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F R EE M AY 2021
Browse our
Mother’s Day
gift ideas
page 12
Announcing the
winner of the Readings
Children’s Book Prize
page 5
B OOK S
M USI C
F I LM
EVENTS
PAT M E T H E N Y
page 23
JAM I E MAR I NA R ACH EL CUSK KATH R YN KATE HOLD E N EMILY GALE &
L AU page 9 H E YMAN page 14 NOVA WEETMAN
page 6 page 14 page 18
CARLTON 309 LYGON ST 9347 6633 KIDS 315 LYGON ST 9341 7730 DONCASTER WESTFIELD DONCASTER, 619 DONCASTER RD 9810 0891
HAWTHORN 701 GLENFERRIE RD 9819 1917 MALVERN 185 GLENFERRIE RD 9509 1952 ST KILDA 112 ACLAND ST 9525 3852 STATE LIBRARY
VICTORIA 285-321 RUSSELL ST 8664 7540 | SEE SHOP OPENING HOURS, BROWSE AND BUY ONLINE AT READINGS.COM.AU
NEWS May 2021 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 3
News Sales &
Promotions
Mother’s Day Readings Children’s Book Prize winner The Stella Prize winner
It’s Mother’s Day on Sunday 9 May. We’ve We are thrilled to announce the winner of The Stella Prize for 2021 has been
included some handy gift ideas in this issue the 2021 Readings Children’s Book Prize awarded to Evie Wyld for The Bass Rock,
of the Readings Monthly to help you find is As Fast As I Can by Penny Tangey! This a compelling novel that explores three 20% off all books at Readings
the perfect bookish present. You’ll also find thrilling and entertaining sporty adventure generations of women, hundreds of years Malvern
plenty of ideas in our seven shops. Please will delight readers ages 8 to 12. As the apart, all linked by a shared trauma. The We’re offering 20% off all books at
note that our online shipping deadline 2021 winner, Tangey will receive $3,000 in Stella Prize celebrates the best books by our Malvern shop from Monday 17
has passed, and delivery is no longer prize money. The Readings Children’s Book Australian women and non-binary writers, to Sunday 23 May. This special sale
guaranteed to arrive in time for Mother’s Prize aims to raise the profile of exciting and offers prize money of $50,000. Find out is available in-store only and is not
Day, but our shops are all open and our emerging Australian children’s authors. For more about the prize and The Bass Rock at available at any other Readings shop
well-read staff are readily available to assist more information about the prize and our thestellaprize.com.au or online. The discount applies to the
you with finding the perfect gift. full judges’ report, head to page 5. recommended retail price and is not
valid with any other offers or discounts.
Queenscliffe Literary Festival
Queenscliffe Literary Festival is on again
in 2021, bringing a program of events 25% off Princeton University
designed to stimulate thought and Press titles
discussion. This year’s theme is ‘Rethink’ We are offering 25% off an exclusive
and the festival will run across three range of paperbacks from Princeton
weeks, from 14 to 30 May. To see the full University Press until 31 May at our
program and to purchase tickets, visit Carlton and Hawthorn shops, as well
queenscliffeliteraryfestival.com.au as online (use the code PRINCETON
at check-out). Offer valid on stickered,
in-stock titles only. Not applicable with
3MBS live broadcast at any other offer.
Readings Carlton
On Friday 14 May, 3MBS will be
broadcasting live inside Readings Carlton Penny Tangey special prize pack
from 4 to 7pm. We are offering 10% off To celebrate Penny Tangey winning
classical music CDs and DVDs for 3MBS the 2021 Readings Children’s Book
subscribers during the month of May. This Prize we are offering a special price on
offer is available in our Carlton, Hawthorn Tangey’s middle-grade books As Fast
and Malvern stores, and is not valid with As I Can and Stay Well Soon. The pack
any other offers or discounts. The discount will be $26.99 (save $5). Offer available
applies to the recommended retail price. while stocks last.
R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY EDITOR ADVERTISING P R I C E S A N D AVA I L A B I L I T Y
Free, independent monthly newspaper Jackie Tang Lucie Dess Please note that all prices and release
published by Readings Books, Music & Film jackie.tang@readings.com.au lucie.dess@readings.com.au dates in Readings Monthly are correct
at time of publication, however prices
SUBSCRIBE E D I T O R I A L A S S I S TA N T S GRAPHIC DESIGN and release dates may change without
You can subscribe to Readings Monthly Judi Mitchell & Lucie Dess Cat Matteson notice. Special price offers apply only for
and our e-news by visiting our website: the month in which they are featured in
readings.com.au/sign-up PROOFREADER CAR TOON Readings Monthly.
Joanna Di Mattia Oslo Davis
DELIVERY CHARGES FOR COVID-19
M A I L- O R D E R & O V E R - T H E - K I D S & YA C U R AT O R S FRONT COVER While all title release dates were correct
PHONE PURCHASES
Angela Crocombe & Dani Solomon The May Readings Monthly at the time of going to press, due to the
$6.50 flat rate to anywhere in Australia for cover features artwork by Emma Currie. ongoing COVID-19 crisis the unexpected
orders under $120. Free shipping for orders M U S I C & D V D C U R AT O R See more at www.emma-currie.com may happen along the supply chain.
$120 and over. Dave Clarke Please bear with us as we bring you books
DELIVERY CHARGES FOR in these rapidly changing circumstances.
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$6.50 flat rate to anywhere in Australia for Readings donates 10% of its profits each
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Chris Gordon
4 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY May 2021 C O LU M N S
Mark’s Dear Reader
THE
Say
with Alison Huber
CHIEF with Mark Rubbo Jamie Marina Lau was shortlisted for the 2018 Readings Prize for New
WITNESS
Australian Fiction for her standout debut, Pink Mountain on Locust
Island. This unique novel won the author many fans, with many of our
I was doing a bit of tidying staff among its greatest champions. Lau’s follow-up is the brilliantly titled
up the other week and Gunk Baby. Largely set in the hermetic world of a shopping centre, this
stumbled upon our clever narrative is cut through with incisive critiques of consumer culture and commentary
Christmas catalogue for on the hard work it takes to be in the company of other people. Lau’s is an exciting and
A shocking 1988. It was a modest
production and interestingly a lot of the
distinctive voice, and Gunk Baby is our Fiction Book of the Month. Also out this month are
Australian debuts from Clare Moleta, Hugh Breakey, and Angela O’Keefe, and an historical
depiction of one books we advertised then are still in print,
and I was struck by how the prices then
epic from Anita Heiss. The Sweatshop literacy movement from Western Sydney has
produced an excellent new anthology on the topic of racism; Ellen van Neerven had edited
of the world’s
aren’t much different now. In 1988 Bruce Flock, a collection of short fiction by First Nations writers.
Chatwin’s The Songlines was $12.95. Using In international news, our reviewers recommend the new work from Rachel Cusk,
the RBA’s inflation calculator that would Jhumpa Lahiri, Jon McGregor, Jeff VanderMeer, Sunjeev Sahota, Maggie Shipstead and
most ruthless make it $30.21 in today’s dollars, but instead,
it’s only $14.99. It was also the year Salman
Rahul Raina. There’s much else besides, but I’m definitely on the lookout for the new novel
by Robert Seethaler (I loved A Whole Life). If you have missed reading the magnificent
regimes — and Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses came out; the
hardback was $29.95, or in today’s dollars,
Shuggie Bain (famous for winning the 2020 Booker Prize, as well as being The Last Book I
Read Before the Pandemic Began), it’s out in a new edition this month. It’s exciting that a
the story of one $69.86. Interestingly, a movie ticket in 1988
was $6.30 and now it’s $20.50. So in 1988,
couple of our resident staff experts/artists have reviewed two books in graphic format this
month: Two-Week Wait and Still Alive. Our poetry enthusiast this month recommends
woman’s fight to
The Songlines was double the cost of a movie Lucy Van’s The Open.
ticket and today it’s 27% less. Commentators Kathryn Heyman’s memoir, Fury, is our Nonfiction Book of the Month. The timing of
often talk about modern technology
escape China.
this outstanding example of life writing couldn’t be more apposite. As a young woman,
becoming cheaper but one of the oldest and Heyman’s experience as the victim in a sexual assault trial compounded her trauma,
most precious forms of technology, a book, setting her on a path of self-discovery that is unusual and compellingly told. This well-
is considerably less than it was 33 years ago. crafted book is a voice of reckoning, and a gift for readers whose collective fury has been
It’s also interesting to note that our 1988 galvanising in recent months. Also out this month is Kaya Wilson’s anticipated memoir, As
catalogue only featured one cookbook. Beautiful as Any Other, which our reviewer calls courageous and stunning; Kate Holden’s
A few weeks ago, when I opened wide-ranging investigation into the killing of environmental officer, Glen Turner, The
the review section the Australian, I was Winter Road, compared favourably here to the great works of crime reportage; Stranger
delighted to see a whole page devoted to Care from the original hand of Sarah Sentilles, who takes readers deep into her experience
three new Australian YA books. One of them, of being a foster carer; and Krissy Kneen’s intimate memoir of family history, The Three
The Gaps, was by my colleague Leanne Hall Burials of Lotty Kneen.
who has worked with Readings for many Stan Grant has written a blistering provocation for Black Inc.’s Writers on Writers series,
years, and whose previous books have won focusing on Thomas Keneally’s The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith; if you’re yet to read a
several awards. The reviewer speculated book in this series, please don’t miss this one. New publishing kids on the block, Ultimo
that The Gaps could well be the best YA Press (I should clarify – this company actually comprises some of the most accomplished
novel published this year. It’s a brilliant professionals in the industry), have their first book hit the shelves this month: The Last
novel about the abduction of a teenage girl Correspondent by Michael Smith. The excellent First Knowledges series is a collaboration
and of the unlikely friendship that develops between First Nations and non-First Nations writers exploring different themes; Songlines
between two students at a privileged girls (October 2020) was the first book, and Design is out this month. Other nonfiction
school in response to the abduction. This highlights include new writing from Richard Flanagan, Malcolm Gladwell, Janine Burke,
year, three more of my colleagues will have Geoffrey Robertson, Patrick Radden Keefe, and Irvin and Marilyn Yalom, as well as
books published. In September, Readings selected writings of the late, great historian, Inga Clendinnen.
Prize manager and Readings Foundation And finally, dear reader, this time last year, Mother’s Day celebrations across Victoria were
grants officer Gabrielle Williams will publish likely conducted over Zoom, Houseparty, FaceTime, or perhaps the ancient technology of the
her fifth YA novel. Titled It’s Not You, It’s Me; telephone. Hopefully they’ll be in real life this year. If you’re looking for gift suggestions for the
the premise is very intriguing, involving time maternal figure in your life, turn to page 12 and 13 for some ideas, from our family to yours.
travel, body shifting and a mystery. Sean
O’Beirne had his collection of short stories,
On Events
A Couple of Things Before the End, published
just before lockdown last year. Helen Garner
has been a great supporter of Sean’s writing,
having read a draft of the collection, and with Chris Gordon
‘If you launched the finished book with a lovely
speech at Readings Carlton. Sean is also a
thought great admirer of Helen’s work and has been Goodness I have felt worn out these last few weeks by the behaviour of so
commissioned by Black Inc. to write on many of our leaders. I find listening or reading other people’s stories the
easiest way to sidestep the blues. I know I always feel better when I get to
another
Helen for its Writers on Writers series. This
comes out in October – I suspect it will be a share, laugh or learn from my community.
labour of great love. Finally, Miles Allinson We are completely spoilt for choice this month, but I admit to being
Holocaust has a follow-up to his marvellous novel, Fever
of Animals, coming out in September. Miles
very excited to be spending some time with Judith Lucy. She is drop-dead funny, and
she will be talking about her new book, Turns Out, I’m Fine in person at The Collective in
Carlton (Tue 11 May). This is her most candid and insightful book yet, where she figures out
could never
received a State Library Victoria Creative
Fellowship to work on the new book, In what went wrong and then turns her attention to forgetting other people’s expectations to
Moonland. It’s a portrait of three generations, find out what her life might look like if it went right.
happen, pick each grappling with their own mortality. I’m
aware of at least a few more ‘Readings’ books
Another wonderful woman, historian Dale Kent, stopped listening to other people a long
time ago. Together with the Future Women club, we are delighted to bring you a discussion
up this book.’
that are in the pipeline too. between Kent and Clare Wright as they discuss Kent’s The Most I Could Be (Wed 19 May). In this
University High School is one of feminist memoir spanning continents and a lifetime of scholarship, Kent recounts the battles
Melbourne’s most prestigious government she faced as a female scholar. Linda Jaivin would also be familiar with such battles. She and
schools and fittingly, its library has a her friend Kevin Rudd joins us to discuss her new book The Shortest History of China (Thu 27
CLIVE HAMILTON
marvellous collection. A lot of that was May). Her book is a view of China from its philosophical origins to its various political systems,
down to the work of Rob Castles and his and I am sure discussion will lead to the country’s more recent history as well.
colleague Kate Marquad. Rob sadly passed Of course, I am thrilled that this month we also have events with such kind and generous
away a few weeks ago after a long battle men like activist Scott Ludlam (Tue 6 May), philosopher Peter Singer (Thu 13 May) and Hugh
with cancer. A week or so before that, he Mackay (Wed 12 May). Mackay’s latest book, The Kindness Revolution, reflects on the lessons we
contacted me and I asked him how he was are learning from the pandemic – about making personal sacrifices for the common good and
going. He replied: ‘This dying business is valuing our relationships. Imagine how different our society could be if we were to apply those
tedious and hard work though I have to say. lessons more widely. Imagine how our leaders could lead. Imagine who our leaders would be.
Can’t say I’d recommend it to anyone!’ The Be sure to visit readings.com.au/events to book tickets to these fabulous conversations
staff at Readings Carlton will miss him. and for more information about our online and in-person events.
PR IZ E WI N N ER May 2021 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 5
As Fast As I Can
Penny Tangey
UQP. PB. $16.99
Available now
excited
We’re beyond
st As I Can
to share As Fa
ad er s, and are
with new re
er it in a prize
pleased to off
ey ’s previously
pack with Tang
ok , Stay Well
shortlisted bo
ecial price of
Soon, at the sp
1.99).
$26.99 (was $3
The
Readings
Children’s
Book Prize
Photo by Penelope Claire
2021 Winner
Introduced by Clare Millar, who works for praised how realistic the primary school setting and Congratulations again to the five authors who were
Readings Online and is the chair of the Readings friendships felt, as well as Tangey’s ability to handle shortlisted alongside Tangey: Nat Amoore (The Power
sensitive topics and changes in Vivian’s family. Gale said: of Positive Pranking), Danielle Binks (The Year the Maps
Children’s Book Prize 2021 judging panel.
Changed), Maxine Beneba Clarke (Aussie Kids: Meet
‘Tangey’s depiction of a primary Taj at the Lighthouse), Amelia Mellor (The Grandest
We are thrilled to share that the winner of the Readings Bookshop in the World) and Kirli Saunders (Bindi). Our
Children’s Book Prize is As Fast As I Can by Penny school felt like a real and down-to- judging panel wouldn’t be the first to note the absolute
Tangey! This thrilling and entertaining sporty adventure earth slice of Australian life, and I excellence of Australian children’s books in 2020.
will delight readers ages 8–12. loved her deft handling of friendships Emily Gale was instrumental in establishing this
Ten-year-old Vivian has her life sorted already – she’s prize in 2014 to celebrate books that children and
and family dynamics. Above all,
determined to go to the Olympics. She just doesn’t know families will love, and to raise the profile of exciting
in which sport! She’s tried nearly everything, but once Vivian’s humour, honesty, hopefulness
emerging Australian authors. Seven years later, it
she finds her love of cross-country running, she becomes and grit make her a memorable and is a privilege to work with Gale again and hear her
even more determined and trains hard. Everything enduring character.’ invaluable thoughts on Australian children’s publishing.
changes however, when a family illness is discovered. About the prize, she said:
As Fast As I Can is a beautiful story about dreams, This is the second time Tangey has been shortlisted
resilience and determination. Vivian is a fierce character, for this prize; her first middle-grade fiction novel, ‘Awards that actively promote
whose honesty and, at times, stubbornness drive the plot. Stay Well Soon, was shortlisted in 2014. Her young
When Vivian’s dream is challenged, Tangey demonstrates
Australian literature to the public,
adult novels, Clara in Washington and Loving Richard
an exceptional ability to navigate the reader through Feynman, are also both acclaimed.
and remunerate emerging writers,
difficult changes in the family, while also maintaining a
In response to her win, Tangey said: are crucial in a landscape where
light humourous touch. Tangey is a natural and funny
homegrown books have to fight
storyteller, and her book will be eagerly devoured by
independent readers – especially those looking for ‘I am extremely surprised and excited relentlessly for space. I relished every
something sporty – as well as being a fantastic choice for that As Fast As I Can has been book on this list; they all deserve the
a family read-aloud. awarded the Readings Children’s Book attention of booksellers, librarians,
As Fast As I Can was chosen by a panel of Readings teachers and of course children
Prize. My eight-year-old is adamant
children’s book specialists – Angela Crocombe (manager
of Readings Kids), Sam Kelly (bookseller at Readings that I don’t deserve it. (I won’t say across Australia and beyond.’
Doncaster and host of Doncaster’s middle fiction book which shortlisted book he thinks
club), Tye Cattanach (bookseller at Readings Kids), and should have won.) Readings aren’t
me – along with our 2021 guest judge, author Emily Gale.
just a business they are part of the
We were unanimous in our awe for this book. Tangey As the 2021 winner, Tangey will receive $3,000 in prize
has crafted a timeless story about finding passions and
community and I am personally very money. For more information on the Readings Children’s
strength, and listening to our bodies and families. We grateful for their work in promoting Book Prize visit readings.com.au/the-readings-children-s-
book-prize
were inspired by Vivian’s drive. The judges particularly Australian children’s writing.’
6 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY May 2021 FIC T IO N
New
Dreams): ‘Using Wiradjuri language on the publisher Scribe into the field of graphic
cover of my novel (and throughout the text) novel publishing, which is very exciting for
makes a strong statement … regarding the those of us with our eye on this artform.
Fiction reclamation and maintenance of the
traditional language of my family.’
However, this love story Heiss has written
It is a beautifully drawn, heartfelt, real-
feeling examination of the struggle to
become parents.
gives us more than just statements; it gives Bernard Caleo is from Readings Carlton
us the means to engage with our past.
Based on true events, Bila
When I first picked up Jamie Marina Lau’s debut, Pink Unsheltered
Yarrudhanggalangdhuray centres on the
B OO K OF T H E Mountain on Locust Island, back in 2019, I was instantly Clare Moleta
intrigued by the sparsely filled pages and short-prose life of Wagadhaany and her life by the
S&S. PB. $29.99
M ON T H structure. It was captivating; almost like reading poetry. Lau’s powerful and beautiful Murrumbidgee
Available 5 May
Australian ability to weave a whole novel into only a few staccato River. While this novel is essentially a
In a landscape
story of romance, it also encapsulates
Fiction sentences filled with emotive language and powerful rent by an
adjectives made me fall in love with both the voice of her an enduring love of Country. When
undefined climate
character and Lau herself as an author. I had never come Wagadhaany meets Wiradjuri stockman
catastrophe, societal
across a book like it, distinct not only in subject matter but in Yindyamarra (Yindy) they dream of a life
breakdown and possible
its ability to ask the fundamental question, ‘what is a novel?’ away from ‘White Man’s Law’. We already
armed conflict, a
know how that turns out, but along the
network of refugee
riverbanks we are privy to their dreams
Gunk Baby is a beautifully unique novel and aspirations. We are shown how life
camps, settlements and
which will be loved by both new and old supply stations house
was and how it could have remained.
what remains of humankind. Though it
fans of Lau’s work. Heiss’s writing here is different to
has echoes of the Australian terrain, the
her past work, and she wants readers
land beyond the camps remains a largely
So naturally when Gunk Baby was announced, I was not to take away some important lessons.
hostile environment for its inhabitants.
only excited to read Lau’s latest work but to again have my This novel is an epic depiction of First
Li’s eight-year-old daughter Matti is out
understanding of character, voice and form challenged. When People’s lives before and during white
there somewhere.
I finally got my hands on the book after a year of waiting, I colonisers’ brutality. By recalling the
For Li, on a perilous journey across
Gunk Baby was surprised to see the format was that of any other novel past against a backdrop of romance,
the uncertain country in search of
Jamie Marina Lau and worried that Lau’s return to a conventional writing style Heiss’s writing elicits a gut-wrenching
Matti, obstacles and challenges are a
Hachette. PB. $32.99 indicated the loss of all that made her debut revolutionary. response; this is what an excellent writer
constant: shortages of water, food and
Available now Thankfully, I was wrong. Gunk Baby is a riveting story, can do with their stories. With Bila
medical supplies are twinned with the
told through the eyes of 24-year-old Leen, a young woman Yarrudhanggalangdhuray, Heiss has given
threat of epidemics and illnesses. The
whose tumultuous past has left her with a fixation for us a rollicking good read that also offers
determination and fortitude of Li and
shopping centres and their ubiquitous nature. Within one of these shopping centres Leen some important means of reflection.
the survivors who aid her search offer
hopes to provide human connection and relief by opening a studio dedicated to healing, Chris Gordon is the programming and events fleeting glimpses of optimism, despite
offering services such as massage, cupping and ear cleaning. However, Leen soon finds manager at Readings
the hardships they all face. In this barren
her ability to trust and connect with others challenged by the manipulation, pressure and environment, the rare sense of humanity
consumerism inherent to her beloved shopping centre, and by extension, the world. between survivors is a crucial lifeline. The
Two-Week Wait: An I.V.F. Story
While this book does fit the traditional structure of a novel, Lau maintains her flowing stakes are raised as time progresses; as
Luke C. Jackson, Kelly Jackson &
prose and evocative language. Staying within the noir tradition of her previous book, Lau Li’s search for Matti draws on, her anxiety
Mara Wild (illus.)
interweaves her characters’ mundane thoughts and wandering observations with harsh and uncertainty regarding her daughter’s
Scribe. PB. $35
realities of violence and unresolved trauma. Gunk Baby is a beautifully unique novel which survival is transferred to the reader.
Available 4 May
will be loved by both new and old fans of Lau’s work. The suspense and tension created
This graphic
Izzy White is from Readings Carlton by debut author Clare Moleta is of the
novel is a
stressful, teeth-clenching variety, as you
fictional story based
will Li across the dystopic wasteland.
on the real-life
Will she make it? Will they both make
experience of
it? Yet, for all the bleakness of this book
Australian her away without an explanation, but as
time slips by, he knows he will have to
Melbourne-based
wife-and-husband
– and by Jove, it is bleak – this novel is a
Fiction disappoint her. As she helps him complete writer team Kelly and
tour de force. Moleta’s writing is superb,
offering readers a vivid and wholly
the task set by past Robbie, he tells her Luke Jackson. The
what it means to him, describing the work unsettling picture of what may befall
authors are in-vitro fertilisation veterans
The Beautiful Fall he has done and its ultimate destruction as future generations. As I read this book,
themselves and have interviewed other IVF
the soundtrack my brain offered me was
Hugh Breakey the ‘beautiful fall’. Robbie realises that his couples in order to create the script for this
Text. PB. $32.99 feelings for Julie are similar. He has fallen Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring: at times
story of Conrad and Joanne, a couple in
Available 4 May in love, and it is a beautiful fall, but it could harrowing and relentless, yet ultimately
their late thirties who decide to have a
also end up devastating both of them. engrossing. This is a sensational debut
Thrice now, 179 child but face fertility hurdles in their way.
Hugh Breakey has imagined a from a new writer now based in Aotearoa,
days apart each Cue their entry into the demi-monde of
seemingly impossible set of choices for and a great addition to the growing
time, Robbie Penfold IVF procedures: sperm donation,
the characters in this romantic and quietly climate-fiction canon. Read this if you
has lost his mind. He endometriosis surgery, embryo
philosophical novel. The importance of loved Weather, The Glad Shout, Parable of
suffers from a form of implantation … The book demystifies the
memory and our individual concept of the Sower or The Road.
amnesia which wipes technical processes of IVF for readers, and
his memory clean every the past are reoccurring themes, as is the tracks the ups and downs (there are a lot of Julia Jackson is from Readings Carlton
six months. No one beauty of finishing something that means downs) on the couple’s emotional
knows if it will happen the world to you. rollercoaster. This graphic novel delivers a Flock: First Nations Stories
again, but Robbie has to assume it will, and Kate McIntosh is the manager of Readings narrative drenched in technical IVF Then and Now
he lives his life accordingly, shut up safely Doncaster procedural detail as well as personal and Ellen van Neerven (ed.)
in his apartment, away from everyone, just emotional scenes. There is a lot at stake. It UQP. PB. $29.99
in case. The previous Robbie, the one who Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray is dramatic material. Available 4 May
had already forgotten everything once Anita Heiss But it is a graphic novel too, and there is This wide-ranging and
before, left him a letter and a box of S&S. PB. $32.99 the vital contribution of the artwork to the captivating anthology
mementos, as well as a daily task to help fill Available 5 May ultimate tone of the book. The drawings, showcases both the
in the time. He follows these instructions For details on the event for this book, by the talented German illustrator Mara power of First Nations
and believes everything the letter tells him. visit readings.com.au/events Wild, are full of light and air. They extend writing and the
Why wouldn’t he? Why would former We need more of a friendly hand to the reader of this satisfaction of a good
Robbie lie to future Robbie? Surely, if these stories; more necessarily dark, medical, emotional tale. short story. Curated by
there’s one person on earth you can trust, novels that reflect Wild’s character design, page layout and award-winning author
it’s yourself. Isn’t it? Australia’s colonial past loose, expressive linework make the book a Ellen van Neerven,
With less than two weeks to go before through the eyes of First pleasure to read. Her limited colour palette Flock brings together voices from across
the forgetting is likely to strike again, Nations women. Anita and pencil-textured drawings make for a the generations. Featuring stories by Tony
Robbie meets a woman. The attraction Heiss, award-winning cartooning style which builds an aesthetic Birch, Melissa Lucashenko and Tara June
is immediate and appears to be mutual. author and proud both serious and vulnerable, and which Winch, as well as rising stars such as Adam
He knows he can’t let her in, not now, but member of the Wiradjuri provides a well-judged complement to the Thompson and Mykaela Saunders, Flock
she keeps coming back, and she makes Nation of Central NSW, said in the writing subject matter. confirms the ongoing resonance and
life worth living. He doesn’t want to turn of Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Two-Week Wait marks the entry of local originality of First Nations stories.
F IC T ION May 2021 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 7
The Little Boat on Trusting relationships, with the serve and return of
Lane tennis as a metaphor for the ways that we
Mel Hall relate to each other, even as we often ignore
Fremantle Press. PB. $29.99 bigger issues, encapsulated in Van’s image
Available 4 May of Manus detainees on another television
Richard runs his screen nearby when she watches the tennis.
alternative healing This collection is for a confident poetry
centre from an old reader – especially one interested in
houseboat in a decolonisation. With long and theoretical
scrapyard on Trusting prose poems referencing Foucault
Lane. While Richard and Kristeva, as well as poets such as
plies his new-age Bishop and Plath, some readers may feel
wisdom, disciples Finn overwhelmed. However, Van’s absolute
and August help to run strength is infusing small images with the
the centre. But warning letters from the emotions of decolonisation.
council are piling up and the arrival of a Clare Millar is from Readings online
new mystic, Celestiaa Davinaa, is about to
rock their world. How many alternative
I Said the Sea Was Folded:
healers can one small boat hold before the
Love Poems
enterprise capsizes?
Erik Jensen
Black Inc. PB. $22.99
Night Blue Available 4 May
Angela O’Keeffe For details on the event for this book,
Transit Lounge. PB. $27.99 visit readings.com.au/events
Available 1 May From award-winning
Potent, haunting and writer Erik Jensen
lyrical, Night Blue is a comes a tender and
debut novel like no other, involving narrative
a narrative largely told in sequence of short love
the voice of the painting poems. Startling in their
Blue Poles. Moving simplicity and their
between New York and honesty, the poems
Australia, the 1970s and chart the first three
the modern day, this years of Jensen’s relationship with his
truly original novel explores the artistic life partner, a non-binary composer and
of Jackson Pollock and his wife Lee musician. They are love poems, written
Krasner, the cultural legacy of Whitlam’s against the complexity of understanding
purchase of the painting, and the power of another person. Together they form a
art to change lives, and, by turns, a nation. fragmentary memoir of hope,
disagreement and love.
Australian
Poetry International
Fiction
The Open
Lucy Van China Room Have your pick of the bunch
Cordite Press. PB. $20 Sunjeev Sahota
this Mother’s Day
Available now Harvill Secker. PB. $32.99
I was immediately Available 4 May
intrigued by My son-in-law’s
Merlinda Bobis’s cousin was married
introduction to The a few months ago to a
Open in which she Punjabi man she’d never
describes Lucy Van’s met. The marriage, by
poetry as having ‘all her own report, is going
doors open’. This is true well. For some of us in
– not just in the the West, the idea of an
frequent imagery surrounding doors in this arranged marriage seems
collection – but that poetry allows Van to completely alien. For Booker Prize-
walk through history, while still living with shortlisted novelist Sunjeev Sahota, who
the effects of colonisation. It is an explores these relationships in his new
invitation to the reader to walk with her. novel, China Room, the arranged marriage
The Open comprises four sections: can have tragic consequences.
Hotel Grand Saigon, The Esplanade, Mehar grows up in a loving family,
Australian Open I and Australian Open albeit one in which she is trained to run
II. The first three sections are long poems a household, look after and be obedient
broken into parts, with the final section to her husband, and be respectful to her
comprising mostly unconnected poems. mother-in-law. Her idyllic childhood is
In ‘Hotel Grand Saigon’, Van goes back to disrupted one day when her family is
Vietnam to visit her extended family and visited by some awful strangers. These are
learn more about her father. At one point, the parents of her husband-to-be, come
Van is stuck in a gift shop, unable to speak to inspect her, her cousin tells her. In 10
much of either French or Vietnamese, years they will come for you, he says, and
further estranged from her own history. they do. Mehar is married to one of three
‘Possession is a grammatical category. brothers and comes to live in their home.
Contraction is a poetic category. Poetry is a She doesn’t see her husband; she doesn’t
possessive contraction’ is a line that I was know his name. Occasionally she is told to
thinking about for a long time after I read wait in a darkened room, the China Room,
it; Van uses poetry to explore not just how and is visited by a man who is kindly but
Vietnam and Australia have been and still instructs her on what to do; she doesn’t
are possessed by colonisers, but also to try see his face. But there is another man who
to unfurl her father’s migration story. visits who is tender and excites her. Which Visit thamesandhudson.com.au
At times gritty and grungy, ‘The is her husband?
for the whole gift range
Esplanade’ and ‘Australian Open I’ explore Many years later Mehar’s great-
Australian identity, and friendships and grandson arrives from England; he has
8 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY May 2021 FIC T IO N
a problem with drugs and alcohol and under each arm, rather than going down
has been sent by his father to stay with with the ship – an act that lands him in
his uncle to dry out and get clean. As his prison. The twins run wild while being
withdrawal symptoms become evident, ‘raised’ in Montana by their uncle – an
his uncle decides to send him to the now excellent painter, a frequent drunk and a
abandoned family farm outside the town. very bad gambler.
His uncle’s wife despises her husband; she More than a decade later, 13-year-old
was in love with another man when her Marian witnesses two pilots performing
marriage to the uncle was arranged. At the exhilarating rolls, dives and loops in their
farm, the man begins to grapple with his beat-up biplanes. Desperate to fly, she
problems of identity and starts trying to leaves school in search of work to fund
understand the causes of his behaviour. flying lessons, landing in the world of
The two stories weave in and out of each the older, wealthy Barclay Macqueen,
other in this wonderful and moving novel. a bootlegger supplying illegal alcohol
Mark Rubbo is the managing director of during prohibition.
Readings Marian sacrifices everything to harness
the same control over her life as she feels
Lean Fall Stand when she is flying. In 1949 she attempts
Jon McGregor what no one has done before – fly the
Fourth Estate. PB. $29.99 great circle around the earth via the North
Available 5 May and South Poles. Her plane disappears
We start in peril. in Antarctica and she is presumed dead.
This is Antarctica; Years later when her journal is discovered
the weather can, and we learn the truth of her final flight.
will, change without a In the modern day, troubled
moment’s notice. This Hollywood star Hadley Baxter is cast to
is the first season play the part of Marian Graves in a biopic.
working at the bottom Hadley immediately feels a strong bond
of the earth for Thomas with Marian as both were orphaned as
and Luke whereas children and raised by uncles. As she digs
Robert, or ‘Doc’, is an old hand at this, more deeply into the life of her subject,
with over thirty years’ experience. But Hadley begins to question whether Marian
even Robert isn’t prepared for what goes did actually die.
wrong during the storm. What happens Damaged and deeply human, both
changes the lives of all three men, and the Marian and Hadley are defiant women
lives of their families back home. But desperate to free themselves from
what went wrong, and whose fault it is, is constraints and chart their own courses
not clear. Robert may have the answers, in life. Both are fearless and determined
but he can no longer communicate them. to form connections and push the social
Burdened with caring for him, his wife boundaries of their era. This is a wildly
Anna’s life is also irrevocably changed exciting story of a female daredevil aviator
by the crisis. who refuses to be crushed by society’s
Even with its thrilling beginning, I was expectations. Maggie Shipstead’s writing
initially unsure if this new novel by Jon is superb and Great Circle is an intensely
McGregor was for me. I absolutely adored satisfying read.
his Booker longlisted work Reservoir 13, Lou Ryan is the manager at Readings Carlton
Pick something they’ll love this but I couldn’t quite reconcile the quiet
power of that domestic drama with this
Antarctic thriller. My concerns, however,
How to Kidnap the Rich
Rahul Raina
Mother’s Day were misplaced. Lean Fall Stand moves
effortlessly from thriller to a much more
heart-wrenching story of family and
Little, Brown. PB. $32.99
Available 11 May
Working his way
survival. As always, McGregor’s greatest
from being the
talent lies in his ability to see every
son of an abusive chai
one of his characters as a fully-fledged
seller to the ‘manager’
human being. Even the most peripheral
of one of India’s most
of characters has an undeniable humanity
beloved television game
and a completely original personality.
show hosts, Ramesh
I don’t think he could write a stock
Kumar has done many
character if he tried.
things, including
Once again, McGregor has produced securing the top place at the All India
a bold, moving and stunning work of exam, the most important university
literature. This is a novel of survival in the entrance exam for school students. The
harshest conditions – the terrain of the catch? He sat it for someone else.
Antarctic – and in the wake of unspeakable
Soon Ramesh is working with his new
tragedy and hardship.
‘boss’ – the man he sat the exam for – to
Tristen Brudy is from Readings Carlton become as wealthy as he possibly can,
escape the poverty that plagued much of
Great Circle his childhood and make amends for the
Maggie Shipstead mistakes he believes he made in the past.
Doubleday. PB. $32.99 But Ramesh finds out the hard way that
Available 4 May getting rich is not as easy as he thought.
Great Circle is a First, he must prevent his boss from giving
brilliantly away their examination secret, while also
researched 20th-century avoiding the wrath of a temperamental
epic set across Montana, and sleazy TV producer with an agenda
Alaska, New Zealand of his own. Plus, Ramesh is falling in love
and wartime London. with a beautiful and trusting colleague. A
In 1914 Marian sudden kidnapping throws his plans into
Graves and her twin chaos and soon Ramesh and his boss are
brother Jamie are involved in an increasingly complicated
rescued as tiny babies from a sinking web of lies from which they need to
Visit thamesandhudson.com.au ship. Their troubled mother deliberately untangle themselves.
How to Kidnap the Rich is Rahul
for the whole gift range disappears as the ship goes down. Their
father, the ship’s Captain chooses to save Raina’s debut novel and touches on a wide
his babies, jumping on a lifeboat with one range of issues in India. From a critique
F IC T ION May 2021 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 9
of Western intervention to the treatment writing. Lahiri said in a recent interview
of women, to caste, class and corruption, with the New Yorker that she never would
Raina’s writing opens a window into the have written this novel in English, and it
multifaceted realities of growing up in is indeed starkly different to her earlier
India. How to Kidnap the Rich is a fast- works of fiction.
paced and darkly humorous novel and Told in sparse, short chapters, the
will appeal to those who enjoyed Aravind novel’s unnamed narrator is a single,
Adiga’s The White Tiger. middle-aged woman, who is a writer and
Julia Gorman is from Readings Carlton somewhat reluctant teacher at a university.
The city she lives in is never named, but
she knows it and its people intimately.
Second Place
Much of the novel is made up of her
Rachel Cusk
small, intimate moments: a conversation
Faber. PB. $27.99
overheard at her local swimming pool, a
Available 4 May
run-in with a stranger at a friend’s dinner
Rachel Cusk’s
party, a chance encounter with a former
Outline trilogy
lover. These events are often understated,
challenged my
and mostly unconnected, but almost
understanding of the
always punctuated by beautiful moments
novel. It is so unlike
of clarity and small revelations. Reading
what I expect from plot
Whereabouts, I couldn’t help thinking
or character, that I now
of Rachel Cusk’s recent Outline series.
no longer read
Although different on many levels they
contemporary fiction the
share this quality where their narrator’s
same way. As described in the New Yorker,
inner-being is reflected back at them
Cusk effected a ‘gut-renovation’ of the
through conversations and observations of ‘Astonishing … HUGH MACKAY ‘Searing, thrilling
form, crumbling literary conventions, and This book will ignite shows how to find and redemptive.
the world around them.
her latest novel, Second Place, continues dinner tables and A demonstration
It should be said that readers hoping the best in ourselves
this revamp in riveting ways.
for an armchair tour will be disappointed. Zoom groups all over and in our society, of how courage and
Second Place begins with the narrator,
Only the tiniest clues are given that we are the country, which is and how crises can fury and words can
M, a writer, describing an unnerving
encounter with a devil-like figure on a
in Italy, and maybe Rome, but otherwise just as it should be.’ turn out to be the save you.’
Lahiri’s lack of use of the classic Italian making of us.
Paris train. This encounter, along with
tropes are stark and pointed in their CLEMENTINE ANNA
the art exhibition she viewed the day
omission. This is a novel about its narrator
before, completely uproots M’s life. The FORD FUNDER
and the people around her.
paintings, by L, have a profound effect
on her – immediate and free, they are Joe Rubbo is the operations manager at
Readings
bold declarations of a self that contains
the whole world. Fifteen years later, now
living on a salt marsh on the English Love in Five Acts
coast with her second husband Tony, the Daniela Krien &
narrator invites L to stay on their land, in Jamie Bulloch (trans.)
the ‘second place’. She thinks the artist will MacLehose. PB. $32.99
truly see the landscape where others have Available now
failed. But she also hopes he will see her, Paula, Judith, Brida,
and show her who she really is. Malika and Jorinde. Love
M is a quintessential Cusk character in Five Acts explores
– smart, a little hazy around the edges; what is left to these five
a woman in crisis, stirring things up. women when they shake
Her quest for freedom teeters on the off their roles as wives,
destructive. Cusk has drawn inspiration mothers, friends, lovers,
from Lorenzo in Taos, Mabel Dodge Luhan’s sisters and daughters. As
memoir of D.H. Lawrence’s fraught visit teenagers they witnessed
to her artists colony in New Mexico. Cusk the fall of the Berlin Wall, but freedom
calls Lawrence her ‘mentor’; The Rainbow brings with it another form of pressure: the
is one of her favourite books. While a brief pressure of choice.
epilogue explains that Second Place is a
tribute to Luhan’s spirit, it is arguably The End of Men
also Cusk’s exploration of her own artistic Christina Sweeney-Baird
relationship to Lawrence’s legacy. HarperCollins. PB. $29.99
Cusk’s novels sit between reverie Available 5 May
and reality; she’s always at the centre Dr Amanda Maclean is
of them, even if she’s tangibly invisible. called to treat a young
For fiction, Second Place is painfully man with a mild fever.
unfictitious about relationships, desire, Within three hours he
and art. I love it for this. dies. The mysterious
Joanna Di Mattia is from Readings Carlton illness sweeps through
the hospital with deadly
Whereabouts speed. The victims are
Jhumpa Lahiri all men. Told in
Bloomsbury. PB. $26.99 alternating first-person narratives, this
Available 4 May heart-in-mouth debut asks: what would our
world truly look like without men?
Whereabouts is
Jhumpa Lahiri’s
first novel written in Black Buck
Italian – a remarkable Mateo Askaripour
feat considering she John Murray. PB. $32.99
learnt the language Available now
later in life. It’s Meet Buck. Before Buck
incredible then to was the Muhammad Ali
discover that after the of sales, floating like a
Italian publication Lahiri also translated butterfly and selling like
the work back into English herself. It’s a demon, he was Darren:
debatable whether having this context an unambitious 22-year-
prior to reading is necessary, although it’s old living at home and
hard not to notice, and be fascinated by, working at Starbucks. All
how this Italian filter has changed her that changes when a
10 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY May 2021 FIC T IO N
chance encounter with the silver-tongued Circus of Wonders addiction. Daughter of a Cuban immigrant, remaining three. Can they survive
CEO of NYC’s hottest startup results in Elizabeth Macneal she is determined to learn more about her together without her? Sharply observed
Darren joining the company’s elite sales Picador. PB. $32.99 family history. This is a sweeping debut on and excruciatingly funny, The Weekend
team. What unfolds is a hilarious, razor- Available 11 May the choices of mothers and the tenacity of explores growing old and growing up, and
sharp skewering of office culture. An outsider due to the women who choose to tell their stories. what happens when we’re forced to
birthmarks that pepper uncover the lies we tell ourselves.
The Field her skin, Nell lives an The Rules of Revelation
Robert Seethaler & Lisa McInerney
Charlotte Collins (trans.)
isolated life in her
village. When Jasper John Murray. PB. $32.99 Science
Picador. PB. $32.99 Jupiter’s Circus of Available 11 May Fiction
Available now Wonders arrives in town, Musician Ryan Cusack
If the dead could speak, Nell is kidnapped; her is back in Ireland to
what would they say to the father has sold her, record a new album. Hummingbird Salamander
living? From their graves promising the circus its very own leopard Former sex-worker Jeff VanderMeer
in the field, the oldest part girl. As she settles into her new life, Nell Georgie wants the truth Fourth Estate. PB. $29.99
of Paulstadt’s cemetery, begins to wonder if joining the show is the about Ryan’s past out Available now
the town’s late inhabitants best thing that has ever happened to her. there. Mel returns from ‘Jane Smith’ is a
tell stories from their lives. Brexit Britain, ill- security consultant
From the author of the Male Tears equipped to deal with wary of search engines,
International Booker- Benjamin Myers the resurgence of a family scandal. Karine who mistrusts all her
shortlisted A Whole Life, Robert Seethaler’s Bloomsbury Circus. PB. $29.99 is battling a terrible secret that tugs the rug colleagues, has disabled
The Field is a book of human lives – each one Available 4 May from under her. A riotous blast of sex, her smart-fridge as a
different, yet connected to countless others In this collection of scandal, obsession, feminism, gender, privacy precaution, and
– that ultimately shows how life, for all its stories that span 15 years music, class and transgression from the keeps an emergency
fleetingness, still has meaning. of work, Benjamin Myers author of the 2016 Women’s Prize-winner ‘go-bag’ in her gym
lays bare the male psyche The Glorious Heresies. locker even though she isn’t entirely sure
Cowboy Graves: Three in all its fragility and why. So when she is handed the key to a
Novellas complexity. Farmers, Under the Wave at Waimea storage unit holding only a taxidermied
Roberto Bolaño fairground workers and Paul Theroux hummingbird and a cryptic note, she
Picador. PB. $19.99 wandering pilgrims, Hamish Hamilton. PB. $32.99 surprises herself by trying to trace this
Available 4 May gruesome gamekeepers, Available 4 May mysterious object to its source.
Roberto Bolaño’s and ex-cons, the characters who populate Now in his sixties, Jane’s increasingly stark indifference
boundless imagination these unsettling, wild and wistful stories big-wave surfer Joe as she loses more and more of her life and
and seemingly form a multifaceted, era-spanning portrait Sharkey has passed his health to her obsessive search begins to
inexhaustible gift for of just what it means to be a man. prime. The younger mirror the loss of stability in the world
shaping the chaos of his surfers around the around her – pandemics and natural
reality into enduring Cunning Women breaks on the north disasters are mentioned as though they
fiction is unmistakable Elizabeth Lee shore of Oahu still call were passing inconveniences, political
in these three Windmill. PB. $32.99 him the Shark, but his unrest is an increasingly common hazard
exhilarating novellas: Available 4 May sponsors are looking to be dodged, and people grow more and
‘Cowboy Graves’, ‘French Comedy of 1620s Lancashire. elsewhere. When Joe accidentally hits and more accustomed to the green-grey tint
Horrors’ and ‘Fatherland’. Found in the Away from the village kills a man near Waimea while driving the sky has taken on.
author’s archive and published for the first lies a small hamlet, home from a bar, it seems he’ll never Hummingbird Salamander is
time, this collection of three novellas is a abandoned since the rebound. Under the direction of his Anthropocene fiction delivered via the
joy for the many fans and followers of this Plague, where only one devoted girlfriend Olive, he throws himself medium of psychological thriller, and it
titan of Latin American literature. family dwells. Young into uncovering his victim’s story. thrums with oppressive paranoia. Come
Sarah Haworth and her for the coldly dreamlike prose, witness
Early Morning Riser the nerve-racking descent into violent
Katherine Heiny
family are outcasts by
day, but at night the
New chaos, and make sure you stay for the
Fourth Estate. PB. $27.99 villagers come to them for help: a healing Formats uncompromising and cathartic release of
the book’s finale.
Available now balm or more, should the need arise. When
Jane easily falls in love a new magistrate arrives to investigate the There is great beauty here, wrapped
with Duncan: he’s village, he has his eye on one family alone. Shuggie Bain deeply in layers of deftly portrayed tension
charming, good-natured And a torch in his hand. Douglas Stuart and alienation. VanderMeer’s novel
and handsome. He’s also Picador. PB. $19.99 meets the depths of climate despair with
slept with nearly every The Road Trip Available now important questions: what might it take
woman in Boyne City, Beth O’Leary Winner of the 2020 to make humanity recognise our effect on
Michigan. Jane wonders Quercus. PB. $32.99 Booker Prize. The the world and work to change it? If, like
how the relationship is Available now unforgettable story of the salamander, we were more permeable
supposed to work with young Hugh ‘Shuggie’ to our environment and its warning
The last thing Addie and
all these people in it, but any notion she Bain, a sweet and lonely signs, how would we live differently?
her sister are expecting
has on that matter changes with one tragic boy who spends his What can humans learn from a migratory
on their epic road trip to
accident. Following her celebrated novel 1980s childhood in hummingbird that has any bearing on
a friend’s wedding is for
Standard Deviation, Katherine Heiny’s run-down public our modern lives? And why do we prevent
Addie’s ex, Dylan, to
latest book is a wise, joyful tale of love, housing in Glasgow, ourselves from caring?
slam into the back of
disaster and unconventional family. their car. Since Dylan Scotland, attempting to save his proud Ele Jenkins is from Readings Carlton
and his mate are also mother, Agnes, from her addiction.
The Final Revival of Opal heading to the wedding, Against the backdrop of Thatcher’s The Beautiful Ones
and Nev Addie has no choice but to offer them a decimation of working-class families, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Dawnie Walton ride. With 400 miles ahead of them in one Shuggie is also struggling to somehow Jo Fletcher Books. PB. $32.99
Quercus. PB. $32.99 very crammed car, is this really the end of become the normal boy he desperately Available now
Available now the road for Addie and Dylan? longs to be. They are the Beautiful
Opal is a fiercely Ones, Loisail’s most
independent young Of Women and Salt The Weekend notable socialites, and
woman, a Black punk Gabriela Garcia Charlotte Wood this spring is Nina’s
artist before her time. Picador. PB. $32.99 A&U. PB. $19.99 chance to join their
When the aspiring Available 11 May Available 4 May ranks. But the Grand
British singer– 1866, Cuba. María Isabel Shortlisted for the 2020 Season has just begun
songwriter Neville is the only female Stella Prize. Four older and already Nina’s
Charles discovers her worker at a cigar factory. women have a lifelong debut has gone
one night, she takes him But these are dangerous friendship of the best disastrously awry, as she struggles to
up on his offer to make rock music political times, and the kind: loving, practical, control her telekinesis. When renowned
together. Decades later, as Opal considers a sounds of war are frank and steadfast. But entertainer Hector Auvray arrives in town,
2016 reunion with Nev, music journalist S. approaching. In when Sylvie dies, the Nina is dazzled by this man who sees her
Sunny Shelton seizes the chance to curate present-day Miami, ground shifts not as a social outcast but as someone ripe
an oral history about her idols. Jeanette is battling dangerously for the with magical potential.CRIME May 2021 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 11
Dead
Vanished links between the victim, a local group of
James Delargy metal-detectorists (or ‘Nighthawkers’) and
a plant smuggling racket. A satisfying
Write
S&S. PB. $29.99
Available 5 May conclusion brings this murky plot to an
Detective Emmaline end, in spite of the consequences to
Taylor is assigned to Adam’s relationship with firefighter Paul.
with Julia Jackson
investigate the This is a solid follow-up to the first
Christmas instalment in Russ Thomas’s DS Adam
disappearance of the Tyler series, Firewatching. I advise readers
This stunning debut is one of the best books I’ve read
Maguire family from start with that book first to fully appreciate
this year (so far). Melbourne-based author Jacqueline
B OO K OF T H E abandoned mining the characters in this procedural thriller.
Bublitz has crafted a haunting story about grief, limbo,
M ON T H transition and friendship that’s by far the most literary of town Kallayee,
Crime this month’s crime picks. Echoing Alice Sebold’s The Lovely
Bones, this finely crafted novel traces the stories of Alice and
somewhere on the
gibber plains east of Kalgoorlie. Why they
True
expat Melburnian Ruby Jones, as told by the spectral Alice, were there in the first place is one Crime
whose tragic death kicks off this book. question, but there are other suspicious
factors to consider, and the investigation
soon expands into a much darker plot We Own This City: A True
This literary crime novel reads as a Story of Crime, Cops and
involving a shady trio up to even shadier
moving meditation on the loss of women activities. The eerie and harsh conditions Corruption in an American
to male violence, as well as the resolve it of Kallayee are a great setting for this new City
takes to bring about justice. outback noir offering. Justin Fenton
Faber. PB. $29.99
The Khan Available 4 May
After a period of stagnation in which Ruby realises the
futility of her own position as ‘the other woman’ in an illicit Saima Mir This month’s major
affair, she escapes to New York to give herself physical and Oneworld. PB. $29.99 crime nonfiction
emotional distance, only to find herself even more alone. A Available 4 May release is from
Before You Knew newcomer to the city, she is shocked to encounter a body in a Prodigal daughter Jia Baltimore Sun
My Name nearby waterway while out jogging. Seeking to make sense of Khan returns to lead journalist Justin
Jacqueline Bublitz this distressing discovery, Ruby is drawn to learn more about her family’s Yorkshire- Fenton. We Own This
A&U. PB. $29.99 this unknown young woman, and a new tribe of friends offer based organised crime City charts the
Available 4 May support and strength in her efforts to provide this Jane Doe network following the formation of Baltimore
with some dignity and respect in death. As Ruby’s sense of murder of her father. Police’s Gun Trace Task
autonomy and self begins to flourish, brief encounters with It’s a new era for this Force (GTTF), a squad of plainclothes
a sharply-dressed, smooth-talking man threaten to destabilise her newfound security, Pakistani network ‘knockers’ tasked with the targeted
provoking conflicting feelings about her distant lover and new, local love interest. borne out of a deep removal of guns from the streets, against
This book is imbued with sadness, mostly tied to Alice’s unfortunate end and her distrust of the British legal system and the backdrop of 25-year-old Freddie
status as an unknown Jane Doe in the morgue. For all that occurred during Alice’s embedded racism at all levels of society. Gray’s death while in police custody in
short and troubled life, in death she leaves an indelible mark. Both Alice and Ruby Think The Wire, transplanted from 2015. The GTTF soon transformed into a
have had their lives ruined physically and emotionally by dreadful men, but Bublitz’s Baltimore, with a woman who’s a mashup criminal enterprise, a racket where drugs
narrative also offers a sense of optimism and redemption. Like Louise Doughty’s of Stringer Bell and Avon Barksdale at the and money once confiscated were
Platform Seven, this literary crime novel reads as a moving meditation on the loss of top. When a rival vies to overtake the pocketed by task force officers. It was a
women to male violence, as well as the resolve it takes (manifested by Ruby’s actions) network, Jia must realise her full source of huge embarrassment and
to bring about justice . capabilities, even as she attempts to shame for a city where huge efforts were
reveal very little to her once-estranged made to improve policing and
family. This is an edgy thriller with a community engagement. A fascinating
strong lead character and a shocking read for anyone still experiencing The
Wire withdrawal symptoms!
Dial A for Aunties The discovery of skeletal remains on the
revelation at its conclusion!
Jesse Sutanto blustery ‘back beach’ near Blairgowrie
HQ Fiction. PB. $29.99 awakens long-held suspicions and The First Day of Spring
Available 5 May conflicts in the local community. Could Nancy Tucker
Winning the award for these be the remains of missing teenager Hutchinson. PB. $32.99
‘Most Fun Crime Novel Cecilia May, who disappeared some 20 Available 18 May
So Far’ is this gem from years earlier? In this layered mystery, Extreme poverty, abuse
debut author Jesse secrets lurk among a cast of intriguing and and neglect are
Sutanto. Meddy Chan, a broken characters, ensuring that the truth constants in eight-year-
wedding photographer stays hidden until the end. Perfect for fans old Chrissie’s life amid
in her family’s of Christian White’s coastal noir The Wife the row houses and
business, is unhappy in and the Widow, this book is an excellent throng of children in the
love and ready to shake read for the wintry nights ahead. village. Twenty years
up her life. But things go drastically later, and with a new
downhill when a blind date dies. What Girl, 11 identity as Julia, she
ensues is a hilarious caper involving her Amy Suiter Clarke struggles with feelings of inadequacy as a
mother and aunties, as the group rush to Text. PB. $32.99 single parent and an overhanging fear of
dispose of the body at the resort wedding Available 4 May social services’ intervention. The twin
of a billionaire couple. Amid the chaos
bigger problems emerge, including her
For details on the event for this book,
visit readings.com.au/events
narratives of a young Chrissie and her
older self gradually reveal the terrible
Also out
former flame, and it falls to Meddy to put In a weird parallel events of that first day of spring when this month:
things right. There are lots of laughs to be version of 2020 toddler Steven was found dead. This
had here, and this book makes for a unaffected by the debut, from psychologist-novelist Nancy
Other thrillers to look out for include:
delightful antidote to some of the coronavirus, Elle Tucker, is bleak and tense, with a distant
a new Davenport-Flowers novel, Ocean
grimmer topics on offer this month. Castillo is hard at work light shaft of redemption.
Prey, from John Sandford, marking the
researching and 31st in the Prey series (S&S, PB, $32.99); a
The Girl Remains presenting her cold case Nighthawking newly-translated standalone novel from
Katherine Firkin podcast sensation Russ Thomas Icelandic crime master Ragnar Jónasson,
Bantam. PB. $32.99 ‘Justice Delayed’. S&S. PB. $29.99 The Girl Who Died (Michael Joseph, PB,
Available 4 May Doggedly determined to solve the serial Available 5 May $32.99); Left You Dead (Pan Mac, PB,
Katherine Firkin’s killings of The Countdown Killer (TCK), A grisly find at the $32.99), which marks sweet 17 for Peter
debut Sticks and Stones Castillo unwittingly unleashes a new spate Sheffield botanic James’s Roy Grace procedurals (also newly
ended up as one of our of kidnappings, eerily similar to the gardens has Detective adapted for TV starring John Simm); and
‘Lockdown Favourites’ original modus operandi, resulting in the Sergeant Adam Tyler the return of Quebec’s favourite forensic
in 2020. This highly revelation of her own dark connection to and co investigating a anthropologist in Kathy Reichs’s The
anticipated follow-up the case. But will time run out for Castillo missing persons cold Bone Code (S&S, PB, $32.99), in which new
presents another grim and law enforcement? If you listen to true case. Roman coins on bodies and cold cases combine, while the
cold case for Detective crime podcasts, this white-knuckle the body soon lead the threat of a flesh-eating bacterial plague
Emmett Corban and co. page-turner is for you. team to explore the (why not?) hangs over the novel.You can also read
