Author: Luke Davies
Australian Fiction

This is one of the most unexpected and outstanding books I have ever read.

This is an unexpected novel about two lovers, haunted by their addictions, to drugs and to each other. What will shock you most about this book is not the brutally honest picture of drugs and desire, but the very warm human aspect that infuses each of the characters.

Candy is not a book that pushes you away. It is heady, tender and hopeful.

I couldn't put it down.
Review By Bec

Author: Tim Winton
Australian Fiction

Winton's sense of place is amazing.

The beauty of this book lies in the character definition; it is told in short chapters with no quotation marks and is very creative. The way he conveys the personal odyssey of the central characters and links it to the landscape of Western Australia is amazing. You will feel their pain and joy whilst feeling you are there.

I loved it.
Review By Margaret

Author: Kate Grenville
Australian Fiction

When William Thornhill is sent to Australia in the early nineteenth century it is merely one punishment replacing another. However as he starts to love the land around him he sees the opportunity to become a man that he never got the chance to be in England. But if the land already has its owners, how far will Thornhill and the other settlers go to claim it?

This book is as gripping, more, as any modern day thriller. Kate Grenville paints a shocking portrait of our history with care and sensitivity to her subject.

A book that I didn't think I would love, but one which I will now never forget.
Review By Bec

Author: Liane Moriarty
Australian Fiction

While reading this book you will laugh, cry and smile all the way through.

If you have a sister you will love it and if you don't, you will wish for that bond. I read this book in one sitting and I do not have a sister. A wonderful feel good book guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
Review By Janine

Author: Ian McEwan
Australian Fiction

Pipped at the post by Peter Carey for the 2001 Booker prize, Atonement is still acknowledged as Ian McEwan's greatest work to date.

On the hottest day of the summer of 1934, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching her is Robbie Turner, her childhood friend who, like Cecilia, has recently come down from Cambridge.

By the end of that day, the lives of all three will have changed forever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had not even imagined at its start, and will have become victims of the younger girl's imagination. Briony will have witnessed mysteries and committed a crime for which she will spend the rest of her life trying to atone.

I really loved it.
Review By Margaret

Author: Deborah Robertson
Australian Fiction

In this amazing novel we are taken inside the minds and lives of three people connected by one tragic event.

One of the voices we hear is 8-year-olds Pearl’s, a voice so real that it reminded me of Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and also Adrian, in Sonya Hartnett’s wonderful but heartbreaking Of A Boy.

The novel deals with big themes of love, loss and grief, but it never leaves the very personal spaces of each of the three main characters lives.

Wonderfully real, complex lives told in beautiful, simple language, this novel cuts right to the core.

A great read, highly recommended.
Review By Kelly

Author: Ian McEwan
Australian Fiction

The best McEwan yet!

How often do you think of all the if only's... If only you had spoken instead of staying silent, if only you had stayed instead of running away…

In this small novella that you will read in one sitting, McEwan has created a story that holds whole lives in its pages. This is a book that will break your heart with all the things that aren't said.

If you only read one thing this year, please make it this.
Review By Bec and Janine

Author: Janette Turner Hospital
Australian Fiction

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is the blueprint for this modern tale about an America that has become plagued by suicide bombers, and the brilliant, eccentric young lovers who become tangled in an incident in Boston.

This novel is extraordinary, there are so many layers to both the story and the characters that I simply couldn't leave the story when I put the book down. It followed me the whole time I was reading it and for weeks afterward.

The writing is lush and evocative, and the themes of love, loss, obsession, music, identity, and the influence of the past are enthralling and worth pondering.

Such a wonderful reading experience, when you read this you will feel it, hear it and breathe it in. Glorious!
Review By Kelly

Author: Ian McEwan
Australian Fiction

What more could happen to one man in one day...

Henry Perowne rises unexpectedly from the warmth of his bed in the very early hours of Saturday morning. The house is quiet and Henry, standing in the comforting winter chill of his room, reflects upon his family, his work and the state of the world since 9/11. Suddenly, a disturbing vision from outside his window distracts his attention...

Gripping, powerful, sensitive, intelligent, Saturday is everything I love about McEwan. As always, he's hooked me in with his masterful observation and beautiful prose and held onto me tight as I drifted into his dark world full of underlying tension. This is an older, mature and very personal McEwan at the height of his powers!
Review By Kat

Author: Gregory David Roberts
Australian Fiction

Shantaram is a blend of vivid dialogue, unforgettable characters, amazing adventures, and superb evocations of Indian life. It can be read as a vast, extended thriller, as well as a superbly written meditation on the nature of good and evil.

It is a compelling tale of a hunted man who had lost everything, his family and his soul, and who came to find his humanity at the wildest edge of experience.

A huge book in every sense, it is over 930 pages in length and has a sweep and power that will captivate you.
Review By Graham