Review
Blast off for stories that will move you to laughter, tears, and fear
Ceridwen Dovey’s latest speculative stories, all set in space, unfold with fierce clarity and breezy wit.
- by Carmel Bird
Latest
How pop music met its Waterloo in ABBA
What is it about ABBA’s songs that generate so much ardour? English music writer Giles Smith tries to find out.
- by Michael Dwyer
A glorious debut novel with shades of Zadie Smith and George Saunders
After winning the 2016 Vogel’s Literary Award with a collection of short stories, Murray Middleton spent eight years on his first novel.
- by Helen Elliott
The letters between two great writers revealing their hidden stories
Years of correspondence between Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower reveal much about their unusual friendship.
- by Gail Jones
This book takes you on the run across colonial NSW. Danger lurks at every corner
In the sequel to her novel Benevolence, Julie Janson has produced a gothic historical novel that does justice both to the sorrow and the story of what Aboriginal Australia suffered in the 19th century.
- by Eddie Hampson
The Beach Boys tell their own story of triumph and tragedy
It’s not all good vibrations, as our reviewers reveal in this week’s pick of fiction and non-fiction releases.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll
Wryly funny novel by One Day author takes two lonely strangers on a hike
The latest book by David Nicholls is a celebration of the rare connection that can lift people out of seemingly intractable isolation.
- by Daniel Herborn
The top 12 books you should read in May
This month brings lyrics from Kazuo Ishiguro, a Miles Franklin winner’s latest novel, the return of Miranda July, a surprise sequel from Colm Toibin and spacey stories from Ceridwen Dovey.
- by Jason Steger
His book was rejected 13 times, now it’s a hit TV show
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer won him a Pulitzer Prize and employs cinematic tropes, but that doesn’t stop him being a fierce critic of the Hollywood machine.
- by Kurt Johnson
This twisty Western mystery will beguile you
Tana French’s The Hunter brings back the Chicago detective who has taken refuge in the west of Ireland.
- by Sue Turnbull
Dramatic novel asks pertinent questions about mental health treatment
Anne Buist’s experience as a perinatal psychiatrist informs the novel she has written with Graeme Simsion.
- by Jessie Tu