Let's hear it for the nosy protagonists. They are united by their underestimated abilities, their unwillingness to accept things at face value, their passion that almost always bubbles over to obsession, and of course their scathing social critiques.

Brutes by Dizz Tate

Hot and humid summer days converge as the girls watch the town's goings on closely. They peer from around corners, behind bushes and high up on stone walls; above it all. These thirteen-year-olds see everything as they skulk around town, similtaneously wishing for invisiblity as much as to be scouted by the local model agency, Star Search. While ladies in waiting, they play especially close attention to their latest obsession—the preachers beautiful, Sammy.

This debut set in Florida takes on the tradition of many before it utilising the disembodied collective 'we' as the girls, now adults, reflect on their girlhood, and everything that happened.

'Girlhood has never been so raw and brutish, or as inspiring to witness, with such untamed, maniacal freedom. Sultry and haunting, Brutes is a Southern Gothic perfect for fans of The Virgin Suicides and Mona Awad’s Bunny, or Ethel Cain’s folk-horror album Preacher’s Daughter. The grit and divinity of women is highlighted by Dizz Tate’s hypnotic and vividly rich prose, as intoxicating as a hazy fever dream.' — Aurelia Orr, Readings bookseller

 Read review

We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida

Another novel about girlhood that involves a mysterious disappearance, We Run the Tides is perfect for anyone who has ever experienced the strange alchemy that occurs within formative friendships. The novel explores the intense frienship of private schoolgirls Eulabee and Maria, both on the cusp of teendom, of knowing, of understanding the power of perception. Taking place in the streets of 80s San Francisco, Vida creatively explores the nature of truth, friendship and timeless complexity of growing up. It's also very funny.

'Where this novel shines is in its witty and constantly surprising narrative voice. Eulabee is the most engaging character I’ve spent time with in years.' — Stella Charls, former Readings bookseller

Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body by Megan Milks

The queer, trans Babysitter's Club rewrite that you didn't know you were missing. Believe us when we tell you, you're missing out if you haven't read Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body. Megan Milks subverts the girl-detective genre many are so familiar with in an attempt to make space for the genderqueer and not-yet-transmasculine in the literature of the girl. It sparkles.

As told through a series of chapters openings regarding historic cases of the mystery club Girls Can Solve Anything, the book traverses substantial subject matter, including but not limited to eating disorders, homophobia, and sex negativity, but you'll be cracking up at the wry internal monologue of club founder and only remaining member, Margaret. The book is interrogative to its core and smartly disrupts our cultures often unchecked nostalgia for bygone eras.

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

As soon as we heard Pulitzer Prize finalist Rebecca Makkai's new novel described as The Secret History meets Prep – our interest was suitably piqued. The novel follows main character Bodie who, despite trying hard to supress traumatic events from her boarding school days, is pulled into the vortex mystery when she returns years later as a teacher. Now her every memory of her roomates 1995 murder must be questioned. Did the wrong man go to prison?

'A timely investigation into the second lives of tragic events. What happens when someone’s murder is taken into fiction, to be pulled apart and prodded at by curious strangers? ... I Have Some Questions for You asks us to consider our fascination with true crime, as much as it feeds it. Makkai’s high school campus novel is most remarkable in its ability to toe this line.' — Kealy Siryj, Readings bookseller

Y/N by Esther Yi

Everybody knows the true detectives are those knee-deep in fan culture. If your love for a particular K-pop group got you through some of the hardest lockdowns, and you are familiar with or intrigued the world of RPF then we recommend pre-ordering the upcoming debut X/Y by Esther Yi (publishing next month). Already sparking plenty of discussion online this polarising novel, concerned with identity, transcendence and art, is about a stan who discovers they may be in a little too deep.

It's as if her life only began once Moon appeared in it. The desultory copywriting work, the boyfriend, and the want of anything not-Moon quickly fall away when she beholds the idol in concert. Seized by ineffable desire, our unnamed narrator begins writing Y/N fanfic-in which you, the reader, insert [Your/Name] and play out an intimate relationship with the unattainable star. Then Moon suddenly retires, vanishing from the public eye. As Y/N flies from Berlin to Seoul to be with Moon, our narrator, too, journeys to Korea in search of the object of her love. naturally, chaos ensues.

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

If Taylor Swift's Mastermind were a novel (and slightly more unhinged and a whole lot weirder) it would be Big Swiss. Another upcoming novel (due early June) for anyone who has had personal attraction override every logical thought and honest sentiment, or who wonders what would have happened if they allowed it to. Big Swiss asks the questions – how far would you go to sustain a lie ... and can a lie ever, paradoxically, bring us closer to the truth?

Greta lives with her friend Sabine in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York. The house is unrenovated, uninsulated, and full of bees. Greta spends her days transcribing therapy sessions for a sex coach who calls himself Om. She becomes infatuated with his newest client, a repressed married woman she affectionately refers to as Big Swiss. One day, Greta recognises Big Swiss's voice in town and they quickly become enmeshed...