Have we missed some best new fiction? Publishers, please send your advance book lists to our editor inbox and we’ll include you next time!
Best new fiction: quick links
Best new fiction
Tenderfoot, Toni Jordan – 26 August
A novel about coming of age in 1970s Australia: Andie Tanner’s world is small; her mum is complicated, but she adores her dad and the kennel of racing greyhounds that live under their house. Andie is a serious girl with plans: finish school with her friends, then apprentice to her father until she can become a greyhound trainer, with dogs of her very own.
The Watervale Ladies’ Writing and Firefighting Society, Mette Menzies – 26 August
It’s never too late to start over. This is a feelgood novel, where four very different women are thrown together in a creative writing course in the library of a small country town.
The Vanishing Place, Zoë Rankin – 26 August
An atmospheric thriller about family, love and loyalty, and the fight for survival in the beautiful but dangerous New Zealand wilderness.
Dust, Michael Brissenden – 1 September
Dust is a dark, gripping thriller that explores the complexities of identity, a search for truth, and the unyielding forces of corruption in a world where lives are lived on the fringe and nothing is as it seems.
Cannon, Lee Lai – 1 September
This graphic novel explores the intimacy of queer friendship and the weight of family responsibility and breaks open the question of what we owe both to each other and to ourselves.
Desolation, Hossein Asgari – 1 September
This is the story of Amin as he falls in and out of love and the choices he makes in the shadow of his brother’s death, lost in the tragic downing of Flight 655. Amid the chaos of 1980s Iran, he witnesses the senselessness of violence and the enduring power of sorrow.
Stray Cats and Bad Fish: Silence of the Eels, Rachel Coad – 1 September
Holborn tube station 1977, a fish called ‘Creasy’ lives in the cistern of the men’s room. He’s a key player in London’s underworld. His nemesis Ratty from Spitalfields is gaining power. Ratty’s money launderer disappears, all animal appendages’ point to Creasy. It’s war on the Thames.
Ash, Louise Wallace – 2 September
A multidimensional depiction of motherhood and female rage that traverses the terrain of domestic labour, marriage and the workplace.
The Stolen, Vikki Petraitis – 2 September
A crime fiction once again featuring Detective Antigone Pollard with her trained police dog, a black belt in judo, and the will to speak her mind in the case of a missing baby.
Very Impressive for your age, Eleanor Kirk – 2 September
A debut about the crossroads in your late 20s and early 30s when reality starts to intrude on long-held dreams.
The Book of Lost Hours, Hayley Gelfuso – 2 September
A novel that moves from pre-WWII Germany to Cold War-era America to the mysterious time space, a library filled with books that contain the memories of those who bore witness to history.
Gunpowder Creek, Alex Dook – 2 September
A cat-and-mouse thriller and a debut book whose simple premise is to prevent a bad thing from happening.
Fireweather, Miranda Darling – 2 September
Life for Winona Dalloway is not as it should be. Her husband is no longer her husband, her children are not at home with her, and the city in which she lives is besieged by fires. Black ash falls like snow, songbirds screech like dinosaurs, and the doctors are calling her mad …
Anxious Hearts, Guy Sigley – 2 September
If crushing anxiety and an all-consuming drive to succeed rule your life, can there still be room for love?
Discipline, Randa Abel-Fattah – 2 September
With a focus on two of today’s most contested fields, academia and the media, Discipline tallies the price we all pay when those with privilege choose to remain silent.
The Wish, Heather Morris – 9 September
When Jesse is offered the chance to have her greatest wish fulfilled, she immediately knows what she wants: a digital 3D recreation of her life – something to be there for her friends and family to watch and relive … perhaps without her.
Honeyeater, Kathleen Jennings – 16 September
A richly imagined dark fantasy that pulses with the beautiful destruction of a town reclaimed by the natural world.
The Lightning Ridge Ladies, Fiona McArthur – 16 September
Set in the heart of Australia’s opal-mining district and imbued with the harsh beauty of that unique setting, The Lightning Ridge Ladies is arural romance and tale of outback community and female friendship.
Everyone in this Bank is a Thief, Benjamin Stevenson – 30 September
The new instalment of the series. What if an Agatha Christie style murder mystery happened inside Ocean’s Eleven? … Ten suspects. Ten heists. A puzzle only Ernest Cunningham can solve.
Mischance Creek, Garry Disher – 30 September
The new book in the crime series. Hirsch is back and this time tackling a cold case. Beats the hell out of gun audits and admin …
Twisted River, James Dunbar – 30 September
This crime fiction is full of sinister twists and turns, dark humour and a cast of supporting characters from society’s shadowy fringes.
Pictures of you: Collected short stories, Tony Birch – 30 September
From Australia’s master storyteller comes this retrospective of his best short stories from the past two decades
