This month's most exciting new releases
Every now and then a book comes along that causes reading queues among Readings staff, caffeine over-consumption (if there is such a thing) to compensate for compulsive late-night reading, and a lot of excited discussion as reading copies are passed around. This month, Irish-born, Perth-based Dervla McTiernan’s debut novel, The Rúin, has had this effect. Bronte Coates’ review will tell you everything you need to know and no more – no spoilers!
Also in Australian fiction this month is the much-anticipated new novel from former Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction-winner Ceridwen Dovey, In the Garden of the Fugitives. Our head book buyer Alison Huber describes it as ‘a remarkable book’, and its author as a ‘star’. Needless to say, it is our Fiction Book of the Month. We also have Tim Winton’s first novel in five years, The Shepherd’s Hut, which our managing director Mark Rubbo calls ‘a treat’.
There are new novels from award-winning author Michael Mohammed Ahmad, The Lebs; Eleanor Limprecht, The Passengers; and Mick McCoy, What the Light Reveals. And there’s a fresh crop of debut novels: The Lucky Galah by Tracy Sorensen, The Everlasting Sunday by Robert Lukins, The Pearler’s Wife by Roxane Dhand, The Portrait of Molly Dean by Katherine Kovacic, You Belong Here by Laurie Steed, and a debut short-story collection from Laura Elvery, Trick of the Light.
In international fiction we have Indonesian writer Intan Paramaditha’s novel Apple and Knife, which our reviewer Suzanne Steinbruckner enjoyed so much she has already read it twice. Willy Vlautin’s latest novel, Don’t Skip Out on Me, lives up to expectations and our reviewer, Joe Rubbo, warns that the ending ‘hits hard like a body shot’.
As ever, there are more books than space to recommend in this column, but this month you’ll also find reviews of The Dictionary of Animal Languages by Heidi Sopinka, The End of Loneliness by Benedict Wells, Look at Me by Mareike Krügel, The Word for Woman is Wilderness by Abi Andrews and more.
In non-fiction our Book of the Month is the amazing Deep Time Dreaming by Billy Griffths, which our reviewer Marie Matteson loved. Our managing director has been inhaling books this month; as well as reviewing the new Tim Winton, Mark Rubbo has also read and enjoyed Robert Manne’s new collection of essays, On Borrowed Time, and Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker. He considers both to be essential reading. Our marketing manager Nina Kenwood was virtually held captive while reading Educated by Tara Westover, so gripped was she by the author’s story of a brutal, isolated childhood and eventual escape to a Harvard education. And for anyone who has ever loved a companion animal, especially a dog, there’s the heart-wrenching Afterglow by Eileen Myles. Of course there is much, much more, to discover.
One last note before I go: be sure to read about The Readings Children’s Book Prize shortlist which our judges have just announced. It’s a fantastic list and we are thrilled to share it – find more information here.
