Best Australian books of the 21st century

We reached out to members of the Australian literary community, from writers to publishers and our own passionate booksellers, asking them to nominate their favourite Australian books, published since 2000. The result is this list of the 30 best Australian books of the 21st century.

We hope it will encourage you to pick up a local book that you haven't read yet, or to shout out your own favourite – we're excited to see the community's response to these rankings!

Cover image for The Slap

The Slap

Christos Tsiolkas

A novel about the relationships between children and adults, and the new Australian multicultural middle-class. From the controversial cult author of ‘Loaded’ and ‘Dead Europe’.

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Cover image for The Book Thief

The Book Thief

Markus Zusak

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and he will become busier still. From the highly-acclaimed author of The Messenger and…

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Cover image for Burial Rites

Burial Rites

Hannah Kent

THE MULTI-AWARD-WINNING DEBUT SENSATION OF THE DECADE

In northern Iceland, 1829, authorities condemn Agnes Magnusdottir to death for her part in the brutal murder of two men.

Agnes is sent…

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Cover image for Breath

Breath

Tim Winton

Tim Winton’s Breath, winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, is a story about the wildness of youth and learning to live with its passing.

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Cover image for Limberlost

Limberlost

Robbie Arnott

The much-anticipated third novel by award-winning Australian author Robbie Arnott, Limberlost is a story of family and land, loss and hope, fate and the unknown, and love and kindness

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Cover image for The Narrow Road to the Deep North

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Richard Flanagan

'A masterpiece . . . The Narrow Road is an extraordinary piece of writing and a high point in an already distinguished career.' - Michael Williams, The Guardian

A novel…

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Cover image for The Secret River

The Secret River

Kate Grenville

A universal and timeless story of love, identity and belonging

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Cover image for Cold Enough for Snow

Cold Enough for Snow

Jessica Au

Winner of the inaugural Novel Prize, an elegant and subtle exploration of the mysteries of our relationships to others.

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Cover image for The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island

The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island

Chloe Hooper

The story of Palm Island, the tropical paradise where one morning Cameron Doomadgee swore at a policeman and forty minutes later lay dead in a watch-house cell. It is the…

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Cover image for Dropbear

Dropbear

Evelyn Araluen

This fierce debut from award-winning writer Evelyn Araluen confronts the tropes and iconography of an unreconciled nation with biting satire and lyrical fury.

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Cover image for The Boat

The Boat

Nam Le

The Boat takes us from a tourist in Tehran to a teenage hit man in Colombia; from the city of Hiroshima just before the bomb is dropped to the haunting…

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Cover image for True History of the Kelly Gang

True History of the Kelly Gang

Peter Carey

True History of the Kelly Gang is Peter Carey’s stunning, Booker Prize-winning novel about Australia’s most famous outlaw. As he flees the police, Ned Kelly scribbles his ..

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Cover image for Boy Swallows Universe

Boy Swallows Universe

Trent Dalton

An utterly wonderful novel of love, crime, magic, fate and coming of age from one of Australia’s most exciting new writers.

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Cover image for Stasiland

Stasiland

Anna Funder

A brilliant, timeless portrait of a Kafkaesque world as gripping as any thriller.

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Cover image for How to End a Story: Diaries 1995-1998

How to End a Story: Diaries 1995-1998

Helen Garner

The third instalment of diaries from the inimitable Helen Garner covers four eventful years in the life of one of Australia’s most treasured writers.

In stock at 7 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 7 shops

Cover image for Too Much Lip

Too Much Lip

Melissa Lucashenko

The unforgettable winner of the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award.

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Cover image for The Museum of Modern Love

The Museum of Modern Love

Heather Rose

Winner of the 2017 Stella Prize. A mesmerising literary novel about a lost man in search of connection - a meditation on love, art and commitment, set against the backdrop…

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Cover image for Jasper Jones

Jasper Jones

Craig Silvey

Charlie Bucktin is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the mining town of Corrigan. Jasper takes Charlie…

In stock at 9 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 9 shops

Cover image for The White Girl

The White Girl

Tony Birch

In The White Girl, Tony Birch has created memorable characters whose capacity for love and courage are a timely reminder of the endurance of the human spirit.

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Cover image for Year of Wonders

Year of Wonders

Geraldine Brooks

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of ‘March’ and ‘People of the Book’. A young woman’s struggle to save her family and her soul during the extraordinary year of 1666, when…

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Cover image for Joe Cinque's Consolation

Joe Cinque’s Consolation

Helen Garner

In October 1997, a clever young student at the ANU murdered her boyfriend. She and her best friend were later charged with murder. Garner followed the trial in the ACT…

In stock at 6 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 6 shops

Cover image for The Animals in That Country

The Animals in That Country

Laura Jean McKay

Out on the road, no one speaks, everything talks.

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Cover image for Dark Emu

Dark Emu

Bruce Pascoe

Dark Emu puts forward an argument for a reconsideration of the hunter-gatherer tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians.

In stock at 9 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 9 shops

Cover image for The Yield

The Yield

Tara June Winch

An exquisitely written, heartbreaking and hopeful novel of culture, language, tradition, suffering and empowerment

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Cover image for The Dictionary of Lost Words

The Dictionary of Lost Words

Pip Williams

In 1901, the word ‘Bondmaid’ was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it.

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Cover image for Bodies of Light

Bodies of Light

Jennifer Down

Jennifer Down cements her status as a leading light of Australian literary fiction in this heart-rending and intimate saga of one woman’s turbulent life

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Cover image for The Dry (Aaron Falk, Book 1)

The Dry (Aaron Falk, Book 1)

Jane Harper

The Dry is the highest selling Australian debut in 2016.

In stock at 7 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 7 shops

Cover image for Foal's Bread

Foal’s Bread

Gillian Mears

The long-awaited new novel from the award-winning author of The Grass Sister tells the story of two generations of the Nancarrow family and the high-jumping horse circuit prior to the…

In stock at 7 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 7 shops

Cover image for The Broken Shore

The Broken Shore

Peter Temple

Joe Cashin was different once. He moved easily then; was surer and less thoughtful. But there are consequences when you’ve come so close to dying. For Cashin, they included a…

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Cover image for How the Light Gets In: Popular Penguins

How the Light Gets In: Popular Penguins

M.J. Hyland

Lou Connor wants to escape her life of poverty, so she travels from Sydney to the US as an exchange student. But her host-family, the Hardings - who live in…

In stock at 7 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 7 shops