june book club
friday 14th || tuesday 18th || tuesday 25th
In store | Tickets $45 | Bookings essential
This month’s book takes us from the commission towers of Melbourne’s inner west to the jungles of Kokoda. Vogel Prize winning author, Murray Middleton, considering the fractured relationships between migrant youth, their teachers and local police, and offers us a snapshot of contemporary Australian society and the prejudices that still underpin it.
Book Club Session Times:
- Friday 14 June 10.30am-11.30am
- Tuesday 18 June 6.30-7.30pm
- Tuesday 25 June 10.30am-11.30am CANCELLED
about book club
Participation is $45 per month, with each month needing to be booked separately. Each session includes:
- copy of the new release book
- moderated discussion
- drink on arrival, light refreshments (evening sessions) or takeaway coffee / tea, biscuits (daytime sessions)
(Please note: as drink orders for the day sessions will be taken at the start of each session to be prepared at a local café, late-arriving participants will not be included. BYO reusable cups encouraged!)
Places in each session are limited. A participant may only attend one session per month.
Books will be made available well in advance of session dates to ensure plenty of reading time. Once booked, we will make contact with participants with full information and timing.
Bookings for all sessions will open 12pm Thursday 29 February and fill on a first come, first served basis. A waitlist function will activate on the booking link in the event all sessions sell out.
No Church in the Wild
Available 26 March
Five years after violence erupted between young migrants and local police in Melbourne’s inner west, a police-led trip to hike the Kokoda Trail seeks to rebuild trust. But fresh allegations of racial profiling have the community on a knife edge.
For wannabe rapper Ali, pride is hard to come by in the commission towers, where friends fill the gaps left by a family secret. Classmate Tyler’s anger – at his broken home, and a world that denies his dreams – is close to ignition.
With her life in disarray, young and idealistic teacher Anna defies a school system that’s failing her students. And Paul, a cop new to the beat, quickly realises it’ll take more than community policing to fix relations with local youth.
From the vial-studded stairs of the inner-city high-rises to the mud-sucking jungle of Kokoda, No Church in the Wild is a fierce interrogation of contemporary Australian society and the prejudices that still underpin it.
about the author
Murray Middleton is a Melbourne-based writer who spent eight years working in the city’s education system. His first collection of stories, When There’s Nowhere Else to Run, won The Australian/Vogel Literary Award and was shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards. He is also a winner of The Age Short Story Award. In 2016, Murray was named Sydney Morning Herald‘s Best Young Australian Novelist. He currently restrings tennis racquets for a living.