The most anticipated books of 2019 - Readings
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
FREE F E BR UAR Y 2019
The most
anticipated
books of
2019
Our head book buyer Alison Huber on
the books to look out for this year.
page 6
B OOK S
M USI C
F I LM
EVENTS
BR UCE
SPR I N G ST E E N
page 22
WE ST WOOD
SON I A G R AEM E JACQ U ELI N E ANG I E page 21
OR CH AR D SI MSION K EN T THOMA S
page 8 page 8 page 12 page 17
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 WWW.READINGS.COM.AU
NEWS February 2019 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 3
February
note, this is not a childminding service. We Doncaster. The first 2019 book clubs will run information about the Hot Desk fellowships,
ask that parents stay with their children for for four months and membership will cost please see wheelercentre.com
the reading. $50. Sessions for 2019 commence in March.
News
For more information about the Readings
book clubs at Readings State Library or Celebrating Eighty Years of Puffin Books
The Readings Foundation grants other Readings shops, and instructions on In 2019, beloved children’s book publisher
announced how to join, see readings.com.au/book- Puffin Books is celebrating its 80th
The Readings Foundation has announced clubs Birthday. To celebrate, we have special
$146,700 worth of grants to support commemorative Puffin book bags to give
3 for 2 Nonfiction favourites a range of projects and organisations away. Purchase two titles in a specially
Throughout February, we’re offering a within Victoria in 2019. This year, the Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowships selected range of Puffin books to receive a
special deal on a select range of award- grant committee has chosen to allocate In 2019, as in previous years, Readings is free book bag. This special offer is available
winning and popular non-fiction titles. If funding to organisations that are delivering supporting The Wheeler Centre’s Hot Desk at all Readings shops except for Readings
you purchase two books, you can choose strong literacy and education support to Fellowships. The Hot Desk Fellowships Carlton and Readings State Library Victoria
a third book in the range (of equal or the most disadvantaged people in our offer twenty writers the space and time to while stocks last. Not available online.
lesser value) for free! The range includes community. Readings donates 10% of its write throughout the year. Each recipient
The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper; The Wife overall profit to The Readings Foundation will receive a $1000 stipend and workspace
Drought by Annabel Crabb; The Bush by each year, and the generous donations in the Wheeler Centre over a 10-week Costa Book Awards
Don Watson; Educated by Tara Westover; from Readings’ customers make a crucial period. This year there are three additional The 2018 Costa Book Awards have been
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari; Stasiland contribution. The successful grant fellowships for regional or interstate writers. announced. These awards honour some
by Anna Funder; The Body Keeps the recipients for this year are: Aboriginal These three writers will be provided with a of the most outstanding books of the year
Score by Bessell van der Kolk and many Literacy Foundation ($20,000); Ballarat five-week residency at the Norma Redpath written by authors based in the UK and
more. This offer is exclusively available in Foundation ($19,700); Banksia Gardens Studio in Carlton. Managing Director Mark Ireland, across five different categories. The
all Readings shops except Readings Kids Community Service ($20,000); Church of Rubbo says: ‘It’s been a great pleasure winners in each category are: The Seven
until Thursday 28 February on stickered, All Nations ($20,000); Kids Under Cover to see the development of the Wheeler Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart
in-stock items only, while stocks last. This ($5,000); Mallee Family Care ($10,000); Centre Hot Desks Fellowships and the Turton for first novel, Normal People by
offer is not available online. Parkville College ($20,000); The Smith important role they play in nurturing new Sally Rooney for novel, The Cut Out Girl by
Family ($12,000); and the The Wheeler and emerging writers and their fascinating Bart van Es for biography, Assurances by
Centre ($20,000). For more information projects. The addition of the residential J.O. Morgan for poetry, and The Skylarks’
Indie Book Awards shortlist about the Readings Foundation, see Fellowships, thanks to CAL and the War by Hilary McKay for children’s books.
The Indie Book Awards have announced readings.com.au/the-readings-foundation University of Melbourne, is a particularly For more information about these awards,
their shortlists for the best Australian exciting and welcome development adding including a list of all the shortlisted titles,
books of 2018, as chosen by independent a new level to the Fellowships.’ For more please see costa.co.uk/costa-book-awards
booksellers around the country. The Readings Prizes guest judges announced
fiction shortlist includes The Lost Man by We’re delighted to announce the three
Jane Harper, Shell by Kristina Olsson, The brilliant authors that will be the guest
Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton and Bridge judges for our literary prizes in 2019. Zana
of Clay by Markus Zusak. The nonfiction Fraillon will be the guest judge for the
shortlist includes The Land Before Avocado Readings Children’s Book Prize 2019, Cath
by Richard Glover, The Arsonist by Chloe Crowley will be the guest judge for the
Hooper, Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee and Readings Young Adult Book Prize 2019,
Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales. See and Jennifer Down will be the guest judge
indiebookawards.com.au for the full shortlist for the Readings Prize for New Australian
in every category Fiction 2019. In each case, the guest judge
joins our staff judging panel after the
shortlist has been decided, and helps the
Readings Story Times panel to select a winner.
Readings offers a free weekly half-hour
children’s story time at our Kids, Doncaster
and Malvern shops. These sessions Book clubs
commence at 10am on Fridays at Readings In 2019, we will be running four new book
Kids and Readings Doncaster, and 10.30am clubs at our State Library shop: a fiction
on Thursdays at Readings Malvern. Our book club, a YA book blub, a nonfiction
children’s book specialists would be happy book club, and a queer book club. Each
to assist you in choosing books for your of these book clubs will be convened by
family following the session, whatever their a Readings staff member. We will also be
age, reading ability or interests. Please continuing our book clubs at Readings
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 Elke Power Ellen Cregan Please note that all prices and release
published by Readings Books, Music & Film elke.power@readings.com.au ellen.cregan@readings.com.au dates in Readings Monthly are correct at
time of publication, however prices and
SUBSCRIBE E D I T O R I A L A S S I S TA N T S GRAPHIC DESIGN release dates may change without notice.
You can subscribe to Readings Monthly Judi Mitchell and Ellen Cregan Cat Matteson Special price offers apply only for the
and our e-news by visiting our website: colourcode.com.au month in which they are featured in the
readings.com.au/sign-up PROOFREADERS Readings Monthly.
Marie Matteson and Ellen Cregan FRONT COVER
DELIVERY CHARGES FOR The February Readings Monthly cover by Readings donates 10% of its profits each
M A I L- O R D E R P U R C H A S E S K I D S / YA C U R AT O R S Cat Matteson. year to The Readings Foundation:
$6 flat rate for anywhere in Australia Angela Crocombe and Dani Solomon readings.com.au/the-readings-foundation
CAR TOON
DELIVERY CHARGES FOR M U S I C C U R AT O R Oslo Davis
ONLINE PURCHASES
Dave Clarke oslodavis.com
$6 flat rate for anywhere in Australia for
orders under $100. Free delivery on orders C L A S S I C A L M U S I C C U R AT O R
$100 and over. Phil Richards
D V D S C U R AT O R
Lou Fulco
E V E N T S C U R AT O R
Chris Gordon
4 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY February 2019 E V EN T S
February
mother by his side, Platypup discovers that
his home by the river is just as lovely in the
dark of night as it is during the day!
Events Readings Kids
315 Lygon Street, Carlton
STOR
IES
AN
Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events
L I
Event times and locations are subject to change.
RA
For the most up-to-date information on events, ST
AU
please check readings.com.au/events
50 Australian Stories
Friday 1 February, 6.30pm-7.30pm
event series
B O OK E D OU T
YOTAM OTTOLENGHI IN Readings is celebrating our
CONVERSATION WITH 50 year history in 2019. To
MAEVE O’MEARA honour the stories that have
For one night only, we are delighted to emerged from the books on
give you an opportunity to hear from one our shelves, we are hosting
of the greatest food commentators and 50 special events that
creators of our time, Israeli-British chef illustrate passion, artistry and
Yotam Ottolenghi. The author of several
Australian literature. We hope
bestselling cookbooks including Plenty
you will join our celebrations.
and, most recently, Simple, Ottolenghi will
talk about the joy of remaining simple in
your approach to food, life and love with
award-winning Australian food writer, Monday 25 February,
broadcaster and television producer Maeve 6.30pm
50 AUSTRAL
IAN
O’Meara. Both Ottolenghi and O’Meara will ST
Tuesday 19 February, 6.30pm O
sign copies of their books, which will be MARK BRANDI IN Thursday 28 February, 6.30pm
RI
ES
available for purchase, following the event.
JANE CARO IN CONVERSATION WITH
HANNIE RAYSON TESSA KIROS IN
Melbourne Town Hall
90-130 Swanston Street, Melbourne
CONVERSATION WITH CONVERSATION WITH
MARY CROOKS We are thrilled to have Mark Brandi, the
SHARLEE GIBBS
local, bestselling author of Wimmera, joining
Accidental Feminists by author, journalist
us to talk about his powerful new urban Together with Fully Booked Women, we are
and social commentator Jane Caro
Friday 1 February, 10.30am crime novel, The Rip, with renowned writer delighted to bring you a special evening
examines and celebrates the contribution
Hannie Rayson. with beloved cookbook author Tessa
women over fifty-five years old have made
KIDS Kiros. Tessa Kiros was born in London to a
to the world. We are thrilled to have Jane Readings Carlton
Finnish mother and a Greek-Cypriot father.
STORY TIME: Caro in conversation with Mary Crooks, the 309 Lygon Street, Carlton
The family moved to South Africa when
director of the Victorian Women’s Trust, to
THE ADVENTURES OF MR discuss feminism, passion and getting older.
Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events she was four, and at the age of eighteen
C. BY ANISSA PAPADAKOS Kiros set off to travel. She has cooked at
Readings Hawthorn London’s The Groucho Club and in Sydney,
Join us as local author Anissa Papadakos
2
701 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn Tuesday 26 February, Athens and Mexico. On a trip to Italy to
reads from her charming picture book, The
Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events 6.30pm study the language and food, she met her
Adventures of Mr. C Mr Harry C. is a cupid 50 AUSTRAL
IAN
husband and they now live in Tuscany with
who sets out on an adventure with his ST
O
GRAEME SIMSION IN their two children. Kiros is the author of ten
RI
friends to find his missing glasses.
ES
books including one of Readings’ favourite
Readings Doncaster Wednesday 20 February, 6.30pm CONVERSATION WITH cookbooks of all time, Apples for Jam.
Westfield Doncaster, KATHERINE COLLETTE
Readings Hawthorn
619 Doncaster Road, Doncaster
KATE RICHARDS IN Graeme Simsion was an information systems
701 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn
Free, no booking required. CONVERSATION WITH consultant before he won the 2012 Victorian
Tickets are $20 per person and includes a glass
Premier’s Unpublished Manuscript Award for
TONI JORDAN his debut novel, The Rosie Project. The book
of wine on arrival.
Please book at readings.com.au/events
Come along to hear Kate Richards, the has since sold more than 3.5 million copies
Thursday 7 February, 6.30pm award-winning author of Madness: A in over forty countries. We are delighted
Memoir, discuss her compelling first novel to bring you Simsion in conversation with
J.P. POMARE ON CALL
3
with Toni Jordan. Lyrical and poetic, Fusion rising star and fellow Text author Katherine Thursday 28 February,
6.30pm-7.30pm
ME EVIE is a unique and haunting modern-gothic Collette to talk about the craft of writing, the 50 AUSTRAL
IAN
tale that has at its heart questions of stories that come from Melbourne, about ST
O
We are thrilled to have J.P. Pomare, an selfhood, dependency, difference and love. Melbourne, and why good news stories are GERALD MURNANE
RI
ES
exciting new voice in local thriller writing,
joining us to talk about his debut novel, Readings Hawthorn
now more important than ever. IN CONVERSATION
Call Me Evie. Set between the atmospheric, 701 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn Readings Carlton Gerald Murnane was born in Melbourne
chilling wilds of the author’s home-country, Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events 309 Lygon Street, Carlton and has been a primary school teacher,
New Zealand, and his current hometown Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events an editor and a university lecturer. His
of Melbourne, Call Me Evie plays deftly debut novel, Tamarisk Row (1974), was
with the reader, pulling and tugging at the followed by ten other works of fiction,
strands of a terrible truth. Thursday 21 February, 6.30pm including The Plains and, most recently,
Wednesday 27 February, 6.30pm Border Districts, which won the 2018
Readings Carlton
309 Lygon Street, Carlton
BERNARD KEANE AND Prime Minister’s Literary Award. In 1999,
CLINTON FERNANDES ON MADS PEDER NORDBO Murnane won the Patrick White Award
Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events
POWER IN AUSTRALIA IN CONVERSATION WITH and in 2009, the Melbourne Prize for
Literature. In his 80th birthday month, we
Join Crikey political editor Bernard Keane
CHRISTIAN WHITE are delighted to have Murnane join us
(The Mess We’re In) and Professor Clinton Join us to hear Danish-born, Greenland- to celebrate the release of his two new
Saturday 16 February, 10.30am
Fernandes (Island off the Coast of Asia) for based crime writer Mads Peder Nordbo works: A Season on Earth and Green
KIDS a fascinating conversation about the ways discuss his novel The Girl Without Skin with Shadows and other poems.
that power is wielded in Australia. They will bestselling local author Christian White
STORY TIME: SLEEP TIGHT, discuss the covert and overt influences (The Nowhere Child). Already a bestseller in Church of All Nations
180 Palmerston Street, Carlton
PLAT YPUP WITH RENÉE of corporations, and intelligence agencies Denmark, The Girl Without Skin combines
and neoliberal ideology on domestic and Inuit folklore, Arctic politics and a haunting, There are three ticket options for this event: $10
TREML foreign policymaking. page-turning mystery. for entry only; $40 for entry with a first edition,
Join us for a sweet nature-themed story signed copy of A Season on Earth; and $55 for
time with Renée Treml, author of Sleep tight, Readings Carlton Readings Carlton entry with first edition, signed copies of both A
309 Lygon Street, Carlton 309 Lygon Street, Carlton Season on Earth and Green Shadows and other
Platypup. This charming book tells the story
Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events poems. Please book at readings.com.au/events
of Platypup’s fear of the dark. But with his Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events
E V E N TS + C OLU M NS February 2019 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 5
Coming Mark’s
Talk of Treasure by Jane Carswell
Thursday 28 February, 6.30pm Jane Carswell’s Talk of Treasure is a literary
memoir about how to be a writer and,
SULARI GENTILL IN
Up Say
simply, how to be. Join us as Roger Averill
launches this wise and insightful reflection
CONVERSATION WITH on books, writing, travel and meditation.
ROBERT GOTT Thursday 14 February, 6.30pm
Sulari Gentill is the author of the award- Readings Carlton | Free, no booking required.
A recent study by the
winning and best-selling Rowland Sinclair
Misrule by Jodi McAlister Authors Guild in the
mysteries, the Greek mythology adventure
Join us as Ellie Marney launches the third United States has shown
series The Hero Trilogy and the literary
thrilling book, Misrule, in Jodi McAlister’s that the median income
novel Crossing the Lines, which won the
page-turning Valentine series. for writers in the US
Ned Kelly Award last year. We are delighted
Thursday 14 February, 6.30pm dropped 42% between 2009 and 2017. The
she’ll be joining us to talk crime, writing and
how to grow a black truffle with fellow crime Readings Kids | Free, no booking required. director of the Authors Guild, Mary
writer Robert Gott. Rasenburger, said that in the mid-twentieth
The Squid, the Vibrio and the Moon by
century a good literary fiction author could
Ailsa Wild, Aviva Reed, Briony Barr and
Readings St Kilda Gregory Crocetti with Linda Blackall earn a middle-class living just by writing.
112 Acland Street, St Kilda Royalties and advances are down almost
Join us for the launch of The Squid, the
Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events Vibrio and the Moon by Ailsa Wild, Aviva 30% and other sources of income from
Reed, Briony Barr and Gregory Crocetti newspapers and magazines have also
with Linda Blackall. It’s a beautifully declined. Ms Rasenburger said this is largely
Launches illustrated storybook about the Hawaiian
bobtail squid and the bioluminescent
because of the growth of Amazon, and its
subsidiary Book Depository; their disruption
4
bacteria that help it glow in the moonlight. Friday 8 March, of the market and drive for lower prices has
6.30-7.30pm
Sunday 17 February, 2pm 50 AUSTRAL
IAN
led to diminishing returns for publishers,
Readings Kids | Free, no booking required. ST
O particularly small and independent
The House on the Mountain by Ella CHOICE WORDS ON
RI
publishers, which in turn has led to lower
ES
Holcombe & David Cox When One Person Dies The Whole World
Come along to see Tom Doig launch Is Over by Mandy Ord INTERNATIONAL advances and royalties for authors. The
The House on the Mountain by Ella Join us for the launch of Mandy Ord’s WOMEN’S DAY picture is the same in the UK where a study
personal and affecting non-fiction diary has shown that earnings for professional
Holcombe and illustrated by David Cox, an To acknowledge International Women’s Day
comic When One Person Dies the Whole authors has plummeted 42% since 2005. The
atmospheric and intensely moving story of and the reality of women’s lives and their
World Is Over, which centres on the search CEO of the Australian Society of Authors,
a family who experience a bushfire. own freedom to choose, we are thrilled
for meaning in the everyday. Juliet Rogers, says that there is not much
Thursday 31 January, 6.30pm to bring you a panel of important voices
Monday 18 February, 6.30pm data on Australian authors, although in
Readings Kids | Free, no booking required. straight from the newly released Choice
Readings Carlton | Free, no booking required.
Words: An Anthology on Abortion. Among 2013–14 Macquarie University did a survey of
Heyer Society with Jennifer Kloester those joining us for this event supported by Australian authors which showed a median
Join us for a celebration of Heyer Society – The Year of the Beast by Steven Carroll
the Victorian Women’s Trust will be editor income of $12,900 from their creative
Essays on the Literary Genius of Georgette Join us as Morag Fraser launches The Year
Louise Swinn and social commentator and writing. “We are working on getting up-to-
Heyer. With a foreword by Jennifer Kloester, of the Beast, the new novel from acclaimed
writer Clementine Ford. date figures so that five years down the line
scholars, authors and bloggers pay tribute author Steven Carroll. Returning to the
we can compare. I would be hugely surprised
to Georgette Heyer. beginning, Carroll brings his sweeping Church of All Nations, if this figure had improved,” she said.
Glenroy series to a magnificent close. 180 Palmerston Street, Carlton
Tuesday 5 February, 6.30pm On a brighter note, Melbourne boy Bram
Readings Carlton | Free, no booking required. Tuesday 19 February, 6.30pm
Tickets are $5 per person and bookings are Presser has won the Goldberg Prize for Debut
Readings Carlton | Free, no booking required.
essential. Please book at readings.com.au/events
Highway Bodies by Alison Evans Fiction in the National Jewish Book Awards
Join us for the launch of new young adult Two Men Drawing by Peter Mills and in the US for his novel The Book of Dirt.
Bruce Harvey Published by Text in 2017, The Book of Dirt
novel Highway Bodies from award-winning
Join us as the Hon. Barry Jones launches is a fictional version of the life of Presser’s
author Alison Evans. It’s a genre-bending
Two Men Drawing by Peter Mills and Bruce
zombie apocalypse story featuring queer grandfather, a survivor of Theresienstadt
Harvey, a collection of these two friends’
and gender non-conforming teens. and Auschwitz, who rarely spoke about his
sketches capturing, in their distinct styles,
Wednesday 6 February, 6.30pm experiences to his family. It also won the
over forty years of everyday Melbourne life.
Readings Carlton | Free, no booking required. NSW Premier’s Prize for Literature in 2018.
Thursday 21 February, 6.30pm
If you’ve spent time in Lygon Street or
Eat Like an Athlete by Simone Austin Readings Hawthorn | Free, no booking required.
around our shop in Acland Street you will
Join sports dietician Simone Austin for the
The Orchardist’s Daughter by Karen have noticed a dramatic rise over the past
launch of her book Eat Like an Athlete, in
Viggers few years in the number of people asking
which she shares practical tips for everyone
Join us as Kylie Ladd launches The for money on the streets. When I go to work
on how to boost energy and performance
Orchardist’s Daughter, the new novel from early in Lygon Street I sometimes see ten to
through nutrition.
bestselling author Karen Viggers. Set in the fifteen people curled up asleep in doorways
Thursday 7 February, 6.30pm wilds of southern Tasmania, it’s a story of and shopfronts. It makes me feel ashamed,
Readings Hawthorn | Free, no booking required. freedom and forgiveness.
disgusted and sad that such a wealthy and
Imperfect by Lee Kofman Tuesday 26 February, 6.30pm privileged society as ours can tolerate the
Readings Hawthorn | Free, no booking required.
Lee Kofman’s powerful new book Imperfect fact that our fellow citizens are forced to live
will be launched by the wonderful Alice in such dire circumstances. I’ve had contact
The Glad Shout by Alice Robinson
Pung. Imperfect blends memoir with with some of the people on the street, heard
Join us as Clementine Ford launches Alice
cultural criticism to delve into the way we their stories, and made friendships of sorts.
Robinson’s second novel, The Glad Shout. Monday 25 March, 6.30-7.30pm
view our bodies. As quickly as they appear they disappear
Starkly visual and compelling, it’s a moving
Saturday 9 February, 3pm and you wonder if things have become
Readings St Kilda | Free, no booking required.
homage to motherhood and the struggles
faced by women in difficult times.
REBECCA HUNTLEY & better for them. Their stories are rarely told.
Thursday 28 February, 6pm
MAXINE MCKEW ON Homelessness is an issue that many of us
Women in Retirement & The Psychology
of Retirement by Doreen Rosenthal and Readings State Library | Free, no need to book PROGRESS AND POLITICS just want to go away. In his new novel The
Susan Moore Rebecca Huntley is one of Australia’s Rip, Mark Brandi tells the story of a homeless
Join us for the release of two informative Islands by Peggy Frew foremost social researchers. In the latest couple. It’s a brave move but it’s a compelling
titles by Doreen Rosenthal and Susan Join us as Jen Cloher launches Islands by Quarterly Essay, Huntley looks at the state and moving story. Brandi was drawn to
Moore, addressing the concerns and much-loved author Peggy Frew. Islands is of the nation and asks: what does social- the idea over a number of years; he used to
celebrations of life after age fifty-five: a riveting portrait of a family in crisis by the democratic Australia want, and why? A work in the city around the corner from the
Women in Retirement and The Psychology breathtakingly talented author of House of majority of Australians have been saying Salvation Army centre and encountered
of Retirement. Sticks and Hope Farm. they want change, yet recent attention has homeless people there. Over time he became
Wednesday 13 February, 6.30pm Monday 4 March, 6.30pm focused on the angry, reactionary minority. drawn to their stories and so the idea for
Readings Hawthorn | Free, no booking required. Readings Carlton | Free, no booking required. But is there a progressive centre? Join the book and the central character began to
us for a fascinating discussion of these form. While part of Brandi’s hope is that his
Small Blessings by Emily Brewin The Hollow Bones by Leah Kaminsky
essential questions. book will help people pay more attention and
Join us for the launch of Emily Brewin’s Join Leah Kaminsky for the launch of The
delightful second novel, Small Blessings. It Hollow Bones, her lyrical new novel about Church of All Nations care a little more, he really wanted to give
is a poignant and uplifting novel of secrets, a little-known Nazi villain and how quickly 180 Palmerston Street, Carlton voice to his character and to the story. With
motherhood, friendship and what we’re human relationships and an affinity with Tickets are $25 and include a copy of the
a recent study showing that Victoria spends
willing to do for love. nature can be buried under cold ambition. Quarterly Essay OR $5 per person for QE half as much on social housing as does NSW,
Wednesday 13 February, 6.30pm Wednesday 6 March, 6.30pm subscribers. Bookings are essential, please book let’s hope The Rip is successful on both
Readings Carlton | Free, no booking required. Readings St Kilda | Free, no booking required. at readings.com.au/events fronts – it’s out at the beginning of March.
6 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY February 2019 FE AT U R E
The most anticipated
books of 2019
Dear Reader,
You probably know a person or It seems entirely appropriate that in such an (2018 winner for her story collection, Pulse Points) has
two who was born in 1969. This year, auspicious year, there are no fewer than four Readings a second novel, due out in September. Melanie Cheng
much to their surprise I’m sure, they staff members publishing books: look out for the book (2017 shortlistee for her story collection Australia Day)
will find that they turn fifty, just as almost no one knew was being written until it won the publishes her debut novel, Room for a Stranger, in May.
Readings will. Also turning fifty in Text Prize, Nina Kenwood’s YA novel, It Sounded Better in Lucy Treloar (2016 shortlistee for her debut novel, Salt
Alison Huber 2019 are Margaret Atwood’s brilliant My Head (August); Miles Allinson’s follow up to his award- Creek) will bring us Wolfe Island due in September. There
Readings’ first novel, The Edible Woman, Kurt winning and outstanding novel, Fever of Animals, called are lots more debut novels to put on your radar. First,
head book Vonnegut’s metafiction classic, In Moonland (September); Text Prize shortlistee and some names you will know: Anna Krien is best known
buyer Slaughterhouse Five, Maya Angelou’s Readings Monthly’s ‘Dead Write’ columnist Fiona Hardy’s as a writer of nonfiction – Into the Woods and Night
groundbreaking literary memoir, middle-fiction debut, How to Make a Movie in Twelve Games have surely become classics – but she has also
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Days (September); and Gerard Elson’s highly anticipated been writing a novel called Act of Grace (October); Kate
and Eric Carle’s essential tale of project about Melbourne musician Rowland S. Howard, Richards wrote an acclaimed memoir called Madness
excess and rebirth, The Very Hungry Something Flammable (November). Well done everyone! I (2013) and her novel Fusion is out this month, which
Caterpillar. Which of the books am not just being collegial when I say that I can’t wait to our reviewer calls a ‘strange, bold, [and] eerie’ work of
published in 2019 will be as loved, as read the finished copies of all these books – these smart Australian Gothic; Anna Goldsworthy has written two
popular, as influential as these books, people are authors you really do need to watch, and I have works of memoir, and this year publishes her debut
fifty years from now? I hope I’ll be no doubt that their work will be brilliant. novel, Melting Moments (May); Leah Purcell won many
around in 2069 to find out, but in the In other exciting news concerning the Readings accolades for her play, The Drover’s Wife, and she is
meantime, here’s our annual wrap up extended family, three alumnae of the Readings Prize working on a novel of the same name (September); you’ll
of books to look out for this year. will bring us new novels this year too. Jennifer Down remember Martin McKenzie-Murray for 2016’s A Murder
F E AT U R E February 2019 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 7
Without Motive, and he publishes a debut work of satire, Country with Australia Day (May). Judith Brett won overwhelmed (and I know I certainly am), I’m sorry but
The Speechwriter (November). Then there are some the 2018 National Biography Award for The Enigmatic I’m nowhere near finished yet, because there are the
names you mightn’t yet know but soon will: the winner Mr Deakin; this year she publishes the brilliantly titled books we feature in this month’s Readings Monthly to
of Penguin Random House’s inaugural Literary Prize From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage (March), telling catch up on. First up, we have our Fiction Book of the
was Kathryn Hind for the manuscript of her novel, Hitch a history of compulsory voting in Australia. Michelle Month, Sonia Orchard’s Into the Fire, a novel that explores
(June); Felicity McLean’s atmospheric literary mystery Arrow publishes The Seventies (March) about that heady the devastating events of a house fire. Our reviewer
is The Van Apfel Girls are Gone (April); scientist Susan decade of change in Australia. Kate Legge explores the commends this as a ‘novel of ideas, not just characters’,
Hurley’s debut medical thriller is Eight Lives (April); fascinating story of environmental pioneers Gustav and hints that the writing has ‘Garner-esque’ qualities,
Alex Landragin has written the epic-sounding Crossings, Weindorfer and Kate Cowle, who fell in love with each which is high praise indeed. Watch out for debuts from Molly
which promises much for fans of Roberto Bolaño and other and Cradle Mountain in Tasmania a century ago: Murn and J.P. Pomare, Emily Brewin’s second book, Small
David Mitchell (June); editor and translator Elizabeth the book is called Kindred: A Cradle Mountain Love Story Blessings, Debra Adelaide’s short stories, Zebra, and Mandy
Bryer will publish From Here On, Monsters (August); and (March). Hannah Gadsby’s star continues to rise, and Ord’s new graphic novel, When One Person Dies, the Whole
Melissa Ferguson has written a dystopian debut, The her memoir, Ten Steps to Nanette, will be justifiably huge World is Over.
Shining Wall (April). here and overseas I’m sure (it’s due in the second half of Gerald Murnane (who incidentally also has a
A number of emerging writers bring us their second the year). Sophie Cunningham has an essay collection significant birthday in 2019) was at last recognised on the
novel: Claire G. Coleman wowed us with Terra Nullius out in April, City of Trees. prize circuit, winning 2018’s Prime Minister’s Literary
in 2017, and she’s back with another literary work of Music journalist Andrew Stafford’s love letter to Award in the Fiction category for Border Districts in
speculative fiction, The Old Lie (September); Christian Brisbane and its music scene, Pig City, is a standout December, topping off a year of renewed interest in
White had massive success with his debut, The Nowhere of Australian music writing, so I’m keen to read his his unique writing. This month, Giramondo publishes
Child, in 2018, and he’ll publish his follow-up, The Wife memoir, Something to Believe In (July). Anwen Crawford a new collection of his poetry, Green Shadows and
and the Widow, in July; Mark Brandi’s debut was the writes so very well about music in The Monthly; her new Other Poems, while Text releases A Season on Earth, a
acclaimed novel Wimmera (2017), his second novel, The work of nonfiction, Kindred, is due this year too. Bruce handsome hardback that is the novel that sits between
Rip, is due in March, and anticipation is already building; Pascoe published Dark Emu in 2014 and it has become Tamarisk Row and The Plains (half of which has never
Dervla McTiernan’s The Rúin won her many fans who something of a phenomenon at Readings, finding an been published before; the other half was published as A
will be awaiting her second novel, The Scholar (March); ever-growing readership. His Collected Works are out in Lifetime on Clouds). Graeme Simsion is one of Australian
Peter Polites’s uncompromising debut, Down the Hume, is August. Novelist Neal Drinnan turns his hand to true writing’s greatest successes of recent years. The Rosie
followed this July by The Pillars. Alice Robinson’s Anchor crime in The Devil’s Grip (September), which is being Project, followed by The Rosie Effect, became the kind of
Point was longlisted for the Stella Prize; her second touted as ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil meets international sensation of which most authors (and their
novel, The Glad Shout, is out in March. Miriam Sved’s Wake in Fright’. Scribe had a huge political publishing publishers) can only dream. This month, Simsion draws
Game Day was her acclaimed debut; her second novel A hit with Niki Savva’s The Road to Ruin, the exposé of Don and Rosie’s story to a close with The Rosie Result.
Universe of Sufficient Size (April) is based on the story of the behaviour of Tony Abbott and his chief of staff Peta Also coming to an end this month is Steven Carroll’s epic
her mathematician grandparents’ escape from Budapest Credlin in the lead up to Abbott’s demise. This July, Glenroy series, with Year of the Beast, the sixth book in
during World War II. Katherine Collette of The Helpline Savva will turn her gaze towards Malcolm Turnbull’s the cycle spanning one hundred years of Melbourne’s
fame publishes Swallow in October. downward trajectory in Highway to Hell. Psychologist history: our reviewer calls this work a ‘gift’ to readers.
A new book from local legend Tony Birch is always and parenting expert Steve Biddulph reboots two of This time last year I wrote about the sensation that
a welcome event, and this year his novel, The White his classics, publishing Raising Girls in the Twenty-first was Kristen Roupenian’s ‘Cat Person’, the New Yorker
Girl, arrives in July. Dominic Smith had huge local and Century in May and The New Manhood in the Twenty-first short story that made the author famous in an internet
international success with The Last Painting of Sara de Century in August. You can also expect memoirs in April instant. This month, Roupenian’s debut collection
Vos back in 2016; this year, look out for The Electric Hotel from Jocelyn Moorhouse, Jessica Rowe, Kitty Flanagan, appears, You Know You Want This (and you know you
in June. Andrea Goldsmith’s Invented Lives (April) is her and from Archie Roach and Clare Bowditch later in the want to read it and judge whether said fame will hold).
first novel since The Memory Trap, which won 2015’s year, plus the diaries Richard Lowenstein kept while The winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize, Marlon
Melbourne Prize for Best Writing. Chris Womersley shooting Dogs in Space (May). Our love and admiration James, has an ambitious new project: his Dark Star
publishes his first collection of short fiction, A Lovely and for Helen Garner has no end, and so it’s fantastic news trilogy is being called ‘an African Game of Thrones’,
Terrible Thing in May. Look out, too, for Peggy Frew’s that Text will publish volume one of her diaries in and its first volume, Black Leopard, Red Wolf is out this
Islands (March); Leah Kaminsky’s The Hollow Bones November, covering 1978–1986. month. Shortlisted for the Man Booker in the same year
(March); Favel Parrett’s There Was Still Love (September); My colleagues in our children’s books department was Chigozie Obioma; his new novel, An Orchestra of
Carrie Tiffany’s Exploded View (also March); Rohan tell me they are very excited about Wilam: A Birrarung Minorities, adds a Nigerian voice to the current interest in
Wilson’s Daughter of Bad Times (May); Nikki Gemmell’s Story by Aunty Joy Murphy (it’s Angela Crocombe’s most- reworking and retelling Homer’s Odyssey. Our reviewers
historical novel, The Ripping Tree (September); Melina anticipated release of the year!); Leigh Hobbs’s Mr Chicken also recommend Delphine de Vigan’s Loyalties, Karen
Marchetta’s The Place on Dalhousie (April); Wayne All Over Australia (beloved author, beloved chicken); Thompson Walker’s The Dreamers, Caroline Lea’s The
Macauley’s novella, Simpson Returns (April); Andrew another stunning picture book, Fashionista, from writer, Glass Woman, Julie Cohen’s Louis & Louise, and Jasmin B.
McGahan’s The Rich Man’s House (November); Peter and now also illustrator, Maxine Beneba Clarke; Adam Frelih’s In/Half. Watch out too for new books from John
Goldsworthy’s first novel in over a decade, Minotaur Cece’s final book in the Huggabie Falls middle fiction Lanchester, Roberto Bolaño, Yangsze Choo, Ben Okri,
(July). Two Stella Prize recipients have new novels out in series; Land of Fences, the final in Mark Smith’s The Road and Emiliano Monge. I have just finished reading The
October: Charlotte Wood and Heather Rose. Tara June to Winter YA series; the first book by Yassmin Abdel- Friend by Sigrid Nunez, the 2018 winner of the National
Winch’s novel, The Yield (July), sounds amazing, gathering Magied for the YA market, You Must be Layla; Sick Bay Book Award for Fiction. Now available in a local edition
together current concerns about the environment, by well-loved YA local author Nova Weetman; and the from Virago, this brilliant book captures perfectly the
Indigenous agriculture, water, place and belonging. beginning of a new series by superstar writing duo Jay pleasures of reading and writing, and says beautiful
Christos Tsiolkas’s last novel was Barracuda, Kristoff and Amie Kaufman, Aurora Rising. things about grief, friendship, the devastations of suicide,
published in 2013, and while he has since then published On top of all that, there are some major releases and the love of and for our animal companions on the
a book of short stories (Merciless Gods) and a short work coming our way from international authors, including journey. It’s also quite funny. It deserves all its acclaim: I
about Patrick White (in Black Inc’s Writers on Writers (and my deepest apologies for this completely and utterly really loved it.
series), it’s very exciting news that his new long-form unembellished list) Elizabeth Gilbert, Colson Whitehead, Our Nonfiction Book of the Month is Beyond Words:
work, Damascus, is due in the second half of the year. This Deborah Levy, Ian McEwan, Toni Morrison, Bret Easton A Year with Kenneth Cook, Jacqueline Kent’s gorgeous
story set during the establishment of the Christian church Ellis, Dave Eggers, Jared Diamond, Oliver Sacks, Virginia account of her too-brief love affair with the Wake in
will be written with the ambition and imagination that Reeves, Amy Hempel, Mark Haddon, Ann Leckie, Marie Fright author, which our reviewer calls ‘a delight to
only Tsiolkas can deliver: a highlight of 2019, no doubt, in Darrieussecq, Ronan Farrow, Simon Schama, Zadie Smith, read’. Activist Carly Findlay’s inspiring memoir, Say
a year that looks very strong for Australian fiction. William Dalrymple, Siri Hustvedt, Bill Bryson, Max Porter, Hello, is her frank and fearless story of living with a rare
Black Inc. published the groundbreaking collection Mary Norris, Amitav Ghosh, Elizabeth Strout, T.C. Boyle, skin condition. Jane Caro writes about the women she
Growing Up Asian in Australia (ed. Alice Pung) way Leïla Slimani, David Vann, Jeanette Winterson, Maja calls Accidental Feminists, the generation of women
back in 2008; ten years later, they revived the concept Lunde, Helen Oyeyemi, Philip Kerr, James Ellroy, Naomi over fifty-five who found themselves at the coalface of
of a themed essay collection assembled around identity Wolf, Téa Obreht, Nell Zink, Michel Houellebecq, Alice a revolution in gender politics. Peter Seamer writes an
with the brilliant Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia, Hoffman, Ann Beattie, Ali Smith, Erin Morgenstern, Karl important critique of Australia’s urban development in
which was one of our staff favourites and bestselling Ove Knausgaard, Arundhati Roy, Isabel Allende, Louis de Breaking Point. Computer scientist Cal Newport teaches
books in 2018. This year they’ll bring us two more Bernières, Herman Koch and a new translation of Beowulf new essential skills in Digital Minimalism. Dr Michael
collections: one on growing up African edited by Maxine from Maria Dahvana Headley, who in 2018 published a Mosley hones his fasting technique for weight loss in The
Beneba Clarke (in April) and one on growing up queer modern take on the text, called The Mere Wife, and was a Fast 800. Nobody’s Looking at You is Janet Malcolm’s new
edited by Benjamin Law (in August). Meanwhile, Pan guest of Melbourne Writers Festival. collection of essays. Deborah Lipstadt’s Antisemitism:
Macmillan will publish a timely collection of essays, But, dear reader, there can surely be no greater, Here and Now provides a potent reminder that this form
#MeToo: Stories from the Australian Movement (May). no more exciting news in international fiction than of hate is not yet consigned to history.
Melbourne University Publishing’s ‘On’ essay series that announced in November last year: that Margaret And finally, dear reader, my genuine apologies for
continues to grow, with contributors this year including Atwood is writing a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. those books and genres I have not had space for here (my
Sally McManus (On Fairness), Tim Soutphommasane The publication of The Testaments in September 2019 is editor is going to scold me for length already), and of
(On Hate), John Birmingham (On Father), Natasha Stott nothing short of a worldwide literary event (plus there is course there will be the many, many books that we didn’t
Despoja (On Violence), and Stan Grant (On Identity). also a graphic novel adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale see coming … the ones that gather momentum all of their
Stan Grant has another book coming out this year due in April just for good measure!). own. Sometimes these are the most exciting releases of
too, following up his hugely successful Talking to My Hold on, though: for those feeling slightly any year: I can’t wait to see what they are. 
8 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY February 2019 FIC T IO N
New
suspects that Jim is actively manipulating In this regard, Steven Carroll is a
her recollection of events to his advantage. generous and convivial author. His Glenroy
Call Me Evie jumps between ‘Before’ series has spanned one hundred years of
Fiction and ‘After’ and it’s not until the very last
pages that you find out precisely what is
meant by ‘Before’ and who is implicated
Melbourne life and his latest novel, The Year
of the Beast, is the sixth and final volume. It
centres on pregnant Maryanne, who is living
in ‘After’. It’s a tight, claustrophobic in our great city as World War I rips open
read that slowly circles in on itself; the everything. Told as if we are all observers
A literary trend I’m enjoying very much is the novel focusing tension ramping up as Evie aka Kate works looking at Maryanne from afar and from
on the tribulations of female friendship. Think Elena through her trauma-induced amnesia. Is within, Carroll writes of her despair at the
BOOK OF THE war, the Church and the law. He records the
Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet; Marlena by Julie Buntin; The her mind slowly unravelling or gradually
MO N T H Burning Girl by Claire Messud and Give Me Your Hand by righting itself? As a debut novel, Call Me momentum of the war festering as if it were
Fiction Megan Abbott. In these novels, the narrator has often arrived Evie nails both the fragmented narrative a separate entity in the city. It becomes a
at a traumatic event or point of reckoning with a close friend and the unreliable narrator format. If you beast, a force that cannot be stopped despite
and so retraces the relationship to make sense of events. like twisty psychological thrillers such as the cries from the Women’s Peace Army, the
At the beginning of Sonia Orchard’s Into the Fire, we All These Perfect Strangers or I’m Thinking newspapers and Maryanne.
know Lara’s friend Alice has died in a mysterious house fire, of Ending Things, you’ll love this. The Year of the Beast is written with a
leaving her partner and three children behind. We then learn Hilary Simmons is a member of the Readings perfect poetic pace that gives us a chance
of Lara and Alice’s burgeoning friendship at the University of events team to view and feel both the minute and the
Melbourne in the early nineties. These chapters were some of expanse of the times in which it is set. The
the best for me – capturing time and place with Garner-esque Fusion historical, linear narrative presents an
recall and tenderness. Alice and Lara bond in their Women’s opportunity for us all to ponder how and
Kate Richards
Studies classes; they chat into the night and challenge each Penguin. PB. Was $32.99 when personal action determines what
other personally and politically. Lara gradually sees the happens – on a given day, in a particular
$29.99
world differently and develops ambitions for herself she life, for that person, for others, and on other
Conjoined twins
would never have imagined in her suburban life. days, in other lives, for us and for others.
Sea and Serene live
When the charismatic ‘Crow’ (short for his surname, Melbourne is Carroll’s city and it is through
Into the Fire in an isolated shack in
‘Crowley’) appears on campus, he is adored for his carefree this new novel, this seamless, delicious
Sonia Orchard the Australian Alps with
attitude and rock-star looks. Both Lara and Alice fall under read, that he presents a story of our home to
Affirm Press. PB. $29.99 Wren, the young man
his spell, but it is Alice who enters a relationship with him. us, and for us. A rare gift indeed.
who cares for them. Up
It is then that the first cracks appear in Lara and Alice’s Christine Gordon is the events manager for
among the snow gums
friendship. Crow is an intense brooding man, and before long Alice is pregnant and living Readings
they grow their own
on the coast with him.
vegetables and ferment
Orchard succeeds in making this novel about ideas, not just characters. Focusing their own wine. Largely self-sufficient, The Rosie Result
on a period of fifteen years, she examines how one’s values and ambitions change. Her they’ve turned their backs on a world that Graeme Simsion
characters are women attempting to balance work, study, travel, relationships and turned on them. One day, Wren discovers a Scribe. PB. Was $29.99
motherhood, and Orchard demonstrates the personal cost when those roles and priorities woman badly injured and unconscious on $24.99
become overwhelming. This novel is a great choice for book club discussion. the side of the road. He brings her home but Don Tillman and Rosie
Annie Condon is from Readings Hawthorn fears the worst. The twins slowly nurse her Jarman are back in
back to health like the many birds and Australia after a decade
mammals they’ve found injured around in New York, and they’re
their homestead. about to face their most
Australian Fiction Murn weaves these layers of mourning
together: from the recent loss of Nell to all
Used to solitude and protected from the
judging eyes of others, the household first
important challenge.
Their son, Hudson, is
the secret ways in which Nell herself had meets the stranger with fear. The twins struggling at school: he’s
Heart of the Grass Tree mourned, and back to the original mourning worry about her reaction when she awakens socially awkward and
of Kangaroo Island’s first permanent to their strangeness and to the outré not fitting in. Don’s spent a lifetime trying to
Molly Murn
Random House. PB. Was $32.99 settlers. Heart of the Grass Tree is a story, existence the three of them have carved fit in—so who better to teach Hudson the
richly told, of the landscape of Australian out. The three slowly prepare themselves skills he needs? Hilarious and thought-
$29.99
history – both emotional and physical – and for the inevitable moment when sleeping provoking, with a brilliant cast of characters,
Before Nell died,
the way we record these stories of place. beauty will awaken. The Rosie Result is the triumphant final
she knew she
Marie Matteson is from Readings Carlton This beautiful and unknowable stranger instalment of the much-loved and
needed to record a story,
becomes a welcome distraction, bringing internationally bestselling Rosie trilogy.
a story she had found
very hard to share, a Call Me Evie a new perspective to the asocial group. But
story that stretches back J P Pomare soon enough the new dynamic threatens Driving into the Sun
before her time. After Hachette. PB. Was $29.99 to break the peace the three of them have Marcella Polain
Nell dies, her daughter $26.99 cultivated, high up and away from everyone Fremantle Press. PB. $29.99
to whom she said little, else. The more time she spends there, the For Orla, living in the
Novels with
and her granddaughters to whom she said more unanswerable questions develop, suburbs in 1968 on the
fragmented
more, gather to mourn. They gather on revealing the tragic pasts of all involved. cusp of adolescence, her
narratives are not for
Kangaroo Island, Nell’s home – always. As Fusion is a dark Australian Gothic father is a great shining
everyone – but with the
Uncle Jim says, Kangaroo Island has fairy tale in a lyrical mode. At its heart, light, whose warm and
rise of psychological
always been a place for mourning. the novel questions identity, dependence, powerful presence fills
thrillers such as Gone
Pearl has returned to Kangaroo Island isolation and difference. Despite a deep her world. But in the
Girl and The Girl on the
to bury her grandmother. It is the place vein of grief, loss, and isolation that runs aftermath of his sudden
Train, they’re becoming
of her happy childhood. For Diana, Nell’s through the novel, it never stops offering death, Orla, her mother
increasingly popular.
daughter, it is a place she returns to an alternative to despair: hope. It is a and her sister are left in a no-man’s-land, a
Fragmented stories can make for gripping
reluctantly, a place that has always stifled strange, bold, eerie debut novel from the place where the rights and protections of
reading, especially when the non-linear
her. She has come to bury a mother who author of Madness: A Memoir. the nuclear family suddenly and
narrative is told from the perspective of a
always eluded her. character who can’t necessarily be trusted. Michael McLoughlin is from Readings Carlton mysteriously no longer apply, and where
In her debut novel, Molly Murn reaches Piecing together the plot becomes a question the path between girl and woman must be
out to draw together the threads of a family of picking up on the lies and omissions as The Year of the Beast navigated alone.
with many secrets from one another and well as the truths and certainties. Steven Carroll
weave them into the history of settlement Call Me Evie is structured on a slick HarperCollins. PB. $29.99 A Season on Earth
on Kangaroo Island. It is a history long and disturbing premise. A young woman is We have certain Gerald Murnane
elided. It is a history of brutal conquest, being held captive in a remote New Zealand expectations of a Text. HB. Was $39.99
and a history of contested ownership. beach town by a man who says his name is novel, don’t we? We $34.99
In the past other mothers and daughters Jim. She is scared, sedated and supposed to read to take a journey This is Murnane’s
have come to Kangaroo Island. Maringani have committed some sort of terrible crime that we cannot second novel as it was
comes to Kangaroo Island holding on back in Melbourne. Whatever it is, it’s so influence. We want to intended to be, bringing
to the arm of her mother, who had been bad that Jim claims there are people after be swept along and if, together all of its four
kidnapped and brutalised by sealers. Later, her and that her confinement is for her own by the means of our sections – the first two of
Maringani chooses not to leave Kangaroo protection. Whether or not this is true, Evie reading, we learn more which were published as
Island and her story is woven into the isn’t sure – she only remembers that her about our humanity then that is an added A Lifetime on Clouds in
history of Indigenous women on the island, real name is Kate. The rest of her memories bonus. A fresh perspective is the gift that 1976 and the last two of
which is always visible if you look for it. are too muddled to be relied on, and she a novelist can offer us. which have never been
F I C T I ON February 2019 R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY 9
in print. A hilarious tale of a lustful teenager insights from the point of view of a self- Louis & Louise secrets and motivation both to keep quiet
in 1950s Melbourne, A Lifetime on Clouds has proclaimed ‘nice guy’. Throughout this Julie Cohen and to dispel lies wherever possible, making
been considered an outlier in Gerald collection Roupenian compiles a catalogue Hachette. PB. $29.99 it difficult to discover the truth. Like Rosa,
Murnane’s fiction. That is because, as of the everyday horrors of heterosexual Lou Alder is one I felt isolated and needed to know exactly
Murnane writes in his foreword, it is ‘only relations. But she also distorts these person, but exists what happened which kept me turning the
half a book and Adrian Sherd only half a horrors, in stories like ‘Bad Boy’ and ‘Biter,’ in two separate pages as quickly as I could.
character’. Here, at last, is sixteen-year-old to push at the fine line that exists between realities: one in which This is a great historical mystery that
Adrian’s journey in full. Adrian Sherd is one desire and disgust. he is Louis, and one in uses Iceland’s pastoral landscape to its
of the great comic creations in Australian You Know You Want This speaks to which she is Louise. advantage. As the snow builds so does the
writing, and A Season on Earth is a revelatory the #MeToo movement and women’s The prolific Julie mystery, and it is only when the ice melts
portrait of the artist as a young man. increasing anger at men’s abuses of power. Cohen’s latest book is a that the truth is revealed. If you loved
Roupenian’s writing is smart, sharp, and Sliding Doors-esque Hananh Kent’s Burial Rights, Jessie Burton’s
Small Blessings clear. There is violence here – emotional, tale, exploring what a person’s life would The Miniaturist and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane
Emily Brewin physical, and sexual. But while Roupenian’s look like if they’d been born another gender. Eyre, you will enjoy The Glass Woman.
Allen & Unwin. PB. $29.99 stories are shocking, they are also often There are parts of Lou’s existence that Rose Maurice is from Readings State Library
funny. Roupenian’s characters know what are the same in both lives – their best friends Victoria
Rosie Larson doesn’t
they want, but they often hate themselves (twins Allie and Benny), the workers’ strike
trust people – and with
for wanting it. You Know You Want This that tears their small town of Casablanca Loyalties
good reason. Her violent
gains its power, I think, not because it
ex-boyfriend, Joel, is out apart, their eventual relocation at eighteen Delphine de Vigan
locks women and men into just being – or to New York City – but there are parts that Bloomsbury. PB. $29.99
of jail and she’s
wanting – one thing or another, but from are incredibly different, too. Louis is an Available 18 February
determined he won’t find
presenting us as creatures who contain almost-divorced author, and Louise is a
her or their eleven-year- Delphine de Vigan
contradictory and complex impulses and school teacher and single mother. Their
old son. For Isobel has been flavour of
who have to find a way to live with them. relationships with their parents and friends
Hutchins, the cost of the month in Paris these
success is proving high. Her impressive Joanna Di Mattia is from Readings Carlton are different in each timeline, as are their past couple of years,
career can’t protect her from the need to face reasons for leaving Casablanca in the first especially after her book
her past. When tragedy strikes, Rosie and An Orchestra of Minorities place. But their shared reason for returning – Based on a True Story
Isobel are thrown together despite their their dying mother – makes all the ugly and
Chigozie Obioma topped the bestseller
differences. Small Blessings is a poignant and Hachette. PB. Was $32.99 beautiful parts of their lives come to the fore. lists. And with the
uplifting tale of secrets, motherhood, Louis & Louise offers a sentimental, often release of her new book
$29.99
innocence and heartache, and ultimately moving glimpse into the everyday aspects Loyalties, this French writer is in the
Chigozie Obioma
what we’re willing to do for love. of two lives, and how the minutiae of our spotlight all over again.
received
relationships with others – and single, Set in current-day Paris, Loyalties kicks
international acclaim
seemingly innocuous actions – can affect
Zebra for his first novel The off with the story of Helene, a teacher who
us years into the future. Hopping back and feels unsettled as she watches one of her
Debra Adelaide Fishermen, which was
forth in time between Louis’ and Louise’s students, Theo, disengage from the world
Macmillan. PB. $29.99 shortlisted for the Man
perspectives – with chapters simply from around him. Everything about Theo reminds
A body buried in a Booker Prize in 2015,
the perspective of ‘Lou’, the same either way her of her own abusive childhood, but as a
suburban backyard. A won several
– it gently unfurls stories that illustrate the reader it’s unclear whether she’s projecting
love affair born in a international prizes for
redemptive power of forgiveness, and the onto him, or if there really is a problem.
bookshop. The last days emerging writers, and led him to be named
simultaneous simplicity and complication Then it’s Theo’s turn. The somewhat
of Bennelong. And a as one of Foreign Policy magazine’s 100
of both romantic and familial love. Cohen wayward twelve-nearly-thirteen-year-old
very strange gift for a Leading Global Thinkers in 2015. He is one
has called it her most personal work yet, and son of divorced parents, Theo’s busy trying
most unusual Prime of the voices in the new generation of
it shows – this book trembles with feeling, to negotiate a smooth path between both
Minister. Tantalising, Nigerian literature. In 2019, Obioma
spanning the spectrum from joy to sorrow, parents, while at the same time aiming for
poignant, wry, and just returns with An Orchestra of Minorities, a
anger and everything in between. oblivion to block out the toxic influence
a little fantastical, this subversive contemporary retelling of Homer’s Odyssey
A great summer read for fans of each parent has on his life.
collection of short fiction – and one punctuated with Igbo cosmology – mainly
contemporary family fiction, with a dash Next, Theo’s best friend Mathis tells his
singular novella – from bestselling author that of the chi, the spirit.
of romance. side of the story: he’s a follower of the more
Debra Adelaide reminds us what twists of The spirit of Chinonso, a young Nigerian
fate may be lurking just beneath the poultry farmer, narrates the novel. While Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen is from Readings strong-willed Theo, and we start getting
surface of the everyday. the spirit observes and protects Chinonso,
Doncaster a sense that things are about to go very
it cannot interfere with his decisions or wrong indeed.
The Glass Woman And then, finally, we have Cecile,
International emotions. The story opens as Chinonso finds
a distraught woman, Ndali, contemplating Caroline Lea Mathis’s mother, who tells the story from
Fiction jumping off a highway bridge. She is moved Penguin. HB. $29.99
Available 19 February
her perspective, including a slow-burn
reveal of the things she’s discovered on her
when he sacrifices two of his chickens to
show her that jumping would be fatal. Caroline Lea sets husband’s computer.
You Know You Want This Months later, they meet again and fall deeply her novel of All four storylines weave together, with
Kristen Roupenian in love, bound by their connection at the intrigue and deception conflicting endgames for all involved. The
Random House. HB. $29.99 bridge. Chinonso’s odyssey begins here; he against the cold characters’ backstories aren’t at all what I
As with many sets out to improve himself for Ndali’s family backdrop of an isolated expected to find, and the shades of grey in
explosions on the by leaving Nigeria to attend a university rural community in 1686 each of the relationships are one of the things
internet, I was a little slow in Cyprus. Thoughts and visions of Ndali Iceland. The novel that makes this story so interesting.
to smell the fire caused by plague him in this unfamiliar world. follows Rosa after she Translated from the French by George
Kristen Roupenian’s short ‘I have seen it many times’ is the refrain agrees to marry a Miller (who also translated Based on a True
story, ‘Cat Person,’ when of the spirit, who has resided in many hosts wealthy stranger. Moving to his village, Story), this book is insightful and beautifully
it appeared in the New over seven-hundred human years. The away from everything and everyone she written. If you feel like something cool and
Yorker in December 2017. chi’s knowledge and connection to the past knows, she longs for companionship and a French, give Delphine de Vigan a go.
Thankfully, I’m now collides with Chinonso’s suffering from home. Instead, Rosa finds a township full of Gabrielle Williams is from Readings Malvern
caught up. That story, with its detached yet heartbreak, deceit, and poverty, often leaving mistrust and gossip, a husband who is
intimate account of a bad date between a Chinonso lonely and full of rage, and the detached, a locked room, and tales of how In/Half
college student and an older man, went reader desperately hoping everything will his last wife, Anna, mysteriously
Jasmin B. Frelih
viral for a number of reasons, depending on work out for Chinonso, Ndali and those who disappeared. With no one to confide in, Bloomsbury. HB. $29.99
which corner of the internet you inhabit. help them along the way. Rosa attempts to patch together the
Twenty-five years
For women, young and older, ‘Cat Person’ Obioma employs rich language suspicious villagers’ conflicting hearsay
into the future, the
was deeply perceptive about what dating that scatters dust over the poultry accounts to figure out what did happen to
earth has been ripped
today feels like. For men, it held up a mirror farm, vacuums over Cyprus, and fades Anna and what may happen to herself.
apart by a glitch in the
to some uncomfortable truths about their Chinonso’s dreams. The chi’s purpose may As the novel unfolds, I found myself
global communications
part in this fraught dynamic. be to look out for its host, to communicate assuming that I knew exactly what was
system. What remains is a
‘Cat Person’ occupies the central spot in its knowledge and suggest a path forward going to happen. Yet I was mistaken and
world at once completely
Roupenian’s debut short-story collection, through life, but humans must experience tripped a couple of times on the unforeseen
outside human possibility
You Know You Want This – twelve dark tales the magnetic pulls of love and heartbreak, twists that dotted the pages. Lea masterfully
and alarmingly close to
that explore gender, sex, and power in often poverty and pride, and fortune and loss. controlled the information necessary to
the pressing fears of our decade. In jolted
uncanny and uncomfortable ways. There is Obioma’s epic confirms his place in the unpack the mystery and kept key details
prose that leaps across continents and
‘The Good Guy,’ which is a natural cousin Nigerian literary tradition. hidden until the precise moment they
voices, Jasmin B. Frelih follows three
to ‘Cat Person,’ but offers its disturbing Clare Millar is from Readings Hawthorn became essential. All the characters have
disillusioned millennials, ex-best friends
You can also read
