This month’s new releases include the return of some much-loved characters, a time-bending thriller, sweeping historical fiction and an atmospheric murder mystery. Here are six books competing for a place on your bedside table.
Maggie Byrd has built a comfortable life in London, far from the heartbreak and guilt she left behind in Australia. When she inherits her uncle’s rewilded property in southeast Queensland, she must return to the landscape that shaped her teenage years and confront the friendships, first love and betrayal she has spent decades trying to forget.
Holly Ringland’s third novel explores familiar territory for the author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart: the hold that memory, nature and home can have over our lives.
The verdict: An emotional homecoming story for readers who enjoy family secrets, complicated relationships and Australian landscapes that feel like characters.
Nautilus is a machine capable of sending messages eight weeks into the past, but strict protocols state that it can only be used by a descendant of Alan Turing and only to prevent global disasters.
Turing’s granddaughter, Annabelle, currently controls it, unaware that her husband plans to exploit its power. He is not the only one with designs on the machine, however, and soon the fate of entire nations is at risk.
The verdict: A fast, high-concept thriller that asks an irresistible question: if you could change the past, could you trust anyone to decide what should be changed? Best read after The Turing Protocol.
Ten years after the school trivia night that changed everything, Madeline, Jane and Celeste are raising teenagers and enjoying relatively ordinary lives. Then a grisly package arrives at the local high school and a man in a green Volvo begins lurking around their children.
Liane Moriarty returns to the beachside community of Big Little Lies, where old mistakes, new threats and tightly held secrets are never far apart.
The verdict: The literary equivalent of catching up with old friends and discovering their lives have become even messier. Fans of Big Little Lies will find plenty of familiar wit, secrets and suburban suspicion.
My Name is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende
Growing up in nineteenth-century San Francisco, Emilia del Valle is determined to become a writer despite the restrictions placed on women. After publishing under a man’s name, she secures work as a journalist and travels to Chile to cover a civil war.
The assignment becomes deeply personal as Emilia searches for the aristocratic Chilean father who abandoned her and uncovers the truth about her heritage.
The verdict: Sweeping historical fiction led by an ambitious and independent heroine. It should satisfy readers who like their family sagas filled with adventure, romance, political upheaval and reinvention.
Flashpoint by Wilbur Smith with David Churchill
In 1943, Saffron Courtney is sent to rescue a Jewish scientist vital to the Allied war effort from the besieged Greek island of Leros. Three years later, she is living in Kenya with her husband when accusations about his involvement in Nazi atrocities force her back into danger.
Following Courtney’s War, Legacy of War and Crossfire, the novel continues Saffron’s story across Europe, America and Africa.
The verdict: Packed with espionage, wartime danger and an almost impossible mission, this is one for loyal Courtney series readers and anyone who prefers historical fiction with plenty of action.
The Body and the Blood by Molly Crighton
When an organist falls to her death inside St Paul’s Cathedral in Dunedin, police administrator Ivo Hart suspects it was no accident. He turns to disgraced former investigative journalist Halia Knox, and together they uncover rivalries and secrets hidden within the cathedral.
As their unofficial investigation continues, Ivo begins moving dangerously close to the same fate as the dead woman.
The verdict: The gothic cathedral setting gives this murder mystery its strongest hook. An intriguing choice for readers who enjoy unlikely investigators, old buildings and crimes concealed within close-knit communities.
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