What to read this week: exploring veteran suicides, the welfare state, Australian TV, and a sizzling debut
A study of veteran suicides, a sizzling debut, a romp through the history of Australian television and a searing take on the welfare state are among this week’s picks.
A study of veteran suicides, a sizzling debut, a romp through the history of Australian television and a searing take on the welfare state are among this week’s choices.
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Anam
By Andre Dao
Hamish Hamilton, Fiction
352pp, $32.99
Dao has a mesmeric and unique style that is both brave and profound. A style that captures the voice of those that may not always have one. In Anam, Dao explores themes of colonisation, home, memory, and identity through a blend of fiction, history, and essay. As a grandson investigates his family history using letters, photographs, and government documents, he tries to uncover a way to remember the past that could also create a future for his partner and daughter. André Dao is a Melbourne-based writer, editor and artist, who won the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript for Anam, his magnificent debut.
Who Cares?
By Eve Vincent
Melbourne University Press, Nonfiction
192pp, $33.00
Many Australians will never know what it’s like to try to live on welfare. In Who Cares? researcher, writer, and academic, Eve Vincent, gives readers an insight into the system. Vincent examines two recent welfare measures, ParentsNext and the cashless debit card, and in doing so, offers an urgent account of the impact that these reforms are having on the recipients of these programs. Who Cares? combines two key parts: a history of welfare in Australia, and compelling interviews with welfare recipients. It is both a valuable academic resource and a fascinating read on a topic many know too little about.
After the Rain
By Aisling Smith
Hachette, Fiction
368pp, $32.99
After the Rain is the debut novel from the 2020 Richell Prize-winning author, Aisling Smith. Malti Fortune has moved away from her birthplace of Fiji to study in Melbourne and make a fresh start. But not everything goes as planned. After the Rain is a stirring, magical, and emotional novel about family, belonging, marriage, race, and culture. The judges of the Richell Prize stated that, “Aisling’s writing is evocative and sophisticated, and the story is one all the judges want to read much more of.” I think we would all agree, the best novels are never long enough, and you won’t want After the Rain to end.
The Home Front
By Patrick Lindsay
Affirm Press, Military History
352pp, $34.99
Military historian Patrick Lindsay is one of Australia’s leading researchers and writers. In 2022, he wrote, directed, and produced the documentary The Home Front, which is also the name of his book. Featuring interviews with veterans and their families, The Home Front examines the dire situation Australian veterans are in today, including alarming rates of PTSD, depression, homelessness, and suicide after returning home from war. Forty-one Australians died in action over 20 years of fighting in Afghanistan; more than 1400 serving and ex-serving veterans have taken their lives over the same period. Lindsay provides analysis of Australia’s military culture and the government response to the crisis.
One Illumined Thread
By Sally Colin-James
4th Estate, Historical Fiction
368pp, $32.99
One Illumined Thread is an extensively researched and exquisitely written novel that spans three women’s lives across three different time periods. In Judea, we meet Sheva during the time of King Herod; in Renaissance Florence, Antonia chases a creative dream; and in Adelaide in 2018, Dr. Reed is in mourning. One Illumined Thread is a historical novel that spans 2000 years, but is connected by a celebration of female power and the creative spirit. This debut won the 2020 HNSA Colleen McCullough Residency Award, the 2020 Varuna PIP Fellowship Award, the Byron Bay Writers Festival Mentorship Award, and a placement with the Australian Writers Mentoring program. She’s an upcoming star.
A Minor Chorus
By Billy-Ray Belcourt
University of Queensland Press
Literary Fiction
192pp, $27.99
In remote Northern Alberta, a PhD student abandons his thesis to work on a novel. A novel that is autobiographic and seeks answers to existential questions about life, love, and family. Brimming with authentic characters that drive the plot, A Minor Chorus brings a contemporary Indigenous and queer experience into the fore. Billy-Ray Belcourt’s voice is the voice of a generation, a movement. From the Driftpile Cree Nation, Belcourt is the assistant professor in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. He is an award-winning
writer of three books of poetry and nonfiction. A Minor Chorus sizzles.
Like No Other Business: 60 years of Oz TV
By Bob Phillips
Self-published, Nonfiction
214pp, $14.99
Bob Phillips’s first job in show business was as a casual hand in a travelling carnival. He also worked as a projectionist for Hoyts before moving into television, when Graham Kennedy was king. He became a producer and documentary maker, and with his late wife, actress Judy Banks, he established Australia’s first television and media museum. Like No Other Business takes readers through the TV industry from the 1950s to the present day and he hopes the reader will get a bit of a “glimpse behind the curtain” as well as a few laughs.
The Midnight News
By Jo Baker
Phoenix, Historical Fiction
432pp, $32.99
Sunday Times bestseller Jo Baker has returned with yet another glorious glimpse into the human condition. Charlotte, a 20-year-old Ministry of Information typist, is grieving the loss of her brother who was killed on the battlefields of France. With the Blitz rendering chunks of her beloved city in ruin, Charlotte cannot shake the uncanny sense of dread lurking, not just from the sky, but also in her shadows. With a delicate blend of history, drama, and mystery, Baker has created a striking rebellion against a definitive genre. In a market sometimes flooded by world war fiction, The Midnight News stands tall.
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