Should you wish to purchase any of these books we would be delighted to hear from you. We can arrange to meet at ArtSpace, local delivery or post.

A Feather in my Hair by Heather Murray TobiasPrice: $15

The poetry in this collection is based upon fine observation of nature. Mostly about birds and focused upon the Gippsland Region of Victoria the poems show not only an environmentalist's concern with life and landscape but also a writer's sensitivity to language and form.

Populated with solitary eagles and kestrels, busy honeyeaters, noisy wattle birds, imperious kookaburras, fussy wagtails, egrets and penguins, rosella's and wrens, A Feather in my Hair is a strong and exciting collection.

An Artist’s Journal – From the Desert to the Gulf by Janice Orchard Price: $50

The life of a nomadic artist is full of challenges and adventures. It is every artist’s dream to spend long days in the sunshine painting the ever-changing landscape that is Australia. With 35 years of experience as a working artist and professional tutor the road beckoned Janice Orchard and the temptation of capturing this amazing country en-plein-air became a dream come true. In over 40 pages of narrative complemented by beautiful watercolours Janice takes us from the Desert to the Gulf.

Archies Bald Portrait Prize 2019Price: $30

The combination of empathy for a local identity who had been told to get her affairs in order after fighting cancer for 15 years; an idea to celebrate the hairless head; the energy of a group of volunteers; the skill of artists all too ready to embrace the concept and the stewardship of ArtSpace and its curatorial team led to an exhibition few thought possible when it was first mooted. You cannot help but be moved by the images and the stories behind the works of art.

Cobber the Pit Pony Meets Mary the Canary – Colour Me in Story BookBy Simone van Gaalen Illustrated by Ellen Palmer Hubble

A colouring in book for children dedicated to all the animals who in the past and present do so much to make our lives easier and happier.

Colours of My Heart and Mind: A Portrait of John Adam by Phyllis M. PappsPrice: $20

If John Adam was to use a metaphor that visualises, describes and paints his life of nearly 79 years and his long-standing career as an artist, educator and writer it would be the metaphor of a pallet comprising all the seven colours of the rainbow.

Phyllis Papps manages to capture John Adam’s life just like a rainbow which is rich in colours, tones, compositions, designs, textures, forms, shapes, images, lines and style. It shows a man with great depth of feeling and inner drive.

For the Forest of a Bird by Sue SalibaPrice: $15

This is a novel about love and the things you can and can't change. Writing this book was an opportunity for Sue Saliba to look deeply at the experience of losing her father as an everyday presence in her life, and the effect it had on her adolescent self.

It’s only now, years later, that she can look back and finally have compassion for the teenage girl she was, dealing with grief in the only way she knew.

She hopes the novel can bring some of this compassion to adolescent readers today, and offer encouragement to live fully and to relish one's own unique beauty.

Hegel’s Owl – The Life of Bernard Smith by Sheridan PalmerPrice: $40

Bernard Smith began life as a ward of the state; he would go on to become the father of Australian art history. In 2008 Smith invited writer and art historian Dr Sheridan Palmer to write his biography. Through years of interviews and exclusive access to Smith's papers and library, Palmer reveals the unique character of an exceptional man.

‘An elegant and powerful study, finely Crafted – fully worthy of its subject.’ Peter Beilharz, Curtin University, Perth.

Just Because – Deb Rielly’s incredible story of living with Cancer by Deb Rielly Price: $20

No point in asking why. Recently diagnosed with breast cancer, lying in her hospital bed having had a mastectomy and in the midst of chemotherapy treatment, Deb gets the news she has been chosen to represent Australia in the World Championships in New Zealand.

This is her story of how she achieved her dream and went on to live, love, care and compete before arriving at her final chapter.

Kizuma – the Tie that Binds by Etsuko YasunagaPrice: $30

Beautifully written with unflinching honesty, this book brings tranquil reflections of ordinary life to extraordinary light.

Compelling and moving, it provides insights into Japanese culture by a native Japanese now living in the west. Intriguing and heartfelt, this book inspires profound meditation on the nature of human spirit.

On the Great Alpine Road by Sofie DieuPrice: $25

In August 2017 Sofie Dieu spent some time in Swifts Creek and the surroundings. Through long walks, river wandering and stone reading she searched for a way to talk about East Gippsland and its people. The closeness and poetic relationship to Nature opened her eyes to what it means to live in rural Victoria.

While the land was dry and the winds stiff, she found herself painting black clouds heavy with rain and storm. She realised that people's concern for the drought had driven her to ‘call for the rain’. This book comprises a collection of her evocative ink paintings complemented by her poetic thoughts.

Reflections by Kathy WestPrice: $20

Kathy West's reflections cover almost a century. They start at a time of horse and cart, of new frontiers in Papua New Guinea, of riots in Malaysia and the rag trade of Australia. It is a collection of memories, beautifully told, that spirits you on a journey of joy and sometimes hardship that leaves you wanting to know more. Kathy decided to write her story because her Grandmother used to tell such interesting stories complete with bush rangers and tales of more than 100 years ago. As Kathy’s Grandmother grew older, she would, like many of the elderly, repeat the stories until Kathy, tired of hearing the same things time and time again, closed her ears and mind to the repeated tales. And now she deeply regrets it for many of the stories have long since been forgotten and details lost because, before Kathy was mature enough to understand their importance, her Grandmother was gone. Kathy determined that she would not allow her own children or grandchildren to make the same mistake, and so she has written this book on her reflections of her life.

Sarah’s Story – Life after IVF – A Story of Personal Triumph and Spiritual Growth by Danielle AitkenPrice: $28

Sarah’s Story depicts one woman's journey before, during and most importantly after infertility by sensitively giving a heartfelt account of the reality and the emotional rollercoaster that is IVF, but it is so much more than that.

The story serves as a metaphor for anyone struggling to overcome adversity as it shines a light of hope which leaves the reader feeling empowered by the ability we all possess to bring ourselves back from the depths of despair.

Sarah's Story will move you from tears of sorrow to tears of joy as it provides a compelling insight into human potential and a person's capacity to turn their life around finding hope, meaning and inspiration when none previously existed.

Tales of Enlightenment by Kit FennessyPrice: $15

Found on bookshelves between John Clarke and David Sedaris, Kit Fennessy's writing has been compared to Roald Dahl; only with slightly shorter legs and more hair.

This collection provides an emergency hatch from the humdrum, everyday life to a realm of laughter, escapism and metaphysics. Tales of Enlightenment is another instant classic from the author that brought you Tales of the Dark and the Hidden People.

WARNING: This book may open your inner eye and allow the mystic light of wisdom in.

Tales of the Dark by Kit FennessyPrice: $15

Full of mischief, valour, ribaldry and murder, the Tales of the Dark collection has enthralled everyone who has read it. These are the Tales that will take you to places unseen during daylight hours. Packed within this delightful volume you’ll find:

Time travel fiction in “42” Zarkan Coridian – alien school boy (Part I) Sigurd, bane of Thissledor Withering Whites New York’s Brussel Sprouts Murphy Life in a leaf with Cedric Chattrel An Icelandic night in the Dark in a metal igloo

Plus: Poems about a girl called Margarine and a sailor who lost his pussycat (Argh, Again) … and so much more.

The Bunurong Pirate by James TurnerPrice: Normally $14.90 (lock down price $10)

A book for children 9 to 14 years of age. Three children, Dusty, Bowie and Caster, have an entire Marine Reserve almost to themselves. The bush, crashing ocean, steep cliffs, caves and secret places fuel their imaginations and sense of adventure.

One day, however, a frightening reality arrives in their sleepy town. The children are faced with great danger and need to demonstrate courage, determination, and analytical skills. The adventure tests their bravery and teaches them greater awareness, honesty, and resilience.

The Flotation Tank by Kit FennessyPrice: $15

Every three thousand, two hundred and twenty four years the planets of our solar system fall into alignment with each other. Every twenty four years Jupiter returns to your birth sign. In 2006 Mars came closer to Earth that it had been for millennia.

Magnetic poles play off each other in this interplanetary ballet and, when combined with gravity waves of a certain frequency, can alter cosmic destiny.

What do these astrological titbits have to do with this novel? Absolutely nothing. They may, however, have been the driving force behind you picking up this fantastic story of complete strangers caught up in a rollercoaster of politics, intrigue, the media, cults, pyromaniacs and floatation tanks.

The Glass Staircase by Heather Murray TobiasPrice: $15

A book which demonstrates suffering and endurance, but not of the masochistic strain associated with the American confessional poets. These are poems of great love and caring, of self-abnegation, witnessing mental illness, support Professor Patrick McGorry’s inspirational EPPIC (Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre), experiencing the instability which is figured as a glass staircase, and depicting the analogy of necessary hospitalisation with the refugee experience, multicultural Hungarian culture, and a range of mythical references. The poetry is passionate and insightful, owing much to live events and the power of human recovery. It is quintessentially Australian and feminine – a trenchant retelling of a wrenching and educative journey. An important and accessible work, this book can be recommended to poets, to teachers, two parents, and to troubled teens.

The Hidden People by Kit FennessyPrice: $15

Welcome to the secret world of Iceland’s Huldufólk.

What happens when a researcher from New York visits one of the world’s smallest countries to study their myths? Gates open between worlds, people change into animals, Vikings fight trolls, and she gets kidnapped by the ones no ordinary mortal can see – that’s what!

Hillary Maynard-Keynes gets more than she bargained for when she travels to Iceland for her PhD on the Hidden People. Will her true love, Thor Thorson, escape the clutches of the Huldufólk and return to his former life? Will she? And what will happen to the innocent troupe of actors on tour to Reykjavik? The countdown to Midsummer’s Day is on.

This action packed adventure is a tour de force by Melbourne’s second funniest novelist, Kit Fennessy; delivering the goods in an un-put-downable escape hatch into the world of the Hidden People.

Thomas Harriott – A Life of Science by Robyn ArianrhodPrice: $45

As Robyn Arianrhod shows in this new biography, the most complete to date, Thomas Harriot was a pioneer in both the figurative and literal sense. Navigational adviser and loyal friend to Sir Walter Raleigh, Harriot – whose life was almost exactly contemporaneous to Shakespeare's – took part in the first expedition to colonize Virginia in 1585. Not only was he responsible for getting Raleigh's ships safely to harbor in the New World, he was also the first European to acquire a working knowledge of an indigenous language from what is today the US, and to record in detail the local people’s way of life. In addition to his ground-breaking navigational, linguistic, and ethnological work, Harriot was the first to use a telescope to map the moon's surface and, independently of Galileo, recorded the behaviour of sunspots and discovered the law of free fall. He preceded Newton in his discovery of the properties of the prism and the nature of the rainbow, to name just two more of his unsung "firsts". Indeed many have argued that Harriot was the best mathematician of his age, and one of the finest experimental scientists of all time.

Treasures from the Tide by Pauline MackinnonPrice: $42

Images or words come as gifts like treasures from the tide. They appear, placed on the shore for you at dawn, or in the dark of night, sometimes suddenly, with the surge of a storm, or otherwise revealed slowly by time’s unceasing march. At some point you come across them, pick them up and listen.

A heart-warming collection, full of beautiful moments and images created by words and camera. At times humorous, at other times sad, these pieces rollick along dusty country roads, down suburban streets and into the lives of ordinary people and accidental heroes, offering a glimpse into the unsung chapters of their lives.

Walking Wonthaggi’s Wetlands (a legacy of our mining history) by Terri Gitsham Allen (on behalf of the Friends of Wonthaggi Heathland and Coastal Reserve Inc.)Price: $7

This handy reference book details the significant remnants of the vast swampland of the original tent town of Wonthaggi remains: trains, swamps, ephemeral wetlands and large areas of water. It is full of maps and commentary as well as references to the flora and fauna to be found.

When Water Lost her Way by Meg Humphrys Received Notable Book in the Children’s Book of the Year AwardsPrice: $20

Lost in her ever-changing forms, ‘Water’ questions who she is after an encounter with a creature in an underground cave. Water seeks all parts of her cycle for answers, which makes her feel overwhelmed and confused. However, an ‘old tree’ helps her to understand her place in the world and her many interconnections with all living and non-living things.