Antoun Issa. Hachette. $34.99.
Lebanese-Australian journalist Antoun Issa powerfully captures his mother's experiences of love, heartbreak and new hope during the violence of the Lebanese civil war. In 1974 Beirut, Lila Khalil is the oldest of five children in a poor Catholic family, and she's just come of age for marriage. Despite knowing her family's expectations, she's drawn to Nicolas, a hairdresser at a local salon. Dodging watchful eyes, the two young lovers begin a tender romance. When tragedy strikes amid the clashes between the Phalangists and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, and life seems at its darkest, a lifeline presents itself: Australia.
Desmond Manderson. La Trobe University Press. $36.99.
Desmond Manderson, director of the Centre for Law, Arts and the Humanities at the Australian National University, is a leading authority on Australian drug policy and history. In High Time he examines how and why the nation changed its mind about illegal drugs. In the 1980s, governments, urged on by medical professionals, switched from "war on drugs" prohibition and policing policies to "harm minimisation". So, rather than preventing the use of illicit drugs, the focus became reducing the risks associated with their use. Along the way, he argues, the pragmatic response to a health crisis morphed into a moral case for compassion.
Matt Bevan. ABC Books. $35.99.
"The world's most important stories boldly explained by a man hiding in his basement." That's the amusing hook line for this compilation of stories by journalist Matt Bevan, host of ABC podcast If You're Listening - Australia's most successful world news podcast, radio and TV show. Bevan's relaxed, witty style of explanatory journalism makes for an engaging, conversational exploration of myths, mysteries and history, from the assassination of Julius Caesar to Bob Hawke's "emotional misstep" on Tiananmen Square to Russian interference in the US election. Plus a story about Matt's first time on radio - interviewed live on air as a teen by his father, long-time Newcastle ABC presenter Paul Bevan.
Justine E. Hausheer. NewSouth Books. $34.99.
Australia is celebrated for its unique animals, yet our native species are increasingly in peril. Drawing on her background with the Nature Conservancy, Sunshine Coast-based science writer Justine E. Hausheer documents our continent's modern biodiversity loss. She puts us on the frontlines of our nature extinction crisis, where an ever-growing list of mammals, birds, insects and reptiles - from the golden-shouldered parrot and pygmy blue-tongue lizard to the much-loved koala and platypus - appear destined to follow the fate of the thylacine. She introduces the wildlife warriors - ecologists, biologists and other scientists and conservationists - who are devoting themselves to trying to halt those impending extinctions.
Jo Murray. Macmillan. $34.99.
This debut legal thriller by former UK criminal barrister Jo Murray has reportedly been snapped up by Apple TV+ and production studio Warner Bros to provide the blueprint for the second season of the streamer's acclaimed 2024 legal thriller Presumed Innocent. Instead of star Jake Gyllenhaal and Scott Turow's hit novel of the same name, viewers will get Rachel Brosnahan playing the protagonist of Murray's John Grisham-y courtroom mystery, lawyer Leila Reynolds, who's been asked to take on her first murder case. A jury trial is beyond her expertise but the defendant only wants her. Is it only because the prosecutor in the case is her husband?
Canwen Xu. Bedford Square Publishers. $32.99.
This addictive novel from debut author Canwen Xu follows a young woman's all-consuming obsession with a rival of her own making, and the desperate measures she is prepared to take to succeed. Elizabeth Zhang knows her place in the world. She knows she's in the 10th percentile for likeability, the 70th percentile for attractiveness, and the 99th percentile for academics. But when she is rejected from Harvard Law School for being too ordinary, while her classmate, Laura Kim, is accepted, Elizabeth reconciles that her own shortcomings must be apparent in Laura's life. But what makes Laura so interesting?
Ayesha Inoon. HQ Fiction. $32.99.
From the Sri Lankan-Australian author of the prize-winning 2022 novel Untethered comes the story of three sisters who rise from loss to reclaim their stories. In 1990, a boat filled with asylum seekers leaves war-torn Sri Lanka bound for Australia. When a mother dies on the journey, her three young daughters are separated and scattered across the country. Decades pass, and when the eldest sister learns clues of her sister's identities, the quest begins to find them and bring them together. But can something that's been broken for so long ever be made whole again?
Paula Astridge. Woodslane Press. $24.95
This fact-based fiction is billed as a novel about legendary Australian generals Sir Thomas Blamey and John Lavarack. Paula Astridge, who specialises in fictional narratives around historical figures and events, including Hitler's pet architect Albert Speer and the captains of the ships that rescued Titanic survivors, says of Blame Me: "For history's sake it has been kept close to the truth, but fictionalised conversation and slight shifts in time sequence have sometimes been used to link the characters and events." Her account of the "life-long feud" between Blamey and military rival Lavarack spans both world wars and includes a detailed epilogue of the main "characters".
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