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Top 10 independents

'Fight Like A Girl' by Clementine Ford is out now through Allen & Unwin.

Clementine Ford's arguments about how and why women should fight back at their treatment in society is No. 1 in the independent bookshop charts.

Maggie Joel: books that changed me

Writing fiction for 20 years: Author Maggie Joel.

Maggie Joel has been writing fiction for 20 years and her short stories have been widely publisher in Australian literary magazines and on ABC radio. The Safest Place in London (Allen & Unwin), her fourth novel, tells the story of two families whose lives are changed by the London Blitz in World War II.

Turning Pages

Agatha Christie.

Why this fascination with crime? "We need forgiveness and someone to blame," says crime writer Walter Mosley.

The Essex Serpent: A contemporary take on the Gothic

<i>The Essex Serpent</i>, by Sarah Perry.

Sarah Perry's heroine, Cora Seaborne, is fierce, independent and believes utterly in science. "The wonderful thing about being a widow,'' she reflects, "is that you're not obliged to be much of a woman anymore."