Composite: Allen & Unwin/Bloomsbury/Text/Hachette/Upswell/HarperCollins
Duty to Warn by Charlotte Grieve
Nonfiction, Hachette, $34.99
In 2022, Charlotte Grieve was one of three journalists sued by renowned surgeon Dr Munjed al Muderis over a joint investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age into his practice of a controversial orthopaedic surgery procedure called osseointegration. The high-profile $20m defamation case that followed – the third longest in Australian history, including testimony from dozens of patients, healthcare practitioners and whistleblowers – became the first successful application of the public interest defence.
In Duty to Warn, Grieve, whose own father was one of those patients, reflects on the case and the many personal stories behind it, making a powerful argument for changes to Australia’s media, healthcare and legal systems. – Dee Jefferson
Bugger by Michael Mohammed Ahmad
Fiction, Hachette, $34.99
Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s fourth novel Bugger is a confronting and emotionally challenging read that follows a single day in the life of Hamoodi: a ten-year-old boy navigating his place in the world after the disappearance of his father. When he experiences an act of great violence, Hamoodi’s already tenuous sense of safety is shattered.
As in previous works including Miles Franklin-shortlisted The Lebs, Ahmad is tightly attuned to the intersections of race, class and gender. Through the naive perspective of Bugger’s central character, he explores the power of language, and chronicles the devastating end of a childhood. – Seren Heyman-Griffiths
How to Dress for Old Age by David Carlin and Peta Murray
Nonfiction, Upswell, $32.99
When they both had parents in the same aged care facility, Peta Murray and David Carlin – peers of the 80s theatre scene who later reconnected in academia – took stock of their own lives. Carlin’s mother had “sashayed through old age”, whereas Murray’s father was a more cautionary tale. Could the authors expand their horizons in their third act, in order to maintain fulfilling lives later on?
How to Dress for Old Age rewrites the scripts of ageing, but also acts as a salve for anyone caring for elderly parents – with darkly humorous observations you’ll want to read out loud to anyone who can relate. – Jenny Valentish
How Will I Ever Get Through This? by Dr Lucy Hone
Nonfiction, Allen & Unwin, $34.99
When life takes a terrible turn, the “why me?” question is closely followed by “how will I ever get through this?”. Grief comes for all of us in one way or another, and thinking you won’t be able to cope is often part of the equation – usually at 3am.
Grief researcher and resilience expert Dr Lucy Hone knows grief – her 12-year-old daughter was killed in a car accident – and she has dedicated her life to helping people navigate the pain of not only bereavement, but betrayal, job loss, divorce and infertility. This book is compassionate and practical, bringing much-needed clarity and perspective as it invites you to step outside your own brain and look back at this most common of human experiences. – Lucy Clark
My Cursed Vagina by Lally Katz
Memoir, Allen & Unwin, $34.99
“Your vagina is cursed,” the psychic says. “To all men, your vagina is a cemetery of rotting corpses, until you pay to remove this curse.” It’s a particular type of person who would visit a random psychic found via a neon sign in a New York storefront. It’s a particular type of person who would not only pay US$1,000 to have the curse removed, but then write about the whole thing publicly.
Playwright, TV writer and performer Lally Katz is known for treating her life like an open book, and she doesn’t hold back in her memoir. An early favourite for title of the year, My Cursed Vagina is a deeply candid ride through love, sex, writing, health and the various disasters that befall a person who lives life as a series of hilarious stories to be shared. – Steph Harmon
Bird Deity by John Morrissey
Fiction, Text, $34.99
Kalkadoon writer John Morrissey’s debut novel makes use of the tropes of science fiction in a darkly satirical take on the violence and futility of colony and empire, and the loss of cultural memory.
On a bleak frontier world, the scout David travels deep into the territory of an alien species in search of valuable artefacts. But what he encounters is far more than loot. When he stumbles across an entity that is incomprehensible and strange, his understanding of his life is transformed. Unsettling and incisive, Bird Deity offers an eerie glimpse at the human cost of empire. – Seren Heyman-Griffiths
The Sisterhood Rules by Kathy Lette
Fiction, Bloomsbury, $31.49
The latest novel from national treasure and Puberty Blues co-writer Kathy Lette reads like a romcom, minus the rom. Estranged twin sisters Isabel and Verity are forced back together by the disappearance of their mother. Five years earlier, polished ice queen Verity committed the ultimate sisterly sin by stealing Isabel’s husband.
Told from shambolic Isabel’s perspective, the pair’s chemistry comes from their disdain for each other. Verity speaks “like a veterinary nurse about to euthanise a pet dog”, and picks apart Isabel’s appearance with precision that calls to mind 30 Rock’s Jack Donaghy. A familial twist on enemies to lovers, it’s a dopamine-reader’s delight. – Alyx Gorman
Meltdown by Lauren Novak
Nonfiction, HarperCollins, $19.99
Journalist Lauren Novak explores the taboo topic of “mum rage” in this mix of memoir, research and testimony inspired by her own experience, and drawing on interviews with more than 200 mothers, as well as neuroscientists, nutritionists, GPs, psychologists, sociologists and parenting experts. The physiological and psychological aspects of postpartum rage are examined, as is the role of societal factors such as gendered parenting expectations, the shortage of affordable childcare, and a healthcare system that too often dismisses women’s concerns.
Importantly, Meltdown also distils experts’ advice for coping – and self-compassion – as a parent. – Dee Jefferson
