The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists for 2019

Four emerging writers have been chosen as the Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists for 2019. Congratulations to Tom Lee, Jamie Marina Lau, Robbie Arnott and Ruby J. Murray!

Read on for more information on each of the excellent novelists featured.


Flames by Robbie Arnott

‘This is the kind of book that you’ll be able to read a second, third, even fourth time, and it will still never reveal all its secrets. Composed with meticulous attention to detail, and a mastery of form rarely found in a debut novel, Flames will keep you stewing long after you’ve finished reading it.’

Tom Davies, bookseller at Readings Doncaster


Coach Fitz by Tom Lee

‘Lee’s Coach Fitz begins with a runner named Tom teaming with the eccentric eponymous coach in a bid to change his life and improve his running. The impressively long and carefully detailed runs through various parts of Sydney allow for some deeply philosophical discussions and observations of the terrain, both urban and natural, before the relationship splinters and Tom decides to take on Fitz’s mantle.’

Sydney Morning Herald


Pink Mountain on Locust Island by Jamie Marina Lau

‘Sometimes a book comes along that doesn’t just make me very happy, but also makes me excited for the future. Jamie Marina Lau’s debut novel, Pink Mountain on Locust Island, is one such book … Lau’s writing is something else. She doesn’t sound like anyone I’ve read before. The way she creates characters is fascinating, and even the most fleeting, one-line characters felt three dimensional to me.’

Ellen Cregan, Readings marketing and events coordinator


The Biographer’s Lover by Ruby J Murray

‘Murray’s second, evocative novel could be considered a coming-of-age story, but it is also about how and why we respond to art. In many ways this novel is also a depiction of two cities, and of education and desire. But it’s primarily about art and truth, and where they fit into our psyche.’

Chris Gordon, Readings events and programming manager