Jean Harley Was Here by Heather Taylor Johnson

A woman opens her car door, knocking a passing cyclist into the path of an oncoming van. The cyclist is Jean Harley. But this is not Jean’s story, nor is it the story of her death. It is the stories of the people she leaves behind. Heather Taylor Johnson’s Australian debut novel is fast becoming a staff favourite here at Readings, the kind of story that you can disappear inside of for a while.

Universal Harvester by John Darnielle

Jeremy works at the counter of Video Hut in Nevada, Iowa. The work is predictable and familiar, and Jeremy likes it that way. But when Stephanie Parsons comes in to return her copy of Targets, she has an odd complaint: ‘There’s something on it.’ Two days later, Lindsey Redinius brings back She’s All That and complains: ‘There’s another movie on this tape.’ Curious, Jeremy takes a look. What he sees on the videos is so strange and disturbing that it propels him out of his comfortable routine and into a search for the tapes’ creator.

Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins

Today, Kathleen Collins is regarded as a pioneering African-American filmmaker and dramatist, but for several years, her work was overlooked, her stories never published. Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? collects her stories together for the first time, almost 20 years after the author’s death, to reveal a voice that is vital, erotic and compelling.

The Restorer by Michael Sala

After a year apart, Maryanne returns to her husband, Roy, bringing their 8-year-old son Daniel and his teenage sister Freya with her. The family move from Sydney to Newcastle, where Roy has bought a derelict house on the coast. As Roy painstakingly patches the holes in the floorboards and plasters over cracks in the walls, Maryanne believes, for a while, that they can rebuild a life together. But it doesn’t take Roy long to forget the promises he has made. This is the second novel from Sala whose debut won the Commonwealth Book Prize for the Pacific Region.

Insomniac City by Bill Hayes

When Bill Hayes arrived in New York City in 2009, he was 48, grieving the death of his partner and only had the vaguest idea of what to do next. A lifelong insomniac, he set off on late-night strolls, armed with a camera. During these walks, he discovered the profound consolations of the city’s incessant rhythms. And he unexpectedly fell in love again – with his friend and neighbor, the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks, whose exuberance is captured in funny and touching vignettes throughout the book.

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

In a city swollen by refugees but still mostly at peace, or at least not yet openly at war, Saeed and Nadia share a cup of coffee, and their story begins. When the streets are no longer useable and all options are exhausted, this young couple will join the great outpouring of those fleeing a collapsing city, hoping against hope, looking for their place in the world. Theirs is a love story, but also a story about war and a world in crisis.

From the Wreck by Jane Rawson

From the Wreck tells the remarkable story of George Hills, who survived the sinking of the steamship Admella off the South Australian coast in 1859. Haunted by his memories and the disappearance of a fellow survivor, George’s fractured life is intertwined with that of a woman from another dimension, seeking refuge on Earth.

They Cannot Take the Sky by Behind the Wire (available 15 March)

Over the past two decades, Australia has locked up people who arrive here fleeing persecution – sometimes briefly, sometimes for years. In They Cannot Take the Sky those people tell their stories, in their own words. Speaking from inside immigration detention on Manus Island and Nauru, or from within the Australian community after their release, the narrators reveal not only their extraordinary journeys and their daily struggles, but also their meditations on love, death, hope and injustice.

To Know My Crime by Fiona Capp

Think Ian McEwan meets Peter Temple. Having lost all his family’s money in ill-advised investments during the GFC, Ned is reduced to squatting in a boatshed in wealthy Portsea. He is avoiding the world, particularly his paraplegic sister, Angela, who is completely dependent on her carer and Ned – not to mention the income from their family investments. Then one day, Ned overhears a conversation between a millionaire property developer and a politician, and sees an opportunity to restore their fortunes…

Mussolini’s Island by Sarah Day

When Francesco is rounded up with a group of other young men and herded into a camp on the island of San Domino, he realises that someone has handed a list of names to the fascist police. Locked in spartan dormitories, resentment and bitterness between the men grows each day. Meanwhile, Elena, an island girl on the cusp of womanhood, is drawn to the handsome Francesco, with terrible consequences for all. Mussolini’s Island is based on a true story from 1939 in which a group of gay and bisexual men were rounded up and imprisoned on a tiny Italian island.

Down the Hume by Peter Polites

How did Bucky get here? A series of accidents. A tragic love for a violent man. An addiction to painkillers he can’t seem to kick. An unlikely friendship with an ageing patient. Sitting comfortably alongside such Australian cult classics as Christos Tsiolkas’s Loaded and Luke Davies’s Candy, Down the Hume is a raw Australian fiction debut that explores the nature of obsession and addiction, and the queer identity of Western Sydney.

The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel

In 1986, Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the woods. He would not speak to another human being until three decades later when he was arrested for stealing food. Based on extensive interviews with Knight himself, The Stranger in the Woods is a vividly detailed account of his secluded life and the challenges he faced returning to the world. Through the telling, author Michael Finkel asks fundamental questions about solitude and what makes for a good life.