FREEDOM BY JONATHAN FRANZEN, FOURTH ESTATE, $32.99. The hype and the weight of expectation might well have sunk a lesser book, but Franzen delivers with a better, wiser, more dazzling novel even than the one which made his name, The Corrections. He takes one picture-perfect, liberal, Mid-western family – college sweethearts Patty and Walter Berglund […]

THE SMALL HAND: A GHOST STORY BY SUSAN HILL, ALLEN & UNWIN, $24.99. From the mistress of the modern ghost story comes this small and perfectly formed tale that, even weeks after reading, I cannot get out of my head. It haunts me, as a good ghost story should. Our questionable hero is antiquarian bookseller […]

THE WEEKEND BY BERNHARD SCHLINK, WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON, $29.99. Bernhard Schlink writes so elegantly, with such calm simplicity – remember The Reader? – that he can pull you into the darkest and most difficult subjects before you realise where he’s taking you. In this case, it’s the weekend reunion of a group of one-time members […]

MARY ANN IN AUTUMN BY ARMISTEAD MAUPIN, RANDOM HOUSE, $32.95. San Francisco was captured in fading sunset by novelist Armistead Maupin three decades ago, when, pitching an idea for a daily serial to the San Francisco Chronicle featuring the tales of secretary Mary Ann Singleton and her best friend, gay gardener Michael “Mouse” Tolliver, he […]

DEAD MAN’S CHEST BY KERRY GREENWOOD, ALLEN & UNWIN, $22.99. Hot-blooded private detective Phryne Fisher and her bathing dress – “no back and hardly any front” – head to Queenscliff for a holiday. Along for the ride are her adopted daughters, bookish Jane and culinary Ruth, devoted maid Dot and hound Molly, who all take […]

IF YOU CAN’T STAND THE HEAT BY JUDY HORACEK, SCRIBE, $29.95. It’s impossible not to giggle at Judy Horacek’s smart yet dreamily inventive cartoons and illustrations, seen here in their technicolour glory in this seventh collection of Judy’s published sketches. The Australian artist’s observations on the absurdities of modern life and witty takes on environmental […]

KEHUA! BY FAY WELDON, ALLEN & UNWIN, $29.99. There’s a chaotic and, at times, decidedly dotty feel to British author Fay Weldon’s latest opus, which envelops you with all the friendliness of a warm coat as its plot unfolds, then pokes you in the ribs with sharp characterisation. Hovering in the air, above doorways and […]

MINDING FRANKIE BY MAEVE BINCHY, ORION, $35. Poor little Frankie! Her plucky mum, Stella, is unlikely to survive childbirth and wants to leave her in the care of her dad, Noel, a recovering alcoholic. It’s not ideal, but when you are a resident of St Jarlath’s Crescent, Dublin, there’s no need to fret – you’ll […]

SHALL WE DANCE? BY MAGGIE ALDERSON, MICHAEL JOSEPH, $32.95. Vintage fashion queen Loulou Landers has one very distressing concern, her daughter Theo. She’s 21 going on 14, selfish and arrogant. Luckily, Loulou has her ageing rock star mate, Ritchie Meredith, to lean on and her gay best friend, Keith, is throwing her a 50th birthday […]

HAND ME DOWN WORLD BY LLOYD JONES, TEXT PUBLISHING, $32.95. This is the story of a woman who is on an extraordinarily difficult, lonely journey. At first, her tale is told by the people she meets. There’s the randy truck driver, the kind group of hunters who smuggle her across the border and the woman […]