The Diplomat by Chris Womersley

1991, Fresh out of detox and five years after his involvement in the theft of Picasso’s masterpiece The Weeping Woman from the NGV, Edward Degraves - art forger and drug addict - returns to Melbourne for a new start. All he needs to do is make one last visit to The Diplomat, a seedy motel renowned for its drug dealers and eccentrics.

‘What is most remarkable about The Diplomat is the prose. It is beautiful, clear and precise and avoids all self-pity for Edward. Womersley walks a tightrope where he makes no excuses for Edward, but we sympathise deeply with him and hope he is able to pull off his harebrained scheme. So many novels in which drug- or alcohol-affected protagonists wallow in their misery don’t have any other arc. This novel has that, as well as being incredibly evocative of a hot grungy summer in Brunswick and St Kilda..’ – Read Pierre Sutcliffe’s full review

Women I Know by Katerina Gibson

A young woman tries to cheat her algorithm, creating a wholesome online persona while her ‘real’ life dissipates. A grandmother speaks to her granddaughter through the fog of generations. Two lovers divide over alternative meat options. A factory worker fits eyes in companion dolls until she is called on to install her own.

‘Gibson’s writing is brutally honest, haunting and a breath of fresh air. They are truly a welcome voice in Australian fiction, and I cannot wait to see their genius shared with the world.’ – Read Melissa Barillaro’s full review

Enclave by Claire G. Coleman

Christine could not sleep, she could not wake, she could not think. She stared, half-blind, at the cold screen of her smartphone. She was told the Agency was keeping them safe from the dangers outside, an outside world she would never see.

She never imagined questioning what she was told, what she was allowed to know, what she was permitted to think. She never even thought there were questions to ask.

The enclave was the only world she knew, the world outside was not safe. Staying or leaving was not a choice she had the power to make. But then Christine dared start thinking … and from that moment, danger was everywhere.

Forty Nights edited by Pirooz Jafari

Tishtar runs a small legal practice in Melbourne where he has a new client, Habiba, who seeks to bring her orphan nieces to Australia from war-torn Somalia. He is also a migrant, having left the civil unrest in Iran to find a new life in a new country.

‘ Forty Nights is a gently told story, sometimes describing great violence and injustices with a warmth and calm that belies its substance. This writerly approach teaches readers in turn about the generosity required to share stories of trauma.’ - Read Alison Huber’s full review

Jesustown by Paul Daley

Morally bereft popular historian Patrick Renmark flees London in disgrace after the accidental death of his infant son. With one card left to play, he reluctantly takes a commission to write the biography of his legendary pioneering adventurer-anthropologist grandfather.

With no enthusiasm and even less integrity, Patrick travels to Jesustown, the former mission town in remote Australia where his grandfather infamously brokered ‘peace’ between the Indigenous custodians of the area and the white constabulary. He hasn’t been back there since he was a teenager when a terrible confrontation with his grandfather made him vow never to return.

Things We Bury by Matthew Ryan Davies

Three siblings, reunited in their home town, are struggling to deal with the fallout of a car crash that almost killed their father. This, on top of everything else life is throwing at them. Josh is trying to save his marriage and hard-won TV career in the wake of a painfully public sexual harassment scandal. Jac, perennially single, is getting married - unbeknownst to her family. Dane, ever honest and dependable, is running the family business while their father is in hospital.

A mysterious list of names. Long-buried family secrets. Old, festering wounds. What will happen when everything buried is dragged to the surface?

Denizen by James McKenzie Watson

On a remote property in western NSW, nine-year-old Parker fears that something is wrong with his brain. His desperate attempts to control this internal chaos spark a series of events that gallop from his control in deadly and devastating ways.

Years later, Parker, now a father himself, returns to the bushland he grew up in for a camping trip with old friends. When this reunion descends into chaos amid revelations of unresolved fear, guilt and violence, Parker must finally address the consequences of his childhood actions.

‘Fundamentally, Denizen is about fear and redemption. These themes make a traditional basis for a story, but McKenzie Watson gives it his own original take. With fear, there is courage; with redemption, there is kindness; and with James McKenzie Watson, you are in capable hands.’ – Read Chris Gordon’s full review