No Dancing in the Lift by Mandy Sayer
Nonfiction, Transit Lounge, $32.99
Mandy Sayer is already an award-winning memoirist, but her latest is clearly one from the heart: a love letter to her father. Gerry Sayer, a jazz musician, was singular in pursuit of his art. In the 1980s, father and daughter moved from Australia to the US where they busked without permits, he on drums and her tap-dancing along, and dodged debt collectors by moving between grotty hotels.
Decades later, Gerry was diagnosed with terminal cancer and Mandy became his carer. But this book is far from a descent into grief: it is full of humour and picaresque characters, Gerry among them. Kings Cross as it was, lurid and neon-lit, plays a starring role; Sayer’s habitat for decades. This is a writer at the height of her powers, telling a story she literally was born to write. – Susan Chenery
Fierceland by Omar Musa
Fiction, Penguin Random House, $34.99
Part poetry, part prose, spoken word poet, rapper and artist Omar Musa’s second novel weaves together worlds and legacies. Siblings Roz and Harun return to Malaysian Borneo for their father’s funeral, only to confront the ghosts of the past. Told across times and places, the story traces the cost of choices made for future generations: “We give our lives so that our children will live. But how will they live?”
Grappling with the devastation wrought by palm-oil plantations, violence and family estrangement, Musa asks whether old wounds can be healed and whether amends can ever be made. Bold and lyrical from the first page, Fierceland is a work of art. – Seren Heyman-Griffiths
Desolation by Hossein Asgari
Fiction, Ultimo Press, $34.99
A dishevelled stranger approaches a writer in an Adelaide cafe. “I have a story for you,” declares the man, who calls himself Amin. The writer is reluctant, but quickly finds himself compelled by Amin’s story, which unfolds in the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war.
This is the framing for Hossein Asgari’s second novel, Desolation, a bleak and urgent coming-of-age story that is narrated in a deceptively simple style. Teller and tale become entangled, the boundaries between truth and fiction erode, and bitter ironies abound. – Catriona Menzies-Pike
Tenderfoot by Toni Jordan
Fiction, Hachette Australia, $32.99
Suburban Brisbane, 1975. Twelve-year-old Andie Tanner lives with her mother, her father and their four racing greyhounds. Andie dreams of becoming a greyhound trainer one day, and she’s pretty sure she has the future figured out. But as her family and friendships start to crumble, she begins to understand the complexity of human life.
Tenderfoot captures the pain of growing up with intimacy and precision, and offers a poignant reflection on class and community. Told through alternating perspectives – adult and child – this is a gorgeous coming-of-age story about longing, loss and the persistence of childhood within us all. – Seren Heyman-Griffiths
Cannon by Lee Lai
Graphic novel, Giramondo Publishing, $39.95
When we meet Cannon, the titular protagonist of Lee Lai’s second graphic novel, she has just trashed the restaurant where she works. Shards of glass surround her, as do mysterious birds. Her longtime best friend Trish is the only person who witnesses the wreckage – a breakdown that has been a long time coming.
Lai’s 2021 debut graphic novel, Stone Fruit, traced the dying days of a queer relationship; similar themes continue here with her sparing monochrome style and emotionally hefty dialogue. Questions of ethics in art, filial responsibility and the shifting tides of friendship weave their way through this thoughtful, sensitive story, with flashes of red-hot anger piercing through. – Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
Inside Out by Kathleen Folbigg and Tracy Chapman
Biography, Penguin Random House, $36.99
When Kathleen Folbigg and Tracy Chapman met as children in Kotara public school, the pair were not to know what life had in store for them. That Folbigg would lose four babies. That she would be convicted of their murder and manslaughter. That she would spend 20 years in prison. That Chapman would never waver, and would stand by her side, advocating for Folbigg for decades when the rest of Australia regarded her friend as a baby killer.
Inside Out charts the course of the women’s lives, from childhood to conviction, imprisonment and ultimately exoneration. In chapters divided between Folbigg and Chapman, it tells a story of loyalty, justice and tremendous pain. – Celina Ribeiro
Secret Sauce by Rosheen Kaul
Cookbook, Murdoch Books, $39.99
A continent-hopping ode to condiments, Rosheen Kaul’s new recipe book includes 50 flavour-packed sauces, alongside 50 dishes that incorporate them. The award-winning author of Chinese-ish and former Etta chef is a wonderfully playful recipe writer, but the real innovation in this cookbook are not just the dishes, but the possibilities beyond them. Any of her sauces could be used to enliven an otherwise bland midweek meal, whether it be plain pasta, fried egg and rice, or meat and two vegetables.
Most of the sauces keep for several days at least, so the book is a particular gift to meal preppers, in a beautifully photographed package. – Alyx Gorman
Discipline by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Fiction, University of Queensland Press, $34.99
This book may be a work of fiction, but it speaks a truth many have come to know: that to talk about Palestine in the west requires discipline and sacrifice. Set in Sydney during Israel’s attacks on Gaza during Ramadan in 2021, Discipline centres on two characters – journalist and young mother Hannah and academic Ashraf – as they navigate censorship, prejudice and apathy in two of society’s most contested areas: newsrooms and university campuses.
With visceral detail, Randa Abdel-Fattah captures the pangs of survivor guilt and rage felt by first-generation Australians witnessing the destruction of their homelands while living in “the empire”, and the cost of speaking out against the status quo. – Nour Haydar
Nature’s Last Dance: Tales of Wonder in an Age of Extinction by Natalie Kyriacou
Nonfiction, Simon & Schuster, $36.99
Natalie Kyriacou’s ode to a natural world in decline is full of quirky stories, like the Great Emu Wars of the 1930s, the scientists exploring whale poo and Pablo Escobar’s menagerie. The environmentalist traverses the long, sad and weird arc of the history of humanity’s interactions with animals and the environment, to the point of mass extinction and collapse.
Kyriacou is keen to emphasise the beauty that remains in the world, a reflection of her belief that changing course “begins with curiosity”. This is a book which leans into curiosity and and hope, while also mourning the damage done. – Celina Ribeiro
The Farm by Jessica Mansour-Nahra
Fiction, Hachette Australia, $24.99
There is an admirably nasty streak in this debut gothic novel. When 37-year-old Leila has a miscarriage, then a devastating diagnosis, her boyfriend James encourages her to decamp with him to his family farm in O’Connell, New South Wales so she can recover. But the isolation is soon oppressive; Leila begins hearing noises and soon comes to suspect she is not the first woman James has brought to O’Connell.
If you’ve read anything in the gothic tradition – particularly Jane Eyre and Rebecca – you’ll be coming into this book forewarned about many of the beats it hits – but it is still compelling. – Sian Cain
Linger: Salads, Sweets and Stories to Savour, Together by Hetty Lui McKinnon
Cookbooks, Pan Macmillan Australia, $44.99
Can salads be main dishes? Hetty Lui McKinnon believes they can, and has created 100 unique vegetarian salads in her latest book to prove just that. With flavours ranging from Chinese to Spanish, these dishes are not only filling but made to be shared – all having been road-tested by McKinnon, who hosted monthly lunches over the course of a year to see how these recipes were received by her friends.
The book is broken up into 12 roughly seasonal menus that include not only the main-worthy salads but also little bites and sweet treats. Each menu also comes with a curated playlist – which can help set the atmosphere if you take on the mantle as host. – Isabella Lee
