Frank Moorhouse by Catharine Lumby
Biography, Allen and Unwin, $34.99
The late Frank Moorhouse’s output was both prolific and varied: beloved novels, short stories and essays; a memoir named for his favourite drink, Martini; erotica; screenplays; and witty commentary on Australian society and culture – all of which earned him many fans, among them journalist and academic Catharine Lumby. The two writers eventually became friends and Moorhouse asked Lumby to write a biography, giving her unfettered access to his archives.
The result is this spirited and intimate book, out a year after Moorhouse’s death. (Another Moorhouse biography, by Matthew Lamb, is due in November.) There is as much in here about the books as the man – and being such a compelling subject (an activist bohemian who rejected the gender binary, monogamy and heterosexuality), that is no bad thing. – Sian Cain
Never Look Desperate by Rachel Matthews
Fiction, Transit Lounge, $32.99
Apologies to Transit Lounge HQ, but in 2023 – a glut of misanthropic millennial hot mess novels – writing “Sedaris meets Fleabag” on the cover is going to turn off as many as it lures. Matthews’ third novel is about healing after loss and it is darkly funny, yes, but it offers a lot more than that too.
In alternating chapters, we grow to love three very different people: hapless 49-year-old Bernard, recovering from the death of his wife and father in the wake of Melbourne’s lockdowns; his fierce and unforgiving mother, Goldie, who he is furious with; and the singular Minh, 54 and isolated, who comes across Bernard on a dating app. The character we don’t meet is also the book’s warmest: Marvin, the man Goldie and Bernard both lost, who we hope might bring them together. – Steph Harmon
Sunbirds by Mirandi Riwoe
Fiction, UQP, $32.99
In the new novel from the author of Stone Sky Gold Mountain, whispers of war creep slowly past the borders of West Java in 1941 and into the minds of guests at the van Hoorns’ annual Sinterklaas party on their tea plantation. To some, a Japanese invasion means independence. To others, it is loss beyond description.
Dutch pilot Mattjis plans to marry Anna van Hoorns, who is caught between the disparate homes of her parents – Holland, Indonesia and China. The van Hoorns’ housekeeper Diah, meanwhile, is torn between loyalty to her employer and feeding information to her freedom-fighter brother. This complex knot of loyalties tightens as characters struggle with compromises on family, security, love and belonging, caught between two sides of one war: colonise or be colonised, win or lose. – Rafqa Touma
The Bannerman Shortlist by Colin Batrouney
Fiction, Clouds of Magellan, $34.95
On the same day that six books are shortlisted for a hefty prize – set up by a rich family, to arts-wash their dubious past – the 60-something-year-old son left to administer it mysteriously disappears. It’s a clever set-up for a literary satire, and Batrouney has delicious fun with it in this independent release.
Each chapter begins with a novel’s cover and logline before we meet the author reckoning with their sudden acclaim. Among them: a writer whose book is comprised only of texts; a novelist who took way too much from real life; and a queer feminist whose graphic historical fiction is simply titled “Her Cunt”. Woven through is Tasha’s desperately search for her friend Gideon Bannerman, as the judges debate the winner – and their decision reaches its deadline. – SH
Don’t Buy Fruit and Veg Without Me! by Thanh Truong
Food, Pan Macmillan, $39.99
No really, don’t buy fruit and vegetables without him. If you’ve seen his Instagram, you’ll know second-generation fruiterer Thanh Truong aka The Fruit Nerd is a joyous walking encyclopedia of fresh-produce knowledge. And in his first book he demystifies, dissects and distils the best way to pick, store and cook with asparagus through to watermelon – and pleasingly, he includes less-mainstream specimens like bittermelon and durian too.
Did you know flat-bottomed fuji apples are sweeter than peak-bottomed ones? That you should store onions and garlic separately? You do now, and you will never forget. – Yvonne C Lam
The Catch by Anna Clark
Non-fiction, Vintage, $32.99
As the granddaughter of a mad fisherman (is there any other kind?), I can say right now: there are not enough books about fishing. Thankfully here is a new one – and the one-time deckhand, now historian, Anna Clark has written a book of broad appeal. For one, she is passionate about fishing herself, having grown up throwing lines on the NSW south coast.
As well as capturing the meditative thrills of fishing, Clark traces the nation’s long love affair with it – from the earliest known accounts of First Nations practices to the modern, billion-dollar industry we know now. Perfect gift for the mad fishers in your life. – SC
Songs for the Dead and the Living by Sara M Saleh
Fiction, Affirm Press, $34.99
In 2021, human rights activist Sara M Salah became the first poet to win both the Peter Porter and Judith Wright poetry prizes. Her first collection is coming out in December through UQP – but before that we get her lyrical and moving debut novel. The story centres on Jamilah: one of four daughters being raised with their orphaned cousin in a family of Palestinian refugees. Torn from their precarious life in 1970s Beit Samra, they try to rebuild in Cairo – before she is offered a way out.
You’ll fall in love with the sisters, their parents and their grandmother, in a tender book that’s as much about historical injustice and loss as it is about family and young love. – SH
Ordinary Gods and Monsters by Chris Womersley
Fiction, Pan Macmillan, $34.99
Chris Womersley, an acclaimed author long before he began working at Guardian Australia, recently wrote about his interest in the uncanny and how it can be found in Australia suburbia. This is a perfect precursor for his latest novel, which is weird in the best and most deliberate sense.
Opening in a nameless Melbourne suburb, we meet 17-year-old Nick, fresh from finishing school and hopelessly in love with his best friend and neighbour, Marion. When Marion’s father is killed in a hit-and-run while he’s out jogging, a series of mysteries are thrust at the two teens: mainly, who killed Mr Perry? And did an impromptu session with a ouija board genuinely give them their first clue? – SC
The Modern by Anna Kate Blair
Fiction, Scribner, $32.99
Australian debut author Anna Kate Blair is an art historian who has previously worked at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Here, she infuses her backstage knowledge of the gallery into a tale of millennial ennui and burgeoning desire, following a woman employed as one of Moma’s curatorial fellows.
The narrator is fast approaching the end of both her contract and her 20s; over one febrile summer, she reckons with both her long-term relationship with her boyfriend and her attraction to a new flame – a younger artist named Cara. Each represents competing visions of her future, which seems increasingly distant as she burrows deeper into neurosis. – Michael Sun
Storytellers by Leigh Sales
Non-fiction, Scribner, $36.99
The list of interviewees in this book is enough to power every Australian writers’ festival for at least three years: Benjamin Law, Richard Fidler, Stan Grant, Waleed Aly, Kate McClymont and many other illustrious journalists, all of whom get grilled by industry mainstay Leigh Sales in this peek behind the curtain.
Structured across 10 sections divided by genre – interviewing, investigations, commentary and the like – each chapter is a Q&A with a familiar name which probes their processes and careers while unearthing a few dishy tales from Australian media history. One for the aspiring newshounds. - MS
