Longbourn by Jo Baker, Doubleday. Did the publishers back in 1813 have any inkling of the level of popularity Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice would reach? Possibly not. Yet, 200 years later, that appeal is still palpable, so English author Jo Baker has either done a very smart or a very naive thing with her […]

Natasha Walker is the best-selling authoress of Australia’s hottest erotic fiction … or is she? Caroline Overington reveals Natasha’s big secret. Don’t read this if you don’t like the feeling of being duped. Okay. The Weekly is exclusively revealing today that the author of the racy Australian trilogy, The Secret Lives of Emma, isn’t a […]

And the Mountains Echoed , by Khaled Hosseini, Bloomsbury, $32.99. There’s something deliciously engulfing about Khaled Hosseini’s writing, taking us on a journey so intense and recognisable that you never want to let go. It doesn’t matter that the lands he transports us to are faraway and unfamiliar. In fact, it makes the story even […]

Sex, Drugs and Meditation by Mary-Lou Stephens, Pan MacMillan Australia, $32.99. Anyone who read Eat Pray Love should be forgiven for never wanting to read another self-discovery book, especially not by a woman. That book was nauseating. Yes, of course, like everyone else, I inhaled it, and even gave copies to friends. It was so […]

Blood & Beauty By Sarah Dunant, Virago $29.99. With a new pope charged in part with cleaning up the image of the Catholic Church, Sarah Dunant’s delicious epic delving into Renaissance Italy and the lives and lusts of Rodrigo Borgia and his extended family couldn’t come at a more pertinent time. While we are most […]

British author Iain Banks has revealed he has terminal gall bladder cancer. The 59-year-old made the surprise admission in a touching letter to his fans. You can read his words in full below: A personal statement from Iain Banks: I am officially Very Poorly. After a couple of surgical procedures, I am gradually recovering from […]

Life After Life By Kate Atkinson, Random House, $32.95. Pursuing the many avenues of what could have happened if one moment in time had turned out differently is not unique — think Groundhog Day, Sliding Doors — but dramatising the notion with quite the intriguing multi-layered detail and myriad mind-bending permutations that award-winning author Kate […]

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult, Allen & Unwin, $29.99. This astonishing return to form from US best-selling author Jodi Picoult, whose last two books were comparatively lacklustre, is surely her most outstanding work to date. Sage Singer, 25, is a brilliant baker at Our Daily Bread in small town Westerbrook, run by former nun, Mary […]

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, Text Publishing, $29.99. After winning the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for best unpublished manuscript last June, interest in Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project has catapulted from low hum to very loud buzz in the literary world, with 30 countries snapping up the rights, earning the Melbourne-based debut author more […]

Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher, Indigo, $22.99. It’s called cross-over fiction; novels that speak to adults as potently as they do the youth market and if any sector is going to save the future of book publishing, surely this is it. It’s a category forged by Harry Potter, Twilight and a host of post-utopian serials, […]