Explore our books of the month for March.
Each of the below titles has been read and recommended by our booksellers before being selected as our book of the month for its category.
Fiction Book of the Month
First Name Second Name
Steve MinOn
To begin a book with the death of its protagonist is brave, but Steve MinOn’s gamble pays off brilliantly in his stunning debut novel, First Name Second Name. Defying categorisation into any one genre, MinOn blends modern and historical fiction with supernatural aspects, and reworks elements from his own family history of migration from China and Scotland during the gold rush.
Overcome by a sudden conviction in a moment of lucidity, the dying Stephen charges his sisters with the sacred task of transporting his body back to the town of his birth in Far North Queensland. Upon realising that this final wish will not be granted, his body comes to and begins the treacherous journey on foot. This re-animated corpse, a jiāngshī, still bearing the mortuary tag on his big toe, traverses the landscape and his own ancestry, as the narrative alternates chapters from Stephen’s perspective with that of his family.
While the jumps between perspectives could feel sudden or abrupt in the hands of a less skilled writer, MinOn uses each ancestor to weave a web that reveals the origins of his protagonist’s desires, comforts, weaknesses and motivations. As Stephen marches 1,000 kilometres across the outback, compelled to return to his birthplace, his journey mirrors that of his forebears in their travels to and across Australia, and their own yearning for the lands of their birth.
This modern iteration of the Chinese jiāngshī grapples with the most fundamental of human fixations – legacy, family and the meaning of home – while starkly contrasting those timeless needs with Stephen’s personal quest for intersectional identity, community and connection as a gay Chinese-Australian man in the 21st century. Lyrical, vulnerable, existential and often extremely funny, First Name Second Name heralds the arrival of a powerful new voice in Australian literature, and I, for one, can’t wait to see what Steve MinOn writes next.
Reviewed by Tamuz Ellazam.
Crime Book of the Month
Unbury the Dead
Fiona Hardy
Readers are in for a treat with Unbury the Dead, award-winning writer Fiona Hardy’s hugely anticipated debut crime novel. Long-term Readings Monthly readers will be familiar with Hardy’s warmth and wit over her 12-year tenure as our crime columnist, and it’s a thrill to see her back on those pages, this time as a crime writer.
Unbury the Dead revolves around two ‘cleaners’ (in the mafia sense of the word, not the housekeeping kind), Teddy and Alice, who are called in from their well-deserved holidays for two straightforward jobs that prove to be anything but. Alice has been hired to drive the body of the richest man in Australia to his final resting place, while Teddy is on the hunt for a disaffected young man who’s gone missing. Before too long it becomes clear the two jobs have more in common than expected, and that’s where things start to get dangerous.
An investigative-thriller-cum-road-trip-adventure that meanders delightfully through the familiar surrounds of Melbourne and regional Victoria, Unbury the Dead is a cracking mystery, but where it really shines is in the tender depiction of the ride-or-die friendship between our two protagonists.
Hardy’s exquisite grasp of human emotion is shown to full effect as she deftly walks the tightrope between grief and humour. Like Alice and Teddy themselves, Unbury the Dead is sharp-edged but full of heart, distinctly funny, and seriously clever. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Reviewed by Lian Hingee.
Nonfiction Book of the Month
Blue Poles
Tom McIlroy
I’m going to go out on a sturdy limb and say, from the outset, that I LOVE Blue Poles. It’s a terrific painting. I have great memories of a school trip to Canberra – exactly as Gough Whitlam wished for schoolkids – to see this national treasure. Tom McIlroy’s jaunty full-length debut offers readers a more contemporary look at this acquisition, now that some 50 years have passed, and the dust has settled. With the benefit of that distance, younger generations can shake their heads with alacrity at the moral panic that surrounded the purchase of this magnificent painting.
You’ll mostly know McIlroy from his shorter-form journalism, but here he demonstrates that he’s more than capable of turning his hand to complex subjects. He does a fine job distilling the essence of American Modernism and forays into Abstract art, and Abstract Expressionism for general readership.
The first half of the book contextualises Jackson Pollock’s life, and his myriad struggles: with alcoholism, mental health, and impostor syndrome to name a few, and within artist and patron circles, giving due recognition to the role of Lee Krasner. As Pollock’s wife, she supported him fully, often coaxing him from an alcoholic fug back into everyday life, managing to balance all of this with her own successful career as an artist.
The middle section is devoted to the Blue Poles artwork itself, with a good account of its history prior to arriving in Canberra, while the final section is devoted to the painting’s acquisition and the resulting flap. While Whitlam seized on the big moment he was offered when he greenlit this purchase for the nation, credit is also due to James Mollison for his brilliant raison d’être when building the collection in that first decade. The national gallery didn’t need to ape the state’s collections, which is why the holdings of 20th-century American art are so strong. This is a terrific book, a must-read for the year!
Reviewed by Julia Jackson.
Young Adult Book of the Month
This Stays Between Us
Margot McGovern
Mack, Raffi and Priya were looking forward to their school camp for a chance to hang out and cut loose away from watchful parents. But in an abandoned mining town, filled with stories of a sinister ghost called Smiling Jack, things don’t go as planned. Raffi isn’t talking to Mack, Priya just wants to get some alone time with her boyfriend, and they’re stuck sharing a cabin with the unsettling new girl, Shelley. A séance around a bonfire starts out as a fun distraction to smooth things over, but it ends up taking an ominous turn that none of the girls could have predicted.
This Stays Between Us is a gripping thriller that had me flying through chapters, desperate to know what happens. Not only has Margot McGovern told a horror story that is truly frightening, but she’s also balanced that with a rich and nuanced cast of characters that I absolutely loved. Switching perspective in each chapter, we get an unfiltered look at the thoughts and feelings of each girl, and their well-drawn humanity makes the ever-present threat of Smiling Jack all the more terrifying.
The blurb describes this novel as an homage to ’90s horror movies – note that content warnings include sexual assault and graphic violence – and it certainly equals the dread and fascination created by any teen slasher movie, but with a diverse cast of intelligent young women. I recommend this for horror readers aged 14+, especially those interested in feminist tales.
Reviewed by Bella Mackey.
Picture Book of the Month
A Present for Junket
Mandy Wildsmith, illustrated by Nancy Liu
In an unnamed Melbourne suburb, a Groodle named Gherkin ventures out in search of a birthday present for her best friend, Junket. In the tradition of Hairy Maclary, Gherkin catches up with a varied squad of neighbourhood dogs and learns that each of them is missing a belonging that has been recently replaced with something newer and shinier. When the rubbish truck arrives at the dog park with a CRUNCH! BANG! CRASH! Gherkin may have found the answer.
Having worked in the book industry for many years Mandy Wildsmith knows well what makes a book work; her debut picture book is an excellent read-aloud. Nancy Liu’s lovely, playful watercolour illustrations are perfectly pitched for a young audience. It’s a sweet and thoughtful book, but also very fun. The story gently cautions against replacing things unnecessarily, and I’m sure it will be a big hit with rubbish-truck fans and dog enthusiasts everywhere. For ages 3+.
Reviewed by Kim Gruschow.
Kids Book of the Month
Brightest Wild
Tania Crampton-Larking
Eleven-year-old Alex has just moved halfway around the globe from London to live with her mother’s partner and his son in South Australia. It’s a lot of big changes for a young person to contend with at once: a new climate, school and family life. Alex finds comfort in the natural world as she endures bullying and struggles to feel at home in her new environment. Gradually though, she makes new friends, and the bonds with new family members strengthen as she experiences the wonder of Country with them.
When their environment is threatened by fire, Alex is driven to help protect it alongside what is now her community. The big themes of this book are treated skilfully by Mirning author Tania Crampton-Larking; no one is perfect, and all of the characters are given opportunity to grow as they adjust to the various big changes in their lives. It’s an exciting book and a story that values courage and honesty as well as respect for each other and our environment.
This is a heartfelt and relevant read for ages 9+.
Reviewed by Kim Gruschow.
Kids Classic of the Month
Bridge to Terabithia
Katherine Paterson
When I read Bridge to Terabithia as a child, it was a brilliant and heartbreaking coming-of-age tale filled to the brim with adventure. Revisiting it as an adult feels like utter magic; Katherine Paterson captures the inner workings of adolescents as though bottling sunshine. Captivating and moreish, I don’t think I could possibly write a review that does its prose justice.
Jess is lonely. As a young boy in a small country town, the boxes he’s being forced into are becoming more claustrophobic by the day. That is, until new girl Leslie turns up, demonstrating exactly how to break out of the boxes, seemingly effortlessly. Together, using their imaginations, they gain the power to create a world of their own as the one they’ve been given fails them.
Tackling complicated themes, Bridge to Terabithia teaches us about loss, the unexpected ways grief manifests, and how those it hurts the most to lose give us the strength to survive the loss. Brilliant, whimsical, poignant, and highly recommended for ages 10+.
