When it comes to book reviews and literary awards you need look no further than the annual VIDA and Stella counts to see how men tend to have an easier time attracting the attention of critics, editors and judges than women.
In a year that has seen new books from international literary heavyweights Jonathan Franzen, Kazuo Ishiguro, John Banville, Salman Rushdie, Tim Winton, Sebastian Faulks and Michel Houellebecq (to name just a few), it has been even tougher for some women to get their work noticed.
But it has also been a banner year for female writers, especially locally, with a slew of terrific books released over the past 12 months. From absorbing historical fiction to gritty short stories and moving memoirs, here is a guide to 25 of the best books written by Australian women out now.
If you like novels that transport you into the past...
The Secret Chord is the new novel from Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks, this time set in 1000BC, which retells the story of King David’s rise and fall.
Jumping forward to England in 1255, Robyn Cadwallader’s The Anchoress has young protagonist Sarah decide to become a holy woman where she must spend her life locked in a small cell.
Lucy Treloar’s Salt Creek takes readers to the South Australian coastline of 1850, where a family struggles to survive in harsh conditions.
Rush Oh! is the debut novel from Australian film director Shirley Barrett (Love Serenade, 1996). It is a light-hearted tale of the 1908 whaling season in a small New South Wales town.
Eleanor Limprecht’s Long Bay is also set in the early 20th century and follows Rebecca, a young woman sent to Long Bay Women’s Reformatory in Sydney.
Stephanie Bishop’s haunting second novel The Other Side of the World is the story of a family’s move from England to Australia in the 1960s, and their attempts to make sense of the strange new land.
Peggy Frew’s second novel Hope Farm is another story of transition, which sees a teenage girl and her mother move into a hippy commune in Gippsland in the 1980s.
If you prefer your fiction with some fantastical elements...
Two debut fantasy crossovers stood out this year: Prince’s Gambit is the first in an erotic fantasy trilogy from C.S. Pacat, while Skin by Ilka Tampke skilfully blends fantasy elements with historical events.
Charlotte Wood enters new territory with The Natural Way of Things, a darkly surreal and gritty dystopian-esque fiction set in the Australian outback, while Isobelle Carmody’s The Red Queen thrillingly concludes her beloved Obernewtyn series, which started way back in 1987.
If contemporary stories are more your style...
The less you know about Antonia Hayes’ Relativity going in, the better. Suffice to say it’s the story of a Sydney mother with a secret, and her son who is a little out-of-the-ordinary. Ann Turner’s The Lost Swimmer is another novel whose plot twists we shouldn’t spoil in this psychological thriller about a troubled marriage.
A Guide to Berlin from Gail Jones is a beautifully constructed narrative about a group of Vladimir Nabokov devotees set in the German city. The title comes from a short story Nabokov wrote in 1925 while living in Berlin as a young man.
Abigail Ulman’s Hot Little Hands and Tegan Bennett Daylight’s Six Bedrooms are two absolutely stunning collections of short stories about adolescence, friendships, family and female sexuality that should not be missed.
Clare Varley’s The Bit in Between is the story of a couple’s relationship – from the moment they meet in an airport to everything that happens next. And Eliza Henry-Jones’ In the Quiet is a gently heartbreaking novel that follows the members of a grieving family in the aftermath of the mother’s death.
If you’re looking for a true story...
This year has seen some amazing memoirs by, and about, Australian women. Rebecca Starford’s Bad Behaviour is a gripping reflection on her year at an elite boarding school. Think Lord of the Flies with 14-year-old girls.
Small Acts of Disappearance is an absorbing, beautifully written collection of essays about poet Fiona Wright’s struggle with her eating disorder, while One Life is Kate Grenville’s moving tribute to her mother.
From respected Murri Elder Lesley Williams and her youngest daughter Tammy Williams comes the collaboration Not Just Black and White which reads like a powerful conversation between the authors.
Latika Bourke revisits her birthplace in From India with Love after growing up with adopted parents in Australia.
Acclaimed playwright Hannie Rayson shares her colourful life in Hello Beautiful and Drusilla Modjeska delivers her own provocative and thoughtful memoir in Second Half First.
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