Books to feed your curiosity

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There’s a particular pleasure in choosing your next book before you’ve finished the one you’re reading. Sometimes you want to stay in familiar territory with an author you know; other times, a subject you hadn’t given much thought to suddenly becomes the thing you want to spend a whole weekend exploring.

This selection leaves plenty of room for both. Australian women who helped change the rules sit alongside a look at brain ageing, while the fiction takes us into places where the promise of a fresh start comes with complications. There’s also a reminder that you don’t need to understand astrophysics to enjoy asking questions about the universe.

The Remarkable Greig Sisters by Iola Mathews

When the Greig sisters arrived in Melbourne in 1889, a university education was an ambition that came with considerably more obstacles for women than men. Jane and Janet went on to become among Australia’s earliest women doctors, while Flos became the first woman to practise law in the country after legislation opened the profession to women.

Their great-niece Iola Mathews follows their lives alongside those of other women pushing for change, placing their achievements within the society that resisted them. The story also takes in organisations such as the Queen Victoria Hospital and the Lyceum Club, showing how these women helped build opportunities beyond their own careers.

For anyone who has watched a daughter or granddaughter graduate, there’s something compelling about looking back at the women who first insisted they deserved a place in the room.

The verdict: A strong choice for readers drawn to Australian women’s history, particularly the lives behind achievements we now take for granted.

Lost in Space by Dr Kirsten Banks

If your knowledge of space begins with the moon landing and gets a little hazy somewhere around black holes, Dr Kirsten Banks offers an inviting way back in. The astrophysicist and Wiradjuri science communicator explores the universe through the questions and peculiar discoveries that make you want to keep reading.

There are planets darker than charcoal and objects arriving in our solar system from interstellar space. Banks also explores the dark emu constellation and First Nations names for the Moon, broadening the ways we think about the sky above us.

Readers who remember watching the Apollo missions will find a connection to today’s Artemis programme, while the stranger corners of space science offer plenty to discuss with an inquisitive grandchild. No science degree required, just an interest in what might be out there.

The verdict: One for curious readers who enjoy learning something new without feeling they’ve signed up for homework.

The Cruise by Naïma Brown

A luxury cruise might sound like an appealing holiday setting, but Naïma Brown has something considerably less relaxing planned for her passengers.

Bailey Collins has changed her name and appearance in the decade since Eli Murphy hurt her in high school. Now a senior producer on the reality television show The Cruise, she finds herself in a position of power when his audition tape arrives in her inbox.

With the support of a close group of fellow survivors, Bailey arranges for Eli and her undercover allies to join the cast. The result is a revenge premise with the added complications of reality television, where controlling the story is already part of the job.

The verdict: An enticing pick for readers who like their thrillers fuelled by female anger and morally complicated revenge.

Dark Days Hotel by Anna Downes

An exclusive health retreat on Tasmania’s remote coastline promises its wealthy guests the chance to remake themselves. Before we get anywhere near the treatment rooms, however, a barefoot woman in silk pyjamas collapses outside a hospital holding a hotel key.

Emergency nurse Liv cannot save her, and her search for the woman’s identity leads to the Aonaran resort at Macquarie Heads. Liv is exhausted and struggling herself, which makes the retreat’s promises tempting even as she begins to suspect something is wrong.

A missing staff member adds to the unease, while the guests’ interest in Liv suggests her arrival has not gone unnoticed.

The verdict: A promising next read for anyone who enjoys an isolated setting where expensive surroundings offer little reassurance.

The Brain Cliff by Dr Norman Swan

Worrying about memory can become its own unwelcome habit as we get older. In The Brain Cliff, Dr Norman Swan challenges the idea that brain ageing must be understood entirely through decline.

Drawing on interviews with people in their 90s and 100s who retain remarkable cognitive abilities, he explores what their experiences might teach us about maintaining brain function. The book’s scope extends beyond familiar discussions of diet and exercise to consider how the brain adapts.

The verdict: A timely selection for readers interested in brain ageing and looking for a fuller discussion than another list of foods to eat.

The Big Book of Convict Stories by Jim Haynes

Jim Haynes turns to Australia’s convict era through the people who lived it, following transportation from the First Fleet through to its abolition.

Famous figures share space with less familiar lives as Haynes explores the workings of the penal settlements and the possibilities, however unequal, for reinvention.

Escapes and reversals of fortune give the collection its storytelling appeal, while the wider history provides context for those individual experiences.

The verdict: Well suited to Australian history enthusiasts who prefer to meet the people of the past rather than simply memorise its dates.