An 8000-km hitchhiking trip is at the heart of Anna Broinowski’s Datsun Angel. Dominic Gordon, in contrast, kicks his young self around Melbourne’s alleys like a half-squashed can of energy drink.
Rushdie feared until he dealt with the attempt on his life, he ‘wouldn’t be able to write anything else’. The book is a clearly cathartic story of courage and resilience, but it’s curiously one-eyed.
A new book paints intricate portraits of plant and animal species, showing how they are woven into their ecological setting and describing how that weave is unravelling.
The debut novels of two forceful, intelligent journalists are bold, brash stories of powerful women at the top of their game. One details a horrific sexual crime, the other ugliness in the art world.
Writer and psychotherapist Adam Phillips is often hailed as one of the world’s great essayists. His new book – exploring the topic of giving up, among other things – is both erudite and slippery.
Nathan Thrall’s harrowing account of an avoidable tragedy doubles as a devastating analysis of the everyday realities of occupation, in the context of Palestinian and Israeli history.
Svend Brinkmann’s idea of thoughtfulness is not just about exercising our rational powers to solve puzzles, but the existential dimensions of thinking.
A novel about first-wave feminists cleverly critiques the movement’s privilege. The first fiction from Nakkiah Lui’s imprint highlights uncomfortable truths. And a debut about teen girls is ‘too naive’.
Catherine Chidgey’s disquieting, award-winning novel The Axeman’s Carnival explores the disintegrating relationship of a rural couple from the perspective of their pet magpie, Tama.