Together We Read Campaign

On 1 September 2021 The Whitsunday Regional Libraries joins hundreds of public libraries and thousands of readers across Australia in offering the latest Together We Read digital book club selection. From 1-15 September, Whitsunday Regional Libraries patrons can enjoy Australian author Chris Hammer’s award-winning crime novel, Scrublands, as an ebook or audiobook for free. Readers can access the digital book with no waitlists or holds by downloading the Libby app. They can also participate in an online discussion with other readers across both countries.

The Together We Read: AU/NZ digital book club connects readers through participating Australian and New Zealand public libraries with the same ebook for two weeks and only requires a valid library card to get started. This free program is facilitated by Overdrive, the leading digital reading platform for ebooks, audiobooks and magazines and creator of the award-winning Libby app.

In Scrublands, a charismatic and dedicated young priest calmly opens fire on his congregation, killing five parishioners before being shot dead himself in an isolated country town. A year later, troubled journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend to write a feature on the anniversary of the tragedy. But the stories he hears from the locals about the priest and incidents leading up to the shooting don't fit with the accepted version of events his own newspaper reported in an award-winning investigation. Martin can't ignore his doubts, nor the urgings of some locals to unearth the real reason behind the priest's deadly rampage.