Spring symbolises the end of winter and a time for renewal as the weather becomes warmer and trees spring to life. September 1st was also National Wattle Day – a day celebrating Australia’s national floral emblem, land and history.

What better way to celebrate our national emblem than think about Australia’s equally rich contribution to literature. These eight must-read novels from Dialogue explore our unique history, landscape and culture.  

The Booker Prize shortlist was announced on 6 September. Here are the shortlisted works:

This month we have 2 x 2 reading selections to give away. 

For their leaders have found the key to life when crops, livestock, and the very future have been blighted - a key that turns on each citizen being moved by human suffering. The question is, with memories still bright of all the friends they’ve lost, all the experience they’ll never know, will compassion be enough? Or must they succumb to, or even embrace, darker desires? This is a tale that speaks to our troubled times, a Kafkaesque fable of hope and imagination. 

Thanks to Scribe.

Missing is a true story of immense emotional force. It tells of a broken life and a ruptured family but is also a spare and eloquent story of survival that carries a deep humanity.  

Thanks to Allen & Unwin 

Second Innings shows what can happen when long-term unresolved anxiety takes hold and it demonstrates the value of finding compassionate and understanding medical professionals who provide a path toward the light when all seems lost. As Greg Chappell helps teach this writer, in life there is always a second innings. 

Thanks to Fremantle Press 

But when Moody loses two of the people she loves most - her beloved husband and the half-sister she had only just been reunited with - her world is turned upside down. Part of her journey to recovery is her decision to boldly go where she has never been before, both in her travels as a tour guide and in her everyday life. This leads to exploring uncharted territories in Morocco and a wrenching move from her beloved mountain home and garden to make a fresh start while rediscovering her passions: travel, gardening, food, family and the joy of new adventures. A warm, heartbreakingly moving and thoroughly entertaining story of how to rebuild your life without the people who matter most.  

Thanks to Simon & Schuster 

Anyone is welcome to enter. To go in the draw, simply email us at competition@cae.edu.au and let us know your favourite books about perseverance against the odds. Include your name and postal address. Entries close on Friday October 7th. We will notify the winners and we may use their answers on social media.