Gleaner October/November 2024

October-November 2024

Books of the year

Our staff choose their must-reads of 2024 p4

Interview: Michelle de Kretser on Theory & Practice p2

Shop Talk

From David’s desk

For our last Gleaner of 2024, I’d like to thank our wonderful staff and of course, all of you, our loyal readers, for your commitment to Gleebooks, in our year of upheaval and change. The renewal of our flagship Glebe store has been nothing short of transformational. It has taken enormous effort from all involved, but it has been worth it.

Tony Gallagher and Ray Jelfs opened a secondhand bookshop at 191 Glebe Pt Rd in 1975 and I can’t think of a better way to mark our 50th anniversary than with a beautiful “new” bookshop, rebuilt to last. Cheers to the next 50 years!

This bumper edition features our staff books of the year. People often tell me that “there’s too much rubbish being published”, or how hard it is to identify “what’s worth reading”. In one sense it was ever thus, as any look at the history of publishing will show, but the age of multimedia means more noise, more distraction and even more publishing. However, in our own humble way, that’s what we’re here for. Here’s my two bobs’ worth of the best from this year. I’ve restricted myself to fiction, bar two (very) honourable mentions to Rick Morton for his brave and essential expose of the Robo-debt scandal, Mean Streak, and Lech Blaine’s rollicking yet poignant family memoir Australian Gospel And in brief, my picks for the year, five Australian, two international.

ƒ One Another by Gail Jones Beautifully written, complex and subtle (and richly connected to Joseph Conrad).

ƒ Only the Astronauts by Ceridwen Dovey As wildly inventive and erudite as you could hope (remember the brilliant Only the Animals) and full of wise wit.

ƒ Sunbirds by Sara Haddad A gift of understanding and exploration of the longing for lost life of an aged Palestinian woman, now living in Sydney.

ƒ Juice by Tim Winton Horrifying and compelling and SO powerfully written. Think Cormac and The Road and up the stakes in a cli-fi wrecked world. It’s wonderfully imagined and deeply caring about humanity’s fate.

ƒ Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser Fabulous. It brilliantly blends fiction, memoir, essay and theory in the hothouse of 80s Melbourne academia.

ƒ Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout I think we can safely bid a fond, and deeply thankful farewell to Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge, as this lovely, compassionate novel brings them together.

ƒ My Friends by Hisham Matar Outstanding, from the author of The Return. Exile, grief, the bonds of friendship, profoundly and richly explored.

David, director

A Bookseller at Large

Michelle de Kretser interviewed by Morgan Smith

Michelle de Kretser is the author of seven previous novels, two of which won the Miles Franklin Award. Her eighth, Theory & Practice, is a departure in form and content. I conducted a wonderful email Q&A with her in anticipation of the book’s release.

The brilliant and mesmerising Theory & Practice is billed as a novel, but it also includes nonfiction and memoir. The dominant narrative strand is the story of a young woman (South Asian, wearing lilac slips, big black jumpers and Doc Martens) attending Melbourne University in the mid-1980s – a young woman, I posit, much like the young Michelle de Kretser, in theory, if not in practice. Would you call that aspect of the book autofiction?

I wouldn’t. Autofiction is more auto than fiction, whereas memoir constitutes only a small fraction of my novel. Fiction predominates, with essays running second. The whole St Kilda section, for instance, is fictive, although obviously informed by my memories of that time and place.

A character in the novel warns against mistaking realism for reality. I think W. H. Chong, Text’s brilliant designer, must have picked up on that for the cover. The photo of me above the word “novel” places the cover in conversation with Magritte’s famous

photorealist painting of a pipe labelled “This is not a pipe”. In other words, reality is not the same as its representation in art. By contrast, autofiction presents realism as reality; so to resort to THE buzzword of the 1980s, you could say that Theory & Practice deconstructs autofiction.

The novel is narrated by a young Sri LankanAustralian woman who is writing a dissertation on Virginia Woolf. She refers to the fact that Woolf had planned for her novel The Years to be a mixture of nonfiction and fiction, an idea she abandoned as too difficult. Is this where you got the idea of introducing essay and memoir into the narrative?

Absolutely. I wanted to take up Woolf’s quest for unconventional form; to acknowledge her and write back to her, as it were.

Her original plan for The Years was to have fiction and essay in alternating chapters; I threw in some memoir as well and mixed everything up. I was after an elastic tangle of forms because I wanted to write a novel that wasn’t “novelistic”, that didn’t read like a novel. I think it’s that mix of forms that creates the impression of truth-to-life instead.

The three main themes (and there are many more) are race, feminism and shame, all of which intersect in complex and surprising ways. For instance, (post)colonial hegemony and shame are present when the Sri Lankan narrator describes being sexually abused by an Englishman. That episode is echoed in the essayistic piece about Donald Friend and his sexual abuse of Balinese boys. Virginia Woolf and her sister were sexually abused by their step-brothers, and the narrator of the novel feels linked to Woolf through their “mutual shiver of shame”. But Woolf also expressed racist views. What was your response, as a Sri Lankan, when you first encountered Woolf’s racism, particularly her description of a Ceylonese man she meets?

When I came across that passage, many years ago, I’d already been dazzled by Woolf’s fiction and essays, as well as by the adventurous enterprise of the life she’d created with Vanessa, their rejection of Victorian values in favour of modernity.

I remember the stab of shock when I read the page in question but I’ve blanked out what came next. I probably turned the page quickly, wanting to pretend that nothing was wrong. I didn’t go back to that description until I began writing Theory & Practice but I never forgot it entirely. It stayed with me like a flicker in the corner of my mind’s eye.

In 2019 I read a draft of my friend Sophie Cunningham’s terrific novel about Leonard Woolf, This Devastating Fever. It reminded me that I had unfinished business with Virginia Woolf. From that point on, I wanted to write about her; to look her in the eye. Woolf was a marvellous writer, who had radical, intelligent, liberating things to say about literature and about women; she was also snobbish and snide, and areas of her thinking were drastically flawed. For most of her life she had to live with the terror of recurrent mental breakdown, and she’s been dead for the best part of a century. I have room for her complexity in my mind.

The book has a quotable sentence on every page, and one of my favourites is “What politics [as opposed to fiction] asked of us was to care about people we couldn’t see into, and the difficulty of that was the difficulty of life”. Can you expand on this?

THE 2024 ARA HISTORICAL NOVEL PRIZE

For instance, feminism asks us to show workers everywhere. Those are admirable act on them. But what they require of us is difficult, isn’t it? It all comes back to theory

Picture: Joy Lai

The Best Reads of 2024

Our staff reveal the books that enthralled them this year

The Season

Helen Garner

Jack (Glebe): Here it is again, that passionate, searching eye, fastened on the need to write “about footy and my grandson and me. About boys at dusk. A little life hymn. A poem. A record of a season we are spending together before he turns a man and I die.” Is there anything more thrilling than reading Helen Garner on everyday things such as haircuts, the Melbourne skyline, ageing, AFL tactics, friendship and half-time oranges? A book for all seasons – not just the footy one!

Sunil (Events co-ordinator): I can’t catch buses, let alone a ball, but I love the brutish ballet of Australian rules. Helen Garner’s lovely observation of her grandson’s footy season eloquently evokes that poetry and enchantment. As always, Garner is a central character in the game, revealing her own hopes and regrets, passions and doubts. A lovely, lyrical introduction to the sport, especially if you don’t follow sport at all.

$35, Text Out November

Picture: Darren James

Love, Death and Other Scenes

Nova Weetman

Deanne (Schools): This is a raw and beautifully honest memoir detailing the love built between Nova Weetman and her life partner, playwright Aidan Fennesy. It begins following Fennesy’s illness and death as Weetman grapples with living after the loss of her partner and father of her children, reflecting upon their life together. I sat and read this in a 24-hour period, not wanting to leave the warm and life-affirming space Weetman has created for her readers in this book.

Rachel (Children’s books, Glebe): I carried this book around for weeks after I read it as I was not ready to let Nova and her beautiful story go. A heartbreaking yet uplifting book about grief and learning to live and love after loss.

$35, UQP. Out now

TIFFANY (BLACKHEATH)

In Caledonian Road (Faber & Faber), Andrew O’Hagan has skilfully crafted an excoriating look at class, entitlement, power, inequality and what it means to be British in the 21st century. Audacious in its scope, he effortlessly weaves and draws together all of the (mainly flawed) characters and their storylines in a way that leaves you unable to put it down.

ANDREW (GLEBE)

Sequel? What sequel? I know many (most?) readers have come to Long Island (Picador) as the follow-up to Colm Toíbín’s most popular, movie-adapted, novel, Brooklyn. Well, yes, sure it is a continuation in the life of its heroine Eilis, but to me it stands fearlessly on its own two feet. A sad, quietly tragic, at times richly comic, small rural town tour-de-force; a staring down of the possibilities and restrictions of a middle-aged life. And the runners up? I couldn’t choose between Andrew O’Hagan’s delectable Caledonian Road, Hisham Matar’s intensely moving My Friends, or Alan Hollinghurst’s effortlessly seductive Our Evenings

CLARE (GLEBE)

The Echoes (Vintage) is a novel about loss, love, and the stories that are left behind. After Max dies, his partner Hannah is left grieving while Max watches on as a reluctant ghost. The story jumps back and forth from Hannah’s childhood in rural Australia, to her new life in London. Evie Wyld’s writing prowess shines through in this novel, and I guarantee you won’t be able to stop until you’ve gotten the last piece of the puzzle and seen the whole picture in all its glory.

BRONWYN (BLACKHEATH)

Katie Kitamura’s Intimacies (Vintage) is an introspective, dark story where unease and disquiet shadow you at every turn. Set in the Hague International Criminal Court, our protagonist works as a translator for people on trial for war crimes. The act of translating their testimony creates a disturbing, ambiguous intimacy between them which leaves her questioning the nature of evil, who gets to judge and who gets judged. I was enthralled from beginning to end.

JODY (BLACKHEATH)

Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient, Warlight) returns to poetry and to the very beginnings of his career in A Year of Last Things (Cape Poetry). It’s lyrical, fragmentary and filled with humanity and mesmerising musings on how we all end up navigating the past. A collection to drop into whenever the outside world seems to be overwhelming, Ondaatje pulls your attention towards the tiny intricacies in life that matter the most.

KOKO (DULWICH HILL)

Sally Rooney’s work doesn’t require any promotion, but Intermezzo (Faber) certainly warrants it. This novel marks a significant step forward for Rooney, but is still filled with her ability to uncover the human condition. A profound character study of brothers Ivan and Peter, Intermezzo explores grief, guilt, love and perhaps most importantly, self-acceptance.

SCOTT V (GLEBE)

I have to give notable mentions to two older books: Apeirogon by Colum McCann, set in the West Bank and The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, set in the meatpacking district of Chicago in the early 1900s. My favourite this year, however, is My Friends (Viking), written by the Libyan/English author Hisham Matar. It charts the friendship of three young men, bonded by their experiences at a rally in London at the Libyan embassy, where two of them are wounded and a policeman is shot dead. It maps the beauty of family and good books and expat life amongst the backdrop of London streets. A truly wonderful read.

Staff Picks 2024

TATJANA (GLEBE)

The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise

Olivia Laing

James (Glebe): One of the most exemplary writers of nonfiction working today, Olivia Laing’s latest book is a startlingly beautiful paean to the sheer variety of human transformations of the ground beneath our feet. Ranging from Laing’s own reclamation of a walled garden, to green patches struck up in the shadow of nuclear power stations and fields dreamt up in literature, this is recommended for lovers of gardens, community of purpose and fine prose everywhere.

Clare (Glebe): I have devoured everything written by Olivia Laing, so it is no surprise that I loved The Garden Against Time. Through the restoration of an overgrown garden in Suffolk, Laing explores the very concept of gardening and its connection to history, subjugation, and freedom. Much like their other works, Olivia Laing takes you on a journey that you’ll wish never ends.

Journalist Anne Applebaum suspects something new is happening in the world of oppression. In Autocracy.Inc (AllenLane) she takes a thorough look at modern authoritarian states and how they work together to repress their people, steal the country’s wealth to enrich themselves and push back “against all forms of transparency or accountability”. Meanwhile, the West appears to be paralysed as they lament the role they may have played in helping these regimes consolidate their power because of their own misjudgement and greed over the decades. This book is short, the outrage lasts longer.

JANE (GLEBE)

If you find the current ideological dumpster fire in the US confusing, then you’ll want to read George Monbiot’s The Invisible Doctrine (Penguin). A fascinating profile of neoliberalism in all its questionable finery. Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life (Random House) is so well-written and lyrical, that I forgot it was a science book – I never thought I would be this interested in fungi! His sense of awe is infectious, and I found so much new knowledge here. The illustrated version is inspirational.

NIC (GLEANER)

In his incredibly original debut novel, Scott Alexander Howard uses the well-worn science fiction pilot device of time travel to write a very grounded story about growing up in a world where the line between fate and choice has become too blurred to see. Following 16-year-old Odelle as she deals with the daily ordeal that is high school, a chance encounter with some visitors from the future will change her life. Despite the high concept, The Other Valley (Atlantic) is not a science fiction story. It is quite a simple story of love, and the daily struggle of life.

ISABEL (GLEBE)

Caoilinn Hughes has done it yet again with The Alternatives (OneWorld). Her knack for writing grizzly, overly cheerful,

exhausted, successful – and, therefore, wholly relatable – female characters is, for me, her chief virtue (for want of a better word). Philosophical and satirical, this spiky Irish novel about four grown-up(?) sisters will make you feel more intelligent from page one. Be sure to keep an eye out for the dead cat on the road. It’s a nerve-racking but also pleasingly astonishing interaction, much like every other incident in this gift of a book I like to imagine is dedicated to all those who persevere.

STEPHEN (BLACKHEATH SECONDHAND)

In December 1988, the body of 27-year-old American student Scott Johnson was found at the base of North Head, Manly and officially ruled a suicide. This is an account of a three-decade investigation into Scott’s death by his brother Steve. Finally in 2020, the arrest – and confession – of a perpetrator. A Thousand Miles from Care (HarperCollins) is a memorial and a tribute. They thought Steve Johnson would forget about his brother. He never did.

SCOTT D (GLEBE)

My pick for the new release of 2024 is undoubtedly Colm Toibin’s Long Island but my discovery of the year is the work of South African novelist Damon Galgut. Best known for his Booker Prize winner The Promise, Galgut first hit his stride with In a Strange Room – an exquisitely frustrating and darkly comic account of one young man’s efforts to overcome his personal inhibitions in the search for love. I have just started Arctic Summer (Atlantic), another tale of unspoken emotions and repressed desire in the form of a fictionalised biography of author E.M. Forster. Terrific so far!

IMOGEN (GLEBE)

It has been a long wait for those lovers of This Is Happiness, but I am very glad to report that the sequel is very much worth it. Time of the Child (Bloomsbury) follows on from the original, but those who are new to Niall Williams’ work needn’t worry –his prose is just as gorgeous and approachable. I advise you to savour every sentence – I did! Georgia Blain’s posthumous

$45, Picador. Out October

Picture: Liz Seabrook

There Are Rivers in the Sky

Elif Shafak

Victoria (Blackheath): This is an epic story spanning centuries, starting with a drop of rain in Mesopotamia which travels through the forgotten poem of Gilgamesh, three main characters and two rivers. Arthur in 1840 by the river Thames, Narin in 2014 by the river Tigris and Zaleekhah in 2018 by the river Thames. A beautiful story.

Anna (Glebe): After the first book I read by Elif Shafak I am always looking out for her next work. And as before, she does not disappoint. This was a joy to read and expanded my horizons. Three stories, two rivers, and the importance of water – and much more.

$35, Viking. Out now

collection of short stories was the first that I read of hers, but it will not be the last. Every page of We All Lived in Bondi Then (Bloomsbury) was sparkling with wit, laughter and a tinge of melancholy that stayed with me well after I had finished reading. A short story is such a difficult thing to do well, but Blain made it look effortless.

ANGE (GLEBE)

It has been 50 years since Ursula Le Guin shared with us The Dispossessed (Hachette), her anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian vision of utopia. Fierce, moving, and lyrical, she challenges the acceptance of our imperialist status quo, and offers an alternative way of being: a world without ego where sharing is central. Julia Armfield’s debut novel Our Wives Under the Sea (Pan Macmillan)

is exquisitely eerie, dreamy and sapphic. A haunting romantic tragedy that considers both what is unknown about the deep sea and what is unknowable about those we love.

TILDA (GLEBE)

Azako Yuzuki’s Butter (HarperCollins) is a gripping meditation on the power of food and its links to femininity, sexuality and control. It’s a book that sinks its claws in and refuses to let go, revelling in the internalised contradictions of its characters, and in the rich taste of butter and blood. By contrast, Samantha Harvey’s Orbital (Random House) is a breathtaking, heady experience. Falling around the world, it watches 16 sunrises and sunsets over the course of a day on the ISS. Both will live in my head for a long time to come.

‘Magnificent’

TIM WINTON

‘A sublime novel’

HANNAH KENT

Treat yourself to an epic Australian adventure of wilderness and legend

From the acclaimed author of Limberlost, ROBBIE ARNOTT

Scan here for a sample

Staff Picks 2024

LACHLAN (DULWICH HILL)

Highway 13

Fiona McFarlane

Victoria (Blackheath): Although you can work out which infamous Australian serial killer these short stories are based around, there is so much more. These are stories about the families and communities in the aftermath of the murders and the effect it had on them. Spanning decades and countries, these stories are subtle and superbly written.

Jody (Blackheath): Extraordinary storytelling circling around a serial killer (a true crime event that has been inked into Australia’s psyche) is at the heart of this collection of luminous stories that captivate and compel, shifting the focus to how stories ripple out into communities, and the courage in human connection.

$30, Allen & Unwin. Out now

For nonfiction I can’t go past James Bradley’s Deep Water (Penguin), a passionate, vital and compelling book about our oceans and what we are doing to them. But my most pleasurable literary experience of 2024 has been back-to-back readings of Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Percival Everett’s James (Mantle). While the former remains a classic, James turns the story of Huck and Jim into something even greater. A revelation.

GABRIEL (GLEANER)

Brenda Blethyn may be done playing Vera, but Ann Cleeves is not done writing about her. In The Dark Wives (Macmillan), she has created another ripping read centred on the bleak landscape of the north with the dour, relatable detective at its centre. My discovery this year was UK author Tim Sullivan’s gripping DS Cross series, centred on a neurodiverse detective with a flawless record. The setting of last year’s The Monk is a serene Bristol monastery that is rocked by a horrific murder. I look forward to the next instalment with some trepidation: The Bookseller will be published next year.

AVA (BLACKHEATH)

I read two outstanding memoirs this year, both written by women struggling in the aftermath of a devastating event. Leslie Jamison’s Splinters (Little, Brown) details the unravelling of a toxic relationship, while Sloane Crosley’s Grief Is for People (Serpent’s Tail) deconstructs a friend’s suicide. Each of these stories is ultimately about hope: Jamison places her love in her infant child, while Crosley finds relief in solving a robbery that occurred just before her friend died. Both were gorgeously written and very quick reads.

LETITIA (BLACKHEATH)

You know that feeling when you begin a book and it’s as though it was written just for you? For me, that book was Michelle de Kretser’s Theory & Practice (Text). There are so many ideas and references in this novel that I had to grab a pencil and scribble in the margins. University life in the 1980s, affairs of the young heart, art, writing, philosophy. It’s a novel with passion and heat – and the protagonist is a hungry, brilliant scrappy young woman that I loved to bits.

ELISSA

(CHILDREN’S

SPECIALIST, GLEBE)

Usually I like to choose an adult book for the Gleaner book of the year but this year I cannot go past Shinsuke Yoshitake’s I Wonder Where I Am (Thames & Hudson). All of his books are fabulous so if you’re looking for a quirky, informative, funny book look no further!

Picture: Yanina Gotsulsky

And if you’re thinking this kids’ book isn’t for you, perhaps you should also grab a copy of Katherine Rundell’s Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise

ARWEN (DULWICH HILL)

A bizarre and gloriously unsettling step into the unchartered territory of desire and reality, Yoko Tawada’s The Bridegroom Was a Dog (Granta) presents us with a romance between a caninecoded Romeo and an unconventional teacher in a fairytale turned on its head. Tawada makes the reader question their sexual fantasies and the consequences when enacted in the mundane world. The Bridegroom Was a Dog will have you questioning your sanity, yourself and your sex life with a feeling of mingled dread and forbidden excitement, so go ahead, buy the collar. WOOF!

ZARA (DULWICH HILL)

Three sisters – Avery, Bonnie and Lucky – grapple with the aftermath of the death of their fourth sister, Nicky. Coco Mellors’ Blue Sisters (4th Estate) is a profoundly moving portrayal of sister relationships and loss that will make you laugh, cry and yell in frustration! Watch them fall apart and fall together.

ELLA (GLEBE)

If you’ve ever wondered what life was like in 1506, Joseon – and even if you haven’t – A Crane Among Wolves (Wildfire) is for you. June Hur immerses the reader in a world of political intrigue and mystery, shown through the eyes of an immensely complex main character. Not only is this story beautifully written, but it is relatable and realistic despite being set centuries ago.

AMELIA (GLEBE)

Having been the type of child whose favourite thing to do at the beach was to explore the tiny magic worlds of rock pools, this debut poetry collection by Ashley Haywood appealed to me greatly. Falling into the sub-genre of ecopoetry, Polyp (Vagabond) links art and science through beautiful imagery while also considering the threats climate change presents to marine ecosystems. Incredibly moving and rich.

MORGAN (GLEBE)

I can’t go past Michelle de Kretser’s improbably named, beautiful novel Theory & Practice (see my interview on p3) – it’s Helen Garner’s Monkey Grip on intellectual steroids. Equal first is David Marr’s Killing for Country – released last year, this heartbreaking but brilliant story revealing a shameful slice of both his family and this country’s history has stayed with me.

AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE

Things Will Calm Down Soon

Zöe Foster Blake

Hair stylist Kit Cooper is at the top of her game. She does the shows in Milan and Paris and tends to pop stars and celebrities. One day, frustrated she can’t find the perfect product for a look, she wonders ... could she make it herself? Amid spreadsheets, influencers, product launches and a parade of potential investors, Kit is juggling an eager young team, needy family members, single parenting and far too many school WhatsApp messages. She is certain – positive – things will calm down soon, because how can life possibly keep going at this pace?

$33 $30

Atlantic. Out October

Molly

Rosalie Ham

It’s 1914 and Molly Dunnage wants to see change: at home, at work and in underwear. Her burgeoning corsetry business is starting to take off, thanks to some high-profile supporters. But as the clouds of war gather and an ominous figure starts skulking in the shadows of her life, Molly’s dreams begin to falter. Then, true love drops out of the sky and into her arms. With the dark humour, richly detailed settings and vividly drawn characters we’ve come to expect from Rosalie Ham, this prequel to The Dressmaker is an unforgettable story of hopes lost, love found – and corsets loosened.

$35 $30

Picador. Out October

A Song to Drown Rivers

Ann Liang

Xishi’s beauty is seen as a blessing to the villagers of Yue, where the best fate for a girl is to marry well and support her family.

When Xishi draws the attention of Fanli, the famous young military advisor, he presents her with a rare opportunity: to use her beauty as a weapon; one that could topple the rival neighbouring kingdom of Wu, improve the lives of her people, and avenge her sister’s murder. Inspired by the legend of Xishi, one of the famous Four Beauties of Ancient China, A Song to Drown Rivers is an epic novel about womanhood, war, sacrifice and love against all odds.

$35 $30

Macmillan. Out October

As Australia recovers from the depression and war, Miles Franklin, author of “My Brilliant Career,” returns to Sydney in the 1930s. Facing frustration in reclaiming her fame, she joins the Australia First movement, which admires Hitler ’s Germany for its leadership during a time of rising fascism. She hopes this group will re-ignite her fame but what it delivers is something she did not count on.

AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE

Dusk

Robbie Arnott

In the distant highlands, a puma named Dusk is killing shepherds. Down in the lowlands, twins Iris and Floyd are out of work, money and friends. When they hear that a bounty has been placed on Dusk, they reluctantly decide to join the hunt. As they journey up into this wild, haunted country, they discover there’s far more to the land and people of the highlands than they imagined. And as they close in on their prey, they’re forced to reckon with conflicts both ancient and personal.

$35 $30

Picador. Out October

The Belburd

Nardi Simpson

Ginny Dilboong is a young poet, fierce and deadly. She’s making sense of the world and her place in it, grappling with love, family and the spaces in which to create her art. Like powerful women before her, Ginny hugs the edges of waterways, and though she is a daughter of Country, the place that shapes her is not hers. Determined and brave, Ginny seeks to protect the truth of others while learning her own. The question is how?

$33 $30

Hachette. Out October

River Song

Di Morrissey

$35,

Wing

Nikki Gemmell

Students from an elite girls’ school go on a camping trip into the Australian bush. Four of them – a girl gang, a group of best friends dubbed “The Cins” by the teachers – become separated from the main group. A male teacher volunteers to look for them. None of the five come back. Days crawl past, with no sign of the girls or their teacher. Finally, separated and traumatised, the four girls re-appear. But the male teacher does not. And The Cins aren’t talking. Wing is an immersive, propulsive, headlong, heartrush of a read from the author of The Bride Stripped Bare.

$50 $40

Hamish Hamilton Out October

$33,

The arrival of a hotshot New York composer brings a rare touch of glamour and excitement to the peaceful country town of Fig Tree River. For Leonie, Madison, Sarita and Chrissie, four women involved in the local musical theatre, it’s a welcome distraction from the pressures of daily life. Then a lottery ticket, bought together on impulse, changes everything. The winnings, shared between the four friends, are all they ever hoped for ... and all they ever feared, bringing dreams, dilemmas and disaster. River Song is a story about friendship and what happens when dreams come true.

$40, Macmillan. Out November

Juice

Two fugitives, a man and a child, drive all night across a stony desert. As dawn breaks, they roll into an abandoned mine site. From the vehicle they survey a forsaken place – middens of twisted iron, rusty wire, piles of sun-baked trash. They’re exhausted, traumatised, desperate now. But as a refuge, this is the most promising place they’ve seen. The child peers at the field of desolation. The man thinks to himself, this could work. The problem is, they’re not alone. An epic novel of determination, survival and the limits of the human spirit, this is Tim Winton as you’ve never read him before.

The Thinning

Inga Simpson

Fin grew up by an observatory, learning about telescopes and planets, inspired by the passions of her parents. That was long ago. Now Fin, her mother and a band of outliers live deep off the grid. In the outside world, extinctions and a loss of diversity threaten what’s left of the environment. With a new disaster looming, Fin will need to work with one of a new breed of evolved humans who are widely distrusted in an audacious plan to restore the natural world. The Thinning is both an exquisitely written novel of nature and an urgent thriller.

The Burrow

Melanie Cheng

Amy, Jin and Lucie are leading isolated lives in their partially renovated, inner-city home. They are not happy, but they are also terrified of change. When they buy a pet rabbit for Lucie, and Amy’s mother, Pauline, comes to stay, the family is forced to confront long-buried secrets. Will opening their hearts to the rabbit help them to heal or only invite further tragedy? The Burrow tells an unforgettable story about grief and hope. With her characteristic compassion and eye for detail, Melanie Cheng reveals the lives of others – even of a small rabbit. $33, Text. Out October

4th Estate Out October

Hachette Out October

Tim Winton

INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE

$33, Other Press Out October

$50 $40

Harvill/Secker Out November

Tasmania: A Novel

Paolo Giordano

After losing the future he imagined for himself, Paolo sets out in search of connection and purpose at a tipping point with climate change and global conflict. Along the way, he interacts with a vibrant cast of characters, each struggling to find their own Tasmania, a safe haven in which to weather the coming crises – global warming, pandemics, authoritarian governments and wars. He develops a friendship with a brilliant, opinionated physicist, who followed the scientific path Paolo had abandoned, and who will test Paolo’s loyalty and values. This semi-autobiographical novel captures the fear, anxiety, wonder and beauty of this time of uncertainty and upheaval.

The City and Its Uncertain Walls

Haruki Murakami

ALSO OUT

SUMMER SPECIAL

When a young man’s girlfriend mysteriously vanishes, he sets his heart on finding the imaginary city where her true self lives. His search will lead him to take a job in a remote library with mysteries of its own. When he finally makes it to the walled city, a shadowless place of horned beasts and willow trees, he finds his beloved working in a different library – a dream library. But she has no memory of their life together. A love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, The City and Its Uncertain Walls is a parable for these strange times.

A Case of Matricide

Graeme Macrae Burnet

In the unremarkable French town of Saint-Louis, a mysterious stranger stalks the streets; an elderly woman believes her son is planning to do away with her; a prominent manufacturer drops dead. Between visits to the town’s bars, Chief Inspector Georges Gorski mulls over the connections, if any, between these events, while all the time grappling with his own domestic and existential demons. Graeme Macrae Burnet pierces the respectable bourgeois facade of small-town life in this deeply human story.

$35, Text. Out October

This Kingdom of Dust

David Dyer

Orbital

Samantha Harvey

$23, Vintage Out September

Bridge

Lauren Beukes

$23, Michael Joseph Out November

Marigold Mind Laundry

Jungeun Yun

$33, Doubleday Out October

The Mighty Red

Louise Erdrich

$35, Corsair Out October

SUMMER SPECIAL

The whole world has just watched Neil and Buzz walk on the Moon. Now they are struck by terror – the lunar module’s engine has failed. There is no back-up, no other way off the surface. With page-turning suspense and emotional heft, this reimagining of an epic moment in history combines public spectacle with private despair, reframing what the Moon landing has meant not only for the astronauts and those who loved them, but for all humankind.

$35 $30

Penguin, Out October

INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE

Gliff

Ali Smith

SUMMER SPECIAL

It’s a truism of our time that it will be the next generation who will sort out our increasingly toxic world. What would that actually be like? In a state turned hostile, a world of insiders and outsiders, what things of the past can sustain them and what shape can resistance take? And what’s a horse got to do with any of this? Gliff is a moving and electrifying read, a vital and prescient tale of the versatility and variety deep-rooted in language, in nature and in human nature.

$40 $35

Hamish Hamilton. Out November

The Third Realm

Karl Ove Knausgaard

If no one ever died, what would happen then?

With The Third Realm, Karl Ove Knausgaard expands the spellbinding universe of The Morning Star and The Wolves of Eternity, as a cast of new and familiar characters begins to tell the story in the round. With each thrilling page, the possibility emerges that a malign force is at large, and that perhaps no one is beyond its reach. $35, Harvill/Secker. Out October

The Granddaughter

Bernhard Schlink

At a youth festival in East Berlin, a young couple fall in love. It is only many years later, after her death, that Kaspar discovers the price his wife paid to get to him in West Berlin. Shattered by grief, Kaspar sets off to uncover Birgit’s secrets in the East. His search leads him to a rural community of neo-Nazis, and to a young girl who accepts him as her grandfather. The Granddaughter is a gripping novel that transports us from the divided Germany of the 1960s to contemporary Australia. $35, W&N. Out October

$55 $45

Michael Joseph Out October

$35,

Gifted

Suzumi

Suzuki

Our Evenings

Alan Hollinghurst

Dave Win is 13 years old when he first goes to stay with the sponsors of his scholarship at a local boarding school. This weekend will open up heady new possibilities, even as it exposes him to their son Giles’ envy and violence. As their lives unfold, the two boys’ careers will diverge dramatically: Dave, a gifted actor struggling with convention and discrimination, Giles an increasingly powerful and dangerous politician. Our Evenings is a story of race and class, theatre and sexuality, love and violence, from one of the finest writers of our age.

Odyssey

Stephen Fry

Troy has fallen. After 10 years of war, the Greeks make their way back to their own lands – but what now awaits them? Agamemnon must return to his wife Clytemnestra, who has been nursing her rage since he sacrificed their daughter to the gods for a favourable wind. Her revenge will know no bounds. Meanwhile, Odysseus has angered the god Poseidon and is cursed to wander the seas, facing angry monsters and possessive demi-gods as he attempts to return to Ithaca and his patient, clever wife Penelope. This is the epic final chapter to Stephen Fry’s retellings of the Greek myths.

Lazarus Man

Richard Price

East Harlem, 2008. A five-story tenement collapses into a fuming hill of rubble, pancaking the cars parked in front and coating the street with a thick layer of ash. As the city’s rescue services and media outlets respond, the surrounding neighbourhood descends into chaos. Six bodies are recovered, but many of the other tenants are missing. In Lazarus Man, Richard Price, one of the greatest chroniclers of life in urban America, creates intertwining portraits of a group of compelling and singular characters whose lives are permanently impacted by disaster.

The Hotel

Daisy Johnson

In 2008, the unnamed narrator of Gifted is working as a hostess and living in Tokyo’s nightlife district. One day, her estranged mother, who is seriously ill, suddenly turns up at her door. As the mother approaches the end of her life, the two women must navigate their strained relationship, while the narrator also reckons with events happening in her own life. In sharp, elegant prose, and based on the author’s own experiences as a sex worker, Gifted heralds the breakthrough of an exciting new literary talent. $28, Scribe. Out October

On entering The Hotel, different people react in different ways. To some it is familiar, to others a stranger. Many come out refreshed, longing to return. But a few are changed forever, haunted by their time there. They are children and mothers, monsters, cult filmmakers, thrill-seekers and workers on the night shift, all with their own tales of its strange power, of the horrors of Room 63, and of desperate but failed attempts to escape its seductive pull. The Hotel is a triumph of contemporary horror from the Booker Prize-shortlisted author.

$35, Jonathan Cape. Out October

$35, Picador Out October

Corsair Out November

CRIME & THRILLERS

$35, Viking Out October

$35, Fremantle Out October

Karla’s Choice: a John le Carré novel

Nick Harkaway

It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus with an eye to a more peaceful life. But Control has other plans. A Russian agent has defected in the most unusual of circumstances and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found. Smiley will soon find himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will strike at the heart of his greatest enemy. Karla’s Choice is a gripping new novel set in the universe of John le Carré’s most iconic spy, written by acclaimed novelist and Le Carré’s son, Nick Harkaway.

Prize Catch

Alan Carter

When Roz Chen’s wife, Niamh, is killed in a hit-and-run on a lonely Tasmanian road, the grieving widow begins to wonder if Niamh’s death was an accident after all. Meanwhile, SAS veteran Sam Willard is hoping for a fresh start with a job at a salmon farm. But as allegations of old war crimes surface and Sam is “promoted” as a special operative against anti-salmon farm activists, he and Roz form an unlikely alliance. A quest for the truth becomes a race for survival in this pacy new crime novel from award-winning author Alan Carter.

The Traitor

Jørn Lier Horst

Midnight and Blue

Ian Rankin

As new allies and old enemies circle, and the days and nights bleed into each other, even a legendary detective like Rebus struggles to keep his head. That is, until a murder at midnight in a locked cell presents a new mystery. The prisoners and guards are all suspects, and everyone has something to hide. With no badge, no authority and no safety net, Rebus walks a tightrope –with his life on the line.

$35 $30 Orion. Out October

A rain-soaked mystery hits Larvik, Norway and Detective William Wisting is on the case in this captivating new novel from Jørn Lier Horst. Following weeks of heavy rain, the earth comes crumbling down on one of Larvik’s residential areas, burying a handful of houses. Twenty-four hours’ later, a body is found – and the victim was killed before the landslide. Clues start leading Wisting not towards an enemy on the outside – but to a traitor in his own unit.

$35, Michael Joseph. Out November

The Blue Hour

Paula Hawkins

Eris, an island with only one house, one inhabitant, one way out. Unreachable from the Scottish mainland for 12 hours each day. Once home to Vanessa, a famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared 20 years ago. Now home to Grace, a solitary creature of the tides, content in her own isolation. But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, a visitor comes calling. And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge.

$35, Doubleday. Out October

When It Rains

Dave Warner

For Broome detective Dan Clement, it seems that crime is as plentiful as wet season rain. When his sergeant is beaten up, and a woman is brutally assaulted, it seems like the same two suspects are behind both incidents. But when a woman’s hand is discovered in crocodile-infested waters, things take a macabre turn. The stakes rise sky-high as Dan races against time to solve this complex and puzzling case.

$35, Fremantle. Out October

The Proof of My Innocence

Jonathan Coe

Chris has been on the trail of a shadowy thinktank scheming to push the British government in a more extreme direction. Events take a sinister turn at a conference in the Cotswolds, where a murder inquiry is soon in progress. But will the solution to the mystery lie in contemporary politics, or in a literary enigma that is almost 40 years old? Darting between decades and genres, The Proof of My Innocence is a blistering political critique wrapped up in a murder mystery. $35, Viking. Out November

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret

Benjamin Stevenson

Benjamin Stevenson returns with a Christmas addition to his bestselling Ernest Cunningham mysteries. Unwrap all the Christmas staples – presents, family, an impossible murder or two, and a deadly advent calendar of clues. If Ernest can see through the illusions, he just knows he can solve it. After all, a good murder is just like a magic trick, isn’t it?

$30, Penguin. Out October

CRIME & THRILLERS

The Night We Lost Him

Laura Dave

One beautiful Californian evening, a wealthy businessman falls to his death from his secluded cliff-top house onto the rocks below. A tragic accident? Or murder? Nora and her half-brother Sam team up to uncover what really happened. Unravelling his mysterious past takes them back to a tangled love affair and a web of relationships that other people would rather stay buried. Filled with passion, intrigue, lies, and dark, dark family secrets, The Night We Lost Him is a page-turning mystery you won’t want to put down.

$35, Century. Out October

In Too Deep

Lee Child and Andrew Child

Jack Reacher wakes up, alone, in the dark, handcuffed to a makeshift bed. His right arm has suffered some major damage. His few possessions are gone. He has no memory of getting there. The last thing Reacher can recall is the car he hitched a ride in getting run off the road. The driver was killed. His captors assume Reacher was the driver’s accomplice and patch up his wounds as they plan to make him talk – plans that will backfire spectacularly.

$35, Bantam. Out October

$33, Wildfire Out November

Return to the DallerGut Dream Department Store

Miye

Lee

It has been a year since Penny first walked through the doors of DallerGut Dream Department Store and she is now an official employee of the dream industry. She can finally take the express commuter train to the Company District, where all the dream production companies are located and discover how all raw dream materials and testing equipment are produced. But she soon finds out that it hides the darker underbelly of the magical industry. Why do some customers buy a dream and never return? Will Penny and her colleagues be able to bring their regulars back?

The Great When

Alan Moore

When Dennis comes into possession of a book that shouldn’t exist, a new chapter in his life begins and a different, alternate London reveals itself, along with a cast of characters each more unlikely and fantastical than the last. This is the London of penny dreadfuls and William Blake’s dark woodcuts, colliding with Dennis’ own time, a post-war capital, not long rebuilding itself from its own recent nightmare of war and bombing. Thrilling, lyrical and sparkling with dark humour, The Great When is the first book in a new series by icon Alan Moore. $33, Bloomsbury. Out October

Iron Flame

Rebecca Yarros

Against all odds, Violet Sorrengail made it through her first year at Basgiath War College, but now, the real training begins. When a powerful new enemy threatens everything she cares about, including the man she loves, Violet must do whatever it takes to keep their secrets safe. One wrong move could have horrifying consequences - and as the web of lies spun by those in charge starts to unravel, nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes

Hisashi Kashiwai

$20, Mantle Out October Crime

Blood Over Bright Haven

M. L. Wang

$35, Del Rey Out October Fantasy

$35,

Heads Will Roll

Josh Winning

Willow is in need of an escape. A former sitcom star, she has been publicly shamed on the internet after posting something she shouldn’t have. She checks in to Camp Castaway, an adultsonly retreat based at an old campground in the woods. As the campers gather round the fire to tell ghost stories, Willow hears the tale of Knock Knock Nancy, a local urban legend about a witch, brutally beheaded in this very woodland. Willow doesn’t believe in ghosts, but the next day, a camper has vanished under mysterious circumstances. A chilling slasher from a razor-sharp new horror voice.

$25, Piatkus Out November

Michael Joseph. Out October

PICTURE BOOKS

$25, Little Hare.

Out October

$25, Pushkin.

Out October

Afloat

Kirli Saunders & Freya Blackwood

Against a backdrop of a changed environment, an Elder leads a child along the waterways, sharing her People’s knowledge and gathering community along the way. Afloat is an uplifting and inspiring picture book that uses weaving as a powerful metaphor for the honouring and teaching of First Nations wisdom, and the coming together of all people to survive, thrive and create a more hopeful future.

Hot Dog

Doug Salati

It’s summer in the city, and this hot dog has had enough! Enough of sizzling sidewalks, enough of wailing sirens, enough of people’s feet right in his face. When he plops down in the middle of a pedestrian crossing, his owner tries to get him the breath of fresh air he needs. She hails a taxi, hops a train and ferries out to the beach. Here, a pup can run! Hot Dog shows us how to find calm and carry it back with us so we can appreciate the small joys in a day.

To Stir with Love

Kate Mildenhall & Jess Racklyeft

Grandma makes her everything cake for every special occasion. These days she sometimes needs a little help, but that’s what grandkids are for. This beautiful, heartfelt collaboration combines food and family to celebrate the magic of grandmothers (and their secret recipes). Complete with Grandma’s everything cake recipe … and room to write down your own family favourite.

$25, Simon & Schuster. Out October

BOARD BOOKS

$20, Scribble

Out October

ALSO OUT

Party Rhyme

Antonia Pesenti

How to Draw a Dragon

Kate Talbot

Dragons have wings and breathe fire, don’t they? But what if they wore roller skates and shot marshmallows from their tails?

This is a hilarious exploration of imagination, creativity and teamwork, perfect to share with children who love drawing ... or having opinions. How to Draw a Dragon will inspire you to get out the pencils and paper – whether you are 5 or 105!

$20, Albert Street. Out October

Antonia Pesenti – award-winning creator of the much-loved Rhyme Cordial and Rhyme Hungry – is back with the third instalment in her Rhyme series. Flip the flaps to reveal clever puns, witty rhymes, and playful language. Party Rhyme combines bold illustrations and kidfriendly jokes that will appeal to both younger and older children.

Picture books

Off to the Nursery

Alice Oehr

$25, Scribble Out November

STAFF PICKS: RACHEL

FAVOURITE PICTURE BOOK

Jess Horn and Zoe Bennett’s Bernie Thinks in Boxes (Affirm) is a wonderful book about thinking differently in a neurotypical world, beautifully illustrated and completely relatable. I hope this book finds itself in every home and every classroom.

FAVOURITE YA

So many awesome Australian teen releases this year but the standout for me was Gary Lonesborough’s I’m Not Really Here (A&U). A deeply personal comingof-age story that made me sob and laugh in equal measures. Grief, body image and toxic masculinity all wrapped up in a glorious First Nations queer romance.

FAVOURITE MIDDLE GRADE

It has been a phenomenal year for amazing Australian middle grade books, so I could not choose one favourite but instead I have three essentials to add to your collection: How to Break a Record and Survive Grade Five (UQP) by Carla Fitzgerald, The Kindness Project (Puffin) by Deborah Abela and Laughter Is the Best Ending (Pan) by Maryam Master and Astred Hicks. All three have a really great intergenerational friendship and all three are oozing kindness, humour and all the feels. I recommend them as family read alouds, class novels or a brilliant read for all ages.

Middle grade Board books

Nanny Piggins and the Origin Story

R.A. Spratt

$17, Puffin. Out October

Amid the Sand Dunes

Andrea Rowe & Hannah

Sommerville

$20, Little Hare. Out October

Children

AGES 8-12

$23, ABC Books Out October

The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science

Kate McKinnon & Alfredo Cáceres

After getting kicked out of the last etiquette school that would take them, sisters Gertrude, Eugenia, and DeeDee Porch receive a mysterious invitation to a new school. At 231 Mysterium Way, the pizza is fatal, the bus is powered by gerbils, and the dean of students is a hermit crab. When the sisters are asked to save their town from an evil cabal of nefarious mad scientists, they must learn to embrace what has always made them stand out, and determine what side they’re on.

$18, HarperCollins. Out October

All the Beautiful Things

Katrina

Nannestad

Anna’s little sister, Eva, is frail and needs time to learn new things. She has a huge heart and a gift for loving, but Hitler doesn’t value such riches. And so she is hidden away. Soon, more children need hiding and Anna wonders if any of them will make it through the war. Loyalty and love. Family and friendship. Understanding and tolerance. Right and wrong. Multi-award-winning Australian author Katrina Nannestad explores it all in this thrilling and powerful historical novel.

EARLY READERS

Stella & Marigold

SUMMER SPECIAL

Annie Barrows & Sophie Blackall

Generations of readers have fallen in love with Ivy + Bean, which has sold millions of copies and been adapted into a Netflix film series. Now, author Annie Barrows and illustrator Sophie Blackall are back with the first book in a bright new series about a pair of sisters named Stella and Marigold. These adventure tales are filled with vibrant characters, creative storytelling, and a whole lot of laughs.

$25 $20

Chronicle Books. Out October

STAFF PICKS: SOREN

MIDDLE GRADE

The 113th Assistant Librarian

Stuart

Wilson

Oliver Wormwood is sure his new job in the library will be boring. Until he learns that books hold great power – and danger. By the end of his first day, Oliver has witnessed a death, been frozen by a book, met a perplexing number of cats, and fought off a horde of terrifying creatures. Oliver needs to learn fast … if he wants to live longer than the 112 assistant librarians before him.

$20, Puffin. Out October

I want to live in Philip Waetcher’s world. So gentle and beautiful, Around the World with Friends (Gecko) and A Perfect Wonderful Day with Friends are two picture books that perfectly capture the feeling of a long day well-spent with good people. When I read about the adventures of Racoon, Fox, Badger, Bear and Crow I feel that everything will be OK.

When the World Tips Over

Jandy Nelson

When a strange, enigmatic, rainbowhaired girl shows up in their fantastical hometown, it sends the lives of Fall brothers Wynton and Miles and their sister Dizzy into tumult. With road trips, rivalries, family curses, love stories and sorrows and joys passed from generation to generation, this is the intricate, luminous tale of a family’s complicated past and present in a magical town where every fairy tale you’ve ever read could be set. $23, Walker. Out October

TEEN

My Family and Other Suspects

Kate Emery

Ruth is not thrilled to be spending the weekend at the family farm visiting the ancient GG, her coolly distant step-grandmother. With no internet or phone coverage, Ruth occupies herself by re-reading old Agatha Christie novels, eavesdropping on the adults, and definitely not daydreaming about her sort-of-cousin Dylan. But when GG dies under suspicious circumstances, Ruth is determined to find out who is responsible and she soon discovers that plenty of people had reasons to be rid of GG. 12+

$20, A&U. Out October

STAFF PICKS: ELISSA

One of the great things about picture books is that they’re both a story and a work of art. Dahlov Ipcar’s The Cat at Night (Pushkin) is an exciting republication of a 1969 classic. Every page is stunning!

GRAPHIC NOVEL

Hover Car Racer

Matthew Reilly & John Hanna

Meet Jason Chaser, hover car racer. He’s won himself a place at the International Race School, where racers either make it on to the Pro Circuit or they crash and burn. But he’s an outsider. He’s younger than the other racers. His car, the Argonaut, is older. And on top of that, someone doesn’t want him to succeed at the School and will do anything to stop him. Now Jason must race for his life. Matthew Reilly’s blockbuster novel Hover Car Racer explodes off the page as a thrilling new graphic novel, brilliantly illustrated by John Hanna. 12+ $25, Macmillan. Out October

ALSO OUT

Nonfiction

Flora: Australia’s Most Curious Plants

Tania Mccartney

$30, NLA. Out October

Middle grade

Hot Mess: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (19)

Jeff Kinney

$15, Puffin. Out October

Early readers

Real Pigeons Power Up: Real Pigeons #12

Andrew McDonald & Ben Wood

$17, Hardie Grant. Out October

NONFICTION

Costa’s Garden: Flowers

Costa Georgiadis & Brenna Quinlan

“Hello! I’m Costa, and welcome to my garden. Let’s discover the joy of nature together.” Flowers are the part of a plant that smiles. Flowers make us smile too! There are so many different kinds of flowers – all the colours of the rainbow. Join Australia’s favourite garden gnome as he shares the magic and wonder of the natural world with young readers.

$25, ABC Books. Out December

Come Together Again

Isaiah Firebrace

Music, song and dance bring people together, creating connections. For First Nations People, it is the heart of culture and community, holding knowledge, stories and tradition. For Isaiah, music is a huge part of who he is and in this book he shares his passion. Collaborating once again with Mununjali and Fijian artist Jaelyn Biumaiwai, Isaiah takes us on a musical learning journey through ceremonial history, instrument creation, and cultural beliefs and practices. $25, Hardie Grant Explore. Out October

There’s No Such Thing as a Silly Question

Mike

Rampton & Guilherme Karsten

There really is no such thing as a silly question. Factchecked by experts from the University of Cambridge, this book expertly answers 213 of the most unusual and interesting questions you never thought to ask about the world – one for at least every bone in your body!

$40, Nosy Crow. Out October

A Really Short History of Words

Bill Bryson

Ever wondered why the English language turned out how it did? Why do we have so many different words for just one thing? And why are so many words spelt the same but sound different? In this beautifully illustrated journey through word and rhyme – and even a few jokes – Bill Bryson will teach you how the English language came to be (clue: lots of invasions) and what makes it a rich and beautiful thing (lots of Shakespeare).

$45, Puffin. Out October

KIDS’ BOOKS CLUBS ARE BACK!

Come and join us as we eat lots of popcorn and talk about books together with authors and illustrators. We have meet-ups for all ages throughout the month, with years 1-4 on the first Saturday; years 5-6, on the second Saturday; years 7-8 on the third Saturday and years 9-10 on the fourth Saturday. Book clubs are free and once you attend a session and are registered you receive a book club card that entitles you to 10% off all kids’ books for the rest of the year. For more information contact Rachel at rachel@gleebooks.com.au and be sure to follow our @gleebooks_kids Instagram page to find updates and any last minute schedule changes.

Shop Talk

From the Heathens

Romance reading is on the up (the book stats say it is so) but in the mountains we figure that romance and love can be found in all sorts of bookish guises. If you are in the mood for love, romance or just an amazing book to fall head over heels into we have our any-way-you-interpret-love selections from the subtle to the bonkers.

Victoria loves Irish fiction and she loves Niall Williams. She desperately loves Time of the Child, which is exquisitely written. It is 1962 in the small village of Faha. The story revolves around the doctor and his eldest daughter who stayed in the village of her birth to help her father, as he tends to the sick and dying as did his father before him. As Christmas approaches, their lives are turned upside down when a foundling is delivered to their door. This book is about love, humanity and community and much more. Victoria wanted to never let this one go.

Tiffany’s bookish loves are Rare Singles by Benjamin Myers which gives us the lives of Earlon “Bucky” Bronco (seventysomething failed Chicago soul singer with a raging opioid addiction) and Dinah (fiftysomething Scarborough local stuck in a colossal rut and dead-end relationship) which will forever be transformed over the course of one riotous weekend. A rollicking, joyous read about love, loss, letting go and the redemptive power of music that will make you cry but also fist-pump the air in glorious triumph.

Continuing the emotional roller coaster, The Oxenbridge King by Christine Paice takes you on a wild and magical ride. Meet a talking raven who is a wise guide to the afterlife, the disembodied and tortured soul of Richard III who has been waiting for the ages for Dedalus, his lonely and hopelessly lost angel to turn up and escort him to Heaven. On the physical plane, wonderful characters Molly, Aunt Peggy and Uncle Frank, are all mourning the loss of Molly’s Dad. These two worlds collide in the most spectacular and life-affirming way. A beautifully written tale overflowing with warmth, humour and heart.

Ava’s read this month is Dusk by Robbie Arnott which she describes as a beautifully pared-down fable about twins Iris and Floyd Renshaw, social misfits and outsiders hunting a blood-hungry puma in Tasmania, who has defied capture by slaughtering all who come to hunt her. The brilliance of this story is that it could have been set in any number of time periods: the details are spare and beautiful, but give very little away. Underlying the fairytale-like story is a unnerving warning to those who would interfere with nature and the environment.

Bron has fallen in love with Enlightenment by Sarah Perry, set in the small fictional town of Aldleigh, Essex, home to Thomas

Hart and Grace Macaulay. The year is 1997. Both are members of a small but strict religious community that worship at the Bethesda Chapel. When Thomas first meets baby Grace at church he finds himself unexpectedly “fixed in place by duty towards a love he’d never sought, and could not explain”. The love and duty he feels towards young Grace is fraternal, like a benevolent uncle. Grace adores and trusts Thomas but as she comes into her adult years, various revelations about Thomas’ true nature create a rift in their friendship. Enlightenment is a tribute to that wonderful, unknowable spark of connection that can happen regardless of age or gender. That random, glorious moment when people who were once strangers suddenly become best friends and a lifelong relationship, which endures against the odds, begins.

The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry is a bonkers, bawdy and brilliant love story that has captured Jody’s heart. Butte, Montana, 1861. This is a rough and tumble Western with two Irish lovers, Tom O’Rourke and Polly Gillespie, burdened with a love-lust threatening to burn them both while consuming anyone else who stands in their way. They are on the run and closing in on them are Cornish gunslingers, lily-livered husbands and hired assassins. This is a big, bold ballad to love and language filled with doomed lovers, bounty hunters, knife fights and songs soaked in whisky. If Cormac McCarthy and Deadwood could possibly have had a love child, this book would be it.

Our hearts are full and a’flutter as we get ready for a hot book summer and some ice-cool martinis at the local.

Follow us on Instagram @gleebooks_blackeath

Robbie Arnott’s Dusk: ‘A beautifully pared-down fable.’

BIOGRAPHY

$37

The Place of Tides

James Rebanks

One afternoon many years ago, James Rebanks met an old woman on a remote Norwegian island. She lived and worked alone on a tiny rocky outcrop, caring for wild eider ducks and gathering their down. Years later, he wrote her a letter, asking if he could return. Bring work clothes, she replied, and good boots, and come quickly – her health was failing. And so he travelled to the edge of the Arctic to witness her last season on the island. This is the story of that season. It is the story of a unique and ancient landscape, and of the woman who brought it back to life.

$37, Allen Lane. Out October

A Season of Death

Mark Raphael Baker

Mark Raphael Baker was no stranger to death. Over seven years he had become a mourner three times over – for his first wife, for his brother and for his father. When diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, powerful and conflicting emotions assailed him, but their destructive force was always defeated by his love of his family and of life. Over the short course of his illness, he came to realise he must die as the most authentic version of himself he could achieve. It enabled him to die with humbling grace and dignity. This is an uplifting memoir on living well in the face of death.

Australian Gospel

Lech Blaine

Michael and Mary Shelley are Christian fanatics who loathe their fellow Australians. Lenore and Tom Blaine are working-class Queensland publicans raising a large family in a raucous, loving, rugby-league-obsessed home. There’s just one problem: the Blaines are foster parents to three of the Shelleys’ children, who were removed from Michael and Mary as infants. And the Shelleys are prepared to do anything to get them back. Australian Gospel is a family saga like no other – heartbreaking, hilarious and altogether astonishing.

Jane Austen, the Secret Radical

Helena Kelly

Almost everything we think we know about Jane Austen is wrong. We just don’t read her properly. Jane Austen, The Secret Radical puts that right. In her first, brilliantly original book, Austen expert Helena Kelly introduces the reader to a passionate woman living in an age of revolution; to a writer who used what was regarded as the lightest of literary genres, the novel, to grapple with the weightiest of subjects – feminism, slavery, abuse, the treatment of the poor and the power of the church. Uncovering a radical, spirited and politically engaged Austen, this book will encourage you to read Jane, all over again.

Sonny Boy

Al Pacino landed his first lead role in 1971 and by 1975 had starred in four movies – The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon – that became landmarks in the history of film. But Pacino was in his mid-30s by then and had already lived several lives. He was raised by a fiercely loving but mentally unwell mother and her parents after his father left them when he was young. He became a fixture of avant-garde theatre in New York, working odd jobs to support his craft. Sonny Boy is an astonishingly revelatory account of a creative life by one of the most iconic actors in the history of film.

$55 $45 Century. Out October

Shattered

Hanif Kureishi

On Boxing Day 2022, in Rome, Hanif Kureishi had a fall. When he came to, in a pool of blood, he was horrified to realise he had lost the use of his limbs. He could no longer walk, write or wash himself. While confined to a series of hospital wards, he felt compelled to write and began dictating to family members the words which formed in his head. The result is an extraordinary series of dispatches from his hospital bed – a diary of a life in pieces, recorded with rare honesty, clarity and courage.

$37, Hamish Hamilton. Out November

ALSO OUT

Lawrence of Arabia

Ranulph Fiennes

$29, Michael Joseph Out October

Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over Michael Caine

$35, Hodder & Stoughton Out November

Al Pacino

SUMMER SPECIAL

$30, Melbourne University Out October

BIOGRAPHY

Long Yarn Short

Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts

At just 10 years old, Vanessa TurnbullRoberts was forcibly removed – stolen – from her family, community and kinship systems. After eight years in various out-ofhome care placements, Vanessa fled the system, reconnected with kin and returned to Country for the very first time. Only then did she begin to heal. As a leading expert in children’s and young people’s rights, Vanessa invites readers to imagine solutions for a better world – a world of support and empowerment, not punishment – and demands that they listen when she says, “We are still here.”

$35, UQP. Out October

Patriot

Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny began writing Patriot shortly after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020. In vivid, page-turning detail, including never-before-seen correspondence from prison, Navalny recounts, among other things, his political career, the many attempts on his life, and the lives of the people closest to him, and the relentless campaign he and his team waged against an increasingly dictatorial regime.

$55, Jonathan Cape. Out October

ALSO OUT

Citizen

Bill Clinton

$65, Hutchinson Heinemann

Out November

From Here to the Great Unknown

Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough

$37, Macmillan

Out October

$37, Macmillan. Out September

$40, Hamish Hamilton. Out November

$35, Quercus Out October

A Bit on the Side

Virginia Trioli

Virginia Trioli knows that the enduring joy of life is often found not in the big moments but in the small. When the main course is heavy going, the “bits on the side” make life really delicious. Our small, meaningful selections are the ones that make life glorious, and the side dish is the perfect metaphor for what many of us need right now. A Bit on the Side is Virginia’s ode to joy, filled with wisdom, stories, memories and recipes, all told with her renowned insight and wicked sense of humour.

Memories of Distant Mountains

Orhan Pamuk

For many years, Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk kept a record of his daily thoughts and observations, entering them in small notebooks and illustrating them with his own paintings. This book combines those notebooks into one volume. He writes about his travels around the world, his family, his writing process, and his complex relationship with his home country of Turkey. Intertwined in his writings are the vibrant paintings of the landscapes that surround and inspire him.

My Animals, and Other Animals

Bill Bailey

As anyone who has ever had a pet knows, animals are a constant source of joy, but they also connect us to the world and to each other, touching on a deeper, older human need for companionship. Full of the leftfield humour, wit and wisdom that has made Bill Bailey such a beloved performer around the world, My Animals, and Other Animals is the story of Bill’s life, but more than that, it’s the story of how all of our lives are enriched by the animals who accompany us on that journey.

The Position of Spoons

Deborah Levy

In The Position of Spoons, twice Bookershortlisted author Deborah Levy invites the reader to share her most intimate thoughts and experiences as she traces her life against the backdrop of the literary and artistic muses that have shaped her. From the child born in South Africa, to her teenage years in Britain, to her travels across the world as a young woman, each page draws upon Levy’s life in exalting ways, encapsulating the wonderful precision and astonishing depth of her writing.

$45 $40

Hamish Hamilton. Out November

Didion & Babitz

Lili Anolik

Eve Babitz died on December 17, 2021. Found in the wrack, ruin and filth of her apartment was a stack of sealed boxes. Inside was a lost world centred on a two-story rental in a down-at-heel section of Hollywood in the 60s and 70s. Here, writers and artists mixed with movie stars, rock stars and drugs. It was the making of one great writer: Joan Didion; and the breaking and remaking of another: Eve Babitz, goddaughter of Igor Stravinsky, nude of Marcel Duchamp and much more. With deftness and skill, Lili Anolik uses the letters found in those sealed boxes as the key to unlocking Didion. $35, Atlantic. Out November

HISTORY

$55, Profile. Out November

$37, Scribe Out October

The Invention of Good and Evil

Hanno Sauer

Morality is a concept that can feel joyless and claustrophobic, associated with restraint and coercion, restriction and sacrifice, inquisition, confession and a guilty conscience. For many, it is a device used to shame us into compliance. This impression is not necessarily incorrect, but it is most certainly incomplete. Hanno Sauer traces humanity’s fundamental moral transformations from our earliest ancestors through to the present day, when it can often seem that we have never disagreed more over what it means to be good, and what it means to be right.

Noble Fragments

Michael Visontay

One hundred years ago, a New York bookseller broke up the world’s greatest book, the Gutenberg Bible, and sold it off in individual pages. Gabriel Wells marketed the pages as “noble fragments”. They sold like hot cakes, and he died a rich man. Half a century later, Sydney journalist Michael Visontay stumbled upon a mysterious legal document that linked Wells to his own family. This is the story of an Australian man’s hunt for those fragments and his family’s debt to an act of literary vandalism.

MIDDLE EASTERN POLITICS AND HISTORY

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama

Nathan Thrall

Milad is five years old and excited for his school trip to a theme park on the outskirts of Jerusalem, but tragedy awaits – his bus is involved in a horrific accident. His father, Abed, rushes to the chaotic site, only to find Milad has already been taken away. Abed sets off on a journey to learn Milad’s fate. A Day in the Life of Abed Salama is a deeply moving, stunningly detailed portrait of life in Israel and Palestine, and an illumination of the reality of one of the most contested places on earth.

$25, Penguin Press. Out November

The Thinking Heart

David Grossman

David Grossman has spent decades campaigning for peace in Israel and Palestine. But after 7 October 2023, a day marking the biggest loss of Jewish life in this century, he retreated inwards to ask himself difficult and necessary questions about his beloved nation. In 11 essays, the Booker Prize-winning novelist traces the years leading up to that day and the ensuing war through a string of failures by a morally bankrupt party clinging to power. He documents the struggle being fought on both sides between those committed to conflict, and the many who simply want to live in peace.

$27, Jonathan Cape. Out October

This Earthly Globe

Andrea di Robilant

In the 16th century, Giovambattista

Ramusio, a little known Venetian public servant, anonymously wrote three volumes containing a wealth of geographical information new to Europeans that constituted the largest release of geographical data in history. He gathered a vast array of narratives, from the journals of Marco Polo to detailed reports from the Muslim scholar and diplomat Leo Africanus. Andrea di Robilant brings to life the man who used all his political skill, along with the help of conniving diplomats and spies, to democratise knowledge and show how the world was much larger than anyone previously imagined.

$35, Atlantic. Out October

CAFE & BAR

eat & drink @ gleebooks Our sleek new, fully accessible cafe is open! Drop in for co ee and breakfast bowl, a hearty lunch, or join us in the evening for

AUSTRALIAN POLITICS

Minority Report: Quarterly Essay 96

George Megalogenis

The two-party system was broken at the last federal election and another minority government is a real possibility in the future. In this richly insightful essay, George Megalogenis traces the how and why of a political realignment. This is an essay about the teals, the Greens and the Coalition. In a contest between new and old, progressive and conservative, which vision of Australia will win out? But there are also questions for Labor in power: is careful centrism the right strategy for the times, or is something more required?

$30, Quarterly Essay. Out November

LAW

He Went Back for his Hat

Justice Michael Lee

On 15 April 2024

Justice Michael Lee delivered his judgement in Lehrmann v Network 10. Critically for future sexual assault matters, his was a traumainformed judgment that understood that the recollections of an assault victim can be inconsistent, affected by the attempted memory corrections of a traumatised person. The findings are notable for their valuable insights into defamation and sexual assault prosecutions and for judicial education and the media. A masterclass of legal dissection, the narrative shows what civil courts can sometimes achieve in a way that criminal courts cannot.

$37, Melbourne University. Out November

Great Game On

Geoff Raby

With its emergence as the leading power in Eurasia based on its inexorable economic rise and Putin’s folly in Ukraine, China now has the chance to project its power globally, as the US did from the early 20th century when it became the dominant power in the western hemisphere. Australia’s former ambassador to China, Geoff Raby, takes the reader on a journey across Eurasia to understand the forces shaping its geopolitics. Raby enriches this analysis by weaving his own travel stories, experiences and adventures into the fabric of his narrative.

$35, Melbourne University. Out November

POLITICS AUSTRALIAN STUDIES

Battlers & Billionaires

Andrew Leigh

From egalitarian beginnings, Australian inequality rose through the 19th century, before falling markedly from the 1920s to the 1970s. Now, inequality is returning to the heights of the 1820s.

In Battlers and Billionaires, Andrew Leigh shows that while inequality can fuel growth, it also poses dangers to society. Too much inequality risks cleaving us into two Australias, with little contact between the haves and the have-nots. Battlers and Billionaires sheds fresh light on what makes Australia distinctive, and what it means to have – and keep – a fair go.

$30, Black Inc. Out October

War

Bob Woodward

War is a sweeping account of one of the most tumultuous periods in US politics.

We see President Joe Biden and his advisers in tense conversations with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. We also see Donald Trump seeking to regain political power. The raw cage-fight of politics accelerates after the unexpected elevation of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president. Woodward’s reporting once again sets the standard for journalism at its most authoritative and illuminating.

$55. Simon & Schuster. Out October

Mean Streak

Rick Morton

Robodebt was the automated debt recovery system in which close to half a million Australian welfare recipients were illegally pursued over false debts. It was described by the Royal Commission’s report as a “massive failure of public administration” caused by “venality, incompetence and cowardice”. Rick Morton tells a powerful and emotionally compelling story of one of the most shocking, large-scale failures of the Australian government, a historic and appalling political tragedy, which clearly displayed the wide-reaching and systematic contempt that a government had for its most vulnerable citizens.

$36, 4th Estate. Out October

The Legend of Albert

Jacka

Peter FitzSimons

$50, Hachette Out October Australian history

Enchantment by Birds

Russell McGregor

$40, Scribe Out October Nature

The Serviceberry

Robin Wall Kimmerer

$33, Allen Lane Out November Sustainability

$35, UQP Out October

$35, Melbourne University Out November

Shapeshifting

Jeanine Leane and Ellen van Neerven

Shapeshifting is a wide-ranging collection of nonfiction by First Nations writers that breaks new ground. These lyric essays push the boundaries of nonfiction beyond the biographical or the academic, with pieces that experiment with form and embark on carefully crafting and re-crafting interventions that both challenge and expand existing genre structures. Contributors include Jennifer Kemarre Martiniello, Natalie Harkin, Timmah Ball, Daniel Browning, Charmaine Papertalk Green, Melanie Saward and Neika Lehman.

Essays that Changed Australia

Esther

Anatolitis

Arthur Phillips’ idea of “cultural cringe” has become a household word, instantly conveying Australians’ sense of place in the world while expressing our frustrations and our ambitions – yet very few of us know it came from an essay first published in Meanjin. Over half a century later, Chelsea Watego’s 2021 “Always Bet on Black (Power)” roars with the fire of a manifesto; Hilary Charlesworth’s 1992 “A law of one’s own?” challenges Australia’s legal system with a formidable feminist ethic. This anthology brings togethers 20 impactful Meanjin essays for the first time.

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

How to Feed the World

Vaclav

Smil

In this ambitious, myth-busting book, Vaclav Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today: Why are some of the world’s biggest food producers also the countries with the most undernourished populations? Why is food waste a colossal 1,000kcal per person daily? Could we all go vegan and be healthy? How to Feed the World shows how we misunderstand the essentials of where our food really comes from, how our dietary requirements shape us and why this impacts our planet in drastic ways.

$37, Viking. Out November

Let’s Tax Carbon

Ross Garnaut

Could Australia become a full-employment, renewable-energy superpower? Ross Garnaut says yes, and it starts with taxing carbon. A levy on the big polluters would help fund Australia to become a carbon-free energy giant, lower the cost of living and assist the world to cut emissions. Getting this right is a way to secure the economic base of Australia’s social democracy. This is a thought-provoking book by a visionary thinker.

$37, La Trobe University Press. Out October

SCIENCE

Dava Sobel

The Chaser POLITICAL

SATIRE

The Chaser and Shovel Annual 2024

Each year, The Chaser and The Shovel combine forces to generate an end-of-year Annual, compiling together in one volume all the best satirical news from the year, as well as fresh original content, that makes it the perfect gift for anyone you can’t think of a better gift for. Only by buying The Chaser and Shovel Annual 2024 will you get to experience the joy of reading what ShovelGPT thinks of Bruce Lehrmann’s attempt to win this year’s Golden Defo Award. Featuring exclusive, never-before-seen typos no human would ever dare make.

$35, The Chaser. Out November

The Elements of Marie Curie

For decades Marie Curie was the only woman in the room at international scientific gatherings, and despite constant illness she travelled far and wide to share the secrets of radioactivity, a term she coined. She is still the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Sobel navigates her remarkable discoveries and fame alongside the women who became her legacy – from Norway’s Ellen Gleditsch and France’s Marguerite Perry, who discovered the element francium, to her own daughter, Irene, a Nobel Prize winner in her own right.

$35, 4th Estate. Out October

The Genetic Book of the Dead

Richard Dawkins

In this groundbreaking new approach to the evolution of all life, Richard Dawkins shows how the body, behaviour, and genes of every living creature can be read as a book and an archive of the worlds of its ancestors. The Genetic Book of the Dead is filled with fascinating examples of the power of Darwinian natural selection to build exquisite perfection, paradoxically accompanied by what look like gross blunders. This is a revolutionary, richly illustrated book that unlocks the door to an ancient past, seen through wholly new eyes.

$50 $45 Apollo. Out November

RELIGION

Lower than the Angels

Diarmaid MacCulloch

Much of the political contention and division in societies across the world centres on sexual topics, and one-third of the global population is Christian in background or outlook. In a single lifetime, Christianity or historically Christian societies have witnessed one of the most extraordinary about-turns in attitudes to sex and gender in human history. For many the new situation has brought exciting liberation – for others, fury and fear. This book seeks to calm fears and encourage understanding through telling a 3000-year-long tale of Christians encountering sex, gender and the family, with noises off from their sacred texts.

$80, Allen Lane. Out December

Opus

Gareth Gore

When Gareth Gore went to investigate the collapse of a Spanish bank in 2017, he uncovered decades of deception that hid one of the most brazen cases of corporate pillaging in history perpetrated by Opus Dei. Drawing on bank records, insider accounts, and exclusive interviews with whistleblowers, Gore reveals how money from the bank was used to lure unsuspecting recruits – some of them children – into a life of servitude. This is a thrilling exposé recounting how members of Opus Dei – a secretive, ultra-conservative Catholic sect – pushed its radical agenda within the Church and around the globe, using billions of dollars syphoned from one of the world’s largest banks.

$40, Scribe. Out October

ALSO OUT

SOCIOLOGY

$35, Canongate Out October

$37, Scribe Out October

$35, Publisher. Out October

Feeding the Machine

James Muldoon, Mark Graham, Collum Cant

Big Tech has sold us the illusion that artificial intelligence is a frictionless technology that will bring wealth and prosperity to humanity. But hidden beneath this smooth surface lies the grim reality of a precarious global workforce of millions that labour under often appalling conditions to make AI possible. Feeding the Machine presents an urgent, riveting investigation of the intricate network of organisations that maintain this exploitative system, revealing the untold truth of AI.

Working for the Brand

Josh Bornstein

In the 21st century, major corporations have become the most powerful institution in the world – more powerful than many nations. That unchecked, anti-democratic power is reflected in the gaming of the political system, the weakening of governments, and the repressive control of the lives of employees. Josh Bornstein asks how our major corporations have come to exercise repressive control over the lives of their employees, and explores what can be done to repair the greatest threat to democracy – the out-of-control corporation.

Revenge of the Tipping Point

Malcolm Gladwell

In this provocative new work, Malcolm Gladwell returns to the subject of social epidemics and tipping points to explain the dark side of contagious phenomena. Through a series of riveting stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling form of social engineering. He takes us to the streets of Los Angeles to meet the world’s most successful bank robbers, visits the site of a historic experiment on a tiny cul-de-sac in northern California and offers an alternative history of two of the biggest epidemics of our day: COVID and the opioid crisis.

INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS

$35, UQP Out October

Words to Sing the World Alive

Jasmin McGaughey

Forty First Nation writers and thinkers, journalists and lawyers, artists and astronomers come together to reveal their favourite and significant words. Words that evoke the power of childhood and the wonder of Country; that explore the essence of mother, of fire, of time. Words that are imbued with family and belonging, and that surprise with their connections. Join contributors including Nardi Simpson, Dan Bourchier, Ellen van Neerven, Bruce Pascoe, Anita Heiss, Thomas Mayo, Evelyn Araluen and Claire G. Coleman as they share their words to sing the world alive.

Best Australian Political Cartoons

2024

Russ Radcliffe

$35, Scribe. Out October Political satire

Indian Summers

Gideon Haigh

$35, Allen & Unwin

Out October Sport

Soups, Salads, Sandwiches

Matty Matheson

$50, Murdoch Out October Food

PSYCHOLOGY

$40, Profile Out October

$35, UQP

Out October

$30, Scribe Out November

Nine Lives

Daniel Tammet

Nine Minds delves into the extraordinary lives of nine neurodivergent men and women from around the globe. From a mathematician and a murder detective, to a pioneering surgeon and novelist, each is remarkable in their field, and each is changing how the world sees those on the spectrum. Exploding the stereotypes of autism, Daniel Tammet – an autistic savant himself – reaches across the divides of age, gender, sexuality and nationality to draw out the inner worlds of his subjects, telling stories as richly diverse as the spectrum itself.

Out of the Box

Rebecca Sparrow and Madonna King

Madonna King and Rebecca Sparrow have interviewed almost 2000 Australians – including medical experts, educators, neurodivergent children and their parents – to gather together the best and most useful tips to ensure neurodivergent children take their rightful place in classrooms and beyond. Out of the Box offers best-practice advice on navigating diagnosis and ongoing challenges, such as finding friends and learning at school. It also provides vital advice for teens, including driving, living independently and applying for jobs.

Hour of the Heart

Irvin D. Yalom and Benjamin Yalom

What does “the father of group therapy” do at the age of 90, when he is still advising patients in the therapy sessions that have been his life’s work, and yet must face his increasing frailties and even his own mortality? Rather than melt into retirement, Dr Yalom develops another revolutionary approach. In Hour of the Heart, he captures profound moments with his patients that happen in the span of just one hour. These sessions would, as Dr Yalom writes, “help to sustain my client and would profoundly alter my vision of what psychotherapy can do”.

TRAVEL WRITING

The Message

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the urgent question of how our reporting, imaginative narratives and mythmaking expose and distort our realities. Travelling to three sites of conflict – Senegal, South Carolina and Palestine – he illuminates how the stories we tell, and the ones we don’t, work to shape us. The Message is about the urgent need to untangle ourselves from the destructive myths that shape our world – and our own souls – and embrace the liberating power of even the most difficult truths. $37, Hamish Hamilton. Out October

SELF-HELP

Women Living Deliciously

Florence Given

Women Living Deliciously will help women uncover their sense of awe and wonder that has been buried by the layers of shame and self-objectification that get piled on us by the patriarchy. For too long we have internalised the belief that our bodies are things to be looked at – instead of lived in. This will unpack the many barriers women face when trying to access joy so that they can discover the delicious life that’s theirs for the taking.

$40, Brazen. Out October

ASTROLOGY

Your Celestial Compass

Natasha Weber

With her down-toearth stellar insights, Natasha unpacks the Zodiac signs, explores the mysteries of the Moon, clarifies cusp signs, and demystifies those challenging celestial shifts so you can harness the knowledge of the cosmos for greater personal growth and success. Your Celestial Compass is your essential astrological guidebook to help you take on life’s pitfalls and pressures, amplify your strengths, and decode the magnificent cosmic puzzle that is you.

$37, Penguin. Out October

POETRY

Bright Crockery Days

Edited by Mark Tredinnick

Robert Gray is one of the great poets of our age. Bright Crockery Days is an anthology of his work and a collection of trim essays by 25 writers and artists that examines those poems closely, elucidating and celebrating some of the poet’s bestknown and most-loved pieces.

$35, 5 Islands. Out now

Paper Boat

Margaret Atwood

In pieces that are at once brilliant, beautiful and hyperimagined, Atwood gives voices to remarkably drawn characters –mythological figures, animals and everyday people – all of whom have something to say about what it means to live in a world as strange as our own. Spanning six decades of work – from her earliest beginnings to brand new poems –this volume charts the evolution of one of our most iconic and necessary authors.

$55 $45 Chatto & Windus. Out October

VISUAL ART

The World of Banksy

Alessandra Mattanza

Whether he is protesting war, challenging societal norms, or sending up political and economic systems with his scathing critiques, Banksy’s strategic and inventive use of symbolism is one of his most effective tools. Packed with images that span his oeuvre since the early 2000s, these volumes are filled with photographs and reproductions of some of his most well-known works. In her introductory essays Alessandra Mattanza delves into the unique resonance of Banksy’s work; his wit and perception; and his remarkable ability to create enduring messages on an ephemeral canvas.

$65, Prestel. Out November

Surrealism: The Centenary Exhibition

Centre Pompidou

Perhaps more than any other artistic movement, Surrealism had a cataclysmic effect on the modern mind, changing forever the way we think about experiencing the world. By rejecting the gross linearity that typified several centuries of preceding artworks, the legendary Surrealists Magritte, Ernst, Carrington, Dalí, Tanning and so many others reached beyond the façade of that which is patently visible and found something more. Featuring original essays from leading academics and excerpts from the Surrealist Manifesto itself, this stands among the most essential Surrealist catalogues ever published. With 250 illustrations.

$110, ACC Art Books. Out November

ALSO OUT

$40, Geelong Gallery Out now

$57, Prestel Out October

$70, Thames & Hudson. Out now

$80, Prestel Out November

The Golden Age of Dutch and Flemish Painting

Norbert Wolf

$105, Prestel. Out October

Cutting Through Time

This catalogue from Geelong Gallery’s exceptionally beautiful exhibition examines the influence of Japanese woodblock prints on contemporary Australian painter and printmaker, Cressida Campbell, and on the groundbreaking modernist painter and printmaker, Margaret Preston (1875–1963). It includes full colour illustrations of works featured in the exhibition, as well as an insightful introduction to the art of ukiyo-e prints. Additional texts include a Q&A with Cressida Campbell and an article written by Margaret Preston in 1930, exploring “wood-blocking as a craft”.

Monet: The Pop-Up Book

David A. Carter

One of the joys of a Monet painting is the sense of being fully immersed in a beautiful setting. Now fans of the great artist have an intriguing new way to dive into five of his most enduring paintings. Each spread opens as a flat layout with a brief description of the painting and its historical context. As readers pull down the explanatory panel, a three-dimensional rendering pops up, and Monet’s exquisitely detailed flowers, waterlilies, clouds, trees and people come alive. This meticulously crafted and engineered book offers a thrilling new way to experience the artistic genius of this Impressionist icon.

About Face

Amber Creswell Bell

Amber Creswell Bell examines the practices of a diverse canvas of portrait painters in Australia and New Zealand. The dynamic nature of both the artists and their work reflects an evolution of culture, society and creative practice. These painters use portraiture to convey a narrative, engage with social, political or environmental issues or evoke the complexity of the human experience; some are simply fascinated by human faces. Whatever the artist’s motivation, every work makes clear that portraiture has always been a powerful means of telling stories and exploring our individual and collective identities.

Van Gogh: The Bigger Picture

Anne

Sefrioui

This lavish volume showcases the breadth and depth of Van Gogh’s artistic vision with reproductions of 60 of his major works as well as six essential masterpieces in the form of giant fold-outs. With each turn of the page, this book reveals Van Gogh’s artistic journey, inviting readers to immerse themselves in the brilliance of his greatest paintings and providing the ideal companion for art enthusiasts, students, and anyone seeking a deeper connection to the work of one of the most influential figures in art history. With 90 colour illustrations and six gatefolds.

Red Figures

Luigi Spina

$99, 5 Continents Out October

Isabelle Cahn

$260, Prestel Out November

Bonnard

$80 $37 Thames & Hudson Out October

$70,

65,000 Years of Australian Art

Marcia

Langton and Judith Ryan

First Peoples’ cultural and design traditions flourished for thousands of generations before Britain’s invasion of Australia in 1788. Their art shaped the continent as we know it today and the societies that thrived here – but these continuing artistic practices and new art forms were disregarded by the settlers. Here, 25 writers urge us to reconsider the art history that is unique to the Australian continent and celebrate its rise to prominence in modern times. 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art stares into the dark heart of Australia’s brutal colonial history and offers new insights into the first art of this country.

The Atlas of Art Crime

Laura Evans

Mapping out the world’s infamous art thefts, forgeries and acts of vandalism, this unique and visually striking reference illuminates the prevalence, motivations and consequences of art crime in every corner of the globe. Including world-renowned crimes such as the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, this book also includes lesser known incidents such as the theft of the ruby slippers from the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota. While the most famous crimes have occurred in Europe, this book includes malfeasance and scandals that took place in dozens of countries, including Egypt, Mexico, China, Australia and Brazil.

MUSIC

$35 $30

Hardie Grant

Out October

Just Don’t Be a D**khead And Other Profound Things I’ve Learnt

Kasey Chambers

Kasey Chambers’ Just Don’t Be a D**khead and Other Profound Things I’ve Learnt is a whirlwind of great stories, rock-solid life lessons and Kasey Chambers at her most heartfelt and honest. From her childhood in the Australian outback to the heights of her charttopping international success as a singer/songwriter, Kasey has trusted her gut, stuck to her values and learned some hard truths while trying to live by the best advice she has ever received: just don’t be a dickhead.

$50 $40

Hachette

Out October

The Voice Inside

John Farnham

At first glance, the John Farnham story is one filled with remarkable highs: pop stardom in the 1960s. The release of Whispering Jack, the highest-selling Australian album of all time. A decades-long touring career. Twenty-one ARIA awards. Australian of the Year. It is, however, so much more than that. It is the story of the resilience John found as his stellar career stalled, record companies turned their backs, and he faced financial ruin. It is the story of family, friendship and finding your voice. The Voice Inside is like sitting down with an old friend sharing stories that are deeply personal and wildly entertaining.

Australia at the Movies

David Stratton

Australia’s bestloved film critic David Stratton reviews (almost) every feature film from the past three decades in the ultimate guide to modern Australian cinema. There is something for everyone: road movies and coming-of-age movies; comedies and love stories; rural noir and gritty urban movies; flourishing First Nations cinema; horror, zombies and science fiction; movies for families and for children; international co-productions, and more – he tells us why they are worth watching and reveals fascinating behindthe-scenes details. Australia at the Movies is the indispensable companion for every cinema lover: it’s where you’ll find your next favourite movie.

$40 $35 Allen & Unwin. Out October

COMICS

The MAD Files

Edited by David Mikics

Before Saturday Night Live and the wise-guy sarcasm of Letterman and Colbert, before The Simpsons and online memes, there was ... MAD. A mainstay of countless American childhoods, MAD magazine exploded onto the scene in the 1950s and gleefully thumbed its nose at all the postwar pieties. The MAD Files celebrates the magazine’s impact and the legacy of the Usual Gang of Idiots who transformed puerile punchlines and merciless mockery into an art form. Includes essays and comix from all-star contributors, including Art Spiegelman, Roz Chast, Jonathan Lethem and Grady Hendrix.

$45, The Library of America Out October

SUMMER SPECIAL

Prestel Out November

Salad For Days

Alice Zaslavsky

Times have changed and salads have had a glow-up. This is your guide to making every day a salad day, and every meal a moment to get your veg on. For warmer days, there are salads designed to refresh and replenish, using juicy, sundrenched ingredients and the brightest of colours. For cooler days, there are salads that will sustain and nourish, giving hearty food a counterpoint so that you finish the meal feeling better than you started.

$45 $50

Murdoch. Out October

PUZZLES & GAMES

Birdle

Liam Runnalls

Have fun solving more than 100 puzzles about Australian birds with word searches, crosswords, word pyramids and pop quizzes. This delightful and addictive mash-up is created by expert puzzler Liam Runnalls, known for puzzles that have appeared everywhere from The Sydney Morning Herald to The Saturday Paper. Every puzzle is graded as easy, medium or hard, so you’re sure to find plenty of games for a rainy day, commute or a screen-free hangout with family and friends anytime of the year.

$23, Penguin. Out November

SPORT

What I Ate in One Year

Stanley Tucci

Food has always been an integral part of Stanley Tucci’s life – from stracciatella soup served in the shadow of the Pantheon and marinara sauce cooked between rehearsals and costume fittings, to home-made pizza eaten with his children before bedtime. What I Ate in One Year is a funny, poignant, heartfelt and deeply satisfying serving of memories and meals and an irresistible celebration of the profound role that food plays in all our lives.

$45 $35

Fig Tree. Out October

RecipeTin Eats: Tonight

Nagi Maehashi

Nagi Maeashi packs more than 150 brand-new foolproof, flavoursome recipes, 800 variations on those recipes and 3000 possible combinations into RecipeTin Eats:

Tonight. With a stunning photo and link to a how-to video for each recipe, this is a book for every Australian kitchen, for every level of cooking ability, for every budget, for every set of taste buds, and for every single night of the week.

$50 $40 Macmillan. Out October

Meetings With Remarkable Animals

Martin Clunes ANIMALS

Inspired by Martin Clunes’ own adoption of a former guide dog, Meetings With Remarkable Animals celebrates the fascinating, moving and sometimes astonishing ways animals have enriched our lives. From search and rescue dogs to mine-sniffing rats, and life-saving dolphins to therapy horses and medal-winning cats and pigeons, the stories brought to life will charm, surprise and astonish in equal measure.

$37, Michael Joseph. Out November

The Seven Deadly Sins of Sport

Titus O’Reily

Name a global sports icon and there will be a sin or two. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Ronaldo – they’ve all committed their fair share of sins. Titus O’Reily leads us into the temptations of sportspeople across the globe, from elite cricket, ice hockey, NFL and baseball through to lower-league soccer and competitive eating. We meet the players, mascots and administrators whose sins over the decades have been absurd, unwise, inspired, reckless, or all of the above.

Bark!

Zazie Todd

Is your dog showing signs of fear, anxiety, or reactivity, such as biting, food guarding, shyness, or aggressive barking? You’re not alone. Close to 75% of dogs struggle with fearbased behaviours and require our support and understanding to feel safe and secure. Compassionate, practical, and rooted in science, Bark! helps dog owners understand the many factors that might be causing fear within your dog, and how you can help them lead a safe and happy life.

$35, Scribe. Out October

ALSO OUT

Food

Time for Dinner

Adam Liaw

$50, Hardie Grant Out October

Spydle

Gareth Moore and Laura Jayne Ayres

$37, Michael Joseph Out October Puzzles

$37, Penguin

Adam Phillips

the Pacific Andres Resendez

Dinomania Boria Sax A Feast for the Eyes Carolyn Tillie

Art is Life Jerry Saltz

Collected Stories Shirley Hazzard

Delicioso Maria Jose Sevilla

Engineers of Human Souls Simon Ings

Albertus Simon Garfield

Burma: Rivers of Flavour Naomi Duguid

Crossroads Jonathan Franzen

Eloquence of the Sardine Bill Francois

Writing Gareth Powell A Brief History of Paris Cecil Jenkins

Cooking with Mushrooms Andrea Gentl

Elizabeth Finch Julian Barnes

In Search of Us

Lucy Moore

The Poet & the Publisher Pat Rogers

Unto Us a Son Is Given Donna Leon Yesterday’s Weather Anne Enright

The Hummingbird Sandro Veronesi

Platter of Figs & Other Recipies David Tanis

Turning Point Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

Words of Art Catherine Gund

Humankind: A Hopeful History

Rutger Bregman

Mussolini’s Daughter Caroline Moorehead

Scientist: E.O. Wilson –A Life in Nature Richard Rhodes

Joan Bourke

Richard Wrangham

Michael Vatikiotis

Samarkand Caroline Eden & Eleanor Ford

Violeta Isabel Allende

Reid All About It

The

bleak

A bleak start ...

Why War?

book month – 2024

Richard Overy, $45, Penguin, out now

An important historical question. Are we naturally given to war? Is it imperative for the evolution of our species? Renowned historian Richard Overy sees an explanation of past warfare as a “uniquely historical exercise”. He calmly examines various theories for the advent of war and the persistence of warfare throughout the human past. Religion, power, the need for security, a struggle for resources – all are requirements necessary for the outbreak of what Overy defines as: “Collective, purposive, lethal, intergroup violence.” Overy’s sober conclusion sees war as having – for now – an unending future.

Bleaker still ...

Hitler’s People: The Faces of the Third Reich

Richard J. Evans, $75, Allen Lane, out November

A collection of biographies of Adolf Hitler and 21 other Germans who played significant roles in the Nazi era. Richard Evans takes as his template, historian and journalist Joachim Fest’s classic study The Face of the Third Reich (1963). This book was

also born from a sense of curiosity: after years of studying the Third Reich, Evans admits: “I knew far more about the bigger historical processes and impact of the Nazis than I did about their individual leaders and followers, whose character in many instances I realised I did not fully understand.” The depth and breadth of Evans’ research make this book a valuable addition to the literature of the Third Reich.

Bleakest of all ...

Nuclear War: A Scenario

Annie Jacobsen, $37, Torva, out now

A worthy successor to John Hersey’s Hiroshima (1946) and Jonathan Schell’s The Fate of the Earth (1982). The nuclear club of nations has increased ninefold since Hersey’s book. Their weapon stockpile total stands at 13,000. The “scenario” is a detailed account of the first 72 minutes – and next 24 months – following a nuclear first strike by North Korea on Washington DC. Jacobsen also undertakes a searching investigation into the heart of the nuclear military establishment: the technologies, the safeguards, the plans, and the risks. Horrifying, compulsive, essential reading.

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Fiction

1. Intermezzo: Special Hardcover Edition

Sally Rooney

2. Intermezzo: Paperback Edition

Sally Rooney

3. Here One Moment Liane Moriarty

4. We Solve Murders Richard Osman

5. Tell Me Everything Elizabeth Strout

6. All Fours

Miranda July

7. Death at the Sign of the Rook

Kate Atkinson

8. There are Rivers in the Sky

Elif Shafak

9. James Percival Everett

10. Highway 13

Fiona McFarlane

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Nonfiction Children

1. Quarterly Essay 95

Don Watson

2. The Golden Road

William Dalrymple

3. The God Desire

David Baddiel

4. Generations

Jean Twenge

5. The Man Without a Face

Masha Gessen

6. Shakespeare Is Hard, But So Is Life

Fintan O’Toole

7. Ottolenghi Comfort

Yotam Ottolenghi & Helen Goh

8. Sassafras

Rebecca Huntley

9. What Does Israel Fear from Palestine?

Raja Shehadeh

10. Nexus

Noah Yuval Harari

1. Scar Town Tristan Bancks

2. Hi from Outer Space

Fiona Katauskas

3. Laughter Is the Best Ending Maryam Master

4. How to Break a World Record and Survive Grade Five

Carla Fitzgerald

5. How to Move a Zoo

Kate Simpson & Owen Swan

6. I Am Tree Rex!

Mo Davey

7. Bernie Thinks in Boxes

Jess Horn & Zoe Bennett

8. Unreal

Kate Simpson & Leila Rudge

9. Adventures Unlimited: The Land of Lost Things

Andy Griffiths & Bill Hope

10. Queen of Dogs

Joe Weatherstone

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