What to read this week: Australian gothic revival, ending a toxic relationship among this week’s picks
A sinister tale set in remote Tasmania and a 680km journey across the Australian Alps Walking Track after a bad break-up are among this week’s selections.
A sinister tale set in remote Tasmania, a 680km journey across the Australian Alps Walking Track after a bad break-up, and a mind-bending epic from a New York Times bestseller are among this week’s selections.
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The Crossing
In 2016, Sophie Matterson left her job in media, and her conventional life, in the pursuit of something more. By 2021, she had become the first woman to complete the 4750km crossing of Australia, walking her beloved camels Jude, Delilah, Charlie, Clayton, and Mac from Shark Bay in Western Australia to Byron Bay in northern New South Wales – a feat for which she was awarded the Australian Geographic Spirit of Adventure Award. The Crossing is the story of one woman finding herself and her purpose, and it is every bit as impassioned as it sounds.
The Wager
Any avid reader of The New Yorker knows the true talents of staff writer, David Grann. He is also No.1 New York Times best-selling author, whose award-winning books have been adapted to film and television by directors Martin Scorsese and James Gray, and starred Hollywood royalty asuch as Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Tom Holland, Robert Patterson, and Tom Hiddleston. The Wager is Grann’s telling of the spectacular true story of a British company of naval officers and crew that became stranded on an isolated island off the coast of Patagonia. Featuring vicious storms, a shipwreck, murder, and mutinous anarchy, The Wager is as captivating as any novel.
Crushing
Genevieve Novak writes some of the most relatable characters in Australia; she wears her heart on the jacket of the book. Crushing is an accessible, hilarious, charming, and profound novel about relationships, heartbreak, and finding yourself. Marnie is done with relationships. She is sick and tired of trying to fit herself into the mould of what a girlfriend should be. All this turns on its head when she meets Isaac, the first guy that has truly understood her. But there’s a problem, he is already taken. Novak’s honesty and absorbing characters make her voice so unique and compelling.
The Ferryman
Justin Cronin, the New York Times best-selling author of The Passage, has returned with The Ferryman, a mind-bending and mind-boggling epic that takes place on the islands of Prospera. The citizens are hidden, sheltered from a deteriorating outside world. Those who live on the main island enjoy a perfect life. That is until the monitors embedded in their forearms fall below 10 per cent and they are ferried to a mysterious island called “The Nursery”. There, the citizens are rebooted, and memories wiped clean, ready to start afresh. Proctor Bennett is a ferryman. He seems happy with his life, until he receives a message, “The world is not the world ...”
Half Deaf, Completely Mad
Tony Cohen began his illustrious career at 15 years old as a dubbing boy at Armstrong Studios. He went on to become the most sought-after music producer in Australia with three ARIA awards to his name. Half Deaf, Completely Mad is a fascinating memoir for any music enthusiast. It is consumed with laughter and tragedy that highlights the chaos of a man that lived hard. The music producer-engineer helped define Australia’s punk and rock sounds over many decades, right up until his death in 2017. Cohen gives readers an all-access pass to a raft of Australian music royalty, including his decades long relationship with Nick Cave.
Over this Backbone
Who hasn’t felt like taking off on a life-affirming and soul-exploring adventure after a bad break-up? While most of us might head off for a bushwalk or weekend away, 19-year-old Peta has decided to tackle the 680km journey across the Australian Alps Walking Track, because this wasn’t just a bad break-up, Peta was escaping someone toxic. Over this Backbone is an impressive debut that takes readers on a physical and mental journey, shoulder-to-shoulder with this loveable protagonist. It explores the human experience, the Australian landscape, and where these two fascinating enigmas intercede. Ya Reeves is a charming new literary voice.
The Girl with the Red Hair
The Girl with the Red Hair is the gripping debut of Buzzy Jackson. The novel takes readers back to Nazi-occupied Netherlands and charts the improbable life of Dutch resistance fighter, Hannie Schaft. Her friends are no longer safe, and their lives are turned upside down at the hands of their German invaders, but Hannie won’t stand by and watch her beloved country go down in flames. She is recruited into the
Resistance and soon becomes skilled in shooting. Whispers quickly spread throughout the occupiers and allies. They know her simply as “the girl with red hair”. She is a match for any Nazi soldier, she is a threat, and now she has become a target.
Blackwater
While rural noir is all the rage right now, Australian gothic may just be on the verge of a resurgence, and Jacqueline Ross is leading the charge with Blackwater. Ross begins the novel in a remote region of Tasmania. King and Grace are expecting their first child, and soon get word that King’s father is dying. The couple haven’t known each other very long, so Grace is eager to accompany King to his family home in Blackwater to learn more about the man she expects to spend the rest of her life with. But the sinister behaviour of his family, and the derelict state of the family home, leaves Grace with even more questions than when she arrived.
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