6 of the best March book releases
<p>If you haven’t made a dent in your 2018 reading goal yet, there’s no better time to get started than in March. With great titles from beloved Aussie author Tim Winton, musical genius Andrew Lloyd Webber and fashion icon Iris Apfel, there’s something for everything this month.</p>
<p><strong>1. <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fthe-shepherd-s-hut-tim-winton%2Fprod9780143786115.html" target="_blank"><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Shepherd’s Hut</span></em></a> by Tim Winton</strong> </p>
<p>A rifle-shot of a novel – crisp, fast, shocking – <em>The Shepherd’s Hut</em> is an urgent masterpiece about solitude, unlikely friendship, and the raw business of survival. </p>
<p>Jaxie dreads going home. His mum’s dead. The old man bashes him without mercy, and he wishes he was an orphan. But no one’s ever told Jaxie Clackton to be careful what he wishes for.</p>
<p>In one terrible moment his life is stripped to little more than what he can carry and how he can keep himself alive. There’s just one person left in the world who understands him and what he still dares to hope for. But to reach her he’ll have to cross the vast saltlands on a trek that only a dreamer or a fugitive would attempt.</p>
<p><em>The Shepherd’s Hut</em> is a searing look at what it takes to keep love and hope alive in a parched and brutal world.</p>
<p><strong>2.<em> <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fsomebody-i-used-to-know-wendy-mitchell%2Fprod9781408893371.html" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Somebody I Used to Know</span></a></em> by Wendy Mitchell </strong></p>
<p>Brave, illuminating and inspiring, <em>Somebody I Used to Know</em> is the first memoir ever written by someone living with dementia.</p>
<p>What do you lose when you lose your memories? What do you value when this loss reframes how you've lived, and how you will live in the future? How do you conceive of love when you can no longer recognise those who are supposed to mean the most to you?</p>
<p>When she was diagnosed with dementia at the age of fifty-eight, Wendy Mitchell was confronted with the most profound questions about life and identity. All at once, she had to say goodbye to the woman she used to be. Her demanding career in the NHS, her ability to drive, cook and run – the various shades of her independence – were suddenly gone.</p>
<p>Philosophical, profoundly moving, insightful and ultimately full of hope, <em>Somebody I Used to Know</em> gets to the very heart of what it means to be human. A phenomenal memoir – the first of its kind – it is both a heart-rending tribute to the woman Wendy once was, and a brave affirmation of the woman dementia has seen her become.</p>
<p><strong>3. <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Firis-apfel-accidental-icon-iris-apfel%2Fprod9780062405081.html" target="_blank"><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon</span></em></a> by Iris Apfel</strong> </p>
<p>A unique and lavishly illustrated collection of musings, anecdotes, and observations on all matters of life and style, infused with the singular candour, wit, and exuberance of the globally revered 95-year-old fashion icon whose work has been celebrated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and by countless fans worldwide.</p>
<p>Now, this self-dubbed geriatric starlet, whose irrepressible authenticity, wit, candour, and infectious energy have earned her nearly a million followers on social media, has created an entertaining, thought-provoking, visually arresting, and inspiring volume – her first book – that captures her unique joie de vivre.</p>
<p><strong>4. <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fthe-seven-deaths-of-evelyn-hardcastle-stuart-turton%2Fprod9781408889541.html" target="_blank"><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle</span></em></a> by Stuart Turton </strong></p>
<p><em>‘We have work to do,’ he says. ‘I have a puzzle which requires a solution.’</em></p>
<p><em>‘I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else,’ I say. ‘I’m just a doctor.’</em></p>
<p><em>‘You were a doctor,’ he says. ‘Then a butler, today a playboy, tomorrow a banker. None of them are your real face, or your real personality. Those were stripped</em> <em>from you when you entered Blackheath and they won’t be returned until you leave.’</em></p>
<p>Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden can identify her killer. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different person. And some hosts are most helpful than others...</p>
<p><strong>5. <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Funmasked-andrew-lloyd-webber%2Fprod9780008237608.html" target="_blank"><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Unmasked</span></em></a> by Andrew Lloyd Webber</strong> </p>
<p>One of the most successful and distinguished artists of our time, Andrew Lloyd Webber has reigned over the musical theatre world for nearly five decades. The winner of numerous awards, including multiple Tonys and an Oscar, Lloyd Webber has enchanted millions worldwide with his music and numerous hit shows, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera-Broadway's longest running show-and most recently, School of Rock. In Unmasked, written in his own inimitable, quirky voice, the revered, award-winning composer takes stock of his achievements, the twists of fate and circumstance which brought him both success and disappointment, and the passions that inspire and sustain him.</p>
<p><strong>6. <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Flillian-armfield-leigh-straw%2Fprod9780733638107.html" target="_blank"><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Lillian Armfield</span></em></a> by Leigh Straw</strong> </p>
<p>An engaging account of an extraordinary, trailblazing woman – Australia’s first female detective – <em>Lillian Armfield</em> is also the vivid and gripping story of the origins of Sydney’s organised crime underbelly.</p>
<p>“Special Constable” Lillian Armfield was policing Sydney’s mean streets during some of the most dramatic years of crime in the city. By the late 1920s, eastern Sydney was the heartland of organised crime and the notorious turf battles known as the Razor Wars, where bloodied bodies were strewn across streets after late-night clashes between rival gangs. </p>
<p>At first disapproved of by her male colleagues, and often working solo and undercover, Lillian investigated it all – from runaway girls, opium dens and back-street sly grog shops to drug trafficking, rape and murder. She dealt with the infamous crime figures of the day – Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh, “Botany May” Smith and their associates – who eventually accorded Lillian a grudging respect.</p>
<p>Lillian Armfield’s life and achievements were extraordinary. She paved the way for the women of today’s police force and her amazing story is also a compelling chapter in Australian true crime history.</p>
