The Pisces by Melissa Broder

Lucy, staying in a beautiful home overlooking Venice Beach, can find no peace from her misery – not in therapy, not in Tinder hook-ups, not in her sister’s dog’s unquestioning devotion, not in ruminating on the ancient Greeks. Yet everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer one night while sitting alone on the beach rocks… Pairing neurotic hilarity with pulse-racing carnality and fierce feminism, The Pisces is hot, bothered and unforgettable.

Ponti by Sharlene Teo

In the 70s, young Amisa shot to fame as the star of the cult seventies horror film series Ponti!, but in 2003, she’s a hack medium performing seances in a rusty house while her disaffected teenage daughter Szu watches on. When Szu meets the privileged, acid-tongued Circe, an intense friendship begins. Seventeen years later, Circe is struggling through a divorce when a project comes up at work: a remake of Ponti!. Circe is thrown off-balance by the sudden onset of memories. Told from the perspective of all three women, Ponti is infused with mythology and modernity, and with the rich sticky heat of Singapore.

Tangerine by Christine Mangan

This is a nailbiting literary thriller set in 1950s Morocco. The last person Alice Shipley expected to see since arriving in Tangier with her new husband was Lucy Mason. After the horrific accident at Bennington, the two friends haven’t spoken in over a year, yet here is Lucy, trying to make things right and Alice feels she should be happy. Alice has never adjusted to life in Morocco, and it is Lucy who helps her to emerge from her flat and explore the country. But, it’s not long before a familiar feeling of claustrophobia starts to overtake Alice and she starts to question everything around her – including her very own state of mind.

Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina

Meg Medina transports readers to a time when New York seemed balanced on a knife-edge – the infamous summer of 1977, when the city was besieged by arson, a massive blackout, and a serial killer named Son of Sam. Teenage Nora Lopez’s own life isn’t going so well either, with financial pressure and a younger brother spinning out of control. Not to mention that she fits the precise physical profile of victims targeted by the Son of Sam. But before she turns eighteen, Nora will discover that the greatest dangers are often closer than we like to admit.

The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton

For years Jaxie Clackton has dreaded going home. His beloved mum is dead, and he wishes his dad was too, until one terrible moment leaves his life stripped to nothing. And so Jaxie runs. There’s just one person in the world who understands him, but to reach her, he’ll have to cross the vast saltlands of Western Australia. It is a place that harbours criminals and threatens to kill those who haven’t reckoned with its hot, waterless vastness. This is a journey only a dreamer – or a fugitive – would attempt. Fierce and lyrical, The Shepherd’s Hut is a story of survival, solitude and unlikely friendship.

Florida by Lauren Groff

Over a decade ago, Lauren Groff moved to her adopted home state of Florida – widely known as the ‘Sunshine State’ – and her latest story collection is anchored by the distinctive world of this state, by its landscape, climate, history and state of mind. And while storms, snakes and sinkholes lurk at the edge of everyday life in these stories, the greater threats and mysteries are of a human, emotional and psychological nature. With shocking accuracy and effect, Groff pinpoints the the moments that make us alive.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

The film adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s bestselling novel is due to hit Australian screens in August, and so now is an excellent time to read the book. The first in a trilogy, Crazy Rich Asians is a delicious, gossipy soap opera-esque series that follows the lives of a group of super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families living in present-day Singapore. This first story largely centres on American-born Chinese economics professor Rachel Chu, who accompanies her boyfriend Nick to Singapore for his best friend’s wedding and is thrust into the spotlight after discovering that he’s one of the most sought-after (and certainly the wealthiest) bachelors in the country.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

When Antoinette Cosway, a spirited Creole heiress, marries a young Englishman, the stage is set for tragedy. Initially drawn to her beauty and sensuality, he becomes increasingly frustrated by his inability to reach into her soul. He forces Antoinette to conform to his rigid Victorian ideals, unaware that in taking away her identity he is pushing her towards madness. Set against the lush backdrop of 1830s Jamaica, Jean Rhys’s haunting masterpiece was inspired by her fascination with the first Mrs Rochester, the mad wife in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.