Libby Book Club for WA

The Libby Book Club for WA is a monthly digital book club available exclusively to Western Australian library members  hosted by local author David Allan-Petale.

The book club, delivered online, will take place on the third Wednesday of every month, and all attendees will have the opportunity to engage and interact with the featured author each month.

South Perth and Manning library members can now borrow the first book chosen for the Libby Book Club for WA with no waiting or holds on the Libby reading app.

February Book Club

On 15 February, join author David Allan-Petale in conversation with bestselling author Genevieve Gannon to discuss her family drama ‘The Gifted Son’. This event will be hosted online, the link will be sent to all attendees on the day of the event.

Register for this event

David Allan-Petale

David Allan-Petale is a Perth/Boorloo writer whose debut novel ‘Locust Summer’ (Fremantle Press) was longlisted for the 2021 ALS Gold Medal and shortlisted for the 2022 WA Premier’s Book Awards. The manuscript was shortlisted for the 2017 Australian/ Vogel’s Literary Award, and developed through a fellowship at Varuna, the National Writers’ House. David worked for many years as a journalist in WA and internationally with BBC World and Al Jazeera, and is passionate about helping the arts sector thrive.   

Genevieve Gannon

Genevieve Gannon is an award-winning Sydney-based journalist and author of four novels. She is presently the staff writer for the nation's biggest women's magazine, The Australian Women's Weekly, where she covers everything from cold-case murders and cults to celebrities and sports stars. Her first foray into professional writing included dating and relationship columns which she published while writing her Masters' thesis on global terrorism and the media. She then moved to Canberra to start her news career covering local issues and politics. Before she joined The Weekly, Genevieve was the chief court reporter for Australian Associated Press in Melbourne. Her journalism has appeared in most of Australia's major newspapers and she has recently won the Mumbrella Publish Journalist of the Year. 

Blurb about the Gifted Son

What if the worst day of your life turns out to be the making of you?

Lillian heard her daughter's footsteps hurry up the passage. She ran her fingers underneath her eyes, ready to greet her son. But when Kate appeared in the doorway her face was white. 'Mum,' Kate said. 'You'd better come. It's the police.'

With two bright children, a beautiful home and a husband she's always depended on, Lillian Hogarth considers herself blessed. Until, on her son Jamie's final day of high school, he fails to come home. Hospitalised by a coward's punch, Jamie has been the victim of a muck-up day celebration that went too far. Lillian's support is unflinching, even as her world begins to crumble. A son whose fate hangs in the balance, a teenage witness who refuses to name the one who threw the punch, and a husband who's hiding a secret that could destroy their marriage.

Is this the end of the Hogarth family's good luck? Or will Jamie's determination—and Lillian's love—be the making of them?