Eight new books to take you from rock ‘n’ roll to the joy of nature

From The Hague to London’s rock and roll scene in the ’70s, to the journey we all face towards old age, there are all kinds of places to escape to among this week’s new releases. Happy reading!

FICTION PICK OF THE WEEK

Out of the Woods
Gretchen Shirm
Transit Lounge, $34.99

The International Criminal Court has made headlines lately, with warrants issued for Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu, and the recent arrest of Rodrigo Duterte. Gretchen Shirm’s Out of the Woods takes us to The Hague in 2000 (just before the court was set up) and follows an Australian woman, Jess, who travels there to serve as secretary to an Australian judge hearing a war crimes trial. As Jess bears witness to proceedings – a military man has been charged with participating in the genocide at Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1995 – the enormity of the crime is revealed, and Jess reflects on guilt and doubt, and the nature of tragedy itself. Meanwhile, she strikes up a friendship with a woman watching the trial from the gallery, and embarks on an awkward, tentative sort of romance with a man who works nearby. Told largely from Jess’ perspective, the novel develops an almost dissociative narrative style and becomes a literary study in how we process inhumanity.

The Summer Guests
Tess Gerritsen
Bantam, $34.99

The second Martini Club novel from Tess Gerritsen resumes the eventful retirement of a former spy, Maggie Bird. Maggie has decamped to the tiny seaside town of Purity, Maine, where she’s joined by others in the intelligence community who’ve been put out to pasture. They meet for a regular book club – cocktails included – but villains from the espionage game emerged in the first novel to cause havoc, and this time Maggie feels bound to help a neighbour who becomes the prime suspect when a super-rich teenager goes missing near the local lake. Purity police chief Jo Thibodeau isn’t thrilled about the Martini Club’s involvement, but can’t deny their spycraft comes in handy and can crack a case. The Summer Guests is entertaining crime fiction featuring a motley cast of retirees, and I enjoyed the way the book throws off its cosy crime disguise, twisting into dark and deadly conspiracy.

An Invisible Tattoo
Suellen Dainty
Echo, $32.99

A fictional British musical icon, James Bennett, died more than 50 years ago at a midsummer party in 1972. Only one person remains alive who knows the truth of what happened that night – the elderly Ruth Henderson, in Sydney, and she’s chosen the ambitious young Kate Griffin to tell her story. Ruth was childhood friends with Adela, James Bennett’s wife, and the novel unfolds as a feminist counterpoint to the typical Dionysian rock novel focused on a male star. Shifting between rural Australia, the music scene in the early 1970s and the growing bond between Kate and Ruth as the latter unburdens herself of a secret history in her twilight years, An Invisible Tattoo swirls around the mystery of a celebrity death. It doesn’t skimp on sex, drugs or rock ‘n’ roll, yet its chief appeal lies in the exploration of the sidelined role of women in the music industry, the contours of female friendship and the touching rapport between in-depth interviewer and subject.

Love on the Air
Ash London
Allen & Unwin, $32.99

Popular music journalist and podcaster Ash London has published her debut novel, Love on the Air – a fluffy enemies-to-lovers romance set in the world of prime-time radio. A heartbroken Alex York begins the novel throwing away her career as a radio superstar and retreating to a tropical island, but it isn’t long before she’s lured back to the airwaves, offered a plum gig as a breakfast radio presenter. She has sworn off dating again, until she meets her hot new boss Leo – and as their working relationship develops a more affectionate side, she must decide whether to be vulnerable enough to love again. This isn’t a terribly well-written affair, and Alex is impossibly shallow and brattish at the beginning. She does grow into a slightly more Austen-like heroine, however, and the author hits her comic stride. Expect celebrity melodrama, gossipy anecdote and an insider’s eye on eccentric characters from radioland.

NON-FICTION PICK OF THE WEEK

Bloomer
Carol Lefevre
Affirm, $34.99

Carol Lefevre is 70, has embraced grey hair and places herself within the Young Old age bracket. But like many Boomers, she rejects stereotypical assumptions about ageing. Embracing Henri Bergson’s conception of an enduring life force that is constantly evolving, she proposes we see this phase as an opportunity to savour the inner life while looking forward to the next adventure made all the more precious by a keener sense of life’s transience. Set over the period of one year, she muses on the changes in her garden and in her own life as she considers society’s attitudes to ageing, older bodies, loneliness, grief, the meaning of home and the inescapable reality of death. A statistic for youngsters keep in mind: a survey of 300,000 adults found that happiness peaks between 65 and 79. Bloomer is a lyrical celebration of the riches of ageing as well as a reckoning with its confronting truths.

Six Conversations We’re Scared to Have
Deborah Frances-White
Hachette, $34.99

Deborah Frances-White knows a thing or two about the “us” and “them” mentality that pervades contemporary culture. As a teenager, her parents joined the cult of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and she learnt to regard “worldly people” as dangerous. Now a comedian and host of The Guilty Feminist podcast, her professional life is spent navigating the minefield of the public square. This thoughtful book examines how these mines might be defused through respectful engagement, critical thinking and self-scrutiny. The current flashpoints she focuses on include how we regard history and historical figures now considered to be repugnant, comedy and free speech, gender non-conformity and cancel culture. “Let us not get stuck in our ‘rightness’, or we will be left behind. Let us learn to change minds, starting with our own because then we have at least a chance of changing our world.”

Human/Nature
Jane Rawson
NewSouth, $34.99

Most of her life, Jane Rawson held certain staunch beliefs about nature. Humans are ruining the environment. Introduced species are bad. Biodiversity matters. Wilderness is the real nature. We are on the brink of apocalypse. Writing this book, she says, has made her challenge all these assumptions, especially the division between nature and not-nature. She comes to no neat conclusions, but her informed and probing questions about why we lament the extinction of some species but not others, or how we justify killing for conservation, are like the ripples from a stone tossed into the water. They unsettle, but in a good way, inspiring unexpected hopefulness. The more complex the picture became for Rawson, the wider her circle of compassion. “I thought discovering more about the natural world would break my heart, but instead I keep finding myself in a state of transcendent joy.”

Age of Doubt
Edited by Tracey Kirkland & Gavin Fang
Monash University Publishing, $34.99

There are no simple solutions to the rise of misinformation and the erosion of trust in institutions, the media and society as a whole. In these essays, ethicists, journalists, scientists, business leaders and other thinkers offer diverse perspectives on how we might regain community cohesion and the ability to agree to disagree. Instead of the curated truths of “extreme individualism”, says Anglican bishop Michael Stead, we need an acceptance of something larger than ourselves whether it is God or a social compact. The importance of strengthening civil society is a recurring theme, as is learning from the example of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and of being attuned to our own biases and preconceptions, rather than simply defending them. Above all, the message is that doubt can be constructive as well as corrosive, an opportunity to rethink the very foundations of society.

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