{"title":"Reading Guide - Australian Fiction","description":"\u003cp\u003eDiscover the best of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.harryhartog.com.au\/pages\/australia-lander\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Australian Fiction\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003eAustralian fiction \u003c\/a\u003ein our Reading Guide, featuring acclaimed novels, contemporary voices, and much-loved local authors. Curated by the expert booksellers at Harry Hartog, this collection celebrates stories shaped by place, culture, and unforgettable characters—perfect for summer reading at home or away.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"ghost-cities-siang-lu-9780702268496","title":"Ghost Cities","description":"\u003cp\u003ePerfect for fans of Haruki Murakami, Ghost Cities is a profound and highly imaginative novel that cleverly draws on Chinese history to explore the absurdity of modern life and work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGhost Cities - inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China - follows multiple narratives, including one in which a young man named Xiang is fired from his job as a translator at Sydney's Chinese Consulate after it is discovered he doesn't speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate for his work. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHow is his relocation to one such ghost city connected to a parallel odyssey in which an ancient Emperor creates a thousand doubles of Himself? Or where a horny mountain gains sentience? Where a chess-playing automaton hides a deadly secret? Or a tale in which every book in the known Empire is destroyed - then re-created, page by page and book by book, all in the name of love and art? \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAllegorical and imaginative, Ghost Cities will appeal to readers of Haruki Murakami and Italo Calvino.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Siang Lu","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":45567541084403,"sku":"9780702268496","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4284\/5939\/files\/9780702268496.jpg?v=1714421533"},{"product_id":"theory-and-practice-michelle-de-kretser-9781923058149","title":"Theory \u0026 Practice","description":"\u003cp\u003eIt's 1986, and 'beautiful, radical ideas' are in the air. A young woman arrives in Melbourne to research the novels of Virginia Woolf. In bohemian St Kilda she meets artists, activists, students-and Kit. He claims to be in a 'deconstructed' relationship, and they become lovers. Meanwhile, her work on the Woolfmother falls into disarray.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTheory \u0026amp; Practice is a mesmerising account of desire and jealousy, truth and shame. It makes and unmakes fiction as we read, expanding our notion of what a novel can contain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMichelle de Kretser, one of Australia's most celebrated writers, bends fiction, essay and memoir into exhilarating new shapes to uncover what happens when life smashes through the boundaries of art.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Michelle de Kretser","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":45833910550771,"sku":"9781923058149","price":32.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4284\/5939\/files\/9781923058149.jpg?v=1718174429"},{"product_id":"mad-mabel-sally-hepworth-9781761266492","title":"Mad Mabel","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Soulmate and Darling Girls comes the story of Mad Mabel. They called it murder. She called it justice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1959, at just fifteen years of age, Mabel Waller became the youngest Australian in history to be convicted of murder.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2025, on a quiet Melbourne lane, an elderly man is found dead by his neighbour, 81-year-old Elsie Fitzpatrick. No one suspects any foul play.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUntil they discover Elsie's past.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the 1950s, her name was not Elsie. It was Mabel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShe is known around the world as Mad Mabel. But is she mad? More importantly, is she guilty?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the police open a new investigation and the media descend upon her, the elderly Mabel decides it's time to set the record straight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn a world first, at the age of 81, Mabel Waller is speaking.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNew York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth is at her finest in this twisty, compulsive thriller of friendship, family and murder. Or is it justice . . . ?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWINNER OF THE ABIA GENERAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2026 AND ABIA AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR 2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePraise for Sally Hepworth: \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'She is one of my favourite Australian writers' - Liane Moriarty\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Sally Hepworth is a born storyteller' - Trent Dalton\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'The queen of suburban noir' - Sunday Telegraph\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sally Hepworth","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":47068638413043,"sku":"9781761266492","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4284\/5939\/files\/blank__5.jpg?v=1749778040"},{"product_id":"a-great-act-of-love-heather-rose-9781761066337","title":"A Great Act of Love","description":"\u003cp\u003eCaroline will tell the story of how she came to Tasmania, when it was still called Van Diemen's Land, many times. She will cast her inventions into the future. Those who carry them on will call it history, but she will call it her life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eVan Diemen's Land, 1839. A young woman of means arrives in Hobart, with a young boy in her care. Leasing an old cottage next to an abandoned vineyard, Caroline Douglas must navigate an insular colony of exiles and opportunists to create a new life on this island of extreme seasons and wild beauty. But Caroline is carrying a secret of such magnitude it has led her to cross the world, and it will take all she is made of to bring it into the light. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSoaring from the champagne vineyards of revolutionary France to London and early colonial Australia, A Great Act of Love is a spellbinding novel of legacy, passion and reinvention. At its heart is a family with champagne in their blood and a fearless daughter determined to rewrite fate. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInspired by true events, A Great Act of Love is an immensely beautiful and heartrending saga of a father and daughter, and the enduring power of familial love.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A page-turner, you simply must read it.'\n\u003cbr\u003eCaroline Overington, The Australian\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A very compelling read.'\n\u003cbr\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A historical tale that cracks along with a masterly gusto.'\n\u003cbr\u003eThe Sydney Morning Herald\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A beautifully written account of a woman's attempts to reinvent herself and rescue those she loves.'\n\u003cbr\u003eSunday Times, Historical Fiction Pick of the Month\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Heather Rose astounded me with her new novel ... It's a cracking read by a masterful wordsmith. Fair warning, you won't be able to put it down.'  \n\u003cbr\u003eBetter Homes \u0026amp; Gardens\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Heather Rose","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":47091104940275,"sku":"9781761066337","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4284\/5939\/files\/9781761066337.jpg?v=1750647615"},{"product_id":"seed-bri-lee-9781761633881","title":"Seed","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn astonishing new novel from the acclaimed and bestselling author of Eggshell Skull and The Work. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e Mitchell is a brilliant biologist, committed to the environment and the growing global antinatalist movement. For one month each year he lives with his colleague Frances in a utopia of radical equality and scientific dedication in Antarctica. They are concluding the Anarctos Project: a seed vault in an isolated, secret location. It is a biodiversity insurance policy against humanity's devastating effects on the rapidly warming planet.   \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e But when their helicopter doesn't pick them up, and strange things begin to happen, their faith in science is suddenly not enough. Mitchell has been keeping big secrets - from Frances and from himself. The ice haunts him with memories of a devastating betrayal and questions of legacy and fairness crowd his mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e If they don't get back to McMurdo Station before the last flight home they face a long dark polar winter together. Alone. As the days get shorter, these two people of firm logic and reason begin finding fault lines in their perfect social experiment. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThrilling, original and almost unbearably suspenseful, Seed offers an uneasy glimpse into isolation, love and our worst fears.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bri Lee","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":47451518238963,"sku":"9781761633881","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4284\/5939\/files\/seed-9781761633881_lg.jpg?v=1752737849"},{"product_id":"eros-zoe-terakes-9780733651526","title":"Eros","description":"\u003cp\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2026 ABIA LITERARY FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2026 ABIA SOCIAL IMPACT BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2026 ABIA MATT RICHELL AWARD FOR NEW WRITER OF THE YEAR\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA sexy modern take on ancient Greek myths.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShe keeps her eyes on me while she lights the end of my cigarette. I stare back at her. Something in the pills and in her eyes is opening up my muscles like hands parting from prayer, like trees breathing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEros is a stunning collection of short stories, grounded in truth and coloured with dazzling imagination and alluring, unpredictable mystery. Revealing how queerness, nature and myth have been intertwined for eternity, these are stories of gods and goddesses. Of Zeus, of Eurydice, of Hermaphroditus, of Icarus before he flew into the sun. Stories of queer life, lust, revenge, wrath, passion and sex. Of yearning, love, loss. Some transformations span across a life, and others, an evening. Perspectives will shift. Houses will burn. Lovers will learn their fate. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eZoe Terakes has skilfully blended myth and modernity to illuminate the complex and enduring truth of trans lives, resisting a history of erasure and delivering a sexy, soul-touching book to read to your lover . . . or yourself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Goddamn, these stories set my queer heart alight. In finally making queer and trans undertones of ancient Greek myth explicit, Zoe Terakes has forged something both classic and eternal, timely and timeless.' BENJAMIN LAW\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Fresh and timely . . . Immersive . . . Recommended for readers of Madeline Miller and Andrea Lawlor, this collection will not be easily forgotten.' BOOKS+PUBLISHING\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Mucky and sexy, violent and shocking, tender and joyful, and constantly surprising - this is a stunning debut.' THE GUARDIAN\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A vivid, confident and mesmerising debut . . . Terakes does not pull any punches, vividly portraying both the loving intimacy and cruel violence that are such hallmarks of Greek mythology.' READINGS\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Should become a touchstone of queer Ozlit alongside works by authors such as Frank Moorhouse or Dorothy Porter or David Malouf . . . A potent mix of ancient and modern, undeniably touched by the Muse' SYDNEY MORNING HERALD\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Vividly alive, hot-blooded, poetic and sharp' RUSSH\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zoe Terakes","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":47582379901171,"sku":"9780733651526","price":29.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4284\/5939\/files\/9780733651526.jpg?v=1753423683"},{"product_id":"chosen-family-madeleine-gray-9781761635724","title":"Chosen Family","description":"\u003cp\u003e'Madeleine Gray writes so acutely about the mess of desire and the human condition.' Nigella Lawson\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA sexy, romantic, queer, epic literary novel for all readers by the award-winning author of the internationally acclaimed bestseller Green Dot.\n\u003cbr\u003e \n\u003cbr\u003eBooks about friendship are not often described as love stories, but this is one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNell Argall and Eve Bowman are both brilliant, odd and friendless. Traumatised in their first year of high school, their lives are changed forever when they meet.\n\u003cbr\u003e \n\u003cbr\u003eSet in Sydney over eighteen years, Chosen Family follows Nell and Eve as they grow into themselves, as they both love and destroy each other. From school, to university, to careers, to motherhood, Nell's and Eve's is a relationship that is a life-raft that is also a poison apple that is also a Medusan stare, frozen in time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTogether, Nell and Eve are a double helix. Love, guilt, shame, joy - these emotions twist and turn between them. Can the wounds of adolescent betrayal ever really heal? Can we ever really understand what is going on in someone else's head? And what's love got to do, got to do with it? \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Warning: Clear your schedule for the all-consuming read.' Books+Publishing\n\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'I inhaled this book, holding my breath at passages that felt ripped straight from my high school diary in 2007.' LUCINDA PRICE (@Froomes), author of All I Ever Wanted Was to Be Hot\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Hilarious and devastating ... This book is everything to me.' 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Under the swampy nighttime cover of a Montreal heatwave, we meet our protagonist, Cannon, dripping in beads of regret sweat. She was supposed to be closing the restaurant for the night, but instead, she destroyed it. The horror-scape left in her wake is not unlike the films Cannon and her best friend, Trish, watch together. Cooking dinner and digging into deep cuts of Australian horror movies on their scheduled weekly hangs has become the glue in their relationship. In high school, they were each other's lifeline  two queer second-generation Chinese nerds trapped in the suburbs. Now, on the uncool side of their twenties, the essentialness of one another feels harder to pin down. Yet when our stoic and unbendingly well-behaved Cannon finds herself very uncharacteristically surrounded by smashed plates, it is Trish who shows up to pull her out\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn Cannon, Lee Lai's follow-up to the critically acclaimed and award-winning Stone Fruit, the full palette of a nervous breakdown is just a part of what is on offer. Lai's sharp sense of humour and sensitive eye produce a story that explores the intimacy of queer friendship and weight of family responsibility, and breaks open the question of what we owe both to each other and to ourselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'In Cannon, Lee Lai has performed a rare and powerful act of alchemy  the images, narrative, and writing not only capture a life, but combine so that the book itself feels alive.'  Torrey Peters\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Beguilingly drawn, Cannon depicts a wide spectrum of adulthood with nuance and complexity. From one story unravels many stories, about friendships, situationships, work, familial obligations. I was struck by its attention and care.'  Ling Ma\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A beautifully drawn slice of life, filled with the kind of intimate, specific details that make the best fiction seem autobiographical.'  Adrian Tomine\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'It's rare, and precious, when a moment in a movie, in a poem, in a comic surges up at you as being True. And in Cannon, Lee Lai does it again and again.'  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Cherrypicking from across his oeuvre, this anthology showcases his skills at finding the extraordinary in ordinary lives, and the often-unexpected connections and kindnesses between strangers. His work is by turns poignant, sad, profound and funny - and always powerful. 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A world-weary subeditor with a bookish sensibility and a painful past, George is one of nature's loners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut a late-night encounter with an unorthodox and self-assured reporter, Cassandra Gwan, begins to unravel both of their carefully managed worlds. As the decline of the newspaper enters a desperate stage, George and Cassandra struggle to balance their turbulent relationship with their responsibilities to family, and the compromises each has built their life upon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith a deft wit and a sharp eye for emotional complexity, Pippos examines the stories we tell ourselves, and the ways people handle grief, guilt and generational change. The Transformations is a novel about endings - of dreams, relationships, institutions- and the chance of new beginnings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePRAISE FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONS\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Andrew Pippos is one of Australia's best novelists. The Transformations shows his perfect emotional pitch, his gift for folding big things into small baskets of domestic life in prose that goes straight to the heart. Who knew he could write another novel as good as Lucky's? Here it is.' - MALCOLM KNOX\n\u003cbr\u003e \n\u003cbr\u003e'In this intelligent, disarming and capacious novel, Andrew Pippos pulls the covers back on the public and private self. As we follow the gloriously messy lives of George, Cassandra and Elektra, we're reminded that the antidote to solitude lies in what we long for or desire. 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