Gleaner August/September 2025

Gleaner

August-September 2025

Indigenous Literacy

Day 2025

Donate and help spread the joy of reading in Australia’s remote communities

Plus: Read an extract from Eleanor Kirk’s stunning debut p5

Shop Talk

From David’s desk

Spring Gleaner, and we hope you love our cover, given over to remind everyone of the terrific work that the Indigenous Literacy Foundation does, and to bring your attention to the annual celebration of Indigenous Literacy Day, on the first Wednesday in September. You’re invited to attend the livestreamed event at the Sydney Opera House (see details below) and we’d encourage you to look at the ILF’s excellent website, ilf.org.au, for a comprehensive and detailed outline of the excellent programs being undertaken by this internationally recognised foundation.

Of course, all this great work is underwritten by donation. Our customers have joined with Gleebooks over the years in generously supporting the ILF in many ways, and we would encourage you to make a donation to this worthy cause on Wednesday 3 September, through their website. And please let us know (email books@ gleebooks.com.au) of your donation and we will match your generosity with our own donation. Thanking you in advance for your continued support of the vital work the ILF is doing for literacy, own language development and publishing and other worthy and innovative initiatives.

Spring of course, brings a bumper crop of new releases, many reviewed in these pages. Here is a small selection of my favourites, amongst the upcoming, very much worth ordering, or looking out for. I’ve spent hours poring over Margaret

Atwood’s Book of Lives: a Memoir of Sorts (November). It’s an utterly beguiling journey (of sorts) through the life of one of my generation’s very best writers. Don’t be deterred by its daunting 700-plus pages; it’s full of life and learning, written with Atwood’s signature self-deprecatory wit. As in the author’s own words, “a memoir is what you can remember, and you remember mostly stupid things, catastrophes, revenges and times of political horror, so I put those in. But I also added moments of joy.”

Garry Disher’s latest in the excellent Paul Hirschhausen crime series, Mischance Creek (October), is well up to his brilliant best. And I know that others have mentioned this, but I was very taken with Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp, an exquisitely written collection of stories, written originally in Kannada between 1990 and 2023, and winner of the 2025 International Booker Prize. The stories depict the difficult lives of Muslim women living in southern India. Plenty more on the bedside table, but particularly looking forward to getting my hands on Drusilla Modjeska’s A Woman’s Eye: Reframing the Narrative Through Art and Life (how six extraordinary women artists of the 20th century reframed the narrative). If you are able, please come and see Drusilla in conversation with Bernadette Brennan at the event we are hosting on Wednesday 29 October.

David Gaunt, director

Words for a new generation

At Gleebooks, we know the importance of reading. Books can educate, inform, provoke thought, soothe a restless mind, fill you with joy, and transport you to other worlds. They enrich lives. The Indigenous Literacy Foundation was formed to encourage bilingual reading and to bring this enrichment to remote Communities. Since it was established, it has delivered more than 1 million culturally relevant books and published 158 books sharing stories and languages across 500 remote Communities. In 2024, the ILF received Sweden’s prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which is given to authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and people or organisations that work to promote reading.

Each year, on the first Wednesday in September, the ILF hosts Indigenous Literacy Day, an annual celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ stories, cultures and languages. It’s a day when the diversity of First Nations languages and cultures is shared with audiences across Australia.

This year’s theme, contained in the short film Strength In Our Stories: For Now & Future Generations, focuses on three remote Aboriginal Communities and the diverse ways of storytelling that strengthen their Communities. This

short documentary, available on-demand at 10.30am on 3 September, will take viewers on a journey to Katherine and Binjari in the Northern Territory, Ceduna and Koonibba in South Australia and Warakurna in Western Australia. Afterwards, there will be a livestream from Sydney Opera House with ILF Ambassadors and special guests celebrating Aboriginal storytelling, with performers including Lucas Proudfoot, Bianca Hunt, Josh Pyke and more.

Indigenous Literacy Day 2025 will also be celebrating Grinch det K’Taun Krok! (Grinch the K-Town Croc!) written and illustrated by students from Katherine High School in the Northern Territory. These students will be travelling to Sydney to attend celebrations and share the importance of stories for now and the future.

Join Gleebooks in supporting the ILF and inspiring new generations of book lovers by donating on International Literacy Day, 3 September. Go the website ilf.org.au to make your donations. Every dollar supporters donate will be matched by Gleebooks.

Register for the free film and livestream event celebrating the theme Strength In Our Stories: For Now & Future Generations at ilf.org.au/ild

‘A timeless tale of love, sisterhood, and the struggles and triumphs of immigrants that simply sizzles off the page.’

Sara M Saleh

Novels That Speak Out

‘Blistering and brilliant.’

Melissa Lucashenko

Students from Katherine High School with Grinch det K’Taun Krok!, the book they wrote and illustrated.

AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE

Until the Red Leaves Fall

Alli Parker

Emmy Darling has a secret: her real name is Emiko Tanaka, and her Japanese-Australian family was interned during WWII. A talented ghostwriter for her playwright husband, Emmy is coerced by theatre impresario Virginia van Belle to write a play about her wartime experiences. With opening night approaching, Emmy must choose between storytelling and truth, risking everything as her past unravels. Until the Red Leaves Fall is a tale of secrets, betrayal, and the cost of truth in the aftermath of war.

$35, HarperCollins. Out now

After the Siren

Darcy Green

Theo Bestavros did everything right. He worked hard, got his game-winning moment – and failed. He’s determined to make the most of a second chance at the Brunswick Falcons. Jake Cunningham has it all. He’s a Falcons fan-favourite, and a constant headline. When they’re forced into extra training together, they don’t expect to find friendship, let alone something that looks a lot like dating. But Jake doesn’t want to come out, and Theo can’t jeopardise his shot at redemption. After the Siren is a romantic comedy about inconvenient attraction, second chances and the joys of AFL.

$23, Penguin. Out September

Ash

Louise Wallace

A vet at a mid-sized rural practice, Thea has been called back during maternity leave and is coping – just – with the juggle of meetings, mealtimes, farm visits, her boss’s search for legal loopholes and the constant care of her much-loved children, Eli and Lucy. But something is shifting in Thea: she is becoming aware, for the first time, of the bright, hot core at her centre. Then comes an urgent call. A summons to women everywhere, Ash is a story about reckoning with one’s rage and finding marvels in the midst of chaos.

$25, Allen & Unwin. Out September

The Golden Sister

Suzanne Do

Lili Berry is busy curating a life for herself in the charming coastal village of Swanning, before the death of her twin sister, Honey, upends everything. A devastated Lili sets out to discover the cause of Honey’s death. Pete, a cultivated man who seems to live on the streets, has his own tragedy to bear: the disappearance of his little boy 15 years ago. When Lili learns Pete was the one who found her sister’s body, the two of them plunge head-first into a web of secrets and lies. The Golden Sister is an ode to unexpected friendships and the messiness of love.

$35, Macmillan. Out now

Discipline

Randa Abdel-Fattah

When a Year 12 Al-Bayinnah College student is arrested for protesting a university’s ties to an Israeli weapons manufacturer, Ashraf sees an opportunity to exploit his personal connection to the situation for professional redemption. Meanwhile Hannah, juggling the demands of new motherhood and family trauma, fights for justice in the face of newsroom racism. As Israel’s bombardment of Gaza intensifies into the final weeks of Ramadan, Ashraf and Hannah must reckon with their choices, values and places in their communities. Discipline tallies the price we all pay when those with privilege choose to remain silent.

$35, University of Queensland. Out September

Fierceland

Omar Musa

After many years abroad, Roz and Harun return to Malaysian Borneo for the funeral of their father Yusuf – and to reckon with their inheritance. A renowned palm-oil baron during Malaysia’s economic rise, Yusuf built the family’s immense wealth by destroying huge tracts of rainforest and that he was responsible for the violent disappearance of a man who stood in his way. A trailblazing journey across the globe, Fierceland weaves the past and the present into an emotionally powerful family saga that plays out at a mythical scale.

$35,

Out September

Penguin.

A songbird silenced

What happens when overnight the Next Big Thing becomes a nobody? Very Impressive For Your Age, a deeply funny novel about chasing your dreams and losing your ambition, explores the mid-20s crisis that occurs when you learn that who you always wanted to be when you grew up isn’t quite what you imagined. Here is an extract from this profoundly relatable debut from Australian author Eleanor Kirk.

I was singing on the stage of the Musiktheater im Revier, the primary opera house in Gelsenkirchen, when it happened.

It was the final duet of the second act, and I was, thankfully, only singing in the Kleines Haus, or Small House, to an audience of about 300. It was the 16th night of the show’s November run, which, until then, had been seamless. The kind of seamless you don’t realise you’ve been taking for granted until it isn’t.

Had certain things been different, it might not have ended up the way it did. I don’t just mean in the vague, butterfly effect sense – that if I’d caught a different bus on my first day of primary school, say, I might have ended up a rocket scientist instead of a musician – but more directly. For example, I was in and out of Gelsenkirchen for two weeks before the show, flying back to my home base in London for coaching sessions and auditions, which couldn’t have been wholly beneficial for my respiratory system, breathing all that recycled air at such high altitude. And the auditions themselves were brutal too, powerful arias for which I had to be sure to generate the right amount of emotion: a subtle catch in my throat for the heartbroken lament, joyous trills for the triumphant proclamation of love. It takes a toll on you, all that performing – the deadpan expressions of white-haired panellists making their notes before thanking you and moving swiftly onto the next. I was trying desperately to breathe new life into the same package of arias, then flying back to Germany to resume rehearsals for The Magic Flute the same afternoon, without any pause for breath. Perhaps, then, I should have known what would happen before it did.

What happened was this: I was the dead half-bird, halfwoman Papagena, summoned by magic bells to the garden to sing a duet with my grieving husband. It was the second stanza, where the two of us sang: “Welche Freude wird das sein wenn die Götter uns bedenken” (What joy it will be when the gods remember us). Only, when I went to sing the first word, no sound came out.

It was the feeling of lying on your back with your ears submerged in water: although I believed I was singing, I was unable to hear any evidence of my own voice. I could hear everything else – Jürgen (who was playing my husband), the strings and the woodwind, even the rustle of programs in the audience – just not myself. Jürgen kept at it, his eyes widening as he began to realise my predicament, though at least he had the good sense to keep singing: “Unsrer Liebe Kinder schenken so liebe kleine Kinderlein …”’ I mouthed along with him in vain as the duet became a solo, the call and response just a call, and my role was reduced to the doe-eyed back-up dancer who swayed helplessly in silence as she was serenaded by her lover.

We continued this way for two and a half agonising minutes, and when it was finally time to exeunt, the stage manager was waiting for us in the wings, bulging eyes and moustache quivering.

“Was ist los mit dir?” he spat (Germans always sounded to me like they were spitting).

I don’t know, I cried, only no sound came out. The rest of the chorus was filing off behind me, and I let myself be carried along with the stream, too humiliated to look over my shoulder in case he was still watching.

Find out what happens next in Eleanor Kirk’s Very Impressive for Your Age (Allen & Unwin, $35) when it’s released on 2 September.

Eleanor Kirk. Picture: Dominic Lui

AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE

U Want It Darker

Murray Middleton

U Want It Darker is a bold and darkly humorous short story collection about artists struggling with their egos, facing their failures and redeeming their bad behaviour. With each exhilarating tale, Murray Middleton draws us deeper into the absurdities of creative life, inhabiting dingy painters’ studios, anarchic movie sets, depraved pizza restaurants and grimy comedy clubs, as he tries not to plunge into the abyss himself.

$35, Picador. Out now

In Spite of You

Patrick Lenton

Jeremy is a popculture journalist with no money. He’s permanently single and he now has to face his cheating ex-boyfriend at the 10-year reunion of his prestigious writing program. Jeremy develops a revenge plan: fix his life by becoming super hot and successful and, most importantly, by finding a handsome and successful boyfriend to bring to the reunion. Enter Sam – perfect, hot and generous to a fault. But when Sam suggests they start fake-dating each other, the simmering tension between them threatens to boil over. Now Jeremy must choose between nursing his grudges and giving himself another chance at love.

$35, Pantera. Out now

ALSO OUT

The Wish

Heather Morris

A powerful and heartfelt contemporary novel about courage, family, resilience and hope from the author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz

$33, Echo. Out September

Crow

Rhonda McCoy

Classic Australian family saga and medical intrigue brims with unexpected twists and turns.

$33, Ventura. Out August

Sing to Me

Jelena Curic

Pero is a Croatian immigrant, father, husband, philanderer, who drinks too much and gambles the family’s income. No longer a brilliant musician he now plays only for himself in the cellar of his house deep in the suburbs of Western Sydney. When Yugoslavia’s President Tito dies and his mother’s health fails, Pero feels he must return “home”. He touches down in Zagreb to one of the country’s most bitter winters. Traversing villages and cities hushed by the communist regime, Pero is compelled to face a past that he has tried to forget. This is a moving story of reclaiming life and rediscovering the soul’s song.

$35, WestWords Books. Out September

Yilkari

Nicolas Rothwell and Alison Nampitjinpa Anderson

A Siberian composer named Valentin comes to a remote roadhouse in the Western Desert to find the narrator of Yilkari, whom he first met the night the Berlin Wall fell. They travel on together, leading us deeper into the desert in this mesmerising book, co-written by the prize-winning author Nicolas Rothwell and his wife, the acclaimed artist Alison Nampitjinpa Anderson. Yilkari reveals its secrets through the conversations of its characters and their journeys into landscapes in which space and time are aspects of each other.

$35, Text. Out now

Hailstones Fell Without Rain

Natalia Figueroa Barroso

Graciela is a Uruguayan migrant struggling to raise her three daughters in Western Sydney – her life feels like just one bill after another, and she’s reaching breaking point. Chula, her elderly aunt, is still waiting for justice after living through the civic-military coup of 1973 in Uruguay. And Rita, Graciela’s eldest daughter, wants to escape the constraints of her family but finds herself indelibly tied to the ghosts of her mother’s past. Dazzling, multilayered and often sharply funny, Hailstones Fell without Rain tells the story of these three indomitable women from one working-class family.

$35, University of Queensland. Out August

Crimson Light Polished Wood

Monica Raszewski

Leonora has relocated to Melbourne from London and falls in love with Margaret, a fellow teacher who three years later dies of cancer. While still grieving for Margaret, Leonora meets and befriends Anna, the Polish woman who lives next door. Crimson Light Polished Wood illuminates with subtle ease the influence Leonora has on Anna’s daughter, Lydia, introducing her to the world of literature and art. A beautiful work about art, gender, inheritance, understanding and celebration.

$33, Transit Lounge. Out August

Daughters of Batavia

Stefanie Koens

Shortly before Christmas in 2018, Tess McCarthy flies to Western Australia’s remote Abrolhos Islands. She is in search of answers – both to the infamous Batavia shipwreck and her personal family crises. In 1628 Amsterdam, Saskia, an orphaned young Dutchwoman, boards Batavia with relatives, bound for a new and potentially dangerous life in the East Indies – only for her world to collide with Aris Jansz, the ship’s taciturn under surgeon. Tess, Saskia and Aris – their lives linked by secrets that span generations – carry the baggage of past losses and the uncertainty of their futures.

$35, HarperCollins. Out now

Plastic Budgie

Olivia De Zilva

Olivia was named after a lycra-clad singer her parents saw on Rage. As a child, she lost the ability to speak and spent a year barking like a dog. Her Gong Gong bought her a yellow bird in a shoebox from the Adelaide Central Markets. Her heart was broken by a guitar teacher after a school disco. She started university and learnt to run and travelled to Guangzhou for her cousin’s wedding. In her brutally funny, genredefying debut, Olivia De Zilva collects stories on shelves: neat comingof-age anecdotes and sitcom characters trapped behind glass.

$33, Pink Shorts. Out now

Fireweather

Miranda Darling

Life for Winona Dalloway is not as it should be. Her husband is no longer her husband, her children are not at home with her, and the city in which she lives is besieged by fires. Black ash falls like snow, songbirds screech like dinosaurs, and the doctors are calling her mad … In this looking-glass world, Winona is forced to prove she is a sane, rational human being. She seeks solace in the company of plants and animals, and begins to imagine an entirely other way of being – one that might make whole her broken heart.

$30, Scribe. Out September

Shop Talk

CALSO OUT

Albion

Anna Hope

A secret shatters a family after the death of their patriarch.

$35, Fig Tree. Out August

The Life Experiment

Jess Kitching

Two strangers sign up for a program which claims to predict when people will die.

$35, Simon & Schuster. Out now

The Midnight Estate

Kelly Rimmer

A gothic epic that spans generations set in the decaying grandeur of a rambling family estate.

$35, Hachette. Out now

Bookseller at large

onfession: Being a uni dropout, I had to learn from TV just how brilliant Jane Austen was. I’ve always loved her books and reread them many times but from the docudrama Jane Austen – Rise of a Genius (watch it on ABC iview), I learnt that Austen pioneered the use of both third-person omniscient narration and “free indirect discourse” which conveys the character’s perspective and emotions through the narrator’s voice. Who knew if you didn’t do EngLit? She was ambitious and determined to make a living from her books. She took over managing her affairs from a brother and negotiated a two-book deal, the publication of Emma tied to the re-issue of the not-so-popular Mansfield Park (deemed too political). Emma was a huge bestseller, but because Mansfield Park wasn’t, she ended up receiving a cheque for a measly £38. Like many writers before and since, she was unable to “kill her darling” and paid the price.

All of which is to say that writers have forever been underpaid, if not poverty-stricken, and so it is with hope in our hearts that Writing Australia, the Labor government’s new national literature body, will actually make a difference, not just to the financial well-being of writers, but to the important role literature holds in our culture.

The dire situation for Australian writers is made worse by the fact that so many of them have as their main source of income, casual hours as teachers in creative writing courses. As academic Graeme Turner argues in his essential book Broken: Universities, Politics and the Public Good, (published in July), not only are the Humanities being constantly undermined and their importance denied by politicians and certain sections of the commentariat, but students are discouraged from taking

arts degrees by the horrendous rise in HECS debts for these subjects. Consequently there is far less work for writers in the sector as universities cut back or discontinue arts courses.

So, even though I didn’t pursue higher education, it breaks my heart to see this woeful, disgraceful state of affairs. It’s imperative that the Labor government undoes the damage done by previous governments, both Liberal and Labor. The future of our country, both economically and culturally, depends on it.

Much as I love Australian literature, one cannot live on damper alone. The Son’s Story is a short, moving novel by French writer Marie-Helene Lafon (translated brilliantly by Stephanie Smee).Over the course of 100 years (in only 150 pages) it tells the story of one French family through a son’s story from each generation. The prose is sublime (“...the jumble of prayers like the song of a green river over a bed of pebbles”) and the whole is infused with a sustained love between the family members despite the many sadnesses they endure, as families do.

The Benefactors is a debut by Irish writer Wendy Erskine, whose polyphonic novel is set in Belfast. Its central event is a sexual assault on a young woman, but, much like Fiona McFarlane’s Highway 13, it’s the voices of the many characters involved in the event, either directly or indirectly, that enthral, from Boogie, the single father of Misty, the assaulted girl, to the mothers of the three boys, who want to protect and absolve their children. Like The Son’s Story, the characters are mostly good people trying to do their best for the people they love.

Morgan Smith

INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE

We’ll Prescribe You

Another Cat

Syou Ishida

Though it is mysteriously located at an uncertain address, the Kokoro clinic can always be found by those who need it. And it has proven that a prescribed cat has the power to heal the emotional wounds of all its patients. We follow a young woman who cannot help pushing away the man who loves her; a recently widowed grandfather whose grandson refuses to leave his room; and an anxious man working at a cat shelter. This irresistible sequel introduces a new loveable cast of healing cats.

$35, Doubleday. Out September

The Deserters

Mathias Enard

Fleeing a nameless war, an unknown soldier emerges from deep within the Mediterranean scrubland, dirty and exhausted. A chance meeting forces him to rethink his journey, and the price he puts on a life. On 11 September 2001, aboard a small cruise ship on the River Havel near Berlin, a conference of scientists pays homage to the late East German mathematician Paul Heudeber, a Buchenwald survivor and steadfast antifascist. This latest work from Mathias Enard vividly lays bare the devastations of war on the most intimate aspects of our lives.

$33, Fitzcarraldo. Out August

ALSO OUT

The Elements

John Boyne

A gripping and profound exploration of responsibility, guilt, blame, trauma, and our capacity for redemption.

$37, Doubleday. Out September

Girl, 1983

Linn Ullmann

Set in Oslo, New York and Paris, Girl, 1983 is a genre-defying and bravura quest through layers of memory and oblivion. $45, Hamish Hamilton. Out August

House of Day, House of Night

Olga Tokarczuk

A woman settles in a remote Polish village. It has few inhabitants but teems with the stories of its living and its dead. There’s the drunk Marek Marek, who discovers that he shares his body with a bird, and Franz Frost, whose nightmares come to him from a newly discovered planet. And there are the Germans who still haunt a region that they once called their own. These shards piece together not only a history but a cosmology.

$35, Text. Out September

One Night in Paris

Nina George

Claire Cousteau is one of France’s most esteemed biologists who has become increasingly frustrated by her marriage and her husband’s affairs. As the Cousteaus prepare for a summer in Brittany, Claire’s son Nico asks if his new girlfriend, Julie, can join them. But Julie and Claire have met before, in a Parisian hotel during a night that Claire thought was her secret. Beneath the Breton sun, could their surprising bond alter the course of their lives?

$35, Michael Joseph. Out now

Sakina’s Kiss

Vivek Shanbhag

When Venkat finds two insolent young men on his doorstep, he knows something is off. They say they need to get in touch with his daughter Rekha, but why is it so urgent? Could she really be a pawn in gang warfare? And more importantly, where is she? The story should begin a few days earlier, when Rekha left for Venkat’s home village. But maybe Venkat needs to look a little further back: at the early days of his marriage to her mother Viji? Or his parents’ marriage? Or does the truth lie even further still?

$27, Faber. Out August

Blood Book

Kim de L’Horizon

As their grandmother slides into dementia, an unnamed narrator begins to ask questions – to fill in the gaps, to resist the silence that shrouds their family. Childhood memories resurface, revealing a path into the past, winding back through generations. This matrilineal line leads toward nature, witchcraft, freedom. Could this be where they belong? What follows is an astounding quest for liberation – from generational trauma, class identity, the limits of language.

$35, Sceptre. Out August

Thirst Trap

Gráinne O’Hare

Maggie, Harley and Róise are friends on the brink: of triumph, catastrophe, or maybe just finally growing up. Their crumbling Belfast sharehouse has been witness to their roaring 20s, filled with questionable one-night stands and ruthless hangovers. But now fault-lines are beginning to show. The three girls are still grieving the tragic death of their friend, Lydia, whose room remains untouched. Their last big fight hangs heavy over their heads, unspoken since the accident. And now they are all beginning to unravel.

$35, Picador. Out September

The Mobius Book

Catherine Lacey

The sudden breakup of a relationship in the winter of 2021 left Catherine Lacey depressed and adrift. She began cataloguing the wreckage of her life and the beauty of her friendships, a process that led to the writing of fiction that was both entirely imagined and strangely, utterly true. She and her fictional characters recall gnostic experiences with animals, close encounters with male anger, grief-driven lust and the redemptive power of platonic love and narrative itself.

$37, Granta. Out September

INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE

Ruth

Kate Riley

Ruth is raised in a snow globe of Christian communism, a world without private property, television, or tolerance for idle questions. Every morning she braids her hair and wears the same costume, sings the same breakfast song in a family room identical to every other family room in the community. Her life is seen in glimpses through childhood, marriage, and motherhood, as she tries to manage her own perilous curiosity in a community built on holy mystery. Is she happy? Might this in fact be happiness? Ruth immerses us in an experience that challenges our most fervent beliefs. $35, Doubleday. Out August

The Book of Disappearance

Ibtisam Azem

Alaa is a young Palestinian man who is haunted by his grandmother’s memories of becoming a refugee in her homeland. His Jewish neighbour and friend, Ariel, is a journalist who believes in Israel’s national myth but is critical of the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. He begins to search for clues about why Alaa and the Palestinians have vanished. Ibtisam Azem’s spare and evocative novel is an unforgettable glimpse into contemporary Palestine as it grapples with the memory of loss.

$35, Text. Out now

People With No Charisma

Jente Posthuma

An unnamed narrator grows up overshadowed by her unconventional mother, an ex-Jehovah’s witness and former television star. Her father is the head of a psychiatric institution, whose only form of parenting is to offer his daughter the same life advice he offers his patients. Their daughter strives to meet her mother’s expectations and bond with her father while worrying she lacks the drive to do anything significant with her life. Posthuma expertly dissects a fraught family history, exposing the absurdity that often lies at the heart of life’s most poignant and challenging moments.

$28, Scribe. Out now

The City and the House

Natalia Ginzburg

Giuseppe is leaving his flat in the city of Rome, where he has lived for more than 20 years, to go and live with his brother in America. He must say goodbye to his cousin Roberta; to his former lover Lucrezia and her husband Piero; and to all his friends who used to gather for weekends at Le Margherite, Lucrezia’s splendid house in the country. But even before Giuseppe’s departure, friendships have begun to fracture. Their stories unfold through an exchange of letters that reveal with great poignancy their thoughts, passions and desires.

$25, Daunt. Out August

INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE

What We Can Know

Ian McEwan

2014: A great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate about its message, but no copy has yet been found. 2119: The lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost. Scholar Tom Metcalfe pores over the archives of the early 21st century, captivated by the possibilities of human life at its zenith. When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the great lost poem, revelations of entangled love and a brutal crime emerge, destroying his assumptions about a story he thought he knew. A quest, a literary thriller and a love story, What We Can Know imagines a future world where all is not quite lost.

$35, Jonathan Cape. Out August

Pan

Michael Clune

Nicholas has plenty of reasons to feel unstable – he’s 15, the child of divorced parents and an outsider at school. Then, one day in geometry class, he forgets how to breathe. The doctor says it’s just panic, but Nicholas suspects that his real problem might not be a psychiatric one; that maybe the Greek god Pan is trapped inside his body. Pan takes us inside the human psyche, where we risk discovering that the forces controlling our inner lives could be more alien than we want to believe.

$35, Fern. Out July

ALSO OUT

Open Wide

Jessica Gross

Open Wide explores the boundaries of love and the body, as universal human impulses bleed into the surreal.

$35, Harvill Secker. Out November

The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park

Michiko Aoyama

A magic hippo in a children’s playground sustains the hearts of a community.

$35, Doubleday. Out August

The Island of Last Things

Emma Sloley

Camille is a keeper at the last zoo in the world, on Alcatraz Island. Reserved around humans, she is happy to spend her days caring for chimpanzees and tree frogs, while outside nature crumbles. Then a new zookeeper, Sailor, arrives. When Sailor whispers about a secret sanctuary where wild animals roam free, Camille begins to imagine a new kind of life. Propulsive and fiercely hopeful, The Island of Last Things is an elegy for a disappearing world, and a gorgeous vision for the future.

$35, Text. Out August

The Hole

Hye-young Pyun Oghi wakes in a hospital bed unable to speak or move. The car accident that killed his wife has left him trapped in his own body. Isolated from his friends and neglected by his nurse, Oghi’s world shrinks to the room he lies in and memories of his wife, who found solace in cultivating her garden. But as Oghi remains alone and paralysed, his mother-in-law is in the nowabandoned garden, uprooting what her daughter had worked so hard to plant. The Hole is a superbly crafted novel about the horrors of isolation and neglect.

$35, Doubleday. Out now

Night of the Living Rez

Morgan Talty

A boy unearths a jar that holds an old curse, which sets into motion his family’s unravelling; a man discovers a friend passed out in the woods, his hair frozen into the snow; a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s projects the past onto her grandson; and two friends, inspired by Antiques Roadshow, attempt to rob the tribal museum for valuable root clubs. In 12 luminescent stories, author Morgan Talty breathes life into tales of family and a community as they struggle with a painful past and an uncertain future.

$33, Scribe. Out September

Discontent

Beatriz Serrano

Marisa hates her job and everything about it. Over one hot summer, she spends her working hours locked in her office, bingeing on YouTube videos and getting high on tranquilisers. When she can, she escapes to the air-conditioned basement of the Prado Museum. But Marisa’s facade of success is in danger of being exposed as she’s forced to deliver a talk on creativity at her company’s horrendous annual team-building retreat. Discontent is a dazzling tale of modern angst and finally acting on our wilder impulses to reclaim our lives from work.

$35, Harvill Secker. Out August

Mayra

Nicky Gonzalez

Ingrid accepts an impulsive invitation from her long-lost best friend, Mayra, for a weekend getaway at an isolated Everglades house. Danger mounts from the start: difficult directions, no cell service, and the encroaching swamp. Mayra, still rebellious and alluring, is joined by her new boyfriend, Benji. Past disagreements resurface, and the trio explores the mysterious house, which, like the swamp, feels dangerous and disorienting. Gonzalez crafts a propulsive tale of intense early friendship and the perilous pursuit of love and acceptance.

$30, Scribe. Out now

Vera, or Faith

Gary Shteyngart

Observant, sensitive, and always writing down new vocabulary words, Vera wants only three things in life: a friend at school; Daddy and Anne Mom to stay together; and to meet her birth mother, Mom Mom, who will at last tell Vera the secret of who she really is and how to ensure love’s survival in this great, mad, imploding world. Both biting and deeply moving, Vera, or Faith is a boldly imagined story of family and country told through the clear and wondrous eyes of a child.

$35, Atlantic. Out August

CRIME & THRILLERS

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer

Ragnar Jónasson

One winter evening, bestselling crime author Elin S. Jónsdóttir goes missing. There are no clues to her disappearance and it is up to young detective, Helgi, to crack the case before it’s leaked to the press. As he interviews the people closest to her – a publisher, an accountant, a retired judge – he realises that Elin’s life wasn’t what it seemed. In fact, her past is even stranger than her stories. As the case of the missing crime writer becomes more mysterious by the hour, Helgi must uncover the secrets of a very unexpected life.

$35, Michael Joseph. Out August

The Predicament

William Boyd

Gabriel Dax, travel writer and accidental spy, is back in the shadows. Unable to resist the allure of his MI6 handler, Faith Green, he has returned to a life of secrets and subterfuge. Dax is sent to Guatemala under the guise of covering a tinderbox presidential election. As political turmoil erupts, Gabriel escapes to West Berlin, where he uncovers a chilling realisation: there is a plot to assassinate magnetic young President John F. Kennedy. Gabriel must navigate deceit and danger, knowing that the stakes have never been higher.

$35, Viking. Out September

The Whyte Python World Tour

Travis Kennedy

When aspiring drummer Rikki Thunder gets a shot to join LA’s hottest new band, Whyte Python, he soon has a hit single scorching up the charts, and the life he always dreamed of. But Rikki soon realises there is a deeper web of influence propelling Whyte Python, and his mission – to spread peace, love, and epic shredding across the globe – is far more dangerous than he could ever imagine. A thrilling, rock’n’roll head-banger of a debut, steeped in ’80s music culture nostalgia and international suspense.

$35, Michael Joseph. Out September

Too Old For This

Samantha Downing

You’d never guess Lottie Jones had skeletons in her closet. She has lived in town for decades now. She’s getting older. She lives for the simple pleasures of weekly bingo games at church, and gossiping with her friends about their children’s love lives. But when investigative journalist Plum Dixon shows up on her doorstep asking questions about Lottie’s past, and specifically about her connection to numerous unsolved murders, well, Lottie just can’t have that. A razor-sharp new thriller from the author of My Lovely Wife. $35, Michael Joseph. Out September

The Quiet Mother

Arnaldur Indridason

A woman is found murdered in her Reykjavik home, her apartment ransacked. On her desk lies a note with retired detective Konrad’s phone number. Days earlier, she had begged him to find the child she gave up nearly 50 years ago. But Konrad, reluctant to reopen old wounds, turned her away. Now, haunted by guilt, he vows to uncover the truth – for her and for himself. The Quiet Mother is a masterful blend of human tragedy and relentless suspense, where every discovery comes at a cost.

$35, Harvill Secker. Out August

The Impossible Fortune

Richard Osman

It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal. But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who fears for their life, the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into their most explosive investigation yet, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time?

$35, Viking. Out September

The Leap

Paul Daley

Welcome to The Leap, an outback town fuelled by fear, churning with corruption, prejudice and misogyny –and blighted by its inescapable history of frontier violence. Into this nightmarish morass falters traumatised British diplomat, Benedict Fotheringham-Gaskill. He’s on his first Australian mission, one seemingly straightforward enough – until he arrives in The Leap to battle a town conspiring against him. From the acclaimed author of Jesustown comes a pulse-pounding literary thriller filled with humour, horror, blistering historical truths and indelible characters.

$35, S&S/Summit. Out now

ALSO OUT

Crime

In the Time of Five Pumpkins

Alexander McCall Smith Book 26 in the bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.

$33, Abacus. Out September

Crime Scene of the Crime

Lynda La Plante

The brand-new thriller series from legendary crime writer Lynda La Plante.

$34, Bonnier. Out July

CRIME & THRILLERS

A Slowly Dying Cause

Elizabeth George

When Michael Lobb is found dead in his family’s workshop on the Cornish coast, Detective Inspector Beatrice Hannaford investigates. Suspicion falls on a mining company trying to buy Lobb’s land. As Bea delves deeper, Lobb’s deceitful family life adds complexity, and cryptic alibis and shifting motives draw in colleagues Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers to find a killer in a distrustful community.

$35, Macmillan. Out September

ALSO OUT

Thriller Liar’s Game

Jack Beaumont

Alec de Payns is on the run –and wanted for murder – in the new thriller by the author of The Frenchman

$35, Allen & Unwin. Out July

Crime

Strange Houses

Uketsu

A Japanese mystery bestseller in which the reader is the detective from the YouTube sensation Uketsu.

$33, Pushkin Vertigo. Out September

Thriller

The Girl with Ice in her Veins

Karin Smirnoff

The latest installment in the internationally bestselling Millennium series..

$33, MacLehose. Out September

Crime

Clown Town

Mick Herron

The new thriller in the bestselling series that inspired the hit show Slow Horses

$33, Baskerville. Out September

Crime

Wolf Hour

Jo Nesbo

A gritty thriller packed with unexpected twists and bubbling political tension from the king of the cliffhanger.

$35, Harvill Secker. Out August

Stillwater

Tanya Scott

After years away from his home town of Melbourne, Luke Harris is back on track. All he wants is a normal job, his own house and a dog. When he crosses paths with Gus Alberici – the brutal criminal he worked for as a teenager – he’s dragged reluctantly back to his old life. Luke’s father has vanished, along with a chunk of Gus’s cash. And something is up with his new girlfriend’s father … As his past and present collide, can Luke keep his longheld secrets – and outsmart a man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants?

$35, Allen & Unwin. Out now

Suspicion

Seicho Matsumoto

Working in Tokyo bars, Onizuka Kumako seduces customers and commits petty crime, using her connections to the local yakuza to get by. When she meets rich widower Shirakawa Fukutaro, the two hit it off and are soon married. But one rainy July evening, their car veers off course, and Fukutaro is killed. Suspected of murder, Kumako is hounded by the press, but proclaims her innocence. In this intricate, psychological noir, Seicho Matsumoto draws out the hidden demons that guide our convictions, our biases and our deepest desires.

$29, Penguin. Out August

The Secret of Secrets

Dan Brown

Accompanying celebrated academic, Katherine Solomon, on a trip to Prague, Robert Langdon’s world spirals out of control when she disappears without trace. Far from home and out of his comfort zone, Langdon must pit his wits against unknown forces to recover the woman he loves. But Prague is an old and dangerous city, steeped in folklore and Langdon must use all of his arcane knowledge to decipher the mystery. The Harvard symbologist returns in Dan Brown’s first novel for more than eight years.

$55, Bantam. Out September

The Visitor

Rebecca Starford

Laura, who has lived in the UK for most of her adult life, returns to Brisbane with her family after her parents, Bruce and Eliza, die mysteriously in the Queensland outback. As renovations begin on her childhood home, strange occurrences plague Laura, raising questions of a haunting or manipulation by the neighbour. Her daughter, Tilly, witnesses Laura’s erratic behavior, and both begin seeing things. Laura realises they must uncover why her parents fled the house to break free from the past.

$33, Allen & Unwin. Out now

An Inside Job

Daniel Silva

When Gabriel Allon discovers the body of a mysterious woman floating in the waters of the Venetian Lagoon, he finds himself in a desperate race to recover a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci. The action moves at breakneck speed from the galleries and auction houses of London to an enclave of unimaginable wealth on the French Riviera – and, finally, to St Peter’s Square, where more than one life hangs in the balance. An Inside Job proves once again that Daniel Silva is the reigning master of international intrigue and suspense.

$35, HarperCollins. Out now

Lucky Thing

Tom Baragwanath

Jessica Mowbrie, beaten and dumped in the bush like a sack of garbage and lying comatose in a hospital bed is lucky to be alive. But Lorraine Henry doesn’t think Jess is so lucky. She thinks whoever hurt her needs to be hunted down. But the Masterton police are isolated and underresourced, and to be honest, even though Lorraine works for them, she thinks they’re a bit hopeless. So it might be up to Lorraine to do the hunting. Tom Baragwanath delivers another bone-deep exploration of life in the margins of small-town New Zealand.

$35, Text. Out September

Artificial Wisdom

Thomas R Weaver

The year is 2050. In the teeth of a climate catastrophe, the world is left with a drastic solution: one global leader to steer it through the coming apocalypse. The final two candidates are ex-US President Lockwood, and Solomon, the world’s first political artificial intelligence. When Solomon’s creator turns up murdered, journalist Marcus Tully finds himself at the centre of the investigation. Overnight, one investigation becomes two, and it’s not just the result of the election that’s at stake but the future of the species.

$35, Bantam. Out September

Roadkill

Amil

In a near future where women are an endangered minority, two young friends try to break free from a facility designed for those few who can still give birth. Every year in a secluded seaside village, a maiden is sacrificed to a divine sea serpent. And in South Korea’s Alps Grand Park, the residents exist in an exclusive world dominated by giant air purifier towers as others are left to live in the shade. With strong roots in feminist science fiction and fantasy, Roadkill’s exhilarating stories transport us to strange new worlds.

$35, Harvill Secker. Out August

FANTASY

The Amberglow Candy Store

Hiyoko Kurisu

The Amberglow Candy Store introduces the reader to half-fox shopkeeper Kogetsu, whose magical wagashi sweets from his shop on Gloaming Lane promise to change his customers’ lives for the better. We follow an array of characters from various walks of life through their encounters with Kogetsu, who himself learns some major life lessons along the way, and reveals his own backstory in the process. A charming book of linked stories with a sprinkling of cosy fantasy and a fable-like touch.

$35, Michael Joseph. Out September

Thief of Night

Holly Black

There’d always been something wrong with Charlie Hall. Crooked from the day she was born. Never met a bad decision she wasn’t willing to double down on. She may be good enough to steal a shadow from a tower, but will she be good enough to steal back a heart?

$35, Del Rey. Out September

Katabasis

R.F. Kuang

Grad student Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become the brightest mind in the field of analytic magick. But the only person who can make her dream come true is dead and – inconveniently – in Hell. And Alice, along with her biggest rival Peter Murdoch, is going after him. But Hell is not as the philosophers claim, and if she’s going to get out of there alive, she and Peter will have to work together. That’s if they can agree on anything. From the author of Yellowface

$35, Voyager. Out August

The Summer War

Naomi Novik

Celia’s magical awakening curses her brother Argent to a loveless life as he leaves home. While he seeks fame, she tries to undo the prophecy. The solution lies in the ancient Summer War between her people and the immortal summerlings. With her middle brother’s help, Celia might break the curse and heal the land, but at what cost?

$35, Del Rey. Out September

HORROR

The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World

JR Dawson

On the shores of Lake Michigan is a waystation for the dead. There, the newly departed reckon with their lives before stepping aboard a boat to go beyond. Nera has spent decades watching her father – the ferryman of the dead – sail across the lake, every night just like the last. But tonight something is wrong. The lighthouse has started to flicker out. The terrifying, ghostly Haunts have multiplied in the city. And now a living person has found her way onto the boat.

$35, Tor. Out July

What Hunger

Catherine Dang

Ronny Nguyen, a high school-bound teen, dreads being left alone with her immigrant parents when her overachieving brother, Tommy, leaves for college. Their parents, “Me” and “Ba,” rarely speak of their past in Vietnam, except through food, where meat is a symbol of survival. When tragedy strikes, Ronny’s world is shattered. A subsequent incident at a party awakens a newfound power and an insatiable hunger for flesh within her – a craving that is both a blessing and a curse.

$33, Corsair. Out August

GRAPHIC NOVELS

Cannon

Lai

In Cannon, Lee Lai’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed and award-winning Stone Fruit, the full palette of a nervous breakdown is just a part of what is on offer. Lai’s sharp sense of humour and sensitive eye produce a story that explores the intimacy of queer friendship and the weight of family responsibility, and breaks open the question of what we owe both to each other and to ourselves.

$40, Giramondo. Out September

Lee

Shop Talk

The Dully Dispatch

As this Gleaner goes to print, we will have just hosted our fourth sold out supper event at Goldie’s eatery in Dulwich Hill. The Goldie’s X Gleebooks event collaboration has been an enormous success, thanks to the diehard support of our locals and the involvement of brilliant Australian authors: Michelle de Kretser, Diana Reid, Jacqueline Maley and Katherine Brabon so far! Go to the Gleebooks website or scan the QR code at the bottom of the page to see all of our forthcoming events – and don’t forget to sign up to the Gleemail newsletter.

So, what are we reading at Dully? Let’s dive in. Ruby’s pick is A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan.This is a wonderfully written page-turner from New Zealand that follows a 10-yearold girl on a summer holiday with her parents and older sister. As their holiday progresses, mysteries within the coastal town are uncovered, and so too are those within the family. These mysteries drive a deeper coming-of-age story as new friendships form, and familial bonds are tested. Telling this story from a child’s perspective only heightens the suspense. (Dasha and Letitia also loved this one!)

Renee’s been ploughing through the books as usual and recommends Walking Sydney by Belinda Castles, which brings together short walks, interviews and literary excerpts from some of our city’s favourite writers. And of course she read the chapter on the Cooks River with Dully’s own Michelle de Kretser first! Devour it in one sitting or dip in and out of its chapters in any order. This book is a gem!

In fiction, Renee gives two thumbs up to Stinkbug by Australian author Sinead Stubbins. If The Office and Lord of the Flies got together, Stinkbug would be their love child. This workplace satire is totally unhinged, completely bonkers and Renee could not love it more – or its cover art. Renee also found The Correspondent by Virginia Evans to be absolutely de-light-ful. This epistolary novel, with its perfectly imperfect septuagenarian protagonist, is full of action, humour, poignancy and all the good stuff of life. Even Ann Patchett loved this debut, and who are we to disagree with Queen Ann?

At the time of writing this, Lachlan is poised to read James Frey’s new novel, Next to Heaven. Lachlan has followed Frey’s rollercoaster career since A Million Little Pieces, his notoriously fabricated recovery memoir that Oprah first embraced and then very publicly denounced. He’s always controversial, sometimes brilliant, and certainly never boring. Stay tuned for a review.

In crime, Garry Disher’s Mischance Creek is a return to the familiar territory of South Australia’s mid-north, where Senior Constable Paul Hirschhausen is conducting a firearms audit when he gets drawn into a missing persons cold case. Lachlan loves this series and can’t wait to share it with our readers. And on that, one of the great things about Dully, is getting recommendations from customers. One of our well-read regulars recently encouraged Lachlan to try Alan Carter’s 2024 novel Prize Catch, a gripping crime novel set in and around Tasmania’s murky salmon industry – it’s definitely one to put on your list. And look out for Carter’s forthcoming book Franz Josef. Finally, Lachlan’s reading Michael Brissenden’s Dust, the follow up to his strong debut Smoke

It begins with the discovery of a journalist’s corpse in a drying lakebed and hints at a web of small town conspiracy. It’s an intriguing start and Lachlan can’t wait to see where it leads.

Letitia’s pick of the month for new books is Desolation by Hossein Asgari. This is an enthralling, profound and stunning book – the kind you stay up all night to finish. It’s a novel, but Asgari draws on the real life downing of Iran Air Flight 655 in 1988. This will be one of the big Australian novels of 2025. Bravo. Letitia also just finished Sweet Nothings by Madison Griffiths, a stunning exploration of power and sex in our universities. This non-fiction narrative draws from the personal stories of students and graduates and their sexual encounters with academic staff. Unsettling and brilliant.

And lastly, attention L Word fans and sapphics everywhere: So Gay For You by Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey (AKA Shane and Alice) has landed in Oz and Letitia can attest to the fact that it doesn’t disappoint. Gossip, inside scoops and more, this one is for the fans. And while she has your attention, Letitia also recommends Alison Bechdel’s new graphic novel, Spend. It’s absolutely glorious!

The Dully crew

Scan the QR code to sign up to our Gleemail newsletter and find out about all the latest news and events. And follow us on Instagram @gleebooks_dulwich

Michelle de Kretser: one of Dully’s special guest authors. Picture: Joy Lai

One Koala, One Hundred Trees

Leesa Allinson, illus. Heather Potter and Mark Jackson

One Koala, One Hundred Trees is a heartwarming tale about one family’s determination to create a safer environment for the koalas living on their property. The story is interspersed with facts about koalas and practical guides for readers wanting to build their own “koala corridor” to help protect one of Australia’s most precious animals.

$25, Wild Dog. Out August

Giant Parsnip Soup

Daniela Sosa

In this adorable story from the creator of Friends and the Suitcase, a group of children use their imagination to turn a giant parsnip into a delicious dinner for them all to share. Each page has something to count and spot as the book introduces the numbers one to 10. Perfect for little ones who are learning to count, this cosy and classic book introduces numbers and celebrates the joy of working and playing together.

$28, Simon & Schuster. Out August

If We Were Dogs

Sophie Blackall

If we were dogs, what kind would we be? Join two friends as they bark and growl, woof and howl – and maybe even quack – in a romp that makes room for everybody’s ideas. Sophie Blackall unleashes an exuberant game of pretend that explores navigating friendship and celebrates boundless imagination.

$25, Lothian. Out August

Scotty & the Scotties

Gabriel Evans

Packed full of surprises and plenty of heart, Scotty and the Scotties isn’t just an irresistible story about loyalty, love and being yourself – it’s also a cheeky search-and-find. Everyone will enjoy poring over the story to find the “real” Scotty on every page, making this an instant modern classic and a sure favourite for all families, no matter how alike or different they are.

$25, Little Hare. Out now

KIDS’ EVENTS @ GLEEBOOKS

We have some great events coming up that will appeal to adults as well as younger readers. Join us on Saturday 30 August, 10.30am for storytime and craft with Jess Horn to celebrate the release of her new picture book Train of Thought, a fun-filled ride through the twists and turns of a runaway imagination, illustrated by Hayley Wells. Jess will be in conversation with Kim de Haan

In the afternoon, at 2pm, we have a double launch and tween chat extravaganza where we celebrate two very exciting books with three of our most adored Australian creators, Zanni L Arnot and Pip Harry, in conversation with Jeremy Lachlan. On 6 September at 2pm, Marc Martin will discuss his gorgeous picture book Dawn

Check gleebooks.com.au or our Instagram @gleebooks_kids for more exciting exciting events and last minute updates. Events are free but bookings are essential. RSVP rachel@gleebooks.com.au.

Hello Cocky

Hilary Bell, illus. Antonia Pesenti

From treetops to rooftops, follow Australia’s most mischievous bird in this exuberant celebration of the cockatoo. With playful rhyming text and bold, graphic illustrations, awardwinning creators Hilary Bell and Antonia Pesenti celebrate the unique spirit and curiosity of the cockatoo.

$28, Scribble. Out August

Is It Asleep?

Olivier Tallec

Squirrel and his best friend, Pock the mushroom, sit on the old stump, watching birds fly by. When they’re tired of this, they take the path to the yellow meadow to listen to the blackbird sing. But today, they find the bird on the path, all stretched out and quite still. They sit down quietly and wait for the bird to wake. This story of a natural encounter with an animal that has died is both dryly humorous and a profound example of how to manage the comings and goings of life.

$28, Gecko. Out August

Once I Was a Giant

Zeno Sworder

“My first memories were of darkness and reaching for sunlight. My roots connected me to everything. I was small but I was also the forest.” Here is the story of a green giant and a small wanderer who forms a friendship that spans lifetimes. From the award-winning author of My Strange Shrinking Parents comes a luminescent and hopeful tale about our living natural world.

$30, Thames & Hudson. Out September

ALSO OUT

Picture books Dear Broccoli

Jo Dabrowski, illus. Cate James $25, Affirm. Out August

Children

Hansel & Gretel

Stephen King, illus. Maurice Sendak

Let Stephen King, award-winning author, and Maurice Sendak, beloved creator of the Caldecott-Medal winning Where the Wild Things Are, guide you into this most deliciously daring rendition of the traditional Grimms’ fairy tale. But will you find your way back out? This beautiful book includes a personal introduction from Stephen King and has been created in close collaboration with the Maurice Sendak Foundation.

$45, Hodder. Out September

READERS

The Book Swap Flop

Sally Rippin, illus. Aki Fukuoka

In The Book Swap Flop, Billie’s school is holding a book swap to raise money for kids in hospital. Everyone brings a book and a gold coin. Billie donates her best book, but is upset to discover it is not going to the kids – only the money is. How can Billie get her book back? The Billie B Brown series is the perfect first chapterbook series for young readers.

$12, Hardie Grant. Out now

Stuck in a Handstand!

Andrew Hansen and Jessica Roberts

Pattie Cake would love to have a special talent, just like everyone else in her class. Luckily, her school principal (umm, make that “unprincipal”) has a magic fish. It grants Pattie the special talent she longs for – doing handstands. The only problem is, she gets stuck upside down! Will she ever be the right way up again?

$13, Walker. Out August

Oh Dear, Look What I Got

Michael Rosen, illus. Helen Oxenbury

From beloved author and illustrator pairing Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury comes a brilliant new picture book that will delight a new generation of children. Each visit to the shop brings an animal surprise in this playful read-aloud, with a final twist and a joyful ending. Young readers will love joining in the rhyming text and guessing what comes next in this hilarious picture book, sure to become a timeless classic.

$25, Walker. Out September

AGES 8-12

Run

Ages 8-12

Oceanforged

Amelia Mellor

$17, Affirm. Out now

Dawn

Mark Martin

As the sun slowly rises, many things happen in a small window of time. The world comes alive with the actions of animals, plants, clouds, and sky. A deer drinks, an owl wakes, a dandelion shimmers in the light. A flower blooms, a ladybug climbs, a fish jumps, geese fly. Beautifully illustrated with glowing imagery and written with a charming simplicity, Marc Martin’s ode to the slow-blooming beauty of a sunrise and the life that unfolds in its radiance shows the wonder of time passing.

$28, Walker. Out September

Promises and Lies

Sue Whiting

A year after a devastating bushfire, Wangaroo Bay is still recovering. Fletch’s family lost their home, and his best friend Immie lost her firefighter dad. As Immie’s grandparents push to reopen the Bayfire investigation, Fletch’s family wants to move on. When a local is charged with arson, emotions flare, dividing the town and jeopardising promises and secrets. The fire’s aftermath now threatens to destroy Fletch and Immie’s lives and families.

$18, Walker. Out September

Sarah Armstrong

Cas thought running away from home would solve all his problems. But he didn’t count on getting hopelessly lost in the tangled Australian bush. Alone and afraid, Cas has given up all hope of rescue when he stumbles upon a strange family hiding out in the wilderness. When he discovers they’re also on the run – from something so big, they won’t even talk about it – he realises his problems are just beginning.

$19, Hardie Grant. Out now

Poetry

May You Always Know

Jessica Urlichs

$23, Moa. Out September

The Locked Room

Adam Cece

Andy and three other kids wake up in a locked room. The room has no windows, but it has a locked door, with a countdown clock above it. They have less than an hour to figure out how to get out of this room. But when they do …? There’s another locked room, and more locked doors. And they can’t go back. High concept, high stakes, high emotions – this story packs a punch and you won’t be able to put it down.

$20, Penguin. Out August

Nonfiction

The Story Writer’s Handbook

Katrina Nannestad, illus. Cheryl Orsini

$27, ABC. Out September

The Poisoned King: Impossible Creatures 2

Katherine Rundell

When Christopher Forrester is unexpectedly woken by a miniature dragon chewing on his face, his heart leaps for joy. For months he has dreamed of returning to the Archipelago, the secret islands where all the creatures of myth still live. But he did not know it would involve a rescue mission on the back of a sphinx, or a plan to enter a dragon’s lair. Nor did he imagine it would involve a girl with a flock of birds at her side, a new-hatched chick in her pocket and a ravenous hunger for justice. $19, Bloomsbury. Out September

NONFICTION

Song of a Thousand Seas

Zara Fraillon

Houdini the octopus lives in an aquarium. But the singing of the Sea is growing stronger and harder to resist. Can Houdini make Juno understand what she needs before it’s too late? Weary of her dull aquarium life and disruptive visitors, Houdini, a creature with nine brains, longs for her wild Sea home. When she meets the inquisitive Juno, Houdini feels a spark of wonder. Yet, the Sea’s call grows stronger. Can Houdini make Juno understand what she needs before time runs out?

$15, UQP. Out September

The Secret World of Spider Webs

Jan Beccaloni, illus. Namasri Niumim

Spider webs are drastically under-appreciated, and yet without them, the world would be overrun by insects. Because spider webs are so successfully hidden, very little is known about these beautiful but deadly traps. From classic orb webs, to spectacular tent webs, hidden trapdoor webs and water webs that attach to the surface of a flowing river, The Secret World of Spider Webs reveals the incredibly diverse ways spiders catch their prey. Featuring foil-stamped illustrations that accentuate the intricacy of spiders’ web designs.

$33, Thames and Hudson. Out September

This Bird

Astred Hicks

Written by Astred Hicks in collaboration with bird scientist Dr Holly Parsons, and featuring Astred’s distinctive and engaging illustrations, This Bird features fun facts about some remarkable Australian native birds and hints on where (and how) to find them!

Ages 6 and over

$33, CSIRO. Out August

False versus Facts

Dan Marshall

Can you really see the Great Wall of China from Space? Is there such a thing as the five second rule? And was Napoleon really that short?

Separate truth from lies, bust some myths and discover once and for all – what is false and what is fact. The truth may surprise you!

$20, Walker. Out August

Omnibird

Giselle Clarkson

Omnibird describes 12 common birds from habitats around the world –eagles, owls and seabirds, starlings, ducks and swans. You will explore the incredible internal structure of bird bones, learn what a gizzard stone is for, meet the tiny creatures that live on birds, and find the fascinating in eggs, bird poo, feathers, and flight patterns.

$38, Gecko. Out October

Maisie Hayes Is Not For Sale

Allayne L Webster

Maisy Hayes is struggling. With her family facing poverty and serious illness, and her absent father living a new, lavish life, Maisy feels cheated and hides her shame. When her dad insists she stay with him, showering her with gifts, Maisy questions if it’s truly what she wants and must find the strength to act.

$23, Text. Out September

All the World’s a Stage: Peter Pan

J.M. Barrie et al

Join Peter, Wendy, Tinker Bell and Captain Hook in this sound book adventure and prepare to be swept away with one of the world’s best-loved stories for the stage. Press the musical note on every page to hear classical music that will transport you to the world of Neverland.

$45, Magic Cat. Out September

GRAPHIC NOVELS AGES 8-12

Unfairies

Huw Aaron

Join our impulsive, hilarious and somewhat surprising hero Pip on a breakneck adventure among the warring unfairy tribes of The Garden. Expect sinister plots, epic acorn-based warfare, a dubious ancient prophecy, thrilling centipede chases … and a hero who doesn’t give two hoots about anything.

$20, Puffin. Out September

$20, A&U. Out September ALSO OUT

Teen

This Season’s Draft

Jason Gent

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR

Fly, Wild Swans

Jung Chang

Jung Chang’s Wild Swans was a book that defined a generation, an epic personal history of Jung, her mother and grandmother – “three daughters of China”. The book opened with her grandmother’s birth –and foot binding – in 1909 and finished in 1978, when the Mao era officially ended. It became a sensation and sold more than 13 million copies. China is now at another watershed moment with the era of Chairman Xi Jinping greatly affecting the lives of Jung and her mother. Fly, Wild Swans is Jung’s heartfelt response to that experience, and a book filled with drama, love, curiosity and incredible history.

$38, HarperCollins. Out September

Crossing

Sabrin Hasbun

After the loss of her mother, Sabrin tries to renegotiate her mixed identity and understand her mother’s choices which led her from an oppressive childhood in a village in Tuscany to finding love and community activism in Palestine. This is a beautiful and compelling family memoir retracing the love story between Sabrin Hasbun’s Palestinian father and Italian mother, and the life of her half-Italian, halfPalestinian family from the 1960s to 2020. It’s about overcoming grief and what it means to lose not only loved ones, but also a place in the world and a sense of belonging.

$35, Footnote. Out August

ALSO OUT

No Dancing in the Lift

Mandy

Sayer

A clear-eyed memoir and unforgettable love letter from a daughter to her father and a wife to her husband.

$33, Transit Lounge. Out September

The Tale of a Wall Nasser Abu Srour

This is the story of how, over 30 years in captivity, Nasser Abu Srour crafted a new definition of freedom.

$25, Penguin. Out July

My Life in Crime

John McKechnie

Mother Mary Comes to Me

Arundhati Roy

Distraught and even a “little ashamed” at the intensity of her response to the death of the mother she ran from at age 18, Arundhati began to write Mother Mary Comes to Me. The result is this astonishing, disconcerting, surprisingly funny chronicle of the author’s life, from childhood to the present, from Kerala to Delhi. Arundhati Roy’s first work of memoir, this is a soaring account, both intimate and inspiring, of how the author became the person and the writer she is, shaped by circumstance, but above all by her relationship to her extraordinary, singular mother Mary, who she describes as “my shelter and my storm”.

$37, Hamish Hamilton. Out September

In a career spanning five decades, barrister, prosecutor, judge and corruption commissioner John McKechnie AO KC has seen up close how the law touches the lives of us all. In this engaging and entertaining memoir, McKechnie takes readers on a tour of his distinguished career, and explores the criminal cases, big and small, that have stayed with him. McKechnie also includes his compilation of bite-sized “quirky cases”, historical excursions into moments of legal and personal interest – all written with humour and, above all, great humanity.

$33, Upswell. Out August

White Male Stand-Up

Alan Davies

White Male Stand-Up is the story of how Alan Davies threw himself into the joyous world of stand-up comedy and a successful television career, but how echoes of his traumatic childhood saw him repeatedly dismantle everything around him. With a cast of well-known comedians, actors, agents and producers, Alan awkwardly navigates his life from the camaraderie of the comedy circuit via TV’s Jonathan Creek, to the unwelcome realisation that most people think he has had a perm. This very personal memoir is a rich tale of uplifting highs and painful lows, of success and excess, and the dangers of both.

$35, Monoray. Out September

Things in Nature Merely Grow

Yiyun Li

There is no good way to say this – because words fall short. It takes only an instant for death to become fact, “a single point in a timeline”. Living now on this single point, Li turns to thinking and reasoning and searching for words that might hold a place for James. Li does what she can: including not just writing but gardening, reading Camus and Wittgenstein, learning the piano, and living thinkingly alongside death. This is a book for James, but it is not a book about grieving. Things in Nature Merely Grow is a testament to Li’s indomitable spirit.

$33, 4th Estate. Out August

Murriyang

Stan Grant

Murriyang, in part Grant’s response to the Voice referendum, eschews politics for love. In this gorgeous, gracefilled book, he zooms out to reflect on the biggest questions, ranging across the history, literature, theology, music and art that has shaped him. Setting aside anger for kindness, he reaches past the secular to the sacred and transcendent. Informed by spiritual thinkers from around the world, Murriyang is a Wiradjuri prayer in one long uninterrupted breath, challenging Western notions of linear time in favour of deep, circular time – the Dreaming. $25, S&S Bundyi. Out August

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR

The Eye of the Dragonfly

Tracey Lee Holmes

Tracey Lee Holmes has consistently broken barriers. The first female presenter of the ABC’s, Grandstand, she has pioneered coverage of and by women in sport. Her longform style of reporting on world events like the Olympics and FIFA World Cups have introduced us to athletes from all backgrounds and nations. As anchor, reporter and podcaster, Holmes has never sought to divorce sport and the politics of the world it’s played in. Bracing, intimate and characteristically unconventional, The Eye of the Dragonfly gives us the full picture of a remarkable life in sport.

$37, Simon & Schuster. Out August

Sister

Bullwinkel

Lynette Silver

Vivian Bullwinkel was the sole survivor of a massacre of 21 nursing sisters and one civilian woman by Japanese troops on Bangka Island, during WWII, and was detained in a prison camp in Sumatra. Vivian revealed the truth of what had happened to army investigators but they censored her testimony. She was gagged by her own government and by the Australian army, who ordered her to keep quiet. In Sister Bullwinkel, Lynette Silver reveals what really happened on Bangka Island. $40, Sally Milner. Out now

All the Way to the River

Elizabeth Gilbert

In 2000, Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya. They became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. When tragedy entered their lives, the truth was finally laid bare – the two were in love. They were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe. All the Way to the River is a landmark memoir that will resonate with anyone who has ever been captive to love or to any other passion, substance or craving and who yearns, at long last, for liberation. $35, Bloomsbury. Out September

Indignity

Lea Ypi

When Lea Ypi discovers a photo of her grandmother, Leman, honeymooning in the Alps in 1941, she is faced with unsettling questions. Growing up, she was told records of her grandmother’s youth were destroyed in the early days of communism in Albania. Who was the real Leman Ypi? And why was she smiling in the winter of 1941? Indignity is a thrilling reimagining of the past, transporting us to the vanished world of Ottoman aristocracy, the making of modern Greece and Albania, a global financial crisis, the horrors of war and the dawn of communism in the Balkans.

$37, Allen Lane. Out September

Gertrude Stein

Francesca Wade

In this literary detective story, Francesca Wade delves into the creation of the Stein myth. We see her posing for Picasso’s portrait; at the centre of Bohemian Parisian life hosting the likes of Matisse and Hemingway; racing through the French countryside with her enigmatic companion Alice B. Toklas. Yet Stein hoped to be remembered not for her personality but for her work. Using astonishing never-before-seen material, Wade uncovers the origins of Stein’s radical writing, and reveals new depths to the storied relationship which made it possible.

$40, Faber. Out August

Homework

Geoff Dyer

Geoff Dyer was born in Cheltenham in the late 50s, the only child of a dinner lady and a planning engineer. Raised in a workingclass area, his childhood was filled with games of mock battles, kicking around beachballs, and collecting football cards, conkers, and Action Man figures. Passing his 11-plus exams, he attended Cheltenham Grammar School, which significantly altered his life’s path. Dyer reflects on his 60s and 70s English childhood, a period shaped by WWII’s aftermath yet moving towards change. $40, Canongate. Out September

Dirtbag Billionaire

David Gelles

Founded in 1973, Patagonia has grown into a wildly popular producer and retailer of jackets, hats and fleece vests, posting sales of more than a billion dollars a year. At the heart of the story is the company’s founder, the legendary rock climber Yvon Chouinard. In the twilight of his career, he gave away Patagonia, renouncing his wealth and committing the company’s profits to fighting the climate crisis. David Gelles describes the key moments that shaped the company and its leader, creating a new model for corporate life and ethics.

$37, Text. Out September

Inside Out

Kathleen Folbigg & Tracy Chapman In 2003 Kathleen Folbigg was convicted of killing her four babies. Her trial relied on her husband’s accusations and diary entries expressing her guilt over her children’s deaths. She was sentenced to 40 years in prison. In Inside Out, Kathleen lays bare her time in prison, her life before she was wrongfully accused, and her hopes for the future after having been released, pardoned and exonerated, 20 years after she was convicted. $37, Penguin. Out September

Hawke PM

David Day

Bob Hawke was a pivotal 20th-century Australian figure, transitioning from a powerful trade union leader to Australia’s longest-serving Labor prime minister. His government transformed the economy, reoriented foreign policy toward Asia, and introduced Medicare and women’s advancement. His tenure, marked by national confidence, the America’s Cup win, and the Bicentenary, also saw national introspection regarding Indigenous treaties, Gallipoli and identity. Despite immense popularity, his public image contrasted with a challenging family life and a determined successor. This is the definitive biography of a key prime minister. $50, HarperCollins. Out now

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR

The Man Who Planted Canberra

Robert Macklin

London-born Charles Weston, a leading figure in the British gardening industry, migrated to Australia in 1896, seeking new challenges and freedom from the British class system. After Federation in 1901, he focused on Canberra, giving life to his “dream city” and reforesting its surrounds. This highly readable story explores Weston’s role as Canberra’s tree planter, offering fresh insights into Home Affairs Minister King O’Malley and Walter and Marion Griffin, and the creation of the national capital. It also highlights the 3 million trees and shrubs planted from around the world to create a climate-resilient template garden city. $40, NLA. Out September

Staff Picks

Dickens The Enchanter

Peter Conrad

Peter Conrad, one of the great literary critics of our time, wants to reposition Dickens as a true god of literature – with the rarest ability to create worlds and corral a seemingly omnipotent imagination. Dickens The Enchanter is an intellectually rich and brilliantly readable work; a bold discovery of Dickens’ universe that upends our ideas about literature and restores our faith in the power of imagination. Peter believes that Dickens alone rivals Shakespeare – and in many ways betters him. He charts how the forces of creation and destruction meet in Dickens, who was ultimately destroyed by his own creative genius.

$45, Continuum. Out now

ALSO OUT

Beyond the Meeting of the Waters

Wayne Atkinson

Yorta Yorta Elder Wayne Atkinson’s journey from the banks of a river, to the halls of higher learning and a lifetime of activism.

$50, MUP. Out September

Books we love

On the Calculation of Volume I

Solvej Balle

$27, Faber

Tara Selter has fallen out of time. She is stuck in the 18th of November, living the day again and again. The novel is structured around her notes on the iterations of this same day, each one a tiny bit different. Why is this happening? Will she escape? I’m moving straight on to book two!

- Sarah

The South

Tash Aw

$33, 4th Estate

A tender, compassionate look into the lives of a family battling against and with time, and with change. If you liked Orbital or Call Me By Your Name, I think you’ll love this!

- Alex

New Age of Sexism

Laura Bates

$37, Simon & Schuster

If you’re a parent, teacher, or involved in training young people at all, this is an eye-opening exploration of how emerging tech like deepfakes, AI,

chatbot ”girlfriends’ and the metaverse are being used to reinvent misogyny in creative new ways. Essential reading for anyone interested in safeguarding young women in our society.

- Jane

On Earth We’re

Briefly Gorgeous

Ocean Vuong

$25, Vintage Arrow

A novel in the form of a letter to his illiterate mother, detailing life and love through the language and words she never had access to. Representing 1990s post-Vietnam-war generational impacts as a Vietnamese-American immigrant. The title and book encapsulates the fleeting impermanent nature of both suffering and joy during life.

- Charlie

Just Kids

Patti Smith

$25, Bloomsbury

Set in New York City from the 60s-80s, Patti Smith tells the story of her

Standstill

Sashi Perera

From comedian Sashi Perera, Standstill is a memoir of reluctant self-discovery by a person forced towards a mirror, finally looking in and saying, “Oh shit.”

$37, Penguin. Out August

relationship with Robert Mapplethorpefrom their chance meeting as teenagers to Robert’s final breath. It is a portrait of human fragility and resilience, a love letter to art and passion. Smith exercises masterful narrative control that will make you care for Patti, Robert and their friends as if they were your own.

- Amelia

Salsa in the Suburbs

Alejandra Martinez

$35, Puncher and Wattmann

Join Papa and two of his very different daughters adjusting and struggling to embrace each other and life in Australia. With a distinct Latin American flavour. Sad, funny, life-affirming.

- Anna

What I Loved

Siri Hustvedt

$23, Sceptre

This book stretches across the expanse of the art world from the 1970s all the way to street art and rave culture in the 1990s. Hustvedt’s wit enhances this intimate look into art, love, affairs and parenthood.

- Mo

The Secret Lives of Single Medieval Women

Rosalie Gilbert

Discover the vibrant and often surprising lives of single women in the Middle Ages. Whether running businesses, navigating religious life, or simply surviving societal expectations, these women played a crucial role in shaping medieval society. Rich with historical records, poetry and legal documents, this medieval history book brings to light the personal stories of those often left out of traditional narratives.

$35, Mango. Out now

The Shortest History of Migration

Ian Goldin

A visionary thinker tells a story of the movement of peoples that spans every age and continent and goes to the heart of what makes us human. Drawn from ancient records and the latest genetic research, it recounts strange, terrible and uplifting tales of migrants past and present, examining the legacies of empire, slavery and war. Finally, Goldin brings together the evidence of history with the most recent data to suggest how we might create a more humane future – one that allows us to reap the tremendous benefits that migration can offer.

$25, Old Street. Out August

The Art of War and Peace

David Kilcullen and Greg Mills

Since the fall of Kabul and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US-led liberal international order is giving way to a more chaotic and contested world system. Western credibility and deterrence are diminishing in the face of wars in Europe and the Middle East, tensions across the Taiwan Strait, and rising populism and terrorism around the world. Weighing up past lessons, present observations and predictions about the future, The Art of War and Peace explores how wars can be won on the battlefield and how that success can be translated into a stable and enduring peace.

$37, Ithaka. Out now

Code of Silence

Diana Thorp

Eighty years after WWII, the stories of women who secretly served Australia in WWII as signals intelligence operatives are emerging. Stationed across the country, these women, many still in their teens, intercepted enemy communications, providing vital intelligence that aided allied victories in the Coral Sea and Midway and the plot to assassinate the Japanese commander behind Pearl Harbour. This extraordinary account is not just a war story, but a coming-of-age tale for a nation, rewriting the Anzac narrative to include these remarkable women.

$38, Monash University. Out October

We the People

Jill Lepore

The US constitution is among the oldest in the world – and one of the most difficult to amend. Although nearly 12,000 amendments have been proposed since 1789, only 25 have ever been ratified. Without amendment, the risk of political violence rises. So does the risk of constitutional change by presidential power. Leading Harvard historian Jill Lepore captures the stories of ordinary people who have attempted everything from abolishing the Electoral College to guaranteeing environmental rights and how almost all those bids have failed. She argues that the constitution was never intended to be preserved, but was expected to be gradually altered.

$40, John Murray. Out September

AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

1975

National Library of Australia

Australia, 1975: Jaws and The Rocky Horror Show fill cinemas alongside local hits such as Picnic at Hanging Rock Countdown provides the soundtrack, featuring Skyhooks and ABBA. Fashion highlights include flared jeans, platform shoes and burnt orange. Prime minister Gough Whitlam faces economic struggles but introduces major social reforms like universal healthcare and no-fault divorce. The year ends dramatically with Whitlam’s dismissal by governorgeneral Sir John Kerr on 11 November. Fifty years later, the National Library of Australia reflects on this pivotal year and 1970s life. $20, NLA. Out September

Nazis in Australia

Graham Blewitt

In 1986 journalist Mark Aarons presented a Radio National series, which established that a significant number of Nazi collaborators and war criminals had settled in Australia after WWII. Aarons’ explosive reporting led to the formation in 1987 of the Special Investigations Unit, which investigated more than 800 suspected war criminals living in Australia. This book gathers the recollections of historians, archaeologists, police investigators, SIU leaders, translators and lawyers to create a detailed insiders’ account of the unit’s efforts to prosecute Australian residents and citizens believed to have participated in horrific war crimes.

$40, Schwartz. Out August

ALSO OUT

Essays

Reacher

Lee Child

24 fascinating personal reflections on his life and work, crafted across decades. $37, Bantam. Out August

Essays Thirst

A celebration of freshwater from authors including Olivia Laing, Elif Shafak, Rebecca Solnit and Ocean Vuong. $25, Wellcome Collection. Out September

The Shameful Isles

David Price

In 1907, the Western Australian government began a program of forcibly removing supposedly ill Aboriginal people to purposebuilt lock hospitals on islands off the coast of Carnarvon. There, they were trapped against their will and exposed to experimental drugs and procedures. Many never returned and are buried in unmarked graves in the sandhills on the islands. Using meticulous research and contemporaneous accounts, The Shameful Isles reveals one of Western Australia’s most tragic acts of statesponsored oppression from which First Nations peoples are still recovering. $36, Fremantle. Out now

First Knowledges: Ceremonies

Georgia Curran and Wesley Enoch

First Knowledges: Ceremony tells how Indigenous ceremonies link people today to those of the past in a continuum of inherited stories, places and memories – from rites of passage to smoking ceremonies and Welcomes to Country, and many others. The authors focus on examples from their lives, including personal ceremonies from Quandamooka, stories told to them by Elders and experiences of performing at opening ceremonies for national events. $27, Thames & Hudson. Out August

The Eagle and the Crow

JM Field

Part instruction manual and part philosophical text, The Eagle and the Crow is a profound work of First Nations knowledge and research. Written as a series of lyric essays, JM Field’s book traverses Gamilaraay conceptions of time and place, the ways English can quietly disrupt languages and cultures, and the form and practical functions of kinship systems. Field’s fascinating insights from mathematics offer a map for the revitalisation of Gamilaraay social structures once prohibited during the Missionary Era. $25, University of Queensland. Out now

POLITICS

Essays

On Alexis Wright

Geordie Williamson

Noted critic Geordie

Williamson reflects with deep insight on the powerful work of the acclaimed author.

$23, Black Inc. Out September

Australian history

A Fair Day’s Work

Sean Scalmer

Tracing 150 years of campaigns for workers’ rights.

$35, Melbourne University. Out August

Islam

John Tolan

Amid contemporary Muslim world upheaval, from legalist-mystic debates to radical groups and Western prejudice, Islam is often mischaracterised as unitary. This book offers a timely, diverse history of the religion from 7th-century Mecca to today. Challenging conventional accounts, John Tolan’s research details Islam’s origins with Jewish, Christian, and other traditions, its spread across diverse cultures, the evolution of varied beliefs over 14 centuries, and its crucial context for current debates.

$50, Princeton University. Out August

No Straight Road Takes You There

Rebecca Solnit

In her latest essay collection, award-winning writer Rebecca Solnit explores responses to the climate crisis, as well as reflections on women’s rights, the fight for democracy, the trends in masculinity, and the rise of the far right in the West. Incantatory and poetic, positive and engaging, these essays argue for the long-term view and the power of collective action, making a case for seeding change wherever possible, and offering us all a path out of the wilderness.

$37, Granta. Out August

The Road to Freedom

Joseph Stiglitz

Despite neoliberalism’s failures, its narrative persists, claiming less regulation and more capitalism boost prosperity and freedom. Stiglitz asks: whose freedom counts when it comes at another’s expense, especially regarding corporate power? He challenges neoliberal giants like Hayek and Friedman, reclaiming “freedom” to argue that unregulated markets hinder growth, concentrating wealth and impacting our legal and social freedoms. The Road to Freedom offers a powerful re-evaluation of democracy, economics and what constitutes a good society – and provides a roadmap to how we might achieve it.

$25, Penguin. Out now

Dead Centre: Vantage Point Issue 2

Richard Denniss

Science evidence tells us that new fossil fuel mines will cause catastrophic climate damage, yet politicians deem ending them “extreme”. Similarly, with online gambling, junk food ads, or child incarceration, clear evidence of harm exists, but the “sensible centre” is defined by politics, not facts. Media often presents a false two-sided debate, enabling the political right to thrive where facts struggle against fear. In this essay, Richard Denniss of The Australia Institute argues that when both major parties oppose reform, the “sensible centre” merely supports the status quo, highlighting a contradiction between centrism and evidence in Australian democratic debate.

$20, Australia Institute. Out August

Meanjin 84.3 Spring 2025

Marika Sosnowski

How robust is Australian democracy? Fifty years ago, an elected government was dismissed, its reasons unclear. This season, we explore the cultural and political impact of 11 November 1975 with some of Australia’s finest writers: Tom McIlroy interviews surviving journalists; Tyson Holloway-Clark examines Pine Gap from a First Nations perspective; Virginia Haussegger tracks 50 years of political misogyny; Ben Eltham assesses Whitlam’s arts legacy and Anne Twomey discusses constitutional threats.

$50, Meanjin. Out September

Griffith Review 89: Here Be Monsters

Carody Culver and Lisa Fuller

Portent, symbol, metaphor: from the Bunyip to the Slenderman, from Count Dracula to the (far more sinister) emotional vampire, monsters of all forms have offered us ways to express and exorcise our fears for thousands of years. Griffith Review 89: Here Be Monsters surveys beasts and bogeymen past and present, real and imagined, to peel back the layers of our social and cultural anxieties. What are we most afraid of? When is monstrosity alluring rather than frightening? And what form might the monsters of the future take?

$30, Griffith Review. Out August

Living Greatly in the Law

Hal Wooten, edited by David Dixon and Andrew Lynch

John Halden “Hal” Wootten’s vision of what was important led to a series of interesting jumps in his career, from barrister to law school dean to supreme court judge; from royal commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody to chairman of the Australian Press Council. At all times he sought to “live greatly in the law” by his values and for those “upon whom the law bears harshly”. In this edited collection of essays, speeches and unpublished work, David Dixon and Andrew Lynch present Wootten’s contribution to shaping a more just society.

$40, UNSW. Out September

PHILOSOPHY

Plain Life

Antonia Pont

What would it mean to be able to live a plain life? Would a plain life just be an unambitious one, without colour, variation, unknowing or luck? Or would a plain life be one in which we’d fret slightly less, suspect ourselves less, and listen to ourselves and others in new ways? In Plain Life, Antonia Pont questions our thinking about capacities, virtue, envy, wanting, love and kindness, suggesting that it might be fine, more than enough, indeed so much, to live a plain life.

$35, NewSouth. Out August

Death

Sadhguru

Sadhguru explores death not as a catastrophe, but as an essential, spiritually rich aspect of life. He argues that fearing death is truly a fear of loss, and shows how overcoming this fear allows for a deeper, more purposeful life. Drawing from his own experience and wisdom, Sadhguru demystifies death, offering practical guidance on preparing for one’s own death, assisting the dying, and supporting their journey beyond. He presents a transformative perspective: death as a continuum, not an end.

$37, Penguin. Out now

AUSTRALIAN STUDIES

Conspiracy Nation

Cam Wilson and Ariel Bogle

In this boots-onthe-ground report, journalists Ariel Bogle and Cam Wilson meet the Australians dedicated to living and spreading conspiracy theories, those who have been left reeling by their impact, and the ones who are fighting back. From Port Arthur and QAnon, to the rise of “wellness” influencers and “sovereign citizen” gurus, to the delusions that inspired the Wieambilla murders, Bogle and Wilson show the devastating consequences of unchecked lies and radicalisation and argue that by ignoring the looming threat of conspiratorial thinking, we put our community at risk. $37, Ultimo. Out now

LITERARY CRITICISM

On Patrick White’s Dilemmas

Vasridas Karalis

On Patrick White’s Dilemmas casts a sceptical eye on the grandiosity and hysteria of literary critics and critical theorists. It explores the highs and lows of the 20th-century novel in a dazzling manner while dissecting White’s singularity: his startling use of language, defiance of fad and ideology, mastery of ambiguity, irony and mystery, quotidian drollness, and complex mythopoetic storytelling.

$27, Brandl & Schlesinger. Out now

ALSO OUT

Poetry

An Open Book

David Malouf

A modern classic released in paperback for the first time, including seven new poems. $25, University of Queensland. Out now

Nature

Insect Architecture

Tom Jackson

The ultimate guide to insect artistry and innovation. $50, Princeton University. Out September

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Woodside vs the Planet: Quarterly Essay 99

Marian Wilkinson

A story of power and influence, pollution and protest. The world may have committed to curbing fossil-fuel use in the 2030s, but Australia’s fossil-fuel giants have doubled down. They have plans for increased production into the 2070s. Support from the major parties is locked in, so something has to give. In this ground-breaking essay, Marian Wilkinson reveals the ways of corporate power and investigates the new face of protest and disruption. The stakes could not be higher. $30, Quarterly Essay. Out September

Science Under Siege

Michael Mann and Peter Hotez

Michael Mann and Peter Hotez have spent the past 20 years on the front lines of the battle to convey accurate, reliable, and trustworthy information about science in the face of determined and nihilistic opposition. In this powerful manifesto, they reveal the five main forces threatening science: plutocrats, pros, petrostates, phonies, and the press. Armed with the information in this book, we can be empowered to promote scientific truths, shine light on channels of dark money, dismantle the corporations poisoning the planet, and ultimately avert disaster. $37, Scribe. Out September

ALSO OUT

Environment

Under the Influence of Salmon

Steve Harris

Exploring the enduring colonial obsession with mastery over nature. $40, Melbourne Books. Out September

Cooking Eat Yourself Healthy

Jamie Oliver

120 easy, mouthwatering recipes to energise, satisfy, nourish and revitalise.

$60, Michael Joseph. Out September

Corporate Social Responsibility in an Age of Existential Threats

Bryan Horrigan

In this groundbreaking book, Professor Bryan Horrigan provides a roadmap for navigating the complexity of corporate social responsibility and the current controversies surrounding it. How is the landscape changing for Australia and the world on corporate diversity, climate disclosures, and social and environmental harms? This book is essential reading for those in the public, private, not-for-profit and university sectors whose work concerns business and corporations in society. $20, Monash University. Out August

GENDER STUDIES

W*nkernomics

James Schloeffel and Charles Firth

Written by comedians

James Schloeffel and Charles Firth, this business self-help guide teaches readers how to outmanoeuvre their colleagues and climb the corporate ladder with nothing more than an obnoxious Linkedin profile, a pack of Post-it Notes and the phrase “circle back”. Spread over 10 informative units, W*nkernomics covers essential workplace skills such as how to write a passive aggressive email, how to snow your colleagues with acronyms (HTSYCWA), and how to look like a genius in meetings when you don’t know anything at all. $35, Hardie Grant. Out July

ANTHROPOLOGY

Snake Talk

Tyson Yunkaporta and Megan Kelleher In Aboriginal stories, the Serpent is both creator and destroyer, connecting physical and spiritual realms, story and history, earth and sky. What if this ancient lore is universal? Tyson Yunkaporta and Megan Kelleher’s Snake Talk explores how global Serpent myths – like the Basilisk, Wyvern, Naga, and Quetzalcoatl – hold knowledge crucial to our current crisis. Following these stories worldwide, from Kathmandu to Aotearoa, Mesoamerica to China and northern Europe, they explore how to align human gifts with creation patterns, seeking answers from makers honoring the Serpent. $37, Text. Out September

No One Wants to See Your D*ck

Jess Davies

The rising popularity of misogynistic content and toxic masculinity influencers combined with a lack of regulation within social media has created a perfect storm. Our increasingly online world has opened women and young girls up to a whole new level of violence that follows them into their homes, schools and workplaces. Covering everything from cyberflashing and deepfakes to the manosphere and catfishing, this is a vital toolkit for understanding and putting an end to violence against women.

$35, Headline. Out August

ASTRONOMY

Classical Mythology of the Constellations

Annette Giesecke

As long as humans have lived on Earth, they have gazed up at the starry sky with fascination. In this beautifully designed work, stunningly illustrated by Jim Tierney, Giesecke tells the origin stories of the 48 constellations, first catalogued by the astronomer Ptolemy in the first century CE. A final section covers the names, locations, and descriptions of 40 constellations catalogued by astronomers in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. With two illustrated star maps and 48 color plates. $50, Black Dog & Leventhal. Out August

The Devil Takes Bitcoin

Jake Adelstein

Even in hell, Bitcoin talks. This modern take on an old Japanese saying still holds true. Cryptocurrency was supposed to do for money what the internet did for information but its virtual existence unleashed real-world chaos – especially in the homeland of its mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. So what really happened? Here’s the true story of the humbleto-hot commodity, from the former geek website that launched the boom to an inside world of absent-minded CEOs, hucksters, hackers, cybercrooks, drug dealers, corrupt federal agents, evangelical libertarians and clueless techies. $35, Scribe. Out September

Prove It

Elizabeth Finkel

Developed over centuries, the scientific method, which relies on data over opinion, underpins democratic institutions like law, academia, government, and journalism through its emphasis on facts, robust discussion, and real-world testing. In an era of post-truth, Elizabeth Finkel explores how this method addresses controversies from gravitational waves to Covid-19 origins, human evolution, and consciousness. The book reveals the core elements of scientific thinking, capturing the drama of discovery and debate, and arguing for its increasing importance.

$37, La Trobe University. Out August

A Little History of Everything

Tim Coulson

In one book, Oxford professor Tim Coulson seeks to simply explain what science tells us about the history of the universe from the Big Bang to the existence of humanity, and whether our existence was always inevitable or if we are just incredibly lucky. Coulson’s engaging and accessible storytelling will enthral even the most reluctant of readers with its exploration of what thousands of years of study has told us about who we are, where we came from and what happens next. $25, Michael Joseph. Out August

Saffron Incorporated

Stuart Coupe

Abe Saffron was a chancer who kickstarted his criminal career SP bookmaking and receiving stolen goods. Running pubs opened up opportunities for young Abe. By the 1940s, US servicemen on leave from the war were flooding Sydney looking for booze, food, girls, sex and entertainment. Saffron was not the first crime figure to tap into the world of entertainment but he would become one of the most powerful in Australia. His tentacles stretched around the country and his name dominated news headlines and police briefs for decades. Even after his death, his shadow still hovers over the industry.

$35, Hachette. Out August

The Periodic Table

The periodic table was invented in the 1800s, long before anyone knew what was inside an atom. As more elements were found, the table got bigger. Some were discovered at risk to life and limb: the hunt for the explosive element fluorine injured or even killed several scientists, who came to be known as the fluorine martyrs. The table continues to grow as scientists push the boundaries and add to the 118 elements discovered so far. Illustrated with bold, clear infographics and gorgeous photographs which show even the most familiar elements in a new light.

$55, Dorling Kindersley. Out September

Sex Is a Spectrum

Agustín Fuentes

Leading biological anthropologist Agustín Fuentes traces the origin and evolution of sex, describing the many ways in the animal kingdom of being female, male, or both. Turning to humans, he presents compelling evidence that attests to the diversity of our ancestors’ sexual bonds, gender roles and family and community structures. Fuentes tackles hot-button debates around sports and medicine, explaining why we can acknowledge that females and males are not the same while also embracing a biocultural reality where none of us fits neatly into only one of two categories.

$40, Princeton University. Out August

NATURE

Bird School

Adam Nicolson

Close to Adam Nicolson’s home in Sussex, there is a forgotten field overrun by bracken and thicketed by brambles. It is the haunt of deer and many birds – nightingales, the occasional cuckoo, ravens, robins, owls and in summer the sweet-singing warblers that come north from Africa to breed in English woods. Beautifully written and woven through with philosophy, literature, science and a sense of wonder, Bird School pulls back the curtain on seemingly ordinary birds, taking a long, careful and concerned look at our relationship with the wild.

$50, HarperCollins. Out August

The Backyard Bird Chronicles

Amy

Tan

In 2016, Amy Tan grew overwhelmed by the state of the world: hatred and misinformation became a daily presence on social media, and the country felt more divisive than ever. In search of peace, Tan turned toward the natural world just beyond her window and, specifically, the birds visiting her yard. The Backyard Bird Chronicles maps the passage of time through daily entries, thoughtful questions, and beautiful original sketches.

$45, Corsair. Out September

A Woman’s Eye, Her Art

Drusilla Modjeska

A Woman’s Eye, Her Art looks back to the lives and art of European modernist women who recast the ways in which women’s bodies could be seen –from the self-portraits of Paula ModersohnBecker, to the Surrealist Claude Cahun who exposed the masquerades of femininity, to the radical nudes of photo-artists Lee Miller and Dora Maar. This beautiful book, richly illustrated and elegantly written, is about the spirit it took for these artistwomen to step out on that path, and the courage it took to stay there.

$55, Penguin. Out September

How to Art

Kate Bryan

Kate Bryan is a selfconfessed art addict who has worked with art for more than 20 years. But before she studied art history, she’d been into a gallery just twice in her life and had no idea she was entering an elitist world. From tips on how to enjoy famous artworks like the Mona Lisa, to how to own art and make art at home, through to advice for making a career as an artist, How to Art gives art to everyone, and makes it fun.

$37, Hutchinson Heinemann. Out September

ALSO OUT

Culture

Living Art: Papua New Guinea

Susan Cochrane

$75, Black Inc. Out September

Visual art

Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot

William Kentridge

$200, Hauser & Wirth. Out August

Visual art

Janet Dawson: Far Away, So Close

Denise Mimmocchi et al

$65, Art Gallery NSW. Out now

Birrundudu Drawings

John Carty et al

The Birrundudu Drawings represent one of the most significant bodies of historical imagery ever introduced into the canons of Australian art. The crayon drawings were created by 16 Aboriginal men working on Birrundudu, a large cattle station across the Northern Territory and Western Australia, in 1945. The men who made these drawings captured an extraordinary record of the Country, ancestors, history and ceremonies of the region. Apart from a handful of drawings, most of the collection has never been seen.

$80, Upswell. Out August

Yolngu Power

Cara Pinchbeck et al

The art of Yirrkala is inextricably intertwined with its cultural, political and social history. For almost 100 years, artists from the small community in Northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory have shared art as a means of cultural diplomacy. Yolngu Power features more than 200 works from the 1940s to the present day and considers the significant moments in Yirrkala’s history when artists have consciously altered their practice, developed new styles or embraced new mediums.

$65, Art Gallery NSW. Out August

Artists by Artists

Michelle Grey and Susan Armstrong

This is art in the making – a dynamic and intimate exploration of Australia’s most engaging artists capturing each other in portraiture. In this ambitious endeavour, 50 artists are thoughtfully paired, offering a rare glimpse into their artistic processes and personal connections. As insightful as it is diverse, Artists by Artists is a conversation that unfolds from the sofa to the studio, from the spoken word to the painted canvas. It is an essential document of Australia’s contemporary art scene. $80, Thames & Hudson. Out September

Artemisia

Asia Graziano

Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi was one of the most accomplished artists of the Baroque period. This 320-page volume features unpublished attributions, masterpieces, and reconstructs her international commissions, solidifying her as a European Baroque protagonist. The book reveals her innovative language, exceptional iconographic choices, and documented interests in literature, science, and music, cultivated in every city she visited.

$155, Scripta Maneant Editori. Out August

Indigenous Tattoo Traditions

Lars Krutak

Tattooing within Indigenous communities is a time-honored practice that binds the tattoo recipient to a deeply felt collective history. More than mere decoration, tattoos embody cultural values, ancestral ties, and spiritual beliefs. Indigenous Tattoo Traditions captures ancient tribal tattooing practices and their contemporary resurgence, highlighting a beautiful aspect of humanity’s shared cultural heritage.

$70, Princeton University. Out August

Erik Satie: Three Piece Suite

Ian Penman

Composer, pianist and writer Erik Satie was one of the great figures of Belle Époque Paris. He was a surrealist before Surrealism and a conceptual artist before Conceptual Art. Friend of Cocteau and Debussy, Picabia and Picasso, Satie was always a few steps ahead of his peers. There’s scarcely a turn in postwar music, both classical and popular, that Satie doesn’t anticipate. Ian Penman’s masterful Erik Satie: Three Piece Suite is an exhilarating and playful three-part study of this elusive and endlessly fascinating figure.

$33, Fitzcarraldo. Out August

Mixtapes and MTV

Tony Wellington

Buoyed by the extraordinary success of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the 1980s saw new ways of experiencing music. The Sony Walkman shifted listening from a shared to a solo experience. Vinyl records gave way to cassettes, then CDs. The arrival of MTV saw music, television and consumerism merge an unholy alliance. From Duran Duran to Run DMC and from Madonna to Metallica, this book offers new insight into the decade that fashion (arguably) forgot but music did not.

$40, Monash University. Out September

Sound Tracks

Graeme Lawson

Wonderfully engaging, expansive and ambitious, Sound Tracks tells the history of our relationship with music in 60 detective stories, each focusing on the discovery of a musical instrument in archaeological digs around the world. Taking us from the present day (finding a 100-year-old wax cylinder recording on a flea market) all the way back to the dawn of time (the thrilling discovery of a prehistoric flute) long-lost music is itself reconstructed as we enter the worlds of those who created it.

$25, Vintage. Out August

Night People

Mark Ronson

Lady Gaga, Adele, Amy Winehouse, Dua Lipa, Bruno Mars … behind some of the biggest musical moments in the past two decades is one man: Mark Ronson. Now, his memoir Night People captures the music, characters, escapades and energy of his formative DJ days in ’90s New York, when clubs were diverse, glamorous, and a little lawless. It evokes the rush of a time and place where fashionistas and rappers on the rise danced alongside club kids and 9-to-5ers – and invites us into the tribe of creatives and partiers who came alive when the sun went down.

$37, Century. Out September

DESIGN

Alive

Madeline Schwartzman

A silicone jellyfish with a rat’s heart, a drone that smells using the antenna of a moth, wearables made from cultured human skin, an AI-populated digital snack bar in the metaverse. These projects and many more offer a mindbending, head-turning vision of the future that Madeline Schwartzman demonstrates is just around the corner. By examining these new “beings”, Alive maps out a vision of new partnerships, uncanny hybrids and collaborative intelligences, as science fiction rapidly becomes science fact.

$77, Thames & Hudson. Out August

City, Coast & Country

Adelaide Bragg

Adelaide Bragg’s interior design blends the Australian landscape’s earthy tones with soft, curated florals, influenced by her upbringing on a sheep and cattle station and her mother’s English garden. She uses natural materials like wool and leather to create timeless pieces. City, Coast & Country celebrates interiors reflecting the Australian spirit.

$90, Thames & Hudson. Out September

Exposure

Amber Creswell Bell

In her latest collection, Amber Creswell Bell explores the work of 40 contemporary photographers from Australia and New Zealand, such as Leila Jeffreys, Bill Henson and Kara

Rosenlund. Each artist shares insights into their practice, ranging from the whimsical to the wild, addressing subjects as diverse as the environment, motherhood and identity. Some point and shoot; others meticulously curate a scene, but they all strive for creative connection with the viewer through this common medium. Exposure captures the essence of modern photography, showcasing the region’s cultural richness and natural beauty.

$80, Thames & Hudson. Out September

Beyond Suburbia

Warren Kirk

These richly textured photographs capture the overlooked buildings, people, and landscapes of rural and semirural Australia. Meticulously observed and rendered with enormous sensitivity, this collection is more than a photographic journey – it’s an elegiac meditation on place, people, and memory. Kirk continues his remarkable project of preserving vanishing Australian scenes, inviting viewers to witness the extraordinary within the seemingly mundane.

$50, Scribe. Out September

ALSO OUT

Visual art

Cezanne to Giacometti

$50, National Gallery of Australia. Out now

Visual art

FAMM

Samantha Baskind

$160, Merrell. Out August

Music

Quartet for the End of Time

Michael Symmons Roberts

$45, Jonathan Cape. Out now

PHOTOGRAPHY

When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows …

Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker explores the fascinating concept of common knowledge, showing how it helps explain complex phenomena like financial crises, revolutions, diplomacy, social media shaming, and even the awkwardness of a first date. Efforts to avoid it can lead to behaviours like hypocrisy, veiled bribes, sexual innuendo, or ignoring uncomfortable truths. Through these paradoxes, Pinker invites us to understand the ways we try to navigate each other’s minds, revealing the complexities and contradictions that shape our interactions.

$40, Allen Lane. Out September

You Went to Emergency for What?

Tim Booth

When paramedic Tim Booth finds himself rushing a patient’s dead cat to a (human) hospital’s Emergency Department for resuscitation, he finds himself wondering where it all went wrong. From bedroom mishaps and hypochondriacs to suspicious rashes and freak cattle incidents, the doctors, nurses and paramedics of our hospital EDs have seen everything. You Went to Emergency for What? reveals the weirdest, funniest and most heart-wrenching true stories of what really goes on in our hospitals.

$37, Macmillan. Out now

What the Deep Water Knows

Miranda Cowley Heller

From the author of Women’s Prize 2022 longlisted novel The Paper Place comes a beautiful work of poetry looking sequentially at childhood, motherhood, marriage, divorce and mortality. In poetry that is quick-witted and lyrical, gentle and devastatingly frank, Cowley Heller contemplates time, marriage, and motherhood, and paints a moving portrait of a rich life.

$27, Penguin. Out August

A Savage Turn

Luke Patterson

Using his biting wit and refreshing insight into modern and traditional life, Gamilaroi author Luke Patterson takes readers to forest billabongs, to prisons, and into nightmares of the not so distant past. Along the way, he sends up the Australian dream and subverts expectations to create a seductive poetry collection sampling from a kaleidoscope of critical theory, modernist poetry, postcolonial irony, eco-romanticism and western folklore.

$33, Magabala. Out August

The Poetry of Chiyo-ni

Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi

Chiyo-ni (1703-1775), also known as Kaga no Chiyo, is Japan’s most celebrated female haiku poet. A student of Basho’s disciples, she worked in an age when haiku was largely a male domain. As a poet, painter, and Buddhist nun, she lived a vibrant life while creating poems of crystalline clarity and delicate sensuality. Handsomely illustrated with artwork by Chiyo-ni and others, the volume presents 100 of her seasonal haiku, along with essays on her life and art.

$35, Tuttle. Out August

How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend

Dr Rachel Barr

In today’s world, the pursuit of perfection is marketed as the path to happiness. We’re led to believe that if we work harder and buy the right products, then we can optimise ourselves into a state of perpetual bliss. But what if this relentless effort is actually working against our natural wiring? Scientifically backed and joyfully accessible, Rachel invites you to stop trying to “be your best self” and instead learn to become better friends with your brain.

$37, Dorling Kindersley. Out September

SELF-HELP

Yoshuku

Azumi Uchitani

Yoshuku is your personal guide to the ancient Japanese art of collective manifestation. In this book, internationally renowned cultural communicator and keynote speaker, Azumi Uchitani reveals how Japanese wisdom, life philosophy and traditional customs of pre-celebration can uplift and enrich not only the lives of those who practice the art of Yoshuku but everyone around them too.

$35, Michael Joseph. Out September

The Gift of Not Belonging

Rami Kaminski

The Gift of Not Belonging introduces the concept of the otrovert, a personality type that feels alienated in groups but thrives in one-on-one interactions. This detachment from group approval allows otroverts to maintain a strong sense of self-worth and to think independently, making them uniquely positioned to thrive in a world that values individuality over conformity. The book encourages otroverts to embrace their distinctiveness and offers guidance on how to navigate a world built around group dynamics.

$33, Scribe. Out now

Generation Connected

Dr Jo Orlando

Of all the issues confronting parents today, few make us feel more anxious and unprepared than navigating our children’s relationship with technology. It’s the Pandora’s Box that we open, knowing it will have a profound impact on their lives, relationships and mental health. From the hot-button topics of digital dependency, cyberbullying and the mental health impacts of social media to the everyday dilemmas of negotiating screen time without resorting to fear and control, Dr Orlando brings her signature warmth, wisdom and clarity to every issue facing today’s parents in a rewired world. $37, Penguin. Out September

Fathering

Alistair Thomson et al

Fathering: An Australian History explores why men often struggle to meet social and cultural expectations. The authors’ groundbreaking research reveals the forces that have shaped Australian family life and fathering since the early 20th century, and how Australian fathers have managed the evolving role and its responsibilities. It reveals how the experience of being a father is as much shaped by social class and material wellbeing as it is by race and ethnicity, geography and sexuality, and by family legacy and personal character. $40, Melbourne University. Out August

CRAFT

Making Matters

Clare Hunter

From paper crafts to wonders made from light and snow, Clare Hunter searches for creative delight – making lanterns, puppets and pinhole cameras. Inspiring and fascinating, Making Matters celebrates individual and collective creativity. It blends history, culture and politics with rich storytelling, wonderful characters and tales of remarkable objects.

$35, Sceptre. Out August

COOKING

Salata

Michael Rantissi and Kristy Frawley Salata evokes the Mediterranean with delicious and nourishing salads that are meals in their own right. The stunning recipes in this book champion seasonal produce and draw on Greek, French, Italian and Spanish culinary traditions as well as those across the sea to North Africa and the Middle East, offering the full medley of Mediterranean flavours.

$40, Murdoch. Out September

Linger

Hetty Lui McKinnon

From her salad-delivery days in Sydney to her current career as a food writer and bestselling cookbook author in New York, Hetty Lui McKinnon has long known the power of salads to connect and create community. Salads are meant to be shared; they are what you bring to a gathering of friends or family, the ultimate comfort food. Through her inventive recipes for meal-worthy salads, smaller bites and simple sweets, Hetty invites you to become a part of an unforgettable shared experience of community, food and friendship.

$45, Plum. Out August

FISHING

Ultimate Fishing

Indy Thompson

Fishing is often as much about enjoying the outdoors and location as it is about reeling in the big catch, and this book ties great locations with great catch opportunities. From Jervis Bay in New South Wales, Eaglehawk Neck in Tasmania and Exmouth in Western Australia to the fishing mecca of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, there are diverse fishing opportunities around the country for readers to discover. Indy also provides helpful information on when to visit, what to bring, and, importantly, what catch you will find.

$45, Hardie Grant. Out August

TRAVEL

Walking Sydney

Belinda Castles

Walking Sydney invites you to walk with the city’s writers as they share their places of home and imagination. From the streets of the suburbs to the shores of the harbour, as we walk amid diasporas, countercultures, activists, artists, dreamers and thieves, the city comes alive with story. Written by Belinda Castles from walks taken with 15 writers, including Michelle de Kretser, Larissa Behrendt, Jazz Money and Malcolm Knox, Walking Sydney is an opportunity to see the city afresh. $35, NewSouth. Out September

GARDENING

Planting for Native Birds, Bees and Butterflies

Countless Australian species of birds, bees and butterflies are in decline or threatened with extinction. Writer and gardener Jaclyn Crupi shows us that protecting and fostering precious native wildlife starts in our own backyards. The first step: start planting! Choosing native plants where possible, providing a well-placed dish of water on a hot day or allowing leaf litter to stay where it falls are among the many other super simple ways you can make your garden more attractive to native birds, bees and butterflies, and benefit all species.

$35, Murdoch. Out now

Wild by Design

Tim Pilgrim

Tim Pilgrim shares the joys of naturalistic gardening – an approach inspired by the beauty of untamed plants, the garden as wildlife habitat, the rhythm of the seasons, our future climate, and the visual rewards of relaxing our need for control. With stunning photography by Martina Gemmola, Wild by Design presents the creative inspiration, information and tools you’ll need to create your own plant-driven naturalistic garden, whether you’re starting with an existing garden or a blank slate. $60, Murdoch. Out September

Reid All About It

The Speakeasies of 1932

Gordon Kahn, illus. Al Hirschfeld $50, Glenn Young Books, 2003

The last year of America’s social experiment of prohibition. The 18th amendment to the constitution, ratified in 1921, had declared “the production, transport and sale of intoxicating liquors illegal”. Though not the actual consumption of alcohol itself.

In The Speakeasies of 1932, Kahn and Hirschfeld visited some 36 “dipsomaniacal outposts” in New York. Kahn (1902-1962) supplied the detailed – often droll –descriptions; Hirschfeld (1903-2003) the timeless artwork. Each establishment’s address was given, along with the recipe for the speakeasy’s cocktail claims to fame. Here are three:

Julius’, Greenwich Village, 159 W. 10th St

Originally founded in 1864. Raided four times. Became a renowned headquarters for the gay community.

“A madhouse without keepers. As weird as a witches’ Sabbath … Jammed to the squirming point every hour of every night … Six deep have stood up and been counted at the bar. If you can stand here long enough, everyone you hoped to see, and a lot you hoped wouldn’t, will come in.”

Cocktail: Brandy flip – brandy, egg yolk, sugar.

The Dizzy Club, 64 W, 52nd St

Founded 1923. It had to legally change its name to The Disney Club, since the authorities disapproved of such a flippant title.

“Over the bar is this cabalistic placard: W.Y.B.M.A.D.I.I.T.Y.

The newcomer regards this for a while and asks the barkeep its meaning. “Will you buy me a drink if I tell you?” answers the barman. Sometimes the gag goes over, but more often not … Music is by Al the Minstrel … He strokes his guitar and sings, ‘Pale Hands I Loved Beside the Shalimar’. Females over 40 bestow on him sighs and silken pyjamas.”

Cocktail: Side-car – Brandy, Cointreau, lemon juice.

The Roxy Grill, 155 W. 46th St

“The entrance is through the door of an office building. A doorman who is reputed to spot a Revenue Man by instinct … A thoroughly masculine establishment … For those who like conviviality, safe liquor and cold beer. Most of the drinking is done in narrow stalls opposite the bar. The free lunch is plentiful and exceptionally good … Women rarely enter the bar. For them there is a parlor, which also does duty as a repository for crying drunks.”

Cocktail: Dubonnet – Dubonnet (a sweet, fortified red wine), gin. Stephen Reid

A facsimile reprint – with a new introduction by artist Hirschfeld – of the original volume. Hardcover. 95pp. B/w illustrations. Condition: Fine. Dustjacket has a crease to the front top edge with light age toning and foxing to the front cover edges.

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