top of page
Writer's pictureAllen & Unwin

9 Books to get mum this Mother's Day

There's a book for every mum in our Mother's Day Books Guide!

Long Weekend Reads

We can’t even believe it’s halfway through the year already - and Mother’s Day is this Sunday! For all those last-minute shoppers, we’ve got you. Here are our picks of the very best reads you should give your Mum this Mother’s Day.  



Galah by Annabelle Hickson

Edited by Annabelle Hickson


It can be easy to assume nothing much happens beyond the city, if that's all you've known. But that, of course, is far from the truth.


In Galah, journalist Annabelle Hickson shares a different perspective on life in regional Australia, featuring stories from the coast to the farms, from the bush to the towns, from the rainforest to the outback. Beautifully written and with gorgeous colour photographs, this is a book your Mum will keep coming back to again and again.



Mad Honey by Jodi Picoilt and Jennifer Finney Boylan

by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan


This is the story of Olivia who, after a messy divorce, finds herself back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, taking over her father's beekeeping business.   

Meanwhile, Ava is also in search of a fresh start, moving to Adams with her daughter Lily, who is in her final year of high school. 

 

Olivia's son Asher falls for the new girl at school, and Lily can't help loving him in return. With Ash she feels happy for the first time, yet she wonders if she can trust him completely. Then one day Olivia receives a phone call. Lily is dead and Ash is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent, but she also recognises the flashes of his father's dangerous temper in him . . . 

 

Read it before Jodi’s new book By Any Other Name comes out on 20 August.  



Murdle by G.T. Karber

by G.T. Karber


You might not know what Murdle is, but we bet you your Mum knows (they know everything, remember?) Also, if you aren’t Murdling yourself, you need to get on this brilliant puzzle craze! It’s a combination on Murdle and Cluedo and highly addictive!  


Help Detective Logico solve 100 fiendishly foul murder mystery logic puzzles! 




Pheasants Nest by Louise Milligan

by Louise Milligan


Everyone is talking about Pheasants Nest, the thriller by award-winning ABC journalist Louise Milligan.  


Journalist Kate Delaney finds herself brutalised, bound and gagged in the back of a car. She’s covered these stories and knows how they end. She’s just hoping the police find her before it’s too late.  


It’s fiction but Milligan’s experience as a journalist throws you right into the action of this incredibly gripping read.  



Body of Lies by Sarah Bailey

by Sarah Bailey


If your Mum prefers a detective story, Sarah Bailey’s white-knuckle thriller is your pick!  


A car crash victim clings to life and is rushed to hospital but can't be saved. Hours later, her corpse is stolen from the morgue and no one knows who the dead woman was or why her body was taken. But Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is going to find out.  




Strap Yourself In by Amy Gerard

by Amy Gerard


If you’re a mum of young kids, you will definitely know who Amy Gerard is.  


Podcast host of Beyond the Likes and one of the funniest, most delightful people on Instagram, Strap Yourself In is Amy’s laugh-out-loud, deeply relatable memoir challenging our unrealistic expectations of motherhood and life.  


This uplifting and hilarious memoir will make you stop to smell the roses and appreciate what you've got and is a must-read for mums or anyone who has ever compared their own life to an Instagram post! 



Plot Twist by Jana Firestone

by Jana Firestone


Mother’s Day isn’t an easy time for everyone. For those of us who might find it a tricky day or are dealing with something difficult, this is a warm and practical guide to handling life’s curveballs.  


Therapist and podcaster Jana Firestone knows this better than most, after losing her mum suddenly at the age of twenty-one and spending many years providing professional counselling to her clients during their darkest days.  

Sharing her own stories, as well as the hard-won wisdom of people who’ve been there too, this book will help you learn to survive and eventually thrive during the most challenging days of our lives. 



Bright Objects by Ruby Todd

by Ruby Todd


If your Mum loves Australian novels grab a copy of Bright Objects.  


It tells the story of Sylvia, a young widow in grief, desperate to avenge her husband's death, whose life in a small New South Wales town in 1997 is upended by a bright comet not seen since the time of the pharaohs. Despite all that has changed on Earth since its last visit, everyone in town has an opinion on the comet, whether scientific or mystical—while projecting onto it their various hopes and fears. Caught between the competing worldviews of an astronomer and a meditation teacher, Sylvia begins to question the line between reality and illusion, while beginning to experience her own life through the lens of the comet’s progress through the sky. 


This is a stunning debut for fans of Tracey Lien and Emma Cline.  



The One that Got Away by Karly Lane

by Karly Lane


What Mum doesn’t need a little escape, perhaps in the shape of a little romantic tension set in an idyllic seaside town in Australia?  


Alex Kelly's future is nearly sorted: she loves her dream job and her life in London. There's just one last step: selling the family home her father left her in the small Australian seaside town of Rockne Heads. Sully McCoy meanwhile has spent the last twenty years distancing himself from his own father's reputation and now he and his daughter have a good life in Rockne Heads. But suddenly Alex is back in town and turning his life upside down all over again. Sully thought he'd never see her again. And Alex is making it perfectly clear that she's not here to relive old memories—she's here to end them once and for all. But can she?



All of these great reads are all available right now at your local bookstore!

Comments


Commenting has been turned off.
bottom of page