Seed by Bri Lee
Fiction, Simon & Schuster, $34.99
The author of Eggshell Skull and The Work returns with an unexpected and thrilling piece of climate fiction set at a seed vault in Antarctica, narrated by a misanthropic biologist who is most comfortable alone at the ends of the Earth. Mitchell’s ex Kate remains in his thoughts: she is pregnant with the child of another man, a deep betrayal of the antinatalist philosophy that brought them together.
But the helicopter meant to return Mitchell and his strange but brilliant colleague Frances never arrives, and their communication systems seem to have conked out too. Their supplies are running low, they have no idea how to get back home – and something ominous is happening outside. This ambitious novel is a gripping and transportive story of hope, fear and survival, and Lee’s strongest novel yet. – Steph Harmon
Gravity Let Me Go by Trent Dalton
Fiction, 4th Estate, $34.99
A new Trent Dalton book is a real event in the Australian publishing calendar, no matter how you feel about his writing (our reviewer: not a fan). His 2018 novel Boy Swallows Universe was a huge hit, and his fanbase has surely only grown since the 2024 Netflix adaptation and the live tour of his collection Love Stories – so get ready to see this one in every bookshop window and on every commute in the coming weeks.
If you enjoyed Dalton’s previous books, there’s more of what you already like to be found here: a damaged but ultimately well-meaning man with a heart of gold; darkness in Brisbane suburbia; and plenty of magical realism and warm fuzzies to boot. – Sian Cain
One Story by Pip Finkemeyer
Fiction, Ultimo, $34.99
After deftly critiquing the a publishing trend in her meta and wry debut Sad Girl Novel, Pip Finkemeyer takes on another modern phenomenon: the rise of the self-styled tech guru. Dot is an enigmatic blend between Grimes, Steve Jobs and Elizabeth Holmes. Devoid of both humility and humour, she sees herself as “an alien sent by God to save children from the future”. Now she wants to launch a new AI platform that can write one perfect joke every day – but the app she ends up with cannibalises the journalism industry instead.
The book opens as Dot embarks on her exile, after a scandal at her startup threatens its existence. This is a clever, funny and propulsive satire that couldn’t be better timed. – SH
Defiance: Stories from Nature and its Defenders by Bob Brown
Memoir, Black Inc, $36.99
It was Nadezhda Mandelstam who wrote elegantly of the concept of “hope against hope” – the stubborn, almost foolhardy belief in better things, even in the midst of dark times. In his new book Defiance, politician, environmental activist and underrated prose stylist Bob Brown finds a similar optimism, not by denying the world’s horrors, but by confronting them head-on.
The miracle here is the lightness and beauty of the words themselves. Defiance isn’t homework reading; it’s an expertly penned, genuinely uplifting rallying cry for rebellion in all its myriad of forms. – Joseph Earp
Last One Out by Jane Harper
Crime fiction, Macmillan, $34.99
Since Jane Harper’s debut The Dry kicked off a literary subgenre (outback noir boomed after it became a bestseller in 2016) and a film franchise starring Eric Bana as Aaron Falk, she has published a new mystery at a pace of almost one a year. Her sixth book follows Ro Crowley, who fled the small town of Carralon Ridge after her son Sam disappeared on his 21st birthday. Five years later, she returns for his annual memorial to find the town now mostly abandoned, and the first clues about what happened to him.
A small, parched Australian town, a missing person and a dogged individual ready to solve the mystery – there’s a formula to what Harper does, but she does do it well. – SC
Runt and the Diabolical Dognapping by Craig Silvey
Children’s books, Allen & Unwin, $26.99
Craig Silvey writes children’s books that adults actually want to read – so there’s high anticipation that this sequel is as funny and heartfelt as the multi-award-winning first, featuring that scruffy little dog that could.
In the sequel, Runt has made it: landing a safe home with young Annie then finding their calling on the dog show circuit and outsmarting the villains together. But just as Annie prepares for rural Upson Downs to host an international dog tournament, Runt goes missing and a ransom note is found! Oh no! Will Annie be able to save her best mate? – Sarah Aitken
Guts by Melissa Leong
Memoir, Murdoch Books, $34.99
Since shooting to fame as the first female MasterChef judge, Melissa Leong has won over audiences for her genuine love of food, travel and connecting with contestants in the heat of the kitchen. She has also endured the ugly sides of being a household name, including tabloid rumours and online abuse.
In this raw and revealing memoir, Leong writes about some of her toughest moments, including divorce, self-harm and sexual assault. Despite the heavier topics, this is a light and pacy account of the many times Leong has blown up her life and started again. Her defiant, “unfuckwithable” attitude is admirable and entertaining throughout, and the recipes she shares after each chapter make this a double whammy: cookbook and memoir in one. – Emma Joyce
The Butterfly Thief by Walter Marsh
Biography/history, Scribe, $36.99
At first glance, this is a page-turner about one of Australia’s biggest museum heists, unspooling how a “gentleman collector” stole thousands of butterflies from our leading institutions. It’s also a fascinating portrait of one of history’s larger-than-life characters: Colin William Fforde Wyatt, a globetrotting Cambridge-educated ski champion, mountaineer, wartime camouflager, painter and amateur entomologist.
In journalist (and regular Guardian Australia contributor) Walter Marsh’s telling, however, Wyatt’s extraordinary exploits are also a window into the troubled history and culture of museums, which have historically relied on large-scale theft to build their collections. - Dee Jefferson
Baking and the Meaning of Life by Helen Goh
Cookbook, Murdoch Books, $55
In her first solo cookbook, Helen Goh (longtime Ottolenghi collaborator and his co-author on Sweet and Comfort) highlights the therapeutic powers of baking. A practicing psychologist, Goh uses the mixing bowl for mindfulness, connection, gratitude and growth, sharing personal reflections on the processes that lead to her sophisticated sweets.
Born in Malaysia, raised in Australia and now living in London, Goh’s global outlook is clear in dishes such as hojicha basque cheesecake, baked nashi pear stuffed with five spice, and a celebratory Ottolenghi lemon and labneh cake. There are also savouries among the 100 recipes, which should inspire confidence even in novice cooks. – Alyx Gorman
The Seeker and the Sage by Brigid Delaney
Fiction, Allen & Unwin, $32.99
Beloved Guardian columnist and the bestselling author of Reasons Not To Worry, Brigid Delaney returns to Stoicism in her original new novel, in which a traumatised journalist hears of a mysterious utopia run entirely on Stoic principals. After an arduous journey, our narrator makes it to Silver Springs, where she meets the town’s mayor for a rare interview she hopes will bring a new way of living to her broken western world.
Half this novel is of the journalist’s story, and the other half is discursive: transcripts of conversations between her and the mayor about how stoicism can work in practice. It’s an inventive way to learn about the philosophy; I found it impossible to not apply these lessons to my own life. – SH
Pictures of You by Tony Birch
Short stories, UQP, $45
October is the publishing industry’s Christmas month, with hundreds of books released with enough time for you to come across them a few times before you start buying presents. And this hardback edition of the collected stories of Birch – the author of Blood, The White Girl and Women & Children – is well worth remembering for any Birch fans in your life.
While there are no new stories to be found inside, it’s a neat anthology selected from Birch’s five short story collections and demonstrates the best of his skills as a humane writer who can capture the very best of ordinary people. – SC
Elizabeth Harrower: The Woman in the Watch Tower by Susan Wyndham
Biography, NewSouth, $39.99
Guardian Australia contributor Susan Wyndham’s fascinating biography unravels one of Australia’s great literary mysteries and comeback stories. In the 50s and 60s, brilliant author Elizabeth Harrower was in the same circles as Patrick White, Christina Stead and Shirley Hazzard when she all but disappearedfor the next four decades – but not before depositing her papers and an unpublished fifth novel with the National Library. Then in 2012, when Harrower was in her 80s, Text republished her first four novels, and published the missing fifth. Suddenly, the reclusive author was enjoying the acclaim that had eluded her as a young woman.
Drawing on later-life conversations with Harrower, who became a friend, Wyndham teases out the troubled background that informed her dark, psychologically astute portraits of abusive relationships – and the reasons she disappeared from view for so long. – DJ
