Is your holiday books pile going down? Fear not, as these eight new titles take readers on journeys far and wide…
FICTION PICK OF THE WEEK
Unfinished Business
Shankari Chandran, Ultimo Press, $34.99
Colombo, 2009. Intrepid journalist Ameena Fernando is executed on a busy street near her home. No witnesses. Decades of civil war in Sri Lanka have made such violence commonplace, and it is up to CIA Agent Ellie Harper, still recovering from a mission gone wrong years previously, to seek justice. Ellie is under strict instructions to find something, but not too much. Chandran’s Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens won the 2023 Miles Franklin, and her latest novel moves like a thriller into a story of violence, intrigue and danger, chasing one small reckoning for a nation rebuilding itself after decades of conflict and destruction. It’s a rare thriller that speaks with such urgency and passion to broader concerns in war: truth might be the first casualty of armed conflict but, sadly, the corpses of journalists are never far behind.
Slinkies 2024
Spineless Wonders, $24.99
Slinkies is an annual collection from Australian writers under 30, and it’s pulled out all the stops for the 10th anniversary edition. Printed in colour, the volume features original illustrations and is book-ended by two short graphic fictions. Those are fascinating. In Helena and Aggy Pantsis’ Orchids, a woman reflects on her mother, who failed to protect her children from domestic violence; in Miles Mazzocato’s Wharf Rats, a member of the precariat, having to choose between rent and food, is tempted to join the horrors of another monstrous rat race. Fiona Wilkes’ Coffee with Joan imagines a meeting with Joan of Arc in a hipster cafe through an ambivalent, awkward chat about her life and place in history. Jewel Swe’s Death and Decomposition delves into an eldritch pact between nature witches, and Georgia Loadsman’s Penelope Seven draws a portrait of AI-assisted recovery from an eating disorder. It’s a short but scintillating showcase from younger storytellers strutting their stuff.
The Last Illusion of Paige White
Vanessa McCausland, HarperCollins, $34.99
Vanessa McCausland’s new novel enters the world of the influencer.
An influencer vanishes, apparently drowned after an unsettling Instagram post appears. Paige White’s Insta-perfect thread had flaunted her intimate domestic lifestyle, kayaking across lakes, attending sunny picnics, playing happy families. Her childhood friend Jane, a journalist living in Sydney, returns for Paige’s funeral, and gets drawn into the ethical quagmire of covering her friend’s highly publicised death. But is Paige dead, or has she become trapped in the stickiest and most popular of her social media posts? Vanessa McCausland probes boundaries between reality and illusion in this psychological crime, delivering both small-town mystery and an unnerving excursion into the hall of mirrors that is the world of social media influencers.
Loading
When the World Tips Over
Jandy Nelson, Walker Books, $22.99
Her debut The Sky Is Everywhere became a global bestseller in 2010 and has since been adapted for the small screen by Apple TV+, but Jandy Nelson hasn’t run out of puff. When the World Tips Over delivers a frenetic and fantastical family drama set in Paradise Springs, a wine-growing town in Northern California. Fermenting is a way of life for the Fall family, though bubbles begin to fizz in earnest when siblings Miles, Wynton and Dizzy encounter a strange, rainbow-haired girl in their hometown. Expect colourful road trips, spiky comical dysfunction, a few judicious family secrets – an absent father stalks the book – with love and curses floating like croutons in a zesty fairytale soup blending domestic life and the enchantments of fantasy.
NON-FICTION PICK OF THE WEEK
A Long March
Kim Carr, Monash University Publishing, $49.99
Kim Carr with then prime minister Kevin Rudd. He regrets not doing more to save his leadership.Credit: Andrew Meares
Former ALP minister and Socialist Left member Kim Carr may have joined the party in the wake of the Whitlam dismissal, but it is another coup, the dethroning of Kevin Rudd, that is a recurring event in this summing-up of 29 years in politics. He still finds it difficult to comprehend that the party could inflict such damage on itself, and that the dream team he was instrumental in bringing together could shatter so quickly. He acknowledges that all players have their version of events, but Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan are seen in terms of secretive, backroom plotting. Carr is just as judgmental about himself, though, saying that for all his reputation as a heavyweight, he didn’t swing his weight when it mattered. Not just the tale of a political life in all its shady complexities, but something of a cautionary tale, told with a sigh.
Australia at the Movies
David Stratton, Allen & Unwin, $39.99
Pippa Grandison and Sophie Lee in Muriel’s Wedding.Credit:
This survey of just about every Australian movie made in the past 30 years reinforces the perception that at any given time there will be a great deal of creative production, most of it doomed to be forgotten. But it also reinforces the notion that when the big, lasting hits emerge – such as Mad Max, Muriel’s Wedding or Strictly Ballroom – they are not just the product of a few inspired individuals, but sit upon the foundations of a complex artistic community. Whether dealing with short, experimental or mainstream films, Stratton is characteristically fair but not shy of letting the gavel of judgment fall. He brings a wealth of expertise and flair to this encyclopaedic enterprise, arranged thematically to cover all genres – as well as a whole lotta love for the art, the artists and those wonderful people out there in the dark.
Taboo
Hannah Ferguson, Affirm, $34.99
Subjects such as female masturbation, vibrators, strap-ons and period sex may be confronting to some people, but are they taboo? Ferguson, founder of a popular online feminist platform, thinks they are and her examination of modern womanhood existing under the confining shadow of the patriarchy looks at a range of issues, from Botox and looking good (but not too good if you want to be taken seriously) to wellness fixation and the silence around wealth. In some ways, though, the informing theme is authenticity and the way socially entrenched taboos shut conversation down in terms of living a fuller life. Taboo has the urgency of a polemic, and can read like a verbal avalanche. And while her use of the term can be interchangeable with the simply controversial, the writing has immediacy and she commands your attention.
Bring Your A Game
Anthony Sharwood, Hachette, $24.99
Cliche, from 19th century French printing referring to a plate that reproduced itself (the copies are called cliches), is always used in the pejorative. Not for sporting journalist Anthony Sharwood in this collection of Australian sporting cliches, which he sees as some of the richest, amusing inventions in Oz English. And, it’s largely convincing – as when a coach gives the team a spray for under-performing, when an Aussie Rules player takes a speccy (from spectacular) or referring to a team renowned for sledging (from sledgehammer). And, of course, there’s the great Australian art of the abbreviation – as in “the G” (MCG). More underwhelming are phrases such as avavagoyamug and white maggot (old Aussie Rules for the umpire). Still, it’s an entertaining compendium for a country mad on sport and its language.
The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday.
