Great summer reads

From prize-winning authors to thrilling page-turners, here are the books to take to the beach, park or pool this summer.

DEVOTION by Hannah Kent

Award-winning Australian author Hannah Kent, known for her bestselling debut Burial Rites, returns with her third novel. Following a group of Prussian Lutherans fleeing religious persecution for a new life in South Australia, Devotion tells the heartbreaking story of forbidden love between Hanne and Thea. God, society, and nature decree Hanne and Thea cannot be together. But within the impossible is devotion.

DETRANSITION, BABY by Torrey Peters

Reese had achieved what previous generations of transgender women could only dream of: a life of mundane comforts with her girlfriend Amy. The only thing missing was a child. But when Amy detransitioned and became Ames, everything fell apart. When Ames finds out his boss and lover, Katrina, is pregnant with his baby, he wonders if this is his chance to reconnect with Reese.

WELCOME TO COUNTRY (Second Edition) by Marcia Langton

In this fully revised and expanded second edition to her landmark travel guide to indigenous Australia, Marcia Langton offers a full range of indigenous-owned and operated tourism experiences. Covering everything from tours and arts centres to insights into culture and history, the guide also includes an expanded directory, illustrated maps and photography by Wayne Quilliam. This is a must-read for every Australian.

ASSEMBLY by Natasha Brown

Natasha Brown examines what it means to be free in this critique of race and privilege in modern Britain. Over the course of 24 hours, the narrator of Assembly receives a cancer diagnosis, decides not to tell her posh white boyfriend, accepts a long-awaited promotion, and questions her own existence. She has spent her 20s overcoming adversity but what has it all been for?

WISH YOU WERE HERE by Jodi Picoult

When Diana reluctantly goes on a holiday without her boyfriend, and becomes stranded due to the start of a global pandemic, she must venture beyond her comfort zone. In the Galapagos Islands, where Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection was formed, Diana finds herself examining her relationships, her choices and herself – wondering if, when she goes home, she too will have evolved into someone completely different. New York Times bestseller Jodi Picoult explores resilience in her latest novel.