For a meeting paired with a film screening…

Beyond The Rock by Janelle Mcculloch

In the winter of 1966, Lady Joan Lindsay wrote a short novel about a group of upper-class schoolgirls from a prestigious ladies’ college who disappear while on a country picnic in the summer of 1900. The result was a literary mystery that has endured for half a century. Beyond The Rock is the fascinating story of how Picnic at Hanging Rock was created and has since become embedded into Australia’s mythology. Choosing it for book club is also an excellent excuse to rewatch Peter Weir’s haunting and mesmeric film adaptation.

For a morning tea with scones and jam…

A Distant View of Everything by Alexander McCall Smith

Nothing says scones and jam quite as much as a new novel from Alexander McCall Smith. His The Sunday Philosophy Club series follows Isabel Dalhousie, a philosopher and amateur sleuth tackling murder, mayhem and the mysteries of life among the cobblestones of Edinburgh. In A Distant View of Everything, our intrepid heroine brings home a second child, investigates nefarious rumours about a plastic surgeon and discovers the perils of match-making.

For prompting a difficult conversation…

After by Nikki Gemmell

Nikki Gemmell is known and loved for her generous candour in bringing her private experience into the public realm, whether infused in her bestselling fiction or revealed in her newspaper columns. Her memoir explores what happened after her elderly mother decided to end her own life. The discovery of her body, with no note, prompted immediate shock and devastation, then guilt and horror. After asks difficult questions, and digs into the often tricky relationship between mothers and daughters.

For a dreamy night-time gathering…

Swimmer Among the Stars by Kanishk Tharoor

Kanishk Tharoor’s tales in Swimmer Among the Stars emerge from a tradition that includes the creators of the Arabian Nights, Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, Angela Carter, and other ancient and modern masters of the fable. In this book’s pages you will discover an interview with the last speaker of a language, the lonely voyage of an elephant from Kerala to a princess’s palace in Morocco, a fabled cook who flavours his food with precious stones, and more.

For reflecting on the enduring magic of language…

Larchfield by Polly Clark

Larchfield is an ideal pick for readers who loved A.S. Byatt’s Possession. Newly married and pregnant, young poet Dora Fielding has moved to Helensburgh on the west coast of Scotland with dreams of a creative family life. But the reality is far from what she expected. Dora feels suffocated, even terrified, by the expectations surrounding her – until she learns that another poet lived in Helensburgh before, and forges a strange and haunting connection with him.

For a meeting with a group of writers…

The Plains by Gerald Murnane

Gerald Murnane is one of Australia’s most eminent writers, a winner of the Patrick White Award and the Melbourne Prize for Literature. First published in 1982, The Plains has now been re-released in a handsome hardback edition, complete with a fascinating introduction by author Ben Lerner. This is the story of the families of the plains – obsessed with their land and history, their culture and mythology – and of the man who ventured into their world. It’s a startlingly original work of fiction.

For remembering your adolescence…

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

It is September 1995. Selin, a Turkish-American college freshman from New Jersey, is about to embark on her first year at Harvard University, where she is determined to decipher the mysteries of language and to become a writer. Full of the razor-sharp evocations of character and place that have long delighted readers of Elif Batuman’s non-fiction, The Idiot tackles literary ambition, female friendship, the American dream, Chomskian linguistics, the Russian novel and romantic love.

For a black-tie affair…

A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys

Rachel Rhys’s crime novel may inspire a fancier book club meeting than usual. It’s 1939, Europe is on the brink of war and Lily Shepherd had left England on a luxury ocean liner bound for Australia. She is instantly seduced by the world onboard – cocktails, black-tie balls and beautiful sunsets – but she soon realises her glamorous new friends are not what they seem. Our reviewer writes that A Dangerous Crossing is compelling period fiction. Read her full review here.