Bestsellers

@dymocksbooks It’s Britney… the book! All aboard the Britney bus in Sydney today for the launch of The Woman In Me. #booktok #britneyspears #dymocks ♬ Gimme more - paul desbois

Bighearted, gritty, magical and moving, Lola in the Mirror is the irresistible new novel from international bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies, Trent Dalton.

SHORTLISTED FOR DYMOCKS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

'Unpredictable, fantastic ... It takes a charged narrative, like Dickens achieves, and as Dalton does too, to reach the heart and the brain - writing that is able to carry both stories, the individual and the political/personal ... To tell you more would spoil this complicated and surprising story. You should read it.' Sydney Morning Herald

'Mirror, mirror, on the grass, what's my future? What's my past?'

A girl and her mother have been on the run for sixteen years, from police and the monster they left in their kitchen with a knife in his throat. They've found themselves a home inside a van with four flat tyres parked in a scrapyard by the edge of the Brisbane River.

The girl has no name because names are dangerous when you're on the run. But the girl has a dream. A vision of a life as an artist of international acclaim. A life outside the grip of the Brisbane underworld drug queen 'Lady' Flora Box. A life of love with the boy who's waiting for her on the bridge that stretches across a flooding, deadly river. A life beyond the bullet that has her name on it. And now that the storm clouds are rising, there's only one person who can help make her dreams come true. That person is Lola and she carries all the answers. But to find Lola, the girl with no name must first do one of the hardest things we can ever do. She must look in the mirror.

From international bestselling author Trent Dalton, Lola in the Mirror is a big, moving, blackly funny, violent, heartbreaking and beautiful novel of love, fate, life and death and all the things we see when we look in the mirror: all our past, all our present, and all our possible futures.

'Trent Dalton's third novel reminds me of the 1980s advertising slogan for the author's home state of Queensland: Beautiful one day, perfect the next ... Lola in the Mirror is a bold, big-hearted, hopeful, humorous, dark, reflective, truthful, superbly written novel that confirms Dalton's place in all the shimmering skies (to borrow the title of his second novel) of Australian literature. He is not a rising star but a star full stop.' The Australian

'Wonderful ... An original, heart-thumping novel ... you are right there with the protagonists, feeling and believing every word and every raindrop. It is the type of novel you read filled with pure hope and sorrow for the characters. You want to believe that everything is going to work out just fine, and that there will be dancing, and art, and delight. You won't know until the end, and by that time you, too, are running through the streets, turning the pages, and trusting that love wins.' Readings

'Dalton holds a mirror up to the darkest corners of this Australian life and reveals every bit of beauty, magic and calamity it has to offer.' Booktopia

From the bestselling author of Phosphorescence comes a beautiful and timely exploration of that most mysterious but necessary of human qualities: grace.

'Luminous ... A work to both devour and savour, Baird has, once again, written a book the world needs now.' Guardian

Grace is both mysterious and hard to define. It can be found when we create ways to find meaning and dignity in connection with each other, building on our shared humanity, being kinder, bigger, better with each other. If, in its crudest interpretation, karma is getting what you deserve, then grace is the opposite: forgiving the unforgivable, favouring the undeserving, loving the unlovable.

But we live in an era when grace is an increasingly rare currency. The silos in which we consume information dot the media landscape like skyscrapers, and our growing distrust of the media, politicians and public figures has choked our ability to cut each other slack, to allow each other to stumble, to forgive one another.

So what does grace look like in our world, and how do we recognise it, nurture it in ourselves and express it, even in the darkest of times?

From award-winning journalist Julia Baird, author of the acclaimed national bestseller Phosphorescence, comes Bright Shining, a luminously beautiful, deeply insightful and most timely exploration of grace.

'Fascinating, wide-ranging and moving' The Age

'The uplift and power of Bright Shining ... is to be found in the way Baird gives grace fresh currency by bringing this beautiful and elusive condition from the theological margins into the mainstream and showing, with passion and verve, how quietly transformative it can be.' Sydney Morning Herald

'Enlightening, surprising, absorbing .. I learned something every chapter and put the book down full of awe at the power of human beings to be good to each other when no-one would expect it. It's the book I needed to read right now. It filled my cup.' Annabel Crabb

@dymocksbooks Our book quote of the week from Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi #booktok #beforethecoffeegetscold #dymocks ♬ Sky Aesthetic - Tollan Kim

When Trent Cotchin was handed the reins of Richmond Football Club's team in 2013, he was a 22-year-old star, skilful and fearlessly hard at the ball. Coming off a Brownlow Medal-winning season, he embraced the captaincy and continued his quest to get the most out of himself for the benefit of the club.

Yet by the end of 2016, Trent was suffering from serious self-doubt. The media and fans were circling, questioning the club's leadership and culture, demanding answers for their poor performance in finals.

With nothing to lose and facing down his own fear of failure, Trent put himself on the line in a new way. He laid himself bare and asked his teammates to do the same. Vulnerability - a foreign word to tough footballers back then - gave the players an incredible connection that resulted in the 2017 premiership, breaking a 37-year drought. Trent went on to lead the team to two more flags in 2019 and 2020, cementing his place in Tiger history.

Trent's personal journey involved doing the hard work to shift his focus from 'me' to 'we', abandoning the hunt for perfection in his own game for a more selfless - and ultimately more fulfilling - role. By leading with love and empathy, he brought out the best in those around him.

With unflinching honesty and generosity, Trent shares the lessons he learnt in the hope that it will help others to live more authentically. This book is his legacy.

@dymocksbooks Showing up for a run with #NeddBrockmann at the Dymocks confernce. #booktok #dymocks #dymcon23 ♬ original sound - dymocksbooks

The extraordinary life, loves and voyages of the man who put Australia on the map

In 1810, Matthew Flinders made his final voyage home to his beloved wife, Ann, his body ravaged by the deprivations of years of imprisonment by the French. Four years later, at the age of just 40, he would be dead - a premature, tragic end to one of the world's greatest maritime adventurers who circumnavigated and mapped the famed Great Southern Land, and whose naming of the vast continent would become its modern title: Australia.

Flinders took to the sea at age 16, inspired by the story of Robinson Crusoe and the adventures of Captain Cook, swiftly climbing the ranks to fight in a decisive naval battle of the French Revolutionary wars. After sailing to Tahiti with William Bligh, Flinders was drawn to adventure, and by 1801 he was in command of an expedition to uncover the true nature of the great continent of the southern ocean.

This sweeping biography tells the story of the fearless, sharp-eyed, handsome Flinders and how he became one of the world's most intrepid explorers. It's a story of a great love for the sea, for connection and of friendship - accompanied by his Aboriginal interpreter and guide, Kuringgai man Bungaree, and his beloved rescue cat, Trim, Flinders explored the furthest reaches and rugged coastlines of Australia. It's also a story of technical brilliance - Flinders' meticulous charts gave us the first complete maps of our continent, which are so accurate they are still used today.

But rushing home to England to his adored wife, Ann, Flinders was trapped and incarcerated off the coast of Africa as a prisoner of war, ultimately denied celebration of his great achievement. His love for Ann, and his fight to escape his bonds to be with her again was the last great adventure of a fascinating life.

From the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of Banks, Banjo, Hudson Fysh and Monash, Flinders is a rollicking tale of a man who loved the sea, and adored his family - and pushed himself to the limits of human endeavour to show it.

@dymocksbooks Gabrielle Zevin stopped by and we got the chance to ask her a few questions! #gabriellezevin #tomorrowandtomorrowandtomorrow #booktok #dymocks ♬ Aesthetic - Gaspar