Just like that, the year is half over. While we are past the winter solstice and the days are starting to get longer, the wintery weather will be with us a bit longer yet. Luckily, we are heading into some prime months for book releases. The books team have scoured every corner of the internet and rounded up some of the most exciting titles still to come in the next three months, so get out your pen and paper, or log into your reading app of choice and get ready to add to your TBR.
We have a mix of genres in this quarter’s feature, and you’ll travel all around the world, across time and possibly even through the dimensions with this bunch. The characters you’ll meet vary from obsessive book-lovers, to bushrangers and gun-toting pre-teens, to online video game testers, to journalists on the trail of their best story to date, to people trapped on a very creepy commute, and so much more. Honestly, you might need to clear your calendars because you have some serious reading to do.
Billie King – Shannon Kelly-White
HarperCollins | Pub date: June 30| Find a copy HERE
Emily: This debut novel by former nurse turned cookbook writer, Shannon Kelly-White has been getting a lot of buzz online, with early comparisons being made to The Dressmaker, Leah Purcell‘s The Drover’s Wife and Boy Swallows Universe. We love an underdog, and we love a narrative about righting wrongs, but most importantly, we love a feminist historical fiction book about angry women on horseback.
Beginning in 1918, when bushranger Dulcie James holds up the farm of Anna King, only to discover the woman is not afraid of her in the slightest, the story follows Anna’s 12 year old daughter Billie, who, in 1930, is searching for the mother who abandoned her and trying to avoid being put into a children’s home. It sounds like an exciting tale of adventure, a feminist Western that draws on Australia’s lawbreaking history to tell the story of a wild colonial girl.
Country People – Daniel Mason
John Murray | Pub date: July 7 | Find a copy HERE
Simon: I absolutely adored Daniel Mason‘s previous novel North Woods and all of its narrative inventiveness and characters. So, I can’t wait to get my hands on his next – Country People. The novel follows the Krzelewskis, a scholarly Californian couple and their children, as they embark on an ‘idyllic’ year living in a remote Vermont college town. Much like North Woods, Country People promises to be populated with a remarkable and memorable cast of characters (though perhaps with a few less hauntings). Interspersed with folkloric elements, gorgeous scenery and quirky characters, Country People sees the award-winning Mason explore themes of parenthood, marriage and finding connection in an increasingly fragmented world – pretty topical, then.
Moss’d in Space – Rebecca Thorne
Pan Macmillan Australia | Pub date: July 7 | Find a copy HERE
Jess: I have been drawn relentlessly to cosy sci-fi found family stories recently, particularly if they also portray positive visions of the future. So when I saw the cover art for this new adventure from the author of the Tomes & Tea Quartet, it immediately sucked me in.
The tagline for this book reads ‘The journey is more important than the destination – which is great, because they’re definitely lost’. Torian has finally bought a starship of her own and it doesn’t matter that it’s been abandoned for a century or that it’s covered in moss. Or at least it didn’t matter. When Torian discovers the moss is actually an organic computer with a snarky attitude and serious abandonment issues, Torian is accused by the immortal alien who built the ship of stealing it.
A snarky organic computer, a loveable lost protagonist, and an immortal alien sound like the perfect combination to me so I’m beyond excited for this new release.
The Burn Line – Jonathan Sims
Hachette Australia | Pub date: July 14 | Find a copy HERE
Annie: Did you know that, due to being underground, the London tube generally stays warmer than the temperature above ground? It’s supposed to be appreciated in the winter, but in the summer, it can make an already warm day feel stifling and sticky.
It is one such season in which The Burn Line is set. The hottest on record, in fact, and in a time when economic pressures are just adding to the heat. In the midst of this raging fire, five commuters encounter something on their daily journeys. Something that they can’t quite remember. Something that is coming for them.
I have to admit, I’ve always enjoyed Sims’ work – his strange tales and flair for the grotesque made his podcast The Magnus Archives an instant fave for me. He has a true talent for taking seemingly innocuous concepts and wringing an unexpected, compelling, and deliciously dark story out of them. Like being stuck on a hot train! I can’t wait to see what horrors he explores in The Burn Line.
Sophie, Standing There – Meg Mason
HarperCollins | Pub date: July 25 | Find a copy HERE
Emily: Like millions of others, I read and loved Sorrow and Bliss in 2020, and then immediately read all of Meg Mason‘s backlist. Nobody writes a woman on the edge of a breakdown like she does, and this latest novel, about a lonely sound technician named Sophie promises more of this. Sophie, who works on literary festivals, becomes obsessed with a particular author and develops an unhealthy parasocial relationship with her, meaning that whilst we follow this character through her spiral, we’ll also be getting to see literary festivals, book publicity and unhinged reader interactions through the eyes of a bestselling author who most likely has first-hand experience of all three.
The Unknown – Riley Sager
Hachette Australia | Pub date: August 4 | Find a copy HERE
Jess: I’ve never read any Riley Sager before but I recently became very aware of him when I started working at a bookstore and found myself constantly intrigued by the blurbs on his books. This one is no different and so I’m choosing to dive down the rabbit hole of this prolific author starting with his newest release.
Marin, a struggling actress, lands a role in a major motion picture about an unsolved mystery on the island of New Avalon where, 100 years ago, five women mysteriously went missing. Some say they simply left. Others say they were murdered. But a diary left behind by one of the women suggests a seance gone wrong conjured something supernatural that took them all one by one. When cast members start to go missing as well, the crew are left to wonder – is it the work of someone trying to derail the movie, or is the island’s supernatural past catching up with them.
The Cairo Bridal Shop – Tess Woods
Penguin Books | Pub date: September 1 | Find a copy HERE
Emily: Bestselling author, and the mastermind behind the Festival of Fiction, Tess Woods is back with a follow up to the phenomenally successful The Venice Hotel. In her forthcoming book, The Cairo Bridal Shop, Tess explores sisterhood, loyalty, and the difficulty of balancing respect for tradition with following your dreams as a modern woman. Drawing on her own childhood in Egypt, where her family lived until 1979 when they came to Australia, this is Tess Woods’ most personal book to date. It follows the three Albi sisters as they negotiate their own paths forward, guided by the stories of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh queens and by the strength of their bond to one another in order to survive, and thrive, in a world that thinks their future is already laid out for them.
Exit Party – Emily St John Mandel
Pan Macmillan | Pub date: September 15 | Find a copy HERE
Jess: Emily St John Mandel might be best known for her book Station Eleven, but it was her last release, Sea of Tranquility, that first drew me to her writing. Her books are brilliant blend of speculative and literary fiction that have me spellbound.
Now she returns with this new story, set in a near future in which America is in the midst of a civil war and the Republic of California has just been declared. Ari, newly released from prison, joins the city for a party that will have ramifications that last years.
This book is meant to have themes of freedom, surveillance, art and survival in a broken world and if anyone can tackle all that, its Emily St John Mandel. Bring on September!
Dodge City – Patrick DeWitt
Harper Collins | Pub date: September 29 | Find a copy HERE
Simon: Dodge City is the latest novel from Booker shortlisted author Patrick DeWitt. I’ve been a big fan of his work since The Sisters Brothers, so I was excited to learn we’d be getting a new novel this year. Dodge City follows strait-laced college student Lee Clarke as he is expelled from college and flees the draft via an amphetamine fuelled cross country road trip to the Canada. But, Clarke decides he can’t leave without saying goodbye to his own family. So what should be a straight forward trip to the border is punctuated by four stops to different towns and four different members of his family, each with their own idiosyncrasies. It all sounds like the recipe for an enjoyable read from one of America’s finest contemporary authors.
The Ship of Death – Kyle Winkler
Hodder and Stoughton| Pub date: September 29 | Find a copy HERE
Annie: This debut horror novel is a tale of the thin line between fiction and reality, of obsession and possession. Our protagonists Cole and Lorraine have a side hustle playtesting new board games, but their fun is interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious package. It’s the titular The Ship of Death, and as the pair begin to play they soon find they’re the ones really being played with. But the intriguing premise isn’t the only reason why I’m looking forward to this chilling read – it’s also its rare format. The novel takes a mixed-media approach, telling its story through everything from emails and forum posts to personal journals and, concerningly, police reports. It’s a curious blend, and a bold choice for a debut author. I look forward to reading it, and seeing how Winkler pulls all these elements together.
We hope that you’ve found something in this list to whet your appetite for a a good old binge reading session. All of these titles can be sourced via your favourite local bookshops, and remember, readers who pre-order books earn themselves excellent reading karma and are more likely to find their next five star read quickly. Put the kettle on and settle down under your favourite blanket, because you have some quality book time in your future.
Thanks to Annie, Emily, Simon and Jess for their contributions.
