Moruya Books
Moruya’s independently owned and run bookshop. Situated in the heart of Moruya, Moruya Books was established on July 5th, 2004.
Since then the shop has doubled in size, opened and closed an ice-creamery, survived floods and the fires all due to popular demand and the support of a loyal customer base. Pop in and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere, pick up a book, steal a comfy chair and take in the art of our Book Nook Gallery.
We offer a diverse range of books from Science Fiction to Poetry, Romance to Picture Books and Gardening to Politics.
Need a recommendation? Happy to oblige!
Books, Essays and Miscellany
Need a book?
We are here to provide.
We offer a wide range of books of all genres and subjects.
We have an entire room dedicated to children's literature from board books to young adult.
Not to mention book lights, bookmarks and more!
Cards and Wrapping Paper
We offer gift wrapping services, free of charge.
We also sell beautiful cards and wrapping paper in various styles.
A popular favourite are our various books of wrapping paper that make storing and gift wrapping an enjoyable experience.
Some of our cards are made by local artists of the area. Come in store to check out their beautiful work.
Pottery and Fine Art
We have a whole section of our store dedicated to The Book Nook Gallery where we host work from local artists.
Some of our Gallery's staples are John Payne's pottery from Bingie. Julie Mia, one of our lovely staff members, prints.
Various other artists are displayed, check out our Book Nook Gallery page to see the latest show or check it out in person.
Gift Vouchers and Postage
We take orders for books and gifts via phone, email or social media.
postage within Australia will cost an additional $10 for a small package, $15 for medium and $18 for large. This is great for gifts to loved ones who might not be local.
If we don't have what you like in stock we will be happy to order it for you.
Our gift vouchers are available for any amount and have no expiry. We offer pick up of gift vouchers, great gift idea if you want to treat a local bookworm.
Staff Favourites:
Tbilisi’s littered with memories that await me like landmines. The dearly departed voices I silenced long ago have come back without my permission. The situation calls for someone with a plan. I didn’t even bring toothpaste.
Saba is just a child when he flees his home in Georgia with his older brother, Sandro, and father, Irakli, for asylum in the UK after Russia’s occupation of South Ossetia. Two decades later, all three men are struggling to make peace with the past, haunted by the places and people they left behind.
When Irakli decides to return to Georgia, pulled back by memories of a lost wife and a decaying but still beautiful homeland, Saba and Sandro wait eagerly for news. But within weeks of his arrival, Irakli disappears, and the final email they receive from him causes a mystery to unfold before them: ‘My boys, I did something I can’t undo. I need to get away from here before those people catch me. Maybe in the mountains I’ll be safe. I left a trail I can’t erase. Do not follow it.'
In a journey that will lead him to the very heart of a conflict that has marred generations and fractured his own family, Saba must retrace his father's footsteps to discover what remains of their homeland and its people. By turns savage and tender, compassionate and harrowing, Hard by a Great Forest is a powerful and ultimately hopeful novel about the individual and collective trauma of war, and the indomitable spirit of a people determined not only to survive, but to remember those who did not.
A teenage sports game descends into a brawl after a controversial line call in a fast-paced contemporary novel from the bestselling author of The Orchardist's Daughter.
'Sidelines is a riveting novel. It takes our jittery, intensely competitive era and unpicks our self-deceptions until they bleed.' - Jane Caro, bestselling author of The Mother
When a violent brawl erupts at a suburban junior soccer game, some onlookers are shocked. But others saw it coming. Rivalry, parental pressure, coaching bias, inequity, and many other factors have played a part in turning Saturday mornings into a pressure cooker.
Thirteen-year-old Audrey is a talented young football player. But does she want to play for Australia or does she just want to please her father, Ben, whose own thwarted sporting career looms large in his ambitions for his daughter? Audrey's mother, Jonica, doesn't know whether to be more concerned about her anxious daughter, her overbearing husband, or the only other girl on the team, Katerina, who is causing trouble on and off the field. And Katerina's mother, Carmen, is so busy looking for opportunities to give Katerina more game time that she fails to notice what is really capturing her daughter's attention. When Griffin, a naturally gifted player with spectacular skills, arrives, the tension within the team reaches boiling point. But who is going to crack first - the parents or the players?
Award-winning and bestselling cook Anna Jones gives her golden rules for easy wins in the kitchen with super-simple recipes that are bursting with flavour and kind to the planet.
Anna takes 12 hero ingredients that are guaranteed to make your food taste great, with chapters on lemons, olive oil, mustard, tahini and more. She gives 125 all-new dishes that you will want to cook on repeat, like Double Lemon Pilaf with Buttery Almonds, Traybake Lemon Dhal, Miso Rarebit, and Cherry and Chocolate Peanut Butter Sundae. And there’s practical advice on how to season and flavour, plus plenty of ideas for invaluable vegetarian swaps.
EASY WINS will become your go-to for the most flavourful dishes that come together quickly and promise daily moments of triumph.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
‘Funny, clever and sweet’– Sunday Times
‘The much loved comic proves adept at noirish fiction in a debut whose surrealist humour sets it apart’ – Observer
‘Like Spike Milligan, Mortimer has managed to use a novel for his distinctive comedic voice’ – The Telegraph
‘Hilarious’ – Daily Mail
‘You’ll love it’ – Independent
My name is Gary. I’m a thirty-year-old legal assistant with a firm of solicitors in London. To describe me as anonymous would be unfair but to notice me other than in passing would be a rarity. I did make a good connection with a girl, but that blew up in my face and smacked my arse with a fish slice.
Gary Thorn goes for a pint with a work acquaintance called Brendan. When Brendan leaves early, Gary meets a girl in the pub. He doesn’t catch her name, but falls for her anyway. When she suddenly disappears without saying goodbye, all Gary has to remember her by is the book she was reading: The Satsuma Complex. But when Brendan goes missing, Gary needs to track down the girl he now calls Satsuma to get some answers.
And so begins Gary’s quest, through the estates and pie shops of South London, to finally bring some love and excitement into his unremarkable life…
A page-turning story with a cast of unforgettable characters, The Satsuma Complex is the brilliantly funny smash hit first novel by bestselling author and comedian Bob Mortimer.
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on "a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise" (Elizabeth Gilbert).
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings-asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass-offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument- that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.
'Goodwin is a natural-born storyteller, effortlessly compelling whether he's talking about the draconian policies of his bosses, the mad ramblings of his regulars or his own forays into chemical-induced debauchery . . . However, the true secret to Servo's brilliance is that beneath its irreverent, gonzo stylings it's actually a heartfelt, coming-of-age memoir' READINGS
An odyssey of drive-offs, spiked slurpees, stale sausage rolls and sleep-deprived madness.
Most of us have done our time in the retail trenches, but service stations are undoubtedly the frontline, as Melburnian David Goodwin found out when he started working the weekend graveyard shift at his local servo.
From his very first night shift, David absorbed a consistent level of mind-bending lunacy, encountering everything from giant shoplifting bees and balaclava-clad goons hurling cordial-filled water bombs from the sunroof of their BMW, to anarcho-goths high on MDMA releasing large rats into the store from their matching Harry Potter backpacks.
Over the years, David grew to love his mad servo, handing out free pies and chocolate bars on the sly as he grew a backbone and became street smart. Amidst the unrelenting chaos, he eventually made it out of the servo circus - and lived to tell the tale.
For anyone who's ever toiled under the unforgiving fluorescent lights of a customer service job, SERVO is a side-splitting and darkly mesmeric coming-of-age story from behind the anti-jump wire that will have you gritting your teeth, then cackling at the absurdity, idiocy and utterly beguiling strangeness of those who only come out at night.
'A rewarding read . . . This journey into the "servoverse" is full of wild and sometimes poignant characters . . . [A] mix of fellow-feeling, social commentary and black humour' SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
The international bestseller. Over three million copies sold worldwide.
Don Tillman is getting married. He just doesn't know who to yet.
But he has designed the Wife Project, using a sixteen-page questionnaire to help him find the perfect partner. She will most definitely not be a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.
Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also fiery and intelligent and beautiful. And on a quest of her own to find her biological father—a search that Don, a professor of genetics, might just be able to help her with.
The Wife Project teaches Don some unexpected things. Why earlobe length is an inadequate predictor of sexual attraction. Why quick-dry clothes aren't appropriate attire in New York. Why he's never been on a second date. And why, despite your best scientific efforts, you don't find love: love finds you.
'An extraordinarily clever, funny, and moving book about being comfortable with who you are and what you're good at. I'm sending copies to several friends and hope to re-read it later this year. This is one of the most profound novels I've read in a long time.' Bill Gates
Winner, Australian Book Industry Awards, Book of the Year, 2014
Winner, Australian Book Industry Awards, General Fiction Book of the Year, 2014
Winner, Victorian Premier's Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript, 2012
Shortlisted, ABA Nielsen BookData Booksellers Choice Award, 2014
Shortlisted, Fiction Book of the Year, Indie Awards, 2014
Shortlisted, Waverton Good Read Award, 2014
Longlisted, International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, 2015
‘Keeps one reading long after the lights should have been out’ – Robin Hobb
Read the explosive New York Times bestselling debut that’s captivated readers worldwide. Set to be a major motion picture, An Ember in the Ashes is the book everyone is talking about.
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death.
When Laia’s grandparents are brutally murdered and her brother arrested for treason by the empire, the only people she has left to turn to are the rebels.
But in exchange for their help in saving her brother, they demand that Laia spy on the ruthless Commandant of Blackcliff, the Empire’s greatest military academy. Should she fail it’s more than her brother’s freedom at risk . . . Laia’s very life is at stake.
There, she meets Elias, the academy’s finest soldier. But Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined – and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.
She wonders if they have discovered she is missing yet? Has it broken as a story? Who has been assigned to cover it? Have they started spooling through her social media to pull out photographs? Constructing a narrative about who she is and what possible reason any person might have to kidnap or (let's be frank) kill her? She tries not to let out the whimper that is building in her sternum, at the thought that he might. Kill her, that is. He might kill her.
Kate Delaney has made the biggest mistake of her life. On a girls' night out, she picked the wrong sleazy guy to publicly humiliate in a bar and now she is living every woman's worst nightmare.
She finds herself brutalised, bound and gagged in the back of a car being driven god knows where by a man whose name she doesn't know, and petrified about what is in store for her.
As a journalist who is haunted by the crimes she's had to report over her career, Kate is terrifyingly familiar with the statistics of women who go missing - and the fear and trauma behind the headlines. She knows only too well how those stories usually end.
Kate can only hope the police will find her before it's too late, but she's aware a random crime is hardest to solve. As the clock ticks down, she tries to keep herself sane by thinking about her beloved boyfriend and friends, escaping into memories of love and happy times together. She knows she cannot give way to despair.
As the suspense escalates, Kate's boyfriend Liam is left behind, struggling with his shock, fear and desperation as the police establish a major investigation. The detectives face their own feelings of anguish and futility as they reflect on the cases they didn't solve in time and the victims they couldn't save. They know Kate's chances of survival diminish with every passing hour.
Acclaimed and award-winning writer and journalist Louise Milligan has written a stunning and surprising thriller with a gigantic heart: a gripping, propulsive and brilliantly original debut.
'Isn't it your job to stop people being murdered?'1911, on a winter's night in arid New South Wales wool country, mounted trooper Augustus Hawkins discovers the bodies of three young people. They are scions of the richest family in the district, savagely murdered on a road that Hawkins should have been patrolling, had he not been busy bedding the local schoolteacher.
Detectives arrive from Sydney and the disgraced Hawkins, a traumatised veteran of the Boer War, comes under fierce scrutiny. With his honour and sanity at stake, he becomes hell-bent on finding the murderer. But as ever darker secrets are revealed about the people he thinks of as friends, Hawkins is forced to confront an uncomfortable question: who is paying the price for the new nation's prosperity?
Our Bestsellers:
From the acclaimed author of the Miles Franklin longlisted Madukka: The River Serpent (UWA) and the Barbara Jefferis Award shortlisted Benevolence, Compassion continues Julie Janson’s emotional and intense literary exploration of the complex and dangerous lives of Aboriginal women during the 1800s in colonial New South Wales, which she began in Benevolence as a counter narrative to colonial history in Australian literature.
Compassion is the dramatised life story of one of Julie Janson’s ancestors who went on trial for stealing livestock in New South Wales, and it is an exciting and violent story of anti-colonial revenge and roaming adventure. A gripping fictive account of Aboriginal life in the 1800s, Compassion follows the life of Duringah, AKA Nell James, the outlaw daughter of the Darug hero of Benevolence, Muraging.
Psychiatry registrar Doctor Hannah Wright, a country girl with a chaotic history, thought she had seen it all in the emergency room. But that was nothing compared to the psychiatric ward at Menzies Hospital.
Hannah must learn on the job in a strained medical system, as she and her fellow trainees deal with the common and the bizarre, the hilarious and the tragic, the treatable and the confronting. Every day brings new patients: Chloe, who has a life-threatening eating disorder; Sian, suffering postpartum psychosis and fighting to keep her baby; and Xavier, the MP whose suicide attempt has an explosive story behind it. All the while, Hannah is trying to figure out herself.
With intelligence, frankness and humour, eminent psychiatrist Anne Buist tells it like it is, while co-writer Graeme Simsion brings the light touch that made The Rosie Project an international bestseller and a respected contribution to the autism conversation.
'Highly engaging. Brings alive the frontline of mental health care' PROFESSOR PATRICK MCGORRY AO, AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR 2010
'Embraces a standout cast of characters - patients, clinicians and family members are so beautifully individuated and the story overflows with compassion, insight and humour. Entertaining, enlightening, it embraces the complexity of what it means to be human' MEREDITH JAFFE
'A remarkable expose about mental illness and its treatment . . . told with an engaging, light touch reminiscent of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Simsion's The Rosie Project. The Glass House is a timely, innovative book' BOOKS + PUBLISHING
'Gripping, rich and insightful, and brimming with compassion. Shines a light on the grit and dedication of frontline workers, while giving a voice to everyone impacted by mental illness' ARIANE BEESTON, author of Because I'm Not Myself, You See
'A great read that combines laugh-out-loud moments with those that bring tears to your eyes. Anne Buist skilfully writes from her own experiences and co-author Graeme Simsion adds his inimitable Rosie Project style. An honest, sensitive look into mental health care in Australia' PROFESSOR JAYASHRI KULKARNI AM, Psychiatrist, Monash University
'A racy, pacy ride through heartbreak and the occasional breathtaking miracle' COUNTRY STYLE
Grace is a thief- a good one. She was taught by experts and she's been practising since she was a kid. She specialises in small, high-value items-stamps, watches-and she knows her Jaeger-LeCoultres from her Patek Philippes. But it's a solitary life, always watchful, always moving. It's not the life she wants.
Lying low after a run-in with an old associate, Grace walks into Erin Mandel's rural antiques shop and sees a chance for something different. A normal job. A place to call home.
But someone is looking for Erin. And someone's looking for Grace, too. And they are both, in their own ways, very dangerous men.
From the bestselling author Bruce Pascoe comes a deeply personal story about the consequences and responsibility of disrupting Australia's history.
When Dark Emu was adopted by Australia like a new anthem, Bruce found himself at the centre of a national debate that often focussed on the wrong part of the story. But through all the noise came Black Duck Foods, a blueprint for traditional food growing and land management processes based on very old practices.
Bruce Pascoe and Lyn Harwood invite us to imagine a different future for Australia, one where we can honour our relationship with nature and improve agriculture and forestry. Where we can develop a uniquely Australian cuisine that will reduce carbon emissions, preserve scarce water resources and rebuild our soil. Bruce and Lyn show us that you don't just work Country, you look, listen and care. It's not Black Duck magic, it's the result of simply treating Australia like herself.
From the aftermath of devastating bushfires and the impact of an elder's death to rebuilding a marriage and counting the personal cost of starting a movement, Black Duck is a remarkable glimpse into a year of finding strength in Country at Yumburra.
'Bruce invites us onto the land that changed the man behind the book that changed the nation.' - Narelda Jacobs
'Bruce's love of Country is resoundingly evident. I get the sense that this book and his work with the Black Duck team has been profoundly cleansing for a man who has faced numerous challenges in his life after Dark Emu. His connection to place, land and Country is at the core of his remarkable resilience. Bruce gets right into the belly of the land and storytelling, a medicine this country needs.' - Stephen Page
'This brilliant book gives a real insight into the minds and lives of Bruce and Lyn and the impact Dark Emu had on both of them.' - Tony Armstrong
'Bruce and Lyn so eloquently bring us into intimate contact with the land and our beautiful culture - reminding us all of the rich history that Australia holds.' - Allira Potter
The novel spans the years 1816-35 and is set around the Hawkesbury River area, the home of the Darug people, Parramatta and Sydney. The author interweaves historical events and characters — she shatters stereotypes and puts a human face to this Aboriginal perspective.
Since colonisation, Australia has been frantically logging our native forests as if our lives depended on it. Our lives do indeed depend on the forests - but on keeping them, not destroying them.
World-leading forest expert Professor David Lindenmayer uncovers the grim truth about what is happening in our tall eucalypt forests. Koalas, greater gliders, Leadbeater's possums and hundreds of other iconic animal and bird species are being killed in droves each year, driving many closer to extinction. Logging makes bushfires worse for decades after the chainsaws stop. Carbon emissions from the forestry industry are a major contributor to climate change. Native forest logging doesn't even provide much wood to build houses: it mostly goes to woodchips and pulp for paper and box liners. It's not even profitable: taxpayers are funding it everywhere.
Lindenmayer reveals an unholy alliance between state forestry, the timber industry and unions. Loggers routinely breach regulations, and industry intimidates anyone who questions what they are doing. Worse still, even where native forest logging is supposedly ending, efforts are being made to continue under a different guise.
The fact is that native forests are considerably more economically valuable left standing. If Australia stopped native forest logging, we could reach our 2030 carbon emission target of 43 per cent on this measure alone.
'In the face of all the lies and industry spin, an evidence-based account that's clear, humane, and trustworthy.'Tim Winton
From the author of Mayflies, an irresistible, unputdownable, state-of-the-nation novel - the story of one man's epic fall from grace.May 2021. London.Campbell Flynn - art historian and celebrity intellectual - is entering the empire of middle age. Fuelled by an appetite for admiration and the finer things, controversy and novelty, he doesn't take people half as seriously as they take themselves. Which will prove the first of his huge mistakes. The second? Milo Manghasa, his beguiling and provocative student. Milo inhabits a more precarious world, has experiences and ideas which excite his teacher. He also has a plan.Over the course of an incendiary year, a web of crimes and secrets and scandals will be revealed, and Campbell Flynn may not be able to protect himself from the shattering exposure of all his privilege really involves. But then, he always knew: when his life came tumbling down, it would occur in public.'A brilliant state-of-the-nation novel that pulls down the facades of high society, and knocks over the 'good liberal' house-of-cards. O'Hagan is not only a peerless chronicler of our times, but has other gifts - of generosity, humour and tenderness - which make this novel an utter joy to read.' Monica Ali
'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.
'Addictive. Propulsive. Dervla McTiernan is a thriller master.' Trent Dalton
Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his family's cabin in Vermont, and only Simon comes home.
WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA?
Nobody knows. Simon's explanation about what happened in their last hours together doesn't add up. Nina's parents push the police for answers, and Simon's parents rush to protect him. They hire expensive lawyers and a PR firm that quickly ramps up a vicious, nothing-is-off-limits media campaign.
HOW FAR WILL HIS FAMILY GO TO KEEP HIM SAFE?
Soon, facts are lost in a swirl of accusation and counter-accusation. Everyone chooses a side, and the story goes viral, fuelled by armchair investigators and wild conspiracy theories and illustrated with pretty pictures taken from Nina's social media accounts. Journalists descend on their small Vermont town, followed by a few obsessive 'fans.'
HOW FAR WILL HER FAMILY GO TO GET TO THE TRUTH?
Nina's family is under siege, but they never lose sight of the only thing that really matters - finding their daughter. Out-gunned by Simon's wealthy, powerful family, Nina's parents recognize that if playing by the rules won't get them anywhere, it's time to break them.
'Her best yet. Completely riveting ... and everyone's going to be talking about that ending' Sally Hepworth
'Propulsive and satisfying ... This is Dervla McTiernan at her finest.' Tracey Lien, internationally bestselling author of All That's Left Unsaid
'Gripping ... A smart and unpredictable portrait of how the boundaries between tragedy and entertainment get blurred. It's a disturbing treat for thriller fans.' Publishers Weekly
'One of the best thrillers I have read ... unforgettable and deeply moving' Don Winslow
'McTiernan turns the traditional thriller on its head ... [with] deep humanity ... Truly haunting.' Kirkus starred review
'A masterpiece. Haunting, emotional, fiercely intelligent and absolutely diabolical' TJ Newman, author of Falling
Praise for Dervla McTiernan:
'An uncommonly fine mystery writer' New York Times
'McTiernan's in the top rank of crime writers' Chris Hammer
'A born storyteller' Val McDermid
Bob Comet is a retired librarian passing his solitary days surrounded by books in a mint-colored house in Portland, Oregon. One morning on his daily walk he encounters a confused elderly woman lost in a market and returns her to the senior center that is her home. Hoping to fill the void he’s known since retiring, he begins volunteering at the center. Here, as a community of strange peers gathers around Bob, and following a happenstance brush with a painful complication from his past, the events of his life and the details of his character are revealed.
Behind Bob Comet’s straight man facade is the story of an unhappy child’s runaway adventure during the last days of the Second World War, of true love won and stolen away, of the purpose and pride found in the librarian’s vocation, and the pleasures of a life lived to the side of the masses. Comet’s experiences are imbued with melancholy but also a bright, sustained comedy; he has a talent for locating bizarre and outsized players to welcome onto the stage of his life.
With his inimitable verve, skewed humor, and compassion for the outcast, Patrick deWitt has written a wide-ranging and ambitious document of the introvert’s condition. The Librarianist celebrates the extraordinary in the so-called ordinary life, and depicts beautifully the turbulence that sometimes exists beneath a surface of serenity.