Christmas greetings from Story Matters!

At the moment I’m not sure whether I’m getting ready quickly enough for Christmas or if I’m just going to bump into it, as it’s coming round incredibly fast! We haven’t even managed to get our tree up yet as it’s proving difficult to schedule a time when everyone is home - the new challenges of having older children!

Meanwhile, I’m currently on the final writing push of the year, and today I have the most beautiful marina view - I write much better when I can look up and see the water, so this place is perfect! However, at the moment my book is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle as I’m making some big structural changes, so I can only look up for short bursts!

I’m looking forward to spotlighting some of my favourite reads for you next year, so let’s start as I mean to go on! Highly recommended for your Christmas stocking is a beautiful debut novel called Daughters of Batavia, by fellow Western Australian author Stefanie Koens. Wow, this was a lovely read - I fell right into the story of Saskia, an orphaned Dutchwoman, who sails from Amsterdam on the Batavia in 1628, and must endure some horrendous circumstances after the vessel is shipwrecked off the Western Australian coast. The narrative switches between Saskia and the contemporary story of Tess McCarthy, who’s on a mission to uncover more about her Batavia ancestry.

The story of the Batavia is well known in Australia (also popularised by Peter Fitzsimmons’s book), but Koens offers a fresh, female-centred take to the tale, and it’s one that all generations will enjoy. Highly recommended as a Christmas pressie for the book lover in your house (or why not give yourself a Christmas treat!)

I’ve had an unusual reading year where I didn’t finish a lot of books (way more than usual - and it wasn’t always the book’s fault, I blame my scatty brain for this, too!). However, I had a super special panel called Miss-Behaving at the Brisbane Writers Festival and I highly recommend all these amazing women’s books: Mother Tongue by Naima Brown, The Good Losers by Meg Bignell, The Golden Sister by Suzanne Do, and The God of No Good by our event chair Sita Brown. I’m also thrilled to see that one of my favourite books of the decade - Project Hail Mary - is coming to us as a movie with Ryan Gosling in the lead! I implore you to listen to/read it first, as it’s a cracker of a story.

Thank you for all your votes on my covers - I loved them, and the clear winner was the one above - however, quite a lot of people mentioned its horror vibe too! Why can’t this be easy?! So we are currently exploring a slightly different design to help clarify the genre branding, and I can’t wait to share more on that with you next year.

If you’re a writer, or you know someone who loves to write, come check out the Resilient Author, which will also be getting a revamp next year. I write posts there every fortnight, and extras for paid subscribers. There’s a discount running until the middle of next week, so you can sign up to join my paid subscriber crew for only $35 AUD for the whole year - or join me for free to get my regular posts in your inbox!

There’s an offer on Amazon at the moment, where you can get When She Was Gone on Kindle for $3.99. If you love your ebooks, this is a great deal!

And if you’re an audiobook lover, Bolinda have just released Come Back to Me all over the world except for the US and Canada (where it’s coming out in April next year with Blackstone). Find it wherever you get your audiobooks - and get a little preview below!

As I mentioned last time, this is my final newsletter sent via the Substack platform. In my new-look newsletter next year, I’m going to be taking you behind the scenes of my writing, updating you on all my news, introducing you to lots of different elements of my books and wider work, and using some old photos to tell you a few stories from my twenty-five years working in the writing and publishing industry! If you’re already signed up here, you don’t have to do anything, but if you’re reading this and would love to sign up, please click on the sign-up button below before the 18th December, or drop me a line at [email protected], so your name doesn’t get lost during the transfer process, and I’ll make sure to add you to the list.

I’m hoping to get my new emails going in January but I’m also on a Top Secret Mission at the end of that month - personal rather than work-related - which I can’t talk about until after Christmas, so it may get delayed. However, I’ll be back as soon as possible to chat books and stories with you all! In the meantime, sending festive hugs and cheer from my family to yours. Whether you’re having a fun or restful Christmas break, I hope it’s what you need as we head at reindeer-sleigh speed towards 2026!