end at last--by any means necessary. In the capital, Colombo, tenacious journalist Ameena Fernando is murdered, execution-style, on a busy street near her home, with no witnesses. CIA agent Ellie Harper is sent to seek justice for the journalist's death. Amid the international scheming and jostling for stakes in post-war Sri Lanka, Ellie follows the trail of secrets on a mission to uncover a truth worth killing for.
The Crash by Freida McFadden
Tegan is eight months pregnant, and her world is crashing down around her. The father of her baby wants nothing to do with her and has promised to make her life hell. In a last-ditch effort to find help and get away from the threats of her ex, Tegan heads out in a storm to drive to her brother's. Tegan wakes in a ditch, having skidded off the road. Stranded and terrified, she's taken in by a couple living in a remote farmhouse. But they may have ulterior motives, and Tegan soon realises she's stuck in the middle of nowhere at the mercy of strangers. #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden delivers a snowbound thriller that will chill you to the bone.
The Big Empty by Robert Crais
Traci Beller was only thirteen when her father disappeared in the sleepy town of Rancha, not far from Los Angeles. The evidence says Tommy Beller abandoned his family, but Traci never believed it. Now a super-popular influencer with millions of followers, she finally has the money to hire a new detective to uncover the truth. And that detective is Elvis Cole. When he finds himself shadowed by a deadly gang of vicious criminals, the case flips on its head. Calling on the help of his ex-Marine friend, Joe Pike, Elvis follows Tommy Beller's trail into the twisted, nightmarish depths of a monstrous evil.
Cold Truth by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
Harlow Close has made a career as an influencer uncovering the secrets of Winnipeg, dubbed 'North America's strangest city'. The region is renowned for its sub-zero temperatures, dropping to minus 40 degrees - sometimes for months at a time. When Harlow's father mysteriously disappears amid a brutal cold snap, suspicions of foul play arise. Unhappy with the pace of the police investigation, Harlow launches her own search, enlisting her sister Blaise's reluctant help. As Harlow struggles to uncover what happened to her father, she's forced to question everything and everyone around her.