Top picks for book clubs this month
Australian fiction | Imperial Harvest by Bruce Pascoe
Yen Se has lost everything to the Khan's brutality.
Left with one eye and one leg, he is forced out of his home village to work in the city as a horse handler. Witness to the Khan's violent crusade, their raids sweeping across Eurasia, he travels with the theatre of war, but exists outside of it; stunned every morning to find himself alive.
Yen Se moves randomly across Europe with a loose band of survivors - men who think of survival, men who think of resistance, and women who dare to dream of peace.
Whilst narrated by a male, women are at the forefront of this story; often the most active of the characters, both for their plight and for their guidance.
Read our staff review here.
International fiction | Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
The Blue sisters have always been exceptional – and exceptionally different. Avery, a strait-laced lawyer living in London, is the typical eldest daughter, though she’s hiding a secret that could undo her perfect life forever. Bonnie was a boxer but, following a devastating defeat, she's been working as a bouncer in LA, until one reckless night threatens to drive her out of the city. And Lucky, the rebellious youngest, is a model in Paris whose hard-partying ways are finally catching up with her.
Then there was Nicky, the beloved fourth sister, whose unexpected death left Avery, Bonnie and Lucky reeling. When, a year later, the three of them must reunite in New York to stop the sale of their childhood home, they find that it's only by returning to each other that they can navigate their grief, addiction and heartbreak– and learn to fall in love with life again.
Read our staff review here.
Crime fiction | Death in the Air by Ram Murali
Welcome to Samsara, a world-class spa nestled in the Indian Himalayas, where all your wishes are only a gilded notecard away. Ro Krishna has just checked in. With his rakish charm, Oxford education, and perfect hair, he had it all – until he left his job under mysterious circumstances. Ro decides it's time for some much-needed R&R. At Samsara, he's free to explore the innumerable yoga classes, wellness treatments and guided meditation sessions on offer alongside the rest of the exclusive hotel's guests. Until one of the guests is found dead.
As everyone scrambles to figure out what happened, Ro is pulled into an investigation that endangers them all and threatens to spiral beyond the hotel walls. Because it turns out it's not just heiresses and Bollywood stars-to-be that have checked in: cocktail hour is over, and death is on the prowl.
Due for publication 18 June
Read our staff review here.
Biography | The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne
At nine, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, he attended his aunt Joan Didion's legendary L.A. party for Tom Wolfe's book launch. In his early 20s, he shared an apartment with Carrie Fisher, while she was filming Star Wars and he was a struggling actor selling popcorn at Radio City Music Hall. A few years later, he produced and starred in the now-iconic film After Hours.
In the midst of it all, Griffin's 22-year-old sister Dominique, a rising star in Hollywood, was brutally strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend, leading to one of the most infamous public trials of the 1980s. It ended in a travesty of justice that also somehow marked the beginning of their father Dominick Dunne's career as a bestselling author of true crime narratives. The Friday Afternoon Club is a family story that embraces the absurdities, and best and worst efforts of its loveable, infuriating, funny, and moving characters.
Read our staff review here.
Romance fiction | Love & Rome by Jenna Lo Bianco
Moving from Melbourne to Rome was meant to fix Stella Chiaro's life - and it did, for a while. But destiny has other plans. Stella is running out of time and money. She is desperate to find stable work in the art world to keep afloat, or she will have to leave her beloved Eternal City behind. The last thing she needs right now is distractions.
The promise of a new job and new love suddenly beckon Stella, but she quickly finds herself repeating patterns she once vowed not to. In a journey stretching to enchanting Florence and across the ancient cobblestones of Rome, Stella must free herself from the mess she's in. But is it too late? Will it be arrivederci to 'Rome Sweet Home'?
Sci-Fi, fantasy & speculative fiction | Hurdy Gurdy by Jenny Ackland
In a near-future Australia, the world has changed. A small circus caravan travels the countryside performing for dwindling audiences. Matriarch Queenie works outside the law, helped by high-diver Win, nineteen and yearning for love. By night, they gather under the dark sky, joined by philosophical clown Valentina, and Girl, who they found at the side of the road. By day, they offer other services: hairdressing for women and a close shave for men. But while women come to them for help, men tend to disappear.
And in the distance, a reverend and his nun-like companion preach against alcohol, adultery and abortion. Two groups on an ideological collision course in a landscape altered by time and human error, while overhead a space mission has gone wrong.
Read our staff review here.
Debut fiction | BRAT: A Ghost Story by Gabriel Smith
Gabriel’s skin is falling off. His dad is dead. He owes his editor a novel. His girlfriend won’t answer his calls.
Tasked by his horribly well-adjusted brother with clearing out the family home for sale, Gabriel’s sanity quickly begins to unravel. His parents’ old manuscripts appear to change each time he reads them. A bizarre home video hints at long-buried secrets. And there’s a hideous man in the garden.
From a stunningly original new talent, this is a debut novel unlike anything you have read.
Read our staff review here.
LGBTQIA+ | How It Works Out by Myriam Lacroix
What if you had the chance to rewrite the course of your relationship, again and again, in the hopes that it would work out?
When Myriam and Allison fall in love at a show in a run-down punk house, their relationship begins to unfold through a series of hypotheticals. What if they became mothers by finding a baby in an alley? What if the only cure for Myriam's depression was Allison's flesh? What if they were B-list celebrities, famous for writing a book about building healthy lesbian relationships? How much darker - or sexier - would their dynamic be if one were a power-hungry CEO, and the other her lowly employee? From the fantasies of early romance to the slow encroaching of violence that unravels the fantasy, each reality builds to complete a brilliant, painfully funny portrait of love's many promises and perils.
Read our staff review here.
Young Adult | Liar's Test by Ambelin Kwaymullina
Bell Silverleaf is a liar. It's how she's survived. It's how all Treesingers have survived since they were invaded by the Risen and their fickle gods. But now Bell is in the Queen's Test – she's one of seven girls competing in deadly challenges to determine who will rule for the next twenty-five years. If Bell wins, she'll have the power to help her people and take revenge on the Risen. But first she has to make it through the challenges alive.
She doesn't know how much she's been lied to, or where she fits in a bigger story, a mystery stretching back generations. And she's facing much bigger dangers than the Queen's Test. She's up against the gods themselves.
Read our staff review here.
