Debut fiction to read this month
Big Time by Jordan Prosser
Big Time is set in a not-too-distant future Australia, where the eastern states have become the world's newest autocracy – a place where pop music is propaganda, science is the enemy, nationalism trumps all, and moral indecency is punishable by indefinite detention.
The novel opens as Julian Ferryman, bass player for the Acceptables, returns to Melbourne after a year overseas. He reconnects with his band as they prepare to record and tour their highly anticipated second album, and is given his first taste of a new designer drug, F, a powerful synthetic hallucinogen that gives users a glimpse of their own future. Rumour says, the more you take, the further you see – maybe even to the end of time.
Read our staff review here.
Brothers and Ghosts by Khuê Phạm, translated by Daryl Lindsey & Charles Hawley
Kieu calls herself Kim because it’s easier for Europeans to pronounce. She knows little about her Vietnamese family’s history until she receives a Facebook message from her estranged uncle in America, telling her that her grandmother is dying. Her father and uncle haven’t spoken since the end of the Vietnam War. When Kieu and her parents travel to America to join the rest of the family in California for the funeral, questions relating to their past resurface and demand to be addressed.
Together We Fall Apart by Sophie Matthiesson
For the past seven years, Clare has been living in London. She works for a judge on child protection cases. Her partner, Miriam, is devoted to raising their young son, Rupert – their days are dominated by nap times, laundry and hiding from each other. When Clare returns to Melbourne to visit her ailing father, another crisis looms – her brother Max’s long-term drug addiction. She turns her efforts towards helping Max into rehab, but is this at the expense of her family back in London?
Misrecognition by Madison Newbound
Elsa's formative, exhilarating relationship with an older couple has abruptly ended, leaving her depressed and directionless. In the relationship's wake, Elsa scrolls aimlessly through the internet in search of meaning. Faithfully, her screen provides a new obsession: a charismatic young actor whose latest feature is a gay love story that illuminates Elsa's crisis. And then, as if she had conjured him, the actor arrives in her hometown for the annual theatre festival. When she is hired at the one upscale restaurant in town, Elsa finds herself thrown into in contact with the actor and his circle.
But her obsession shifts from the actor to his frequent dinner companion – an alluring, androgynous person called Sam. As this confusing connection develops, Elsa is forced to grapple with her sexuality, the uncomfortable truths about the end of her last relationship, and the patterns that may be playing out once again.
Read our staff review here.
The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks
It is the end of the 19th century and the world is awash with marvels. But there is nothing so marvellous as the Wastelands: a terrain of terrible miracles that lies between Beijing and Moscow. Nothing touches the Wastelands except the Great Trans-Siberian Express, an impenetrable cargo train which now transports anyone who dares.
Onto the platform steps a curious cast of characters, but there are whispers that the train isn’t safe. As secrets and stories begin to unravel, the passengers and crew must survive their journey together, even as something uncontrollable seems to be breaking in.
The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monica Kim
Ji-won's life tumbles into disarray in the wake of her Appa's extramarital affair and subsequent departure. Her mother, distraught. Her younger sister, hurt and confused. Her college freshman grades, failing.
Her dreams, horrifying . . . yet enticing. In them, Ji-won walks through bloody rooms full of bue eyes. Salivatingly perfect male eyes. Eyes the same shape and shade as George's, her mother Umma's obnoxious new boyfriend. George has already overstayed his welcome in her family's claustrophobic apartment. He brags about his puffed-up consulting job, ogles Asian waitresses while dining out, and acts condescending toward Ji-won and her sister as if he deserves all of Umma's fawning adoration. No, George doesn't deserve anything from her family. Ji-won will make sure of that.
Read our staff review here.
Woodworm by Layla Martinez, translated by Sophie Hughes & Annie McDermott
The house is visited by ghosts, by angels that line the roof like insects, and by saints that burn the bedsheets with their haloes. It was built by a small-time hustler as a means of controlling his wife, and even after so many years, their daughter and her granddaughter can’t leave. They may be witches, or they may just be angry, but when the disappearance of a young boy draws unwanted attention, the two women combine forces with the spirits that haunt them in pursuit of something that resembles justice.
Ask Me Again by Clare Sestanovich
Eva is 16, living in middle-class Brooklyn; Jamie is the same age, but from super-rich Manhattan. She’s observant, cautious, eager to seem normal; he’s mysterious, eccentric, bold. Eva’s family is warm and welcoming, but Jamie avoids going home to his. Despite having little in common, they instantly forge a deep friendship. As Eva goes off to college and Jamie drops out of school it soon becomes clear that they are both circling the same question: how do you define yourself and your beliefs in a divided and unjust world?
The End and Everything Before It by Finegan Kruckemeyer
Emma watched her mother's kayak disappear among icebergs in the Arctic Sea. Six years later, her brother, who had not spoken since their mother was lost, warns Emma of the curse of death that she brought to anyone who looked on her face-before tragedy befalls him too. Emma consigns herself to a solitary life at sea, where she can do no more harm.
After years alone, she is mysteriously drawn to land. And she docks at an island, afraid of what her arrival might mean for the welcoming man and his daughter waving from the jetty. But who knows where our stories begin and end or how they are entwined? Who knows whether now, on the island, she begins a new tale:or takes a role in a story that began generations ago with a feast in the forest, or a chest of gold coins plunged into the sea, or an orphan in a bookshop beguiled by an elusive and troubled woman?
Read our staff review here.
Hard Copy by Fien Veldman, translated by Hester Velmans
A customer service assistant spends her long workdays printing letters. Her one friend is the printer and, in the dark confines of her office, she begins to open up to him, talking about her fears, her past, her hopes and dreams. To her, it seems like a beautiful friendship is blossoming. To her boss, it seems like she's losing her mind.
Diagnosed with burnout and placed on leave, she faces severance and worse – separation from her beloved printer. But she's not about to give up on her only friend without a fight. And, it turns out, neither is he.
Read our staff review here.
Knife River by Justine Chapine
Jess has returned home to the small town of Knife River. When she was thirteen, her mother went for a walk and did not return – now, fifteen years later, bones have been discovered in the woods nearby. Jess’s sister has remained in their childhood home – her life, their home and the town itself seemingly frozen in time. As days turn into weeks, Jess’s understanding of the past, her sister, and herself become more complicated, with the list of suspects responsible for her mother’s fate increasingly ominous.
