This year has seen some extraordinary book releases, from startling, game-changing stories by new novelists to new releases from our favourite writers.
Here are our top ten books you can sink your teeth into over the summer.
All Fours by Miranda July
No shock here that it’s on our list of favourites for 2024! This hilarious romp of a mid-life-crisis story centres on an artist who is going through perimenopause and decides to embark on a sort-of emotional affair with a much younger man. She drives to a motel, not too far from her home in California and goes about renovating a room, without care for her future. Meanwhile, her son is at home with his father. This is a laugh out loud universal story of what it means to wrestle with one’s identity in your middle ages, and the ups and downs of the journey.
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
The prolific American novelist has tackled a range of highly contentious issues, from LGBTQI+ rights to school shootings, racism and women’s reproductive rights. This latest novel reimagines Emilia Bassano, historically referred to as Shakespeare’s mistress, as the author of many of the playwright’s best plays. The novel follows two stories — one of Emilia’s struggles as a Tudor heroine trying to express her genius in a world that does not care for her humanity, the other of Melina, a present-day descendant of Emilia, also trying to maneuver her way through the sexist systems of the coastal elite theatre world. A real page turner! And you’ll never think of Shakespeare in the same way!
The Honeyeater by Jessie Tu
If you want a summer read about Sydney, Paris and Taipei, our very own journalist Jessie Tu released her second book this year which tells the story of a young translator working under a merciless boss, and the repressed hostilities they endure towards one another in the winter of 2018. Fay is a Chinese-English translator who is trying to make it on her own as a translator in the competitive world of literary translation, but her boss is conniving and not always telling the truth. Meanwhile, Fay is trying her best to manage her mother’s own demons from the past. A story of three women, and the tumultuous relationships that they have with one another.
Parade by Rachel Cusk
Cusk is a literary genius who is consistently surprising. In her latest experimental book, she takes us through a range of “scenes” inside the lives of artists, filmmakers and gallerists. A woman suffers a random attack on a city street during daylight. An artist begins painting all his canvases upside down. A museum director quits her job after witnessing a death by suicide, believing all artists to be shameless children. This is a dense book, be warned. It’ll take strange and wonderful turns, but if you allow yourself to be swept up by Cusk’s deft sentences and startlingly insights, you will be highly rewarded.
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
A master of compelling plot premises, Moriarty has once again generated a story that feeds our hungriest curiosities. On a plane from Hobart to Sydney, an unsuspecting woman begins tapping passengers on the shoulder and telling them how they will die, and at what age. It’s a terrifying concept, for sure, but that’s why we couldn’t put this book down. We follow characters closely as they navigate the consequences of being told of this ‘fate’ — and we learn of the woman’s background. Some passengers ignore the woman, passing it off as weird voodoo nonsense. Others are fundamentally altered by their ‘predictions’. The novel is a definite beach-read, albeit a bit unsettling!
Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser
It’s been three years since the literary Australian legend has published a book, and this latest one is no disappointment! The author has a graceful way of describing Melbourne, which is where novel is set. It’s 1986, and a new air of political activism is alive among the youths. Our heroine, a young woman from Sri Lanka arrives in St Kilda to do a post-graduate degree in Virginia Woolf. She unexpectedly falls in love with a young man named Kit, who is someone else’s boyfriend. Jealousy and creative ambitious ensure. This is a brilliant account of what it means to be a feminist and wrestling with universal emotions that cannot be denied. It’s a slim book, something you can finish in one glorious and insightful sitting.
Didion & Babitz by Lili Anolik
In 2021, after the death of American author and artist Eve Babitz, a cache of letters were found hidden at the back of her wardrobe in her home in Los Angeles. Once called “voluptuous bard” of the city, Babitz was discovered to have harboured a strange correspondence with fellow writer, Joan Didion. Throughout this book, we learn of the common circles they ran in, the parties they attend, books they end up publishing, people they had relationships with, or, did not. It’s a gossip-filled love letter to Eve Babitz, the lesser known of the two writers. Anolik is clearly a fan of Babitz — her work, her life, everything she stood for. We wouldn’t call this a fair depiction of Joan Didion at all but nonetheless, you will gain some interesting insights into what it meant to be a female writer in the 70s.
Women of Good Fortune by Sophie Wan
Philadelphia-based writer Sophie Wan released her debut novel this year, which follows three friends as they try to scheme their way towards a better life. Lulu is about to get married to an ultra-wealthy man she doesn’t love, but his money can save her family from financial destitute. Her two best friends are also struggling with their own personal issues — Rina is a ruthless career woman, trying to keep it together while her parents continue to breathe down her neck. Jane is trying to get out of a loveless marriage, while also trying to get as much money as she can to surgically correct her face, which she’s really unhappy about. Jane proposes they steal the money that will be gifted to the bride on her wedding day. This is a heist novel combined with elements of rom com and domestic drama. A total romp!
The Belburd by Nardi Simpson
In Yuwaalaraay musician and author Nardi Simpson’s sophomore novel, The Belburd, a young, introverted poet named Ginny Dilboong is trying to heal from a recent breakup, finding solace in writing and performing poems. She deposits her poems alongside seeds and plants them around Sydney, as a way to perform and signal her spiritual connection to the earth. Simpson’s writing is lyrical, soft, and incredibly emotive. It’s a stunning visual depiction of what it means to have a true relationship with Country. The parallel storyline that runs through the book traces the lives of the Cammeraygal leader Barangaroo and the Wangal leader and mediator Bennelong in the late 1700s. The two stories complement each other in startling and original ways. A compelling, beautiful read.
The Sunbird by Sara Haddad
In June 1948, a young girl and her family are expelled from their village in Palestine, alongside hundreds of thousands of others. The girl, Nabila Yasmeen, is now 80 and continues to carry the weight of past trauma with her. In this sensational, heart-wrenching short book, Lebanese Australian writer Sara Haddad recounts the lives of the millions of displaced people from Palestine, and intricately paints a picture of the horrors they have had to endure. It’s a hopeful work of literary genius, and is a testimony to the human spirt of resilience and love. One of the year’s most important works.