Scary monsters by Michelle de Krester

Scary Monsters had me singing the David Bowie song whenever I looked at the cover, but drove all else from my head when I was reading. It is two novellas, each with its own cover, and you can choose the order in which you read them (I chose Lyle first). Don’t be fooled by the cover art, they are both dark. Lili is set in the early 80s and Lyle in the not-too-distant future. Both characters migrated to Australia when they were young, and the issue of belonging is a scary monster for each, and racism, misogyny and ageism permeate the book. Lili is teaching English in France before going to university, and her story is about friendship, power, and growing up. Lyle lives with climate crisis, extreme pressure to conform in a believable dystopian future. Disturbing, beautiful, darkly humorous, clever and thought-provoking, it might be my favourite de Kretser novel.

The silent inheritance by Joy Dettman

We are introduced to a serial killer and then to Sarah and her daughter Marni. What is the connection between them? Who is the serial killer and what is in Sarah’s past that she has hidden from her daughter? I did find this a bit of a struggle to read as I found the writing chunky, the sentences a bit abbreviated. I enjoyed the way the story unraveled, bringing it all together at the end.

The beautiful words by Vanessa McCausland

Sylvie and Kase were the closest of friends until one night, when they were 17, something horrific happened that turned their lives upside-down, and Kase didn’t see Sylvie again. Sylvie was hurt physically and emotionally by the event, and lives a lonely life until Kase, now a famous author, invites Sylvie to her fortieth birthday party on a lonely Tasmanian island, and the past comes back to haunt them. Set in Sydney’s Palm Beach and in Tasmania, it’s a lush, lyrical, atmospheric novel about slowly revealed secrets, friendship, power and betrayal, and the strength and hope found in words and stories.

The heat by Garry Disher

This was a great read. Wyatt is a crook that you can’t help liking, though I don’t think I could live looking over my shoulder constantly and mapping out escape routes everywhere I go! It was refreshing to read a crime story that centres on the bad guys and not the people chasing them.

The cedar tree by Nicole Alexander

A good family saga, where the pain of the past reverberates through future generations. At the heart of the story is Irish cousins Sean and Brandon who have escaped their troubles in Ireland to try to make their mark in Australia. But the dreams and hopes they have are not fulfilled the way they expect.

The cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

In a small town in Queensland in the 1970s, a teenaged girl goes missing and the town struggles during the long investigation. Atmospheric, tense, character-driven drama about how a town responds to the loss and fear. All the racism and sexism you would expect from a small town in the 70s, and it’s a slow burn (pun intended – sugar cane!). For fans of Australian rural noir.

Maggie’s going nowhere by Rose Hartley

I grabbed this book thinking it would be a fun, heartwarming read, unfortunately my expectations were not met and because of this I did not enjoy the story so much. Maggie is a 29 year old whose solution to her problems is either booze or sex which continue to derail her life. Maggie is quite a disaster – her mother refuses to support her any more and she spontaneously buys a caravan to live in. Luckily by the end of the story Maggie begins to sort her life out.

The missing girl by Kerry McGinnis

Family secrets always draw me in. This was a family that inherited a lot of issues through past actions and these are exposed as the story is told. This was a quick and easy read – I even guessed the twist!

The secret ingredient by Dianne Blacklock

A modern Australian women’s story that was engaging and easy to read. After 10 years of marriage to Ross, it is over after Andie finds he has cheated on her. Andie now has to rediscover what she wants from life. It is a story of messy relationships and achieving your dream.

Bluebird by Malcolm Knox

I am sorry I waited so long to read this. Bluebird is a little beachside suburb in what is clearly the Northern Beaches of Sydney (I pictured Avalon), where the old locals are struggling to hold onto their concept of home amongst the astronomical real estate prices and gentrification. Gordon Grimes is a middle-aged man whose life, and the old cliff-top house he lives in, are falling apart, and he desperately tries to hold it all together. It feels a bit like a funnier, masculine version of The Weekend by Charlotte Wood, ruminating on growing older, adapting to change, the enduring power of secrets, friendships, family, and self-determination. I thought I would dislike all the characters, but they were so sensitively drawn that I ended up feeling such affection for them, as well as laughing out loud at the sharp lampooning of modern life. The audiobook was brilliantly done.