Best Australian fiction of 2023
Every year our staff vote for their favourite books of the past 12 months. Here are the best Australian fiction books of the year, as voted by Readings' staff, and displayed in alphabetical order by author.
Women & Children by Tony Birch
In Women & Children, beloved local writer Tony Birch takes us to 1965 and, in his inimitable style, introduces us to Joe Cluny and his sister Ruby, who are growing up in a working-class suburb with their mum, Marion. Joe is inquisitive, which gets him into trouble, especially with the nuns at the local Catholic primary school they attend. When their aunty Oona arrives one night in need of somewhere to stay, Joe learns that Marion and Oona carry secrets about the world on their bodies, yet the world does not want to help them. And those that do, including Joe’s grandfather, Charlie and his friend Ranji, feel a sense of powerlessness in a world of toxic-masculinity.
This is a poignant novel about strong women, family, and the loss of innocence, where each person realises they have a role and power in making things right.
The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop
Novelist JB Blackwood has convinced her husband, Patrick, to go on a cruise to celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary. They met when she was a student, and he was a visiting professor. He’s much older than she, and although he is an acclaimed filmmaker, his cult-figure aura is beginning to fade. JB is on the brink of winning a major literary award and looking to reconnect with Patrick during their time away. On the cruise, there’s nothing to do but relax and look at the endless sea, until a storm hits – and Patrick falls overboard. Abruptly, their marriage and the circumstances of his death are under scrutiny – as is JB herself.
The Anniversary is a tense and superb literary novel by one of Australia’s most accomplished writers.
Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko
A new literary epic from past Miles Franklin winner Melissa Lucashenko, Edenglassie is a tour de force.
Set in Magandjin-Brisbane, the novel moves between the 1800s and 2024. With multiple narratives involving local Goorie people and colonists, Edenglassie explores a period when history could have taken a dramatically different path, and questions where things can and should go from an imagined yet recognisable near future. The frontier and its ongoing legacy affects all: from the fledgling love in the 1800s between Mulanyin, a young man starting out, and Nita, a young woman working for a comparatively ‘progressive’ white family, to the electric dynamic between activist Winona and Dr Johnny in 2024, as they care for centenarian Grannie Eddie, who still knows how to spin a yarn.
Gunflower by Laura Jean McKay
The lines between animals and humans blur in this exceptional short-story collection from award-winning author Laura Jean McKay.
Birth, life and death are the signposts through which these stories navigate, weaving around the reader surreal, humorous, and confronting tales of animals’ humanity and human animality. Cats are liberated from a fur farm, chickens speak out, an abortion ship loses contact in a storm, illness and doubt take hold among anti-vaxxers at a resort, and more. In all, relationships are examined, assumptions and distinctions are challenged, and McKay’s prose both illuminates and psychedelically reimagines our world.
Firelight by John Morrissey
An instant hit within Readings, John Morrissey’s debut short-story collection is already widely considered the first instalment in a career to watch.
A writer of Kalkadoon descent, Morrissey may already be known to readers as his writing has appeared in literary publications as well as included in This All Come Back Now, an anthology of First Nations speculative fiction. In Firelight, Morrissey experiments with the boundaries of time and reality as he examines colonialism and identity in stories that demonstrate a profound humanity and mastery of the forms of science- and speculative fiction but are not confined to them. The stories include an attempt to bring back the thylacine, a colony on the moon, an otherworldly green man with a message, and many more.
The Sitter by Angela O'Keeffe
Angela O’Keeffe’s second novel is an extraordinary tale of two women, one of whom has been dead for more than a century, who are brought together by a creative process. Towards the beginning of the covid pandemic, a writer is in her hotel room in locked down Paris. Observing the writer, and narrating O’Keeffe’s novel, is the subject of the writer’s novel: Hortense Cézanne, the wife of artist Paul Cézanne. Apparently conjured by the writer’s focus, Hortense raises questions about artists and their subjects, and women in history and in art. As each woman observes and seeks to understand the other, the emotional landscape of the early phase of the pandemic is also explored.
A curious premise, certainly, but the execution and reading experience are second to none.
Search History by Amy Taylor
A witty and insightful novel of our times, Amy Taylor’s debut turns a compassionate yet precise eye to human inquisitiveness, which has found new opportunities with the advent of social media and the internet.
Ana has moved to Melbourne after a break-up, but her job at a tech start-up is uninspiring, and her attempts to move on romantically have floundered after a dubious dating app experience. When she meets Evan, things finally seem to be looking up. Well, that is, until she does some looking up – of Evan, online. It turns out his last girlfriend, Emily, died suddenly less than a year ago. Their life together, as it appears on Emily’s social media accounts, was perfect. Ana wonders how she can ever compete – and why Evan won’t talk about Emily.
The In-Between by Christos Tsiolkas
Ivan and Perry are middle-aged and battle worn from previous relationships. Despite this, they risk internet dating, and so end up at dinner with each other. That’s when the biggest risk becomes apparent – falling in love, and all it can entail. Still, they take an imperfect chance in their imperfect lives. As only he could do, Christos Tsiolkas introduces recognisable, fallible characters, follows them into complicated situations, and, naturally, things sometimes become more complicated – sometimes they even become heated. Along the way, Tsiolkas explores relationships and love of many kinds with his renowned and unblinking humanity. This is a captivating novel by a writer in top form which has already won over new readers and old fans alike.
The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams
Another runaway success for Pip Williams, The Bookbinder of Jericho is a wish come true for fans of her debut novel, and a wonderful tale for anyone who loves books. A companion to The Dictionary of Lost Words, the new story begins in 1914, among the bookbinders of Oxford University Press – known as the ‘girls’ – including twin sisters Peggy and Maude Jones. For Peggy, everything about the work is a constant reminder of her frustrated desire to attend Oxford University. Maude is content with her role, yet needs Peggy. When war breaks out and refugees arrive from Belgium, opportunity knocks for Peggy and she finds herself in an age-old dilemma, a woman trying to find a way to be true to herself and to those she loves.
But the Girl by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu
But the Girl is a book that sparks an almost evangelical zeal in its readers – it’s so good that anyone who has read it can’t bear anyone who hasn’t to miss out.
Girl is meant to be writing a ‘postcolonial novel’ and a PhD on Sylvia Plath’s poetry; she has travelled to Scotland to attend a residency in aid of that purpose. Once there, her thoughts turn to her Malaysian-Australian family at home in Melbourne, her upbringing, and the stories of her immigrant parents and grandmother. As she reflects on their hopes and her own experiences, she also unexpectedly finds herself questioning her lifelong relationship with Plath’s work. But the Girl is an astute and witty coming-of-age novel that throws Australia, academia, and girlhood into sharp relief.