9 Publishing Insiders On The Page-Turners To Pack This Long Weekend

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

by Benjamin Stevenson Cosy crime that is clever, funny and page-turning ( and currently in development with HBO and Made-Up Stories!). S elected by Isobel Beech, author

The Paper Palace

by Miranda Cowley Heller A compulsive and emotional intergenerational story about decades of secrets, love and lies told over 24 hours and 50 years. Selected by Pippa Masson, agent at Curtis Brown

The Island

by Adrian McKinty Heather brings her family from the States for a long-dreamed-of trip to Australia. While on tour, disaster strikes – Tom knocks over a woman in his hire car and then hides the body. Selected by Jaston Steger, books editor at The Age and The SMH

The White Girl

by Tony Birch A moving account of a country on the eve of a defining referendum on Indigenous rights, as well as a personal love story between an old woman and her beloved granddaughter. Selected by Grace Lucas-Pennington, black&write!

The Woman in the Library

by Sulari Gentill Bestselling crime writer Hannah is working on a new novel – a whodunit that follows four strangers sitting at the same table at the Boston Public Library when they discover a woman has been murdered. Selected by Lydia Tasker, Sydney Writers’ Festival

The Murder Rule

by Dervla McTiernan Hannah Rokeby inveigles her way into a volunteer organisation seeking to overturn injustices in the legal system. But she’s not there to help prove the innocence of a particular man on death row, she’s there to condemn him. Selected by James Boland, Ariel Books

Black River

by Matthew Spencer Adam Bowman, a knockabout journo of middling success, and the ambitious detective Rose Riley, separately investigate the murder at a boarding school on Sydney’s north shore. Selected by James Boland, Ariel Books

The Cane

by Maryrose Cuskelly Explores our obsession with the trope of the missing girl against the backdrop of a town about to go up in flames. Selected by Kelly Fagan, publisher at Allen & Unwin

Sunbathing

by Isobel Beech Set in the summer in Italy, it’s a love letter to friendship and healing. Selected by Kelly Fagan, publisher at Allen & Unwin

Blacklight: Ten Years of First Nations Storytelling

Collects a generation’s worth of stories from emerging and established First nations writers across the country. S elected by Isobel Beech, author

The Sea Of Tranquility

by Madeleine St John A beautiful and dizzying work of science fiction… visceral, breathless, deeply sad, but ultimately optimistic. Selected by Tilda Wilkinson-Finch, Gleebooks

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