Whether you’re looking to lose yourself in modern crime thriller or learn more about the life of one of Australia’s top politicians, this month’s new releases have you covered.
Here are 10 books to check out in March.
Old Babes in the Wood
Margaret Atwood
(Chatto & Windus / $45.00)
With her 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale still as relevant as ever, Margaret Atwood is presenting the world with a “highly personal” new collection of stories this month.
The collection marks the return of Nell and Tigg, two characters first introduced in the Booker-winning author’s previous collection of short stories, 2006’s Moral Disorder.
Stories in Old Babes in the Wood explore the full warp and weft of experience, from two best friends disagreeing about their shared past, to the right way to stop someone from choking; from a daughter determining if her mother really is a witch, to what to do with inherited relics such as World War II parade swords.
Release date: March 7
Tanya Plibersek: On Her Own Terms
Margaret Simons
(Black Inc. / $34.99)
Following her study of Penny Wong, Margaret Simons dishes up a biography on the current Minister for the Environment and Water.
Award-winning journalist Simons’ deep-dive into Plibersek’s life paints a portrait of one of Australia’s most influential women.
Aided by exclusive interviews with Plibersek, her political contemporaries, family and close friends, Simons traces the personal and political strands of the life of a woman born to parents who had escaped post-war Europe, and who grew up to be elected to federal parliament at the age of just 28.
Release date: March 7
Gen F’d?
Alison Pennington
(Hardie Grant Books / $24.99)
Many young Aussies have been raised while being constantly told they’ll get ahead if they work hard.
But in today’s tough economic climate, it’s clear matters aren’t that simple.
In Gen F’d, economist Alison Pennington looks at how the most educated generation in Australia’s history stands to be the first generation worse off than their parents.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Falling on her wealth of research into jobs, skills and politics, Pennington also plots a path forward for Australians to reactivate our democracy and create a new economy filled with hope and opportunities for all.
Release date: March 8
On the Ravine
Vincent Lam
Ultimo Press / RRP $34.99
Prize-winning author Vincent Lam returns this month with a story honing in on the ethics and boundaries within the doctor-patient relationship through the lens of the opioid crisis.
The subject matter is timely; between January 2016 and September 2022, opioid toxicity claimed the lives of more than 30,000 people in Lam’s native Canada.
Lam, who doubles as a Toronto-based doctor specialising in emergency and addictions, draws from his experience in the medical profession to tell the story of Dr Chen, who is tormented by the idea that, if he’d handled things differently, some of his patients might still be alive.
When his life intersects with violinist and opioid-addict Claire, the doctor must come to terms with just how far he would go to save a life.
Release date: March 8
Ghosts of the Orphanage
Christine Kenneally
(Hachette Australia / $34.99)
Award-winning Australian journalist and author Christine Kenneally’s BuzzFeed story about crimes committed at St. Joseph’s Orphanage was viewed more than six million times in six months, won a Deadline Award and was nominated for several others.
Ten years of investigation into the dark, secret history of Catholic orphanages – the violence, abuse and even murder that took place within their walls – has culminated in Ghosts of the Orphanage.
Centred on St. Joseph’s Orphanage in the US state of Vermont, Kenneally, investigates and shares the stories of survivors.
Release date: March 15
Dark Mode
Ashley Kalagian Blunt
(Ultimo Press / $34.99)
Ashley Kalagian Blunt is a “huge thriller fan”, but what terrifies her most isn’t the serial killer lurking in the shadows – it’s the dangers of the internet, and the risks we’re taking online every single day.
In Dark Mode, Reagon Carsen thinks she’s done a bang-up job of keeping her life offline, but she’s left questioning everything when she stumbles on a murder in a Sydney laneway – and the victim looks just like her.
Kalagian Blunt chose to incorporate the true facts from the 1947 murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short in her debut crime novel, connecting them to what’s happening today in the darkest corners of the internet.
Release date: March 8
Dress Rehearsals
Madison Godfrey
(Allen & Unwin / $24.99)
“My femininity is not a survival instinct, it is a song.”
A memoir made of poetry, Dress Rehearsals documents a decade of performing womanhood in a non-binary body, from a teenage fangirl to a tender femme.
Madison Godfrey’s poems approach the autobiographical body as a site of the everyday and the surreal: experiencing first crushes, mosh pits, sharpened nails, gender euphoria, and the complicated colours of desire and memory.
This coming-of-age memoir asks: What does it mean to wear femininity into the world, when it constitutes both a bullseye and a ballgown?
Release date: February 28
The Wakes
Dianne Yarwood
(Hachette Australia / $32.99)
The Wakes is the debut novel of Dianne Yarwood, who worked in accounting and corporate advisory before a brush with mortality gave her the courage to do what she’s always wanted to do – write.
This is a tale of two failing marriages, two strangers falling in love, two friends embarking on a catering business – and the four funerals that connect them all.
This is a book about living. After all, the thing about death is that it makes life important.
Release date: March 1
Funny Ethnics
Shirley Le
(Affirm Press / $29.99)
Shirley Le is a Vietnamese–Australian writer hailing from Western Sydney, and she draws on her background to tell the story of Sylvia Nguyen: only child of Vietnamese refugee parents, unexceptional student, exceptional self-doubter.
Jumping through snapshots of Sylvia’s life – from childhood to something resembling adulthood – this novel is about square pegs and round holes, those who belong and those on the fringes.
Funny Ethnics is a coming-of-age tale which reveals a side of Australia so ordinary that it’s entirely bizarre.
Release date: February 28
The Millionaires’ Factory
Joyce Moullakis and Chris Wright
(Allen & Unwin / $36.99)
The extraordinary and revealing story of the Australian bank that took on the world, and the culture that lies behind its entrepreneurial approach.
Macquarie is everywhere. As an investment bank, a commodities player and an international leader in infrastructure fund management, Macquarie has inserted itself into your life somehow, no matter where in the world you’re reading this book.
Drawing on interviews with Macquarie CEOs and senior managers past and present, The Millionaires’ Factory lifts the lid on this unique banking success story, along with the dramas, turf fights, scandals and failures.
Release date: February 28
