The Name of the Sister
Gail Jones
A young woman stumbles onto an outback road at night, and is caught in the headlights of an approaching car. Who is she? Nobody knows, and she has lost the ability to speak. She is rushed to hospital and then exposed to the glare of the TV cameras.
This is how the story of the Unknown Woman begins, setting off a media firestorm that catches the eye of Angie, a freelance journalist and childhood friend of Bev, the police inspector in charge of identifying Jane, as the Unknown Woman is dubbed, and tracking down her assailant. Dozens of people step forward claiming to know Jane and to hold the key to her identity.
Gail Jones new novel, set in Sydney and the Mars-red landscapes surrounding the remote mining town of Broken Hill, explores how stories about identity and history multiply in the absence of reliable facts.
Read our staff review here.
Salvage
Jennifer Mills
Two estranged sisters reconnect in the aftermath of ecological and social collapse, in this work of suspenseful, deeply human literary speculative fiction.
Jude's life has been about survival. She works on rebuilding – fixes roofs, trucks supplies, transports refugees. Tries to stay free from attachments and obligations.
But Jude won't talk about her past. Or her sister Celeste, lost in the tragic failure of a space station that was supposed to save her, and the other ultra-rich, from the wreckage of a dying world.
When an escape pod falls from the sky, its passenger near death, Jude knows her anonymous existence can't continue. As the fragile peace of her community is put at risk, Jude must re-examine the terms of her survival – and her exile.
Read our staff review here.
New Skin
Miranda Nation
A powerful debut about first love and second chances from a stunning new voice in Australian fiction.
Alex and Leah meet at medical school and form an immediate and intense connection. Over the course of four years, they are caught in the push-pull of passion and betrayal, longing and reunion. Neither can quite give up the relationship, even as they question whether they are good for each other.
Years later, when Alex and Leah are drawn together once more, will they make the right choice?
Read our staff review here.
Wait Here
Lucy Nelson
A dazzling collection of hilarious and heart-wrenching stories united by a groundbreaking theme: each is a sidelong glance at the lives of women who – either by choice or by circumstance – will never be mothers and who feel every way it is possible to feel about it.
A dancer discovers she can never have children – a revelation that pales in comparison to the other ways her body has betrayed her. Two elderly sisters who’ve been inseparable throughout life make a momentous decision. A wet nurse at Coney Island’s infamous ‘Incubator Babies’ sideshow is haunted by the ghost of her own stillborn daughter. A young woman worries about the lack of male role models in her little niece’s life …
Read our staff review here.
Foreign Country
Marija Peričić
Estranged sistes – Eva and Elisabeta Novak – have not spoken since Eva’s young daughter, Gracie, was killed in a road accident. More than a decade after the accident, and long after Eva has moved overseas, Elizabeta calls, insisting that Eva return home.
But when Eva arrives at her sister’s house, she discovers that Elizabeta is dead. Eva finds that she has been appointed the executor of Elizabeta’s estate, and as she works her way through the monumental task of clearing out her sister’s house, she comes to know her sister again through the objects and documents that she encounters. In this process of clearing the house, Eva is forced to reckon with their shared past and the possibility that her mind cannot be trusted.
Read our staff review here.
Stinkbug
Sinéad Stubbins
You're a stinkbug and they're worried if they come near you, your stench will get all over them and they won't be able to wash it off.'
When Edith and a select group of employees at Winked advertising agency are sent to Consequi, an elite three-day work retreat in the remote mountains, she sees an opportunity to impress her bosses and dodge an inevitable restructure.
But this is no ordinary corporate retreat. Trapped together in the revamped convent, the threat of mass redundancy looming over them, their phones confiscated and the team-building activities becoming increasingly extreme, the 'work family's' cracks begin to widen – and Edith has a secret that threatens to make her the office outcast: the stinkbug. When Edith realises there's something suspicious about Consequi, she's faced with a decision: conform and shut up, or accept stinkbug status and find out what's really going on.
Read our staff review here.
Our New Gods
Thomas Vowles
A literary psychological thriller set in Melbourne's queer scene with the suspense of The Talented Mr Ripley and the gritty emotional landscape of Christos Tsiolkas and Bryan Washington.
Ash has recently arrived in Melbourne and fallen in love with his charismatic friend James. After witnessing a disturbing altercation at a party, Ash suspects that James's mysterious boyfriend is hiding a sinister side. Is he dangerous? Or is Ash's jealousy fuelling paranoid delusions?
Read our staff review here.
