Bookseller | Moruya Books

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!

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SEE OUR SELECTION:

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:

The Vaster Wilds, Lauren Groff

Set in the 1600s, beginning with a voyage across the Atlantic, this is Lauren Groff's inventive novel The Vaster Wilds

FROM THE THREE-TIME NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF FATES AND FURIES AND MATRIX

Part of a loose trilogy based on the end of empire, The Vaster Wilds is the story of a young girl who is servant to a minister and his young mistress, and in charge of their young daughter Bess. On an epic voyage across the Atlantic, ship-wrecked, far from home and fighting for survival, the protagonist of Lauren Groff's extraordinary new novel must endure but also find meaning in the journey.

PRAISE FOR MATRIX-

'Lush, gripping and ferocious' MADELINE MILLER

'An audacious piece of storytelling, full of passion, wisdom and magic' SARAH WATERS

'A gorgeous, sensual, addictive read' SARA COLLINS

The Hurricane Wars, Thea Guanzon

THE EPIC ENEMIES-TO LOVERS FANTASY THAT WILL TAKE THE WORLD BY STORM
‘I physically could not stop reading! Mark my words: lives will be changed by The Hurricane Wars trilogy’
Ali Hazelwood, author of THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS

‘One of my favourite books of this year!’
Katee Robert, author of NEON GODS

All Talasyn has ever known are the Hurricane Wars. An orphan of the struggle, she uses the power of light to fight for her people against the Night Empire.

All Alaric has ever known is darkness. The son of the Night Emperor and their deadliest weapon, he wields terrifying shadow magic to crush the rebellion.

Then he sees Talasyn, his sworn enemy burning bright across the battlefield. The moment they clash their lives are changed forever.

Now a greater threat is rising and only they can stop it.

The coming storm threatens to destroy everything. If they don’t destroy each other first . . .

Tropes:
Enemies to lovers
Betrayal
Yearning
Marriage of convenience
Slow burn romance

Spice:

Reader reviews:
‘A true enemies to lovers fantasy with the right amount of tension, action, and romance!’
‘I loved every single minute of this book ‘
‘Fans of Fourth Wing and ACOTAR this one's for you’
‘delivers on all the hype surrounding it’

Bookshop Dogs, Ruth Shaw

Heartwarming and charming stories of dogs and books from the bestselling author of The Bookseller at the End of the World.

Dogs of all shapes and sizes visit Ruth Shaw's three wee bookshops in Manap?uri in the far south of Aotearoa New Zealand. Local dogs, holiday house dogs, travelling dogs: many have great stories, be they funny, sad, strange, bemusing, quirky or sweet.

Woven throughout are tales of the very special Hunza, the dog who worked with troubled teens and Ruth when she was a youth worker.

This is a window into the wonderful world of Ruth and her generous love of people, books and dogs. It's a must-read for dog fans, book fans and anyone who loved her first book, The Bookseller at the End of the World.

Into Your Arms - Nick Cave's Songs Reimagined, Mark Smith, Neil A. White and Kirsten Krauth

This stunning follow up to Minds Went Walking- Paul Kelly's Songs Reimagined features Christos Tsiolkas, Cate Kennedy and Andy Griffiths, and is the perfect stocking stuffer for Christmas 2023.From an automaton of Nick Cave, to a man who can't keep his blood out of the food he is preparing; from a vengeful Uber driver to a spinner of souls; and from a boy caught up in a robbery to a girl desperate to save a failing greyhound, the characters who populate this short story anthology could have dropped straight from a Nick Cave song book. These 21 stories, from some of Australia's favourite creators, respond to Cave's visionary genius with their own original and unsettling tales of death, faith, violence and love.

Iron Flame, Rebecca Yarros

From the NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTELLING author, Rebecca Yarros, comes the eagerly anticipated sequel to TIKTOK SENSATION and RADIO TWO BOOK CLUB pick Fourth Wing . . .

"The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity." - Xaden Riorson

Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College, Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.

Now the real training begins, and Violet's already wondering how she'll get through. It's not just that it's grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it's designed to stretch the riders' capacity for pain beyond endurance. It's the new vice commandant, who's made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is - unless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet's body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else's, she still has her wits, and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.

But a determination to survive won't be enough this year.

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College - and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.

Reviews for Fourth Wing:

'Brutal games, grumpy dragons, sizzling sexual tension . . . a fantasy like you've never read before' JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT, author of FROM BLOOD AND ASH

'Readers of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo will flock to this one' BOOKLIST (starred review)

'Fourth Wing hooked me on the first page and did not let go' DANIELLE L. JENSEN, author of THE BRIDGE KINGDOM

'This book had me in an absolute CHOKEHOLD! . . . A mix of Hunger Games and Divergent vibes, with a few elements from ACOTAR thrown in for good measure' NETGALLEY READER REVIEW

'As compelling as it is deadly . . . Fourth Wing is dazzling' NALINI SINGH

'A wild, sexy, rollercoaster of a ride' MARY E. PEARSON

'Utterly immersive, fiercely romantic, and unforgivably addictive' LYNETTE NONI

The Seven, Chris Hammer

The latest stunning thriller from the bestselling author of Scrublands and The Tilt.

Yuwonderie's seven founding families have lorded it over their district for a century, growing ever more rich and powerful.
But now-in startling circumstances-one of their own is found dead in a ditch and homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are sent to investigate.

Could the murder be connected to the execution of the victim's friend thirty years ago-another member of The Seven-or even the long-forgotten story of a servant girl on the brink of the Great War?

What are the secrets The Seven are so desperate to keep hidden?

With the killer still on the loose, and events spiralling out of control, the closer Ivan and Nell get to discovering the truth, the more dangerous their investigation becomes. Can they crack the case before more people die?

The Seven is a compelling thriller filled with intrigue, emotional depth and an evocative sense of place-where nothing is ever quite what it seems. Chris Hammer, the acclaimed and bestselling author of the international bestsellers Scrublands, Treasure & Dirt and The Tilt can take his place among the world's finest crime writers.

Grace Notes, Karen Comer

This song has a grace note,
a tiny note that's there for embellishment
but can easily be ignored,
not played.
Tonight, I add it in -
just because.
We can all do with an extra note
of grace.
Grace Dalfinch is a talented violinist who longs to play contemporary music in bars, but her mum forbids her.
James Crux is an aspiring street artist who promised his dad he wouldn't paint in public until he's finished school.
When Crux witnesses Grace's impromptu performance on a deserted tram, he's inspired to paint her and her violin; and when Grace stumbles across her portrait in a Melbourne alley by an anonymous street artist, she sets out to find its creator.
Grace Notes is a debut YA verse novel, set in one of the most locked-down cities in the world - Melbourne, 2020. For fans of Cath Crowley and Pip Harry.
'A classic in the making; Grace Notes is a vital balm of a book, a story to press into everybody's hands.'
DANIELLE BINKS
'Poetry, music and art, woven together in an uplifting story about endless lockdowns and first love.'
NOVA WEETMAN
'Comer captures the beats of Melbourne's 2020 and the unique experience of a generation of teens in one of the most locked-down cities in the world.'
Books+Publishing
'Heart and soul triumph over Covid lockdowns and restrictions . . . Karen has used the verse novel to beguile, dance and demand layers of emotion and depth that only poetry can sustain. A masterful debut!'
LORRAINE MARWOOD
'Like the grace note of the title, this beautiful story strikes the perfect tone, mixing colour, light and music at a time when we needed it most.'

You Called An Ambulance For What? Tim Booth

Tim Booth is shocked when his first emergency call-out for someone short of breath turns out to be an adult man with a blocked nose. Far from beginner's luck, this turns out to be an omen for the rest of his paramedic career.

Between the obligatory stories of objects lodged in body cavities to grown men who can't look after themselves when their wives are away, Tim finds that the promised life-saving moments are far outweighed by the trivial, frustrating and bizarre ambulance callouts. He and his colleagues battle fatigue, abuse and burnout - treated with coffee, occasional moments of heroism, and a healthy dose of dark humour.

Told with cutting wit, pathos and disarming insight, You Called an Ambulance for What? is a behind-the-sirens comedic look at the challenges, absurdities and shocking reality of life as an Australian intensive care paramedic.

Lola In The Mirror, Trent Dalton

Bighearted, gritty, magical and moving, Lola in the Mirror is the irresistible new novel from international bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies, Trent Dalton.

SHORTLISTED FOR DYMOCKS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

'Unpredictable, fantastic ... It takes a charged narrative, like Dickens achieves, and as Dalton does too, to reach the heart and the brain - writing that is able to carry both stories, the individual and the political/personal ... To tell you more would spoil this complicated and surprising story. You should read it.' Sydney Morning Herald

'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.

'Trent Dalton's third novel reminds me of the 1980s advertising slogan for the author's home state of Queensland: Beautiful one day, perfect the next ... Lola in the Mirror is a bold, big-hearted, hopeful, humorous, dark, reflective, truthful, superbly written novel that confirms Dalton's place in all the shimmering skies (to borrow the title of his second novel) of Australian literature. He is not a rising star but a star full stop.' The Australian

'Wonderful ... An original, heart-thumping novel ... you are right there with the protagonists, feeling and believing every word and every raindrop. It is the type of novel you read filled with pure hope and sorrow for the characters. You want to believe that everything is going to work out just fine, and that there will be dancing, and art, and delight. You won't know until the end, and by that time you, too, are running through the streets, turning the pages, and trusting that love wins.' Readings

Best Wishes, Richard Glover

Making the world a better, less annoying place one wish at a time.

'I wish I could think, hope, laugh, dream and, indeed, write like Richard Glover. And I wish every Australian could read this book. A soaring tribute to the power of wishful thinking' Trent Dalton

'Glover asks life's big questions and helps us celebrate the simple joys - bin night, tax receipts that don't fade and the secret thrill of high-pressure hosing' Lisa Millar, co-host ABC-TV's News Breakfast

'Charming, funny and sincere, this is yet another winning book from the only Boomer worth listening to. A triumph!' Tom Ballard, comedian

'He is right about leaf blowers, for example, but quite wrong about breakfast in bed ... Richard's view of the world will frequently have you punching the air and shouting, "Yes!"' Jean Kittson, performer, writer and comedian

'If life is better when we laugh, then this book is the balm' Jacinta Parsons, broadcaster, writer and co-host of ABC Melbourne's 'Friday Revue'

'There is an eternal hopefulness in all this man does. I only wish more of his wishes were granted' Tommy Dean, comedian and regular on ABC 702's 'Thank God It's Friday'

Do you hate noisy restaurants, pre-ripped jeans and pedestrians who walk five abreast?

Do you also have a problem with plastic-wrapped fruit, climate-change deniers and take-away sandwiches priced at $14.95?

And, most of all, do you think the world would be a better place if people got back their sense of humour?

Here's proof you are not alone. Heartfelt and hilarious, serious but sly, Best Wishes is the encyclopedia of 'can do better'. It's a plea for a better world - one wish at a time.

Our Bestsellers:

Question 7, Richard Flanagan

Beginning at a love hotel by Japan's Inland Sea and ending by a river in Tasmania, Question 7 is about the choices we make about love and the chain reaction that follows.

By way of H. G. Wells and Rebecca West's affair through 1930s nuclear physics to Flanagan's father working as a slave labourer near Hiroshima when the atom bomb is dropped, this genre-defying daisy chain of events reaches fission when Flanagan as a young man finds himself trapped in a rapid on a wild river not knowing if he is to live or to die.

At once a love song to his island home and to his parents, this hypnotic melding of dream, history, literature, place and memory is about how reality is never made by realists and how our lives so often arise out of the stories of others and the stories we invent about ourselves.

The Dhurga Dictionary and Learner's Grammar, Patricia Ellis, Kerry Boyenga, Waine Donovan

The Dhurga Dictionary and Learners Grammar: A South-East Coast NSW Aboriginal Language is an overdue and extremely valuable resource for the Dhurga speaking people of Yuin Country and of any person wanting to learn the traditional language. The Dhurga language is spoken from south of Nowra to Narooma and west to Braidwood and Araluen. This publication is the most concise compilation of the Dhurga language to date with over 730 words including informant and recorder details as validation of authenticity. The dictionary is user-friendly for all literacy levels and readers, it is the very first of its kind and in high demand.

Lola In The Mirror, Trent Dalton

Bighearted, gritty, magical and moving, Lola in the Mirror is the irresistible new novel from international bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies, Trent Dalton.
'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.

Killing For Country, David Marr

A gripping reckoning with the bloody history of Australia's frontier wars

David Marr was shocked to discover his forebears served with the Native Police, the most brutal force in Australian history. Killing for Country is the result - a personal history of the Frontier Wars.

Marr brings his experience as an investigative journalist, an award-winning biographer and political analyst to the story of a colonial family that seized hundreds of thousands of acres of land and led Aboriginal troopers into bloody massacres in the most violent years of the Native Police.

Killing for Country is a unique history of the making of Australia - a richly detailed and gripping family saga of fortunes made and lost, of politics and power in the colonial world, and the violence let loose by squatters and their London bankers as they began their long war for the possession of this country - a contest still unresolved in today's Australia.

Best Wishes, Richard Glover

Bright Shining, Julia Baird

From the bestselling author of Phosphorescence comes a beautiful and timely exploration of that most mysterious but necessary of human qualities: grace.

'Luminous ... A work to both devour and savour, Baird has, once again, written a book the world needs now.' Guardian

Grace is both mysterious and hard to define. It can be found when we create ways to find meaning and dignity in connection with each other, building on our shared humanity, being kinder, bigger, better with each other. If, in its crudest interpretation, karma is getting what you deserve, then grace is the opposite: forgiving the unforgivable, favouring the undeserving, loving the unlovable.

But we live in an era when grace is an increasingly rare currency. The silos in which we consume information dot the media landscape like skyscrapers, and our growing distrust of the media, politicians and public figures has choked our ability to cut each other slack, to allow each other to stumble, to forgive one another.

So what does grace look like in our world, and how do we recognise it, nurture it in ourselves and express it, even in the darkest of times?

From award-winning journalist Julia Baird, author of the acclaimed national bestseller Phosphorescence, comes Bright Shining, a luminously beautiful, deeply insightful and most timely exploration of grace.

'Fascinating, wide-ranging and moving' The Age

'The uplift and power of Bright Shining ... is to be found in the way Baird gives grace fresh currency by bringing this beautiful and elusive condition from the theological margins into the mainstream and showing, with passion and verve, how quietly transformative it can be.' Sydney Morning Herald

'Enlightening, surprising, absorbing .. I learned something every chapter and put the book down full of awe at the power of human beings to be good to each other when no-one would expect it. It's the book I needed to read right now. It filled my cup.' Annabel Crabb

The Rest Is History, Goalhanger Podcasts, Tom Holland, Dominic Sandbrook

Make room Herodotus, stand down Bede, pipe down Pepys . . . There’s a new history book in town. Pre-order your copy now.

From the chart-topping podcast The Rest is History, a whistle-stop tour through the past – from Alexander the Great to Tolkein, the Wars of the Roses to Watergate. The nation’s favourite historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook take on the most curious moments in history, answering the questions we didn’t even think to ask:

- Did the Trojan War actually happen?
- What was the most disastrous party in history?
- Was Richard Nixon more like Caligula or Claudius?
- How did a hair appointment almost blow Churchill’s cover?
- Why did the Nazis believe they were descended from Atlantis?

Whether it is sending historical figures to Casa Amor in a series of Love Island, ranking history’s most famous eunuchs and pigeons (including Winky, the unsung hero of the Second World War), or debating the meaning of greatness, there is nothing too big or too small for Tom and Dominic to unpick.

So run your Egyptian milk bath, strap up your best Spartan sandals, and prepare for a journey down the highways and byways of the human past. . .

The Last Charge Of The Australian Light Horse, Peter FitzSimons

On 31st October 1917, as the day's light faded, the Australian Light Horse charged against their enemy. Eight hundred men and horses galloped four miles across open country, towards the artillery, rifles and machine guns of the Turks occupying the seemingly unassailable town of Beersheba. What happened in the next hour changed the course of history.
This brave battle and the extraordinary adventures that led to it are brought vividly to life by Australia's greatest storyteller, Peter FitzSimons. It is an epic tale of farm boys, drovers, bank clerks, dentists, poets and scoundrels transported to fight a war half a world away, and is full of incredible characters: from Major Banjo Paterson to Lawrence of Arabia; the brilliant writer Trooper Ion Idriess and the humble General Harry Chauvel; the tearaway Test fast bowler 'Tibby' Cotter and the infamous warhorse, Bill the Bastard. All have their part to play in the enthralling, sprawling drama of the Australian Light Horse.
Theirs was a war fought in an ancient land with modern weapons; where the men of the Light Horse were trained in sight of the pyramids, drank in the brothels of Cairo and fought through lands known to them only as names from the Bible.
The Last Charge of the Australian Light Horse traces the hard path of the Light Horse from the bleakest of starts - being deprived of their horses and fighting at Gallipoli in the tragic Battle of the Nek - to triumph and glory in the desert. Revealing the feats of the Australians who built the legend, it is a brilliantly told tale of courage, resilience and derring-do from Australia's favourite storyteller.

Edenglassie, Melissa Lucashenko

Two extraordinary Indigenous stories set five generations apart.

When Mulanyin meets the beautiful Nita in Edenglassie, their saltwater people still outnumber the British. As colonial unrest peaks, Mulanyin dreams of taking his bride home to Yugambeh Country, but his plans for independence collide with white justice.

Two centuries later, fiery activist Winona meets Dr Johnny. Together they care for obstinate centenarian Grannie Eddie, and sparks fly, but not always in the right direction. What nobody knows is how far the legacies of the past will reach into their modern lives.

In this brilliant epic, Melissa Lucashenko torches Queensland's colonial myths, while reimagining an Australian future.

The Drowning, Bryan Brown

With sales of over 16,000 copies of Sweet Jimmy, Bryan Brown's distinctive storytelling voice continues in this unflinching, gripping novel.

The body of a local teenage boy is found on the beach of a sleepy northern New South Wales town. David went for an evening swim and got into trouble . . . at least, that's what it looks like.

Three weeks before, Leila, a young backpacker, didn't turn up for her shift at the local cafe. Benny, the owner, isn't worried. It happens-backpackers are always on the move. There'll be another one.

One of the locals, Adrian, has been a help to Benny. He's found him a nice little sideline. Not exactly legal. Is that all Adrian is arranging on the coast? He once was a cop but has he gone bad?

And in the back-blocks outside town, a bikie gang is gearing up for a large consignment from South America.

Murder, drugs, liaisons and lies are stirring up this small coastal town.

With Bryan Brown's characteristic laconic storytelling-humorous, tough and suspenseful-the secrets of this seemingly idyllic town slowly come to the surface.

Praise for Sweet Jimmy

'Uniquely Australian and uncommonly good, I could hear the author's voice in every spare, haunting line. More please.' - Michael Robotham

'My friend Bryan Brown, quite apart from his other manifold talents, turns out to be an excellent writer. An authentic voice; highly imaginative yet completely believable, with a flair for fully realised characters and a gripping narrative ... a great storyteller. This is utterly baffling. I'm furious.' - Sam Neill