Earlier this week, we made the upsetting but ultimately necessary decision to cancel all Readings events (up until 30 April) due to the coronavirus health crisis. However, we don’t want that to deter people from celebrating, buying, reading and discussing the books that are being released in the next two months.

Below is a round-up of all of the exciting fiction, non-fiction, memoir, cookbooks, youth literature, poetry, and more that were due to have launches and events at Readings in March and April.

EXCITING FICTION

Sweetness and Light by Liam Pieper

In this intoxicating second novel from Pieper, the lives of Connor, an Australian expat with a brutal past, and Sasha, an American in search of spiritual guidance, collide when a grift goes horribly wrong. Read our review here.

Melting Moments by Anna Goldsworthy

In her highly anticipated fiction debut, award-winning author Goldsworthy recreates Adelaide and Melbourne of half a century ago. This is a subtle and moving portrait of a family over the years. Read our review here.

Symphony for the Man by Sarah Brill

Winter 1999: Harry is homeless in Bondi. When a girl on a bus sees him sheltering from the weather, she decides to write a symphony for him. This is an uplifting and heartbreaking story of two outcasts which reminds us that small acts of kindness matter.

The Crystal Sphere series by Ingrid Fry

If you’re a lover of fresh new voices in fantasy and a hater of having to wait between books in series – rejoice! You can get your hands on all four books in Fry’s sexy, humorous, action-packed urban fantasy series in one go.

The Changing Room by Christine Sykes

When the lives of three women are turned upside down, they find the courage to rebuild their lives – helped by a few outfit changes along the way. This feel-good work of fiction was inspired by the experiences of the women behind the well-known charity, Dress for Success.

No Small Shame by Christine Bell

From the harshness of a pit village in Scotland to the upheaval of wartime Australia, No Small Shame is the story of of Mary, a young Catholic immigrant who must confront her past.

The Coconut Children by Vivian Pham

Pham’s novel is so brilliant that she was signed to her publisher when she was just in high school. It’s the story of Sonny and Vince – children of the Vietnamese diaspora – and of the stories that preceded them.

Sheerwater Leah Swann

When Ava and her two young sons witness a shocking accident, Ava stops to help. When she gets back to the car, she realises that her sons have gone missing. A tense, emotional and unforgettable story.

The Loudness of Unsaid Things by Hilde Hinton

For lovers of Boy Swallows Universe and Lost and Found, Hinton’s debut novel is a wise and wryly funny story of loneliness, isolation, and finding a way through life.

The Adversary by Ronnie Scott

A story about sexuality and the ache of friendship and love, The Adversary captures the heartbeat of one transformative summer in which alliances are made and broken. Set vividly in the streets of inner Melbourne, this is the first novel from Lifted Brow founder Scott.

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

Set when the women’s suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words is a delightful, lyrical and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words, and the power of language to shape our experience of the world.

Mammoth by Chris Flynn

Narrated by a 13,000-year-old extinct American mastodon, Mammoth is the (mostly) true story of how the skull of a Tyrannosaurus bataar, a pterodactyl, a prehistoric penguin, the severed hand of an Egyptian mummy and the narrator himself came to be on sale at a 2007 natural history auction in Manhattan.

GRIPPING CRIME READS

Where the Truth Lies by Karina Kilmore

Kilmore introduces crime readers to investigative journalist Chrissie O’Brian as the death of a dockworker escalates into a showdown between big business and the unions. This debut crime read was previously shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript and comes highly recommended.

Prey by L.A. Larkin

Described by James Phelan as ‘a world-class thriller writer’ and praised by authors like Peter James and C.J Carver, Larkin is a widely published author as well as a passionate campaigner for wildlife conservation. Her time in South Africa, protecting endangered rhinos from poachers, has inspired her latest thriller, Prey.

Present Tense by Natalie Conyer

Set in Cape Town, Conyer’s debut crime novel is a hard-boiled police procedural about an ordinary cop trying to find his way in a dangerous country.

The Long Shadow Anne Buist

The Long Shadow is a compulsive standalone new thriller from Buist. Psychologist Isabel Harris is newly arrived in the outback town of Riley, but on the first day of her mother-baby therapy group, an anonymous note threatens everything.

COMPELLING NON-FICTION

Cry Me A River (Quarterly Essay) by Margaret Simons

In this latest Quarterly Essay on water, drought, food and politics, acclaimed journalist Simons takes a trip through the Murray-Darling Basin, all the way from Queensland to South Australia. She shows that its plight is environmental but also economic and enmeshed in ideology and identity.

Oil Under Troubled Water by Bernard Collaery

Collaery relates the sordid history of Australian government dealings with East Timor, and how the actions of both major political parties have enriched Australia and its corporate allies at the expense of its tiny neighbour and wartime ally.

Fire Country by Victor Steffensen

Steffensen is an Indigenous writer, filmmaker, musician and consultant applying traditional knowledge values in a contemporary context. Fire Country is a powerful call to revive Indigenous fire practices to restore our country. It offers practical solutions for better ‘reading Country’.

Dear Parents by Gabbie Stroud

This is a funny, heartfelt and impassioned series of letters, designed to help parents understand the ways their children are being taught. Timely for both parents and educators, it explores how parents can best serve as their children’s primary educators.

The Memory Pool edited by Therese Spruhan

This delightful, nostalgic anthology brings together reflections and recollections about the swimming pools of childhood from a range of Australians of diverse ages and backgrounds, including Bryan Brown, Leah Purcell, Trent Dalton, Shane Gould, Merrick Watts and Laurie Lawrence.

The Dreamer’s Odyssey by Jacquie Flecknoe-Brown

A Swiss-trained Jungian analyst, Flecknoe-Brown has designed a step-by-step guide to interpreting and working through dreams – as a dreamer or as a counsellor.

Phosphorescence by Julia Baird

A beautiful, intimate and inspiring investigation into how we can find and nurture within ourselves that essential quality of internal happiness - the ‘light within’ that Julia Baird calls ‘phosphorescence’ – which will sustain us even through the darkest times.

Printed on Stone by Amanda Scardamaglia

A fascinating graphic history of advertising in Australia that delves deep into the well-preserved archives of Troedel & Co’s catalogues of lithographs.

ENGROSSING TRUE STORIES

The Shelf Life of Zora Cross by Cathy Perkins

This biography recounts the the life of Australian poet and journalist Zora Cross, who caused a sensation in 1917 with her book Songs of Love and Life. While Cross’s fame didn’t last, she kept writing.

Gibbous Moon Over Lagos by Pamela Watson

Following on from Watson’s Esprit de Battuta, which detailed her solo cycling adventure, this new memoir details the second phase of the her African adventure: a thrilling entrepreneurial journey.

Come: A Memoir by Rita Therese

Bold, brave and darkly funny, Therese’s memoir is the extraordinary story of her life as a Melbourne sex worker and the love, sex and death she has experienced so far.

A Bigger Picture by Malcolm Turnbull

Turnbull’s memoir tracks his life and career, from his early years growing up with a single father, to defending ‘Spycatcher’ Peter Wright against the UK Government; the years representing Kerry Packer, leading the Republican Movement and making millions in business; and finally becoming Prime Minister of Australia.

Life In A Box by Sarah Jane Adams

Antique jewellery dealer, designer and model Adams started the hashtag #mywrinklesaremystripes on Instagram and ‘went viral’ on Ari Seth Cohen’s Advanced Style blog. Her book illustrates how style is always laden with rich meaning and adventure.

Every Conceivable Way by Despina Meris

Every Conceivable Way recounts one couple’s nine-year quest to become parents, and provides insight into the fertility merry-go-round, including IVF and surrogacy industries, and what it’s like to live with uncertainty for years.

Friends & Rivals by Brenda Niall

The award-winning historian has crafted a vivid account of the intersecting and entwined lives of four Australian literary greats: Ethel Turner, Barbara Baynton, Nettie Palmer, and Henry Handel Richardson.

Bringing the Fight by Merle Thornton

This is the warm, funny and rollicking memoir of one of Australia’s most formidable feminists – the audacious pioneer who chained herself to the bar at the Regatta Hotel in Brisbane in 1965 to protest against the law that excluded women from public bars in Queensland.

Bourke Street, My View from Here by Tony Brooks

The remarkable untold story of valued street community member Tony Brooks, also known as ‘The Mentor of Bourke Street’, this is a truthful and far-ranging tale of challenge, change and acceptance.

ENTERTAINING YA NOVELS

Oasis by Katya de Becerra

This fast-paced supernatural thriller follows a group of teens on an archaeological dig in the desert; when a fierce sandstorm hits, it becomes difficult to determine what is real and what is an illusion.

How to Grow a Family Tree by Eliza Henry-Jones

Seventeen-year-old Stella is working hard to deal with the fallout of her father’s gambling addiction when she receives a letter from her birth mother in this heartwarming novel about family, friendship and what home can mean.

Deep Water by Sarah Epstein

The much-anticipated second book from award-winner Epstein, this is a gripping thriller about a missing boy and a group of teenagers, one of whom knows something but isn’t telling.

TRANSPORTING POETRY

Turbulence by Thuy On

In this intensely personal debut collection that untangles the messiness of human relationships, On explores loss, separation and renewal, online dating, sex, longing, rejection and desire.

Family Trees by Michael Farrell

Farrell takes a bold and expansive approach to inheritance and human connection in this collection, applying a queer and inclusive logic to familial relationships.

Navigable Ink by Jennifer Mackenzie

Australian poet Mackenzie explores the life and work of Indonesian writer and activist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, skilfully and sensitively capturing the beauty of Indonesia and Toer’s fight to preserve its integrity and essence.

AND A DELICIOUS COOKBOOK

Now for Something Sweet by Monday Morning Cooking Club

The joyful fourth cookbook from The Monday Morning Cooking Club, contains their favourite sweet recipes, celebrating the most delicious food perfected in Jewish kitchens across Australia and the world.