International fiction

Nobody is Ever Missing by Catherine Lacey

Reviewed by Brigid Mullane

Catherine Lacey’s impressive first novel follows 28-year-old Elyria who, without telling her husband, boards a plane from New York to New Zealand leaving behind her stable and outwardly enviable life. Seeking to ‘divorce from everything, to divorce my own history’…

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The Ghost Estate by John Connell

Born in County Longford, Ireland, award-winning journalist, John Connell currently resides in Sydney. However, it is to his home town of Longford that Connell returns for the setting of his first novel, The Ghost Estate. Intended to be a…

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The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma

Reviewed by Natalie Platten

Chigozie Obioma’s debut novel, The Fishermen, is an outstanding addition to African literature. Fans of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Half of a Yellow Sun – will relish it’s distinct Nigerian placement. The sibling bond is tight between the four…

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Dancing in the Dark by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Reviewed by Gerard Elson

Cards on the table: at time of writing I haven’t yet finished this, the fourth volume in Karl Ove Knausgaard’s ‘autobiographical novel’ cycle. In his almost punishingly expansive style previous volumes have immersed readers, with varying degrees of reflective interjection…

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Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum

Reviewed by Jemima Bucknell

From acclaimed poet Jill Alexander Essbaum comes this debut novel, Hausfrau. She brings with it her poetic inclinations: passages are fleeting, moving through past and present, but measured and curated with care. The experiences of her troubled heroine, Anna…

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A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

Reviewed by Mark Rubbo

Anne Tyler writes about families; usually they are quite ordinary, middle-class families. They might have a few quirks but mostly they, like the rest of us, are trying to navigate their lives as best they can. In short, they are…

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The First Bad Man by Miranda July

Reviewed by Chris Somerville

Miranda July’s first book, No One Belongs Here More Than You, was a collection of short stories that, while not linked in the traditional ways through character or plot, was bound into a cohesive whole by its voice. Now…

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Mobile Library by David Whitehouse

Reviewed by Suzanne Steinbruckner

Twelve-year-old Bobby Nusku has been having a hard time. He’s a prime target for the school bullies, friends are hard to come by and he and his dad just haven’t been getting along since the accident when his mother disappeared…

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Get in Trouble by Kelly Link

Reviewed by Alan Vaarwerk

Nobody writes short fiction like Kelly Link. Get In Trouble, her first collection for adults since 2005’s Magic For Beginners, showcases the author’s unique brand of magical realism, blending fantasy, sci-fi and American fiction, and is brimming with…

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The Possibilities by Kaui Hart Hemmings

Reviewed by Sally Keighery

Grieving, guilt-stricken, forty-something solo mum Sarah St John is cleaning out her son’s room after his death in an avalanche. Reflecting on the choices he made and on her own choices that led to his birth and untimely death, her…

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