Beejay Silcox

A tense, sensory novel follows an obsessive affair between two women, told from contrasting perspectives that reveal the distortions of desire. Heloise’s intense fixation and unraveling are set against Lacey’s cooler detachment, creating a dynamic of shifting power and unreliable memory. The story explores the vulnerability and chaos of wanting, entwining eroticism with bodily discomfort while refusing to separate pleasure from messier physical realities. The narrative ultimately portrays how desire reshapes perception, destabilizes identity, and exposes the raw physicality of being human.

A review of Bobuq Sayed’s debut novel No God But Us praises its electric, satirical opening depicting Afghan American queer life but argues the book loses momentum as the story shifts to Istanbul. The narrative follows Delbar, a young gay Afghan American exploring identity, and Mansur, a queer Afghan refugee navigating asylum bureaucracy. Their relationship unfolds against rising authoritarianism in Turkey and differing experiences of diaspora. While the novel raises themes of self‑invention, displacement and political constraint, the review concludes that it remains conventional and fails to match the daring promise of its beginning.

Critics highlight a range of new Australian titles arriving in June, spanning fiction, nonfiction and cookbooks. Selections include a thriller-in-verse exploring trauma, a survival narrative set in a forest, an investigation into alternative medicine, multigenerational fiction set across China’s history, a Bengali-Australian cookbook, a queer Afghan diaspora novel, an offshore oil‑rig thriller, an allegorical wartime animal fable and an analysis of social‑media‑driven outrage. Each book is briefly described with emphasis on themes, narrative strengths and cultural relevance.

A critical review of Ann Patchett’s novel Whistler contrasts its polished, comforting tone with the sharper, more nuanced qualities of her earlier works. The story of a woman reconnecting with a beloved stepfather is described as sentimental and overly tidy, lacking the depth and tension of Tom Lake and Patchett’s nonfiction. While acknowledging its charm, the text argues that the novel’s perfection and emotional sweetness leave it feeling insubstantial.

A selection of new Australian books across fiction, nonfiction and cookery highlights themes ranging from alien abduction and feminist examinations of menstruation to climate‑affected futures, class satire, historical political scandals and memoir. Several novels explore personal upheaval, societal change and imaginative narratives, while nonfiction titles cover medical misogyny, first responders’ trauma, Lebanese history and reflections on media and language. A visually striking cookbook showcases Southeast Asian–Australian baking. The list presents a wide-ranging snapshot of notable Australian releases for May.

A review praising Portia Elan’s debut novel Homebound for its interconnected stories of four women across centuries, blending themes of found family, inheritance and storytelling. It highlights the book’s structural similarities to Cloud Atlas, explores its characters across timelines from 1980s Cincinnati to interstellar space, and notes its gentle, sentimental tone and emphasis on care, connection and chosen kinship.

A review praises Johanna Bell’s novel Department of the Vanishing as an inventive and unsettling eco-fiction work imagining a government office tasked with cataloguing extinct species amid escalating environmental collapse. Combining verse, documents, and archival elements, the book follows Ava Wilde as she confronts bureaucratic erasure, personal loss, and the disappearance of her naturalist father. The critic lauds the novel’s originality and its plausible bureaucratic dystopia while noting minor character and stylistic flaws, ultimately highlighting its urgency, formal innovation, and resonance with contemporary ecological anxieties.

Critics highlight a diverse selection of new Australian books for March, spanning memoir, fiction, fantasy and psychological thriller. The list includes Bob Carr’s reflective memoir on grief, experimental eco‑fiction by Johanna Bell, Claire Thomas’s introspective travel novel, and Erin Vincent’s fragmented grief memoir. Eva Hornung’s speculative work is praised as a potential masterpiece, while ML Stedman explores decades of family life in Western Australia. Additional selections feature a queer fantasy retelling by Cameron Sullivan, Gemma Parker’s philosophical memoir, a social‑media‑driven thriller by Ashley Kalagian Blunt, and Durkhanai Ayubi’s rich exploration of Afghan history and food.

A review of George Saunders’s novel Vigil critiques its reliance on familiar ghostly devices and its focus on a dying oil tycoon whose destructive legacy leaves little room for moral ambiguity. While the book gestures at the structural nature of the climate crisis, it remains dominated by the antagonist’s flaws. The character Jill Blaine emerges as the more compelling figure, her forgotten past and loneliness offering emotional depth. The review argues that Saunders’s once inventive spectral techniques now feel habitual, making the novel’s moral messaging heavy-handed.

A wide range of Australian fiction and nonfiction titles scheduled for 2026 spans genres including speculative fiction, eco-literature, crime, memoir and political analysis. Established and emerging authors explore themes such as climate crisis, late capitalism, wellness culture, art and creative life, and historical and personal reckonings. Nonfiction releases address political leadership, technology, true crime and cultural commentary, while several memoirs highlight personal and intergenerational stories. The year’s publishing slate emphasizes diversity in form, subject matter and authorial voice across Australia’s literary landscape.

A selection of Guardian Australia critics’ top 25 Australian books of 2025 spans fiction, nonfiction, poetry and cookbooks, highlighting acclaimed works by established and emerging writers. The list features notable novels, memoirs and themed collections, including Helen Garner’s diaries, Geraldine Brooks’ memoir of grief, and various debuts across genres. Themes range from literary deception and adolescence to climate anxiety, family histories, cultural identity, and culinary storytelling. Each book is briefly described with emphasis on style, thematic depth and the authors’ distinct contributions to contemporary Australian literature.

Kaylene Whiskey’s exhibition at Australia’s National Portrait Gallery presents a vibrant, cinematic universe where Indigenous storytelling merges with global pop‑culture icons. Her works celebrate strong Aṉangu women and depict figures like Dolly Parton, Tina Turner and Cathy Freeman integrated into the landscapes and stories of Indulkana. Curator April Phillips highlights Whiskey’s redefinition of portraiture through abundance, agency and self‑determination. The exhibition emphasises joy, community and empowerment, positioning Whiskey as both creator and protagonist of a dynamic, celebratory world.

Bora Chung’s story collection employs classic horror motifs inside a research facility filled with cursed objects, using its setting to highlight themes of exploitation, precarity and social marginalisation. While the book mirrors structural traditions of haunted-house narratives, its many tangents and shifting tones sometimes dilute its focus. Moments that stray from the central setting are the most vivid, producing a series of loosely connected horror episodes reminiscent of early X-Files storytelling.

A sharply written review of Bri Lee’s novel Seed highlights its Antarctic setting, paranoid atmosphere and incisive portrayal of a misogynistic, antinatalist narrator. The book blends elements of eco-dystopia, polar horror and psychological tension while exploring themes of procreation, shame and bad faith. Though the ending is criticized as undermining earlier strengths, the novel is praised as Lee’s most compelling and entertaining work to date.

A critical review of Trent Dalton’s novel Gravity Let Me Go argues that despite its potential to explore meaningful issues around true crime, the book falls into sentimental tropes about masculinity and relies on retrograde gender dynamics. The protagonist, Noah Cork, is portrayed as a self‑pitying journalist whose ethical failures and personal turmoil drive a story filled with exaggerated metaphors and strained humor. The critique contends that the novel avoids substantive commentary on justice and instead leans on emotional performance, magical‑realist elements, and caricatured characters, resulting in a work that lacks depth despite its earnest tone.

Patricia Lockwood’s novel explores the disorienting reality of long Covid through an autofictional lens marked by fragmentation, delirium and self‑obliteration. The review situates the book within a broader literary tradition of writing about illness, comparing its fractured style and thematic focus to works by Virginia Woolf, Susan Sontag and contemporary authors tackling bodily and psychological distress. While acknowledging the necessity of long‑Covid narratives, the critique argues that the novel’s dense self‑referentiality and stylized form make it accessible mainly to devoted followers of Lockwood’s life and work, limiting its broader resonance.

RF Kuang’s novel Katabasis uses an infernal reimagining of academia to critique exploitation, rivalry, and self‑delusion within university culture. Following two postgraduates who descend into the underworld to retrieve their abusive supervisor, the story blends satire, myth, and commentary on intellectual labour. The review highlights the novel’s sharp humour, thematic ambition, and willingness to confront entrenched academic hierarchies, while noting occasional plot excesses and uneven elements. Despite its imperfections, the book is praised for its energy, insight, and engagement with the struggle to survive the structures that shape academic life.

A selection of new Australian books is highlighted across genres including biography, fiction, nonfiction, and cookery. The list features works exploring political history, crime, cultural identity, family dynamics, and online conspiracies, along with memoirs and literary fiction. Each title is briefly described by a Guardian critic, noting key themes, narrative style, and the authors’ backgrounds.

Zane Grey’s enduring but little-known connection to Australia is revisited through Vicki Hastrich’s new biography, tracing the novelist’s fishing expeditions, failed shark‑hunting film and secret love affair during his 1930s visits. Grey’s fame, cultural impact and personal decline unfold against depictions of interwar Australia, while Hastrich’s research uncovers newly significant figures, especially the women around Grey, and reframes his final years as a pursuit of relevance and one last defining achievement.

Susan Choi’s novel Flashlight spans decades and continents to explore absence, secrecy and fractured family histories, tracing the life of Louisa as she grapples with the silence left by her parents’ pasts. The narrative moves from Indiana to the Korean peninsula while interrogating identity, inheritance and the instability of truth. Building on themes from Choi’s earlier work, it delivers a major narrative rupture that reshapes its moral and political stakes, ultimately maintaining emotional depth and scale while engaging with underexamined North Korean history.