Books published by Affirm Press

In 1901, the word 'Bondmaid' was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it. Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the 'Scriptorium', a garden shed in Oxford whe...re her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme's place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word 'bondmaid' flutters to the floor. Esme rescues the slip and stashes it in an old wooden case that belongs to her friend, Lizzie, a young servant in the big house. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. They help her make sense of the world. Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women's experiences often go unrecorded. While she dedicates her life to the Oxford English Dictionary, secretly, she begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words. Set when the women's suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. It's a delightful, lyrical and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words, and the power of language to shape the world and our experience of it.
Read more

Heico is an ornithologist fighting a losing battle to protect the birds in his beachside suburb. When a journalist asks for comment on a planned development, Heico exaggerates his reports on how many migratory birds use the site. Soon it is revealed that the proposed building is ...a mosque, and he finds himself embroiled in community resistance to the project. Still, he refuses to back down. As the delayed mosque project becomes a focal point for growing Islamophobia, Heico must confront his own ghosts, and the prejudices he insists he doesn't have. Nahla is Heico's house cleaner. Having recently arrived in Australia she is trying to find her place in a new country and a new marriage. Isolated and lonely, she sees the mosque as a symbol of what she hopes to find in Australia: community, familiarity, acceptance. But as resistance to the project intensifies, she must summon the courage and the language to speak out and claim her space in this new life. Piercingly clear-eyed and deeply insightful, The Price of Two Sparrows explores what we hold sacred and why. It delicately picks apart questions of community and prejudice, religion and nature in the modern world. This is a beautiful and thought-provoking debut from an exceptional new Australian writer.
Read more

Hattie Maxwell is trying to make sense of her life since the Big Split. It used to be the four of them - Mum, Dad, Ivy and Hattie - against the universe. But now it feels like she's a lone star in a big galaxy. And to make matters worse, her favourite place, Hummingbird House, is... going to be demolished! Determined to stop the development, Hattie throws herself into uncovering the secrets of the house. Under a special full moon, she discovers that there is much more to the grand old mansion than first meets the eye . . . But will it be enough to save Hummingbird House? Or her family? A classic time-slip novel with a contemporary twist, THE SECRET LIBRARY OF HUMMINGBIRD HOUSE celebrates standing up for what you believe in, dealing with change and the unstoppable power of friendship.
Read more

Girls perform to fairy songs. Boys play football all day long. Boys yell 'Boo!' and run away. Girls like kittens and ballet. Except when they don't. A lively and empowering reminder that you do not have to choose between dolls or robots, or pink or blue - you can be exactly who y...ou are!
Read more

Lena and Luka's friend Sam is as chirpy as a songbird in sunshine. But one day, Sam's smile turns upside down. He's moving far away! Lena and Luka promise to visit, but flying is expensive. Will they ever see Sam again? Maybe they need something scaly and wide-winged, with room e...nough for three . . . From the author and illustrator team behind the much loved Unicorn! and Mermaid! comes a fiery new adventure about friends who can overcome anything - with a big wish and a little help from an accident-prone dragon.
Read more