In January I highlighted some cracking new releases I was looking forward to (you can see that post here), but let’s not snooze on the wonderful books coming out in the back half of this year!
Caroline O’Donoghue, The Rachel Incident (Hachette, June 27)
I am one of the thousands who counts Caroline as a kind of imaginary friend based on her brilliant podcast Sentimental Garbage. I loved both of Caroline’s first two adult novels, particularly the spiky and dark Promising Young Women, but everything I’ve heard about The Rachel Incident has me checking the letterbox obsessively for the copy I preordered months ago.
Vanessa McCauseland, Dreaming in French (Harper Collins, July 5)
Vanessa is an exquisite writer and her superpower seems to be capturing the sensual pleasures of life – particularly gorgous food, landscapes and interiors. Her new novel sounds like the perfect escape from our dreary winter: “A remote French island. A crumbling villa. A reclusive film star. And an inheritance Saskia never expected.” Swoon.
Amy Lovat, Mistakes and Other Lovers (Pan Macmillan, July 11)
I was privileged to read an advance copy of Amy’s debut and can report that it’s stunningly written. Mistakes and Other Lovers is an immersive story about those messy early 20s nights, with chaotic parties, gigs and hookups set in Newcastle and its youth church scene. A writer to watch!
Laura Elizabeth Woollett, West Girls (Scribe, August 1)
Laura is an autobuy for me — I don’t know why she isn’t a massive star, her writing is so incisive and smart and propulsively readable. West Girls sounds ambitious and brilliant, exploring beauty, class and identity.
Alli Parker, At The Foot of the Cherry Tree (HarperCollins, August 2)
Based on the epic true love story of Alli’s grandparents and their groundbreaking journey to make a home in Australia, I’m so excited to read this debut. “Gordon Parker is an eager eighteen-year-old Australian boy desperate to fight for his country, and Nobuko ‘Cherry’ Sakuramoto is a sixteen-year-old girl struggling to survive in Japan in the aftermath of World War II. But when they fall in love, they change the course of history.”
Kate Mildenhall, The Hummingbird Effect (Simon & Schuster, August 2)
Kate’s first two books were quite stylistically different (from historical fiction to a not-too-distant-futuristic thriller) and her new novel promises another reinvention. It sounds sprawling, complex and fascinating, and I can’t wait to read it.
Jessica Seaborn, Perfect-ish (Penguin, August 15)
The promo for Perfect-ish promises a bright new comedic voice taking on the pressures of turning 30 and realising your life doesn’t look like your friends’. Jess is a smart cookie and I’m really excited to get my hands on this book. And that cover!!
Steph Vizard, The Love Contract (HarperCollins, August 30)
I’ve read an advance copy of Steph’s book, the first rom-com to win HarperCollins’ Banjo Prize, and it’s smart, satisfying and sweet. Centring on a solo mum by choice, this book does the impossible by wringing a sweet romance from the horrors of gastro and the childcare shortage!
Jessie Stephens, Something Bad is Going to Happen (Pan Macmillan, August 28)
Somewhere amid her constant media presence and gestating a child Jessie Stephens has found time to write a novel. Her non-fiction book Heartsick was one of my favourite reads of 2021 so I’m really excited to see how her writing and observations transfer to fiction.
Melanie Saward, Burn (Affirm Press, August 29)
Melanie is a great follow on Instagram (@LittleRedWrites) and Burn sounds like a very Australian coming of age story, following Indigenous teenager Andrew who knows the police will come after him first when a tragic bushfire puts two kids in hospital.
Nadine Cohen, Everyone and Everything (Pantera Press, Sept 5)
Nadine Cohen has been very good at being funny and smart on the internet for a long time so I’m excited to see what she does in her debut novel, with a relationship between sisters is at its heart. It’s described as “Perfect for fans of Sorrow and Bliss, Nora Ephron and Victoria Hannan”, and I think most of us would land squarely in the middle of that Venn diagram, no?
Jonathon Shannon, Bound to Happen (Ultimo Press, September)
Apparently this one was just about sold on the strength of this pitch: “Boy DOESN’T meet girl.” The premise is intriguing and I for one welcome more male authors into the Australia rom-com scene – very keen to read Jono’s book.
Melissa Lucashenko, Edenglassie (UQP, October 3)
“In this epic novel set in Brisbane when First Nations people still outnumber the colonists, award-winning Goorie author Melissa Lucashenko tells two extraordinary stories set five generations apart.” If you don’t think Lucashenko is one of, if not Australia’s best working novelist, you need to read Too Much Lip and Mullumbimby immediately.
NO COVERS YET BUT STILL EXCITING:
Dolly Alderton, Good Material (Penguin, November 7)
Let’s be honest, don’t even need a synopsis, will be reading this.
Karina May, Never Ever Forever (Pan Macmillan, December)
Fans of Duck a l’Orange For Breakfast will be treated to seconds before that delightful debut is even a year old. Karina’s next rom-com again features travel, this time spanning Mudgee to Mumbai. I know she’s working on copy edits right now and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.
James Colley, The Next Big Thing (Pantera Press, 2024)
This one’s not out until next year but I find myself telling people about it constantly. James Colley is wonderful on social media, married to dream babe Miranda Tapsell, and a Penrith Panthers fan after my own heart so I would have been interested in his debut book regardless, but is this not the best sell for a book you’ve ever heard?
“A town on the brink of extinction needs to make a big splash to survive. Ella and Norm have just the plan to do it: build a Big Thing. And not just any big thing; it’ll be the latest in the pantheon of Australia’s gigantic kitsch statues, a towering artwork that can stand tall next to the Big Prawn, Big Banana and of course the Big Potato.
“It’s a Big Idea and might well be a Big Mistake. To build it, they’ll overcome some Big Obstacles, cause a Big Controversy, and ask themselves the Big Questions about their town, their lives, and the exact nature of their relationship. The Next Big Thing is a rollicking romantic comedy packed with laughs, heart and boundless ambition that’s sure to put a Big Smile on your face.”
—
I’m sure I’ve forgotten some corkers – and of course there are huge releases coming from the likes of Trent Dalton, Zadie Smith and Anna Funder.
What are you excited to read in the coming months?
Clare Fletcher 