Looking for something interesting to discuss in your book club? Try one of these new releases, chosen by our booksellers to appeal to a wide range of readers and provide plenty to talk about.
Australian fiction
Bugger
Michael Mohammed Ahmad
Some scars can never be seen, but will always be felt … long after the damage is done.
Hamoodi may only be ten years old, but he already knows that to speak out is dangerous. Lessons from the mother-land have taught him that standing out can see you lose everything. Or disappear. In a new place, he has learned to be quiet, contained. He carries the wisdom and knowledge of his mother and father. They have told him to trust no one – except family.
Over one day and one night, Hamoodi will come to understand how vulnerable he is. He will discover that family is complicated and trust is a cruel weapon. For him, there will always be a before and an after. He will forever struggle to un-know. But maybe, in the knowing, he will find a way to take back his power. Maybe …
Read our staff review here.
International fiction
Vigil
George Saunders
For the 343rd time Jill 'Doll' Blaine finds herself crashing down to earth, head-first, rear-up, to accompany her latest charge into the afterlife. She soon realises however that this man is not quite like the others. For powerful oil tycoon K.J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold life, and the world is better for it – isn't it?
As death approaches, a cast of worldly and otherworldly visitors arrive. Crowds of people and animals alive and dead materialise, birds swarm the dying man's room, and associates from decades past show up, all clamouring for a reckoning.
In this electric novel brimming with explosive imagination, George Saunders confronts the biggest issues of our time with his trademark humour and warmth, spinning a tale that encompasses life and death, good and evil
Read our staff review here.
Crime fiction
How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder
Nina McConigley
Summer, 1986. The tween Creel sisters, Georgie Ayyar and Agatha Krishna, welcome their aunt, uncle and young cousin – newly arrived from India – into their house in rural Wyoming where they'll all live together. Because this is what families do. That is, until the sisters decide that it's time for their uncle to die.
According to Georgie, the British are to blame. And to understand why, you need to hear her story. It's one of violence hiding in their house and history, of her once-unshakeable bond with her sister, of being an Indian-American girl in the heart of the West. Her account is cheeky, unflinching and infectiously inflected with the trappings of teendom: pen pal letters, how-to guides, games of MASH and teen-magazine-style quizzes that promise to make sense of their lives.
Nonfiction: Memoir
Two Women Living Together
Kim Hana & Hwang Sunwoo, translated by Gene Png
Two Korean women, living life on their own terms – together.
At some point between living alone and becoming single, Hwang Sunwoo and Kim Hana found each other, and decided to live together in a nice apartment where their four cats would finally have the freedom to run around. Together they became a family – and redefined it.
At a time housing costs have skyrocketed whilst the birth rates plummets, these two independent Korean women in their late forties share their views on society and its expectations of them. And, intent neither to marry or to live alone, they reflect on the comfort of their cohabiting friendship as it blossoms into a life full of joy and meaning.
Quietly radical, full of warmth and wit, Two Women Living Together celebrates carving out your own path, cats, female friendship, and a different kind of family.
Debut fiction
Soft Serve
George Kemp
Stuck in a regional McDonald's, as bushfires close in, three twenty-somethings and their dead friend's mum all face a reckoning. Fern longs for Ethan, Ethan longs for Jacob, and Jacob struggles to long for anything. Meanwhile, Pat just wants her grief to ease up.
Soft Serve proves that small-town lives are huge, and that anyone can get stuck in limbo between their past and their hoped-for future. From celebrated playwright and actor George Kemp comes this charming and poignant novel – it's Chekhov in a drive-thru.
Read our staff review here.
LGBTQIA+
Is This a Cry for Help?
Emily Austin
Darcy’s life turned out better than she could have ever imagined. She is a librarian at the local branch, while her wife Joy runs a book binding service. Between the two of them, there is no more room on their shelves with their ample book collections, various knickknacks and bobbles, and dried bouquets.
But when Darcy receives the news that her ex-boyfriend, Ben, has passed away, she spirals into a pit of guilt and regret, resulting in a mental breakdown and medical leave from the library. When she returns to work, she is met by unrest in her community, and protests surrounding intellectual freedom, resulting in a call for book bans and a second look at the branch’s upcoming DEI programs.
Is This a Cry for Help? not only offers a moving portrait of queer life after coming of age but also powerfully explores questions about sexuality, community, and the importance of libraries.
First Nations
Defending the Defenceless
Eddie Cubillo
For generations, Indigenous peoples in Australia have faced systemic barriers to justice and are often denied the right to determine their own legal and cultural futures. Defending the Defenceless is a powerful exploration of Indigenous self-determination within the legal system, offering a deeply personal and critical perspective on the intersection of law, identity and advocacy.
Drawing from lived experience, community leadership and academic expertise, Eddie Cubillo examines the challenges and triumphs of Indigenous legal services, exposing the structural inequalities that persist while highlighting pathways toward meaningful change. Through innovative methodologies and compelling storytelling, this book is both a vital scholarly contribution and an urgent call to action.
Sci-fi, fantasy & speculative fiction
Bird Deity
John Morrissey
David is a scout. For ten years he has plundered the ruins of an alien civilisation about which he knows nothing. Now his contract is ending, and he's ready to go home, a wealthy, successful man.
Except that everything seems to be slipping out of his control. His mentor Tom vanished on a recent expedition. David doesn't know what has happened to him. And, as he waits for the ship that will take him away, he begins to question the choices he has made.
That's when he is visited by a researcher, a specialist in non-human societies. She has travelled far to learn about this strange world and wants to hire David as her guide. One more expedition, one more trip to the rainswept wasteland of the plateau, and he can go home at last, rich beyond his dreams.
But he comes to realise that he may yet lose everything, as he is drawn inexorably towards an encounter with the terrifying soul of this world.
Read our staff review here.
Romance
Side Character Energy
Olivia Tolich
After a series of Mr Wrongs, Bee has finally found her Mr Right. Attractive, mature – William is everything she's been looking for. Gertrude is Bee's best friend since forever (and also her flatmate, workmate and Insta content videographer). She's happy for Bee – just as she's been sad for Bee during those romantic missteps, and supportive of Bee in everything else.
Actually, now she thinks about it, Gertrude isn't sure there even is a Gertrude that isn't determined by what Bee wants or thinks or feels.
Panicked to realise she's not the main character in her own life, she turns to William's best friend, Arthur. He isn't the obvious choice for life coaching – apart from anything else, Gertrude doesn't really like him – but everyone else is … Well, there is no everyone else. Just Bee.
Arthur's mission is to find out whether there's more to Gertrude than she thinks, and if so, what it is. The problem is, that might throw up some hard questions – about her life, her choices and above all, her friendship with Bee.
Young adult
Beth Is Dead
Katie Bernet
Beth March has been murdered, and all her sisters are suspects …
After a New Year's Eve party, Beth is found dead. All the March sisters wonder who could have killed their sweet little sister. And – why?
As each of the girls' motives are uncovered, it becomes clear that Meg, Jo, Amy – and even Beth – might not be quite as sweet as they seem …
The March sisters have always been close, but will Beth's murder bring them closer together, or tear them apart?
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