AUSTRALIAN FICTION
The Old Lie | Claire G. Coleman | $32.99 | Hachette Electrifying, original and fearless, The Old Lie by Claire G. Coleman is an unforgettable novel with an enormous scope. It’s an anti-colonial, feminist work of science fiction, which addresses the act and ethics of war, immigration and the refugee experience, racism and genocide, nuclear warfare, gender and sexuality, and Indigenous Australian connections to Country. Coleman, author of Terra Nullius, is one of the most exciting and dynamic writers in Australian literature right now. I can’t recommend her and The Old Lie more highly! — Emma Co.
ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN WRITERS
From Here On, Monsters | Elizabeth Bryer | $29.99 | Picador
The Rich Man’s House | Andrew McGahan | $32.99 | Allen & Unwin
Here Until August | Josephine Rowe | $29.99 | Black Inc.
As we follow the bibliophile narrator Cameron into an investigation of a mysterious codex, and of the very fabric of reality itself, we are asked to investigate our own reading of this novel. In the tradition of Borges, this story explores the experience of reading and writing, but it is not too meta to have a heart; a compassion for the Other beats through every one of its pages. Simply incredible. Once I had finished I wanted to pick it up and read it again.
Death permeates throughout The Rich Man’s House and McGahan handles it expertly from an uncanny perspective. It’s written cleanly and thoughtfully and you’ll be wanting answers before the end of the first page. The questions pile up quickly, keeping you roped in until the very end. An essential pick for readers of contemporary fiction looking for a new thriller and a great entry point for those curious about this veteran Australian author.
Dropping the reader into each story with such effortless ease, Rowe takes us on several intimate journeys through the lives of her characters. What she shares with us is haunting, and marked by absence — inviting us to read between the lines and to explore what is not said, just as much as what is. Some stories are subtle, others are explicit, but all of them deal with the vulnerable emotional worlds of her characters, and they will stay with you long after you read them.
Treloar’s evocative debut Salt Creek was deservedly shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Wolfe Island, both timely and timeless, cements her reputation. The world is teetering, and the desperation of the mainland has come to the front door of Kitty Hawke, the last person living on a remote and sinking island in Chesapeake Bay. The landscape is rendered superbly, as is the solace and terror of this troubled borderland, where people are pushed to do the unthinkable.
— Lucy H.
— John
— Lucy H.
— Sanjo
Wolfe Island | Lucy Treloar | $29.99 | Picador
Taking Tom Murray Home | Tim Slee | $32.99 | HarperCollins Winner of the 2018 Banjo Prize, Taking Tom Murray Home is an offbeat charmer. Full of Aussie quirk in the vein of The Rosie Project or Boy Swallows Universe, this is a clever story with twists in the road and sparking with childlike curiosity from the thirteen-year-old narrator. A funeral procession led by horse and cart turns into a protest supporting dairy farmers, as Jack’s family take his father’s coffin from rural Australia along the roads leading to Melbourne. With dashes of humour to mask the undercurrent of grief and desperation, there is more than meets the eye here. This is a clever up-lit tale and one you can fall in love with. — Dean
TRENT DALTON AND GRAEME SIMSION FANS, MEET YOUR NEXT GREAT READ
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