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Review

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In crime fiction, where there’s Smoke there’s always fire

In crime fiction, where there’s Smoke there’s always fire

Former journo Michael Brissenden has written a cracking novel set in the aftermath of a Californian wildfire.

  • by Sue Turnbull

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A gentle love song to a cultural historian’s home territory

A gentle love song to a cultural historian’s home territory

Alexandra Harris has written a remarkable book that melds personal memory with investigations of the historical record.

  • by Gregory Day
The satire is as high as this novel’s anti-hero, but the dystopia is bleak

The satire is as high as this novel’s anti-hero, but the dystopia is bleak

Jordan Prosser’s action-packed first novel will make you laugh but will unsettle you as well.

  • by Justine Hyde
Eight new books to read this weekend

Eight new books to read this weekend

Our reviewers cast their eyes over recent fiction and non-fiction.

  • by Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp
The Afghans is an empathic look at life for women under the Taliban

The Afghans is an empathic look at life for women under the Taliban

Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad returns to Afghanistan for the first since she wrote the controversial book, The Bookseller of Kabul.

  • by Christopher Kremmer
Ed Zwick’s laugh-out-loud memoir of working in Hollywood

Ed Zwick’s laugh-out-loud memoir of working in Hollywood

The creator of thirtysomething has written a perceptive and entertaining account of his life behind the camera and the people he has worked with and fallen out with.

  • by Tom Ryan
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Siang Lu imagines a comic dystopia in this labyrinthine new novel

Siang Lu imagines a comic dystopia in this labyrinthine new novel

Ghost Cities challenges readers to make sense of life on a huge film set where everyone is both a citizen going about their business and an actor.

  • by Owen Richardson
The great Australian war stories that didn’t actually happen

The great Australian war stories that didn’t actually happen

In his new book, Mark Dapin demonstrates that the truth and war are uncomfortable partners.

  • by Edmund Goldrick
Why do women fall for violent men in jail? This novel has an idea

Why do women fall for violent men in jail? This novel has an idea

Tasha Coryell’s main character is a young woman who writes increasingly intimate letters to a man facing charges of murdering several women.

  • by Jessie Tu
Why adapting is the key to survival in the face of climate change

Why adapting is the key to survival in the face of climate change

Clive Hamilton and George Wilkenfeld have written a necessary book for a world subject to the ravages of climate change.

  • by Kurt Johnson
This beautiful memoir beats with a radically open heart

This beautiful memoir beats with a radically open heart

Ailsa Piper’s salts her sorrow with spiritual longing in this subtle book about living with grief.

  • by Michael McGirr