Sunday Times 25 Best Novels of 21st Century

As we come to closer to the end of 2025, there are many 'best of' lists being published, documenting the best books of the first 25 years of the 21st Century. I love a good list and have explored many of those on this blog, including:

• The New York Times '100 Best Books of the 21st Century'
• Readings '30 Best Australian Books of the 21st Century'
• ABC Radio National's 'Top 100 Books of the 21st Century' 

The Sunday Times (UK) recently released their '25 Best Novels of the 21st Century'.  This is another interesting list, which includes many books on the NYT list and some of my favourites. It also includes a number of novels I have not read or even heard of. 

Here is their list*:

• 25. Zadie Smith - White Teeth (2000)
• 24. Philip Pullman - The Amber Spyglass (2000)
• 23. Matthew Kneale - English Passengers (2000)
• 22. William Boyd - Any Human Heart (2002)
• 21. Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (2003)
• 20. Zoe Heller - Notes on a Scandal (2003)
• 19. David Peace - Nineteen Eighty-Three (2008)
• 18. Edward St Aubyn - Mother’s Milk (2006)
• 17. Colm Toibin - Brooklyn (2009)
• 16. Eimer McBride - A Girl is a Half Formed Thing (2013)
• 15. Rachel Cusk - Outline (2014)
• 14. Anne Enright - The Green Road (2015)
• 13. Sebastian Barry - Days Without End (2016)
• 12. Francis Spufford - Golden Hill (2016)
• 11. Sally Rooney - Conversations With Friends (2017)
• 10. Pat Barker - The Silence of the Girls (2018)
• 9. Andrew Miller - Now We Shall Be Entirely Free (2018)
• 8. Anna Burns - Milkman (2018)
• 7. Douglas Stuart - Shuggie Bain (2020)
• 6. Paul Murray - The Bee Sting (2023)
• 5. Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go (2005)
• 4. Ian McEwan - Atonement (2001)
• 3. Claire Keegan - Small Things Like These (2021)
• 2. Alan Hollinghurst - The Line of Beauty (2004)
• 1. Hilary Mantel - Bring Up the Bodies (2012)

* Bold = Read, Link is to my review

I have only read 10 of the 25 novels, and there are only about three or four left on the list which I have on my To Be Read pile. There are others that haven't been on my radar so it is good to add a few more to the pile. 

Having said that, I am so pleased they put Philip Pullman on the list. While The Amber Spyglass is not my favourite in the His Dark Materials trilogy, its inclusion is warranted as the series is brilliant. I also happy to see Toibin, McEwan, Barker, Enright and Keegan on the list - although I admit I preferred Enright's The Wren The Wren (2023) to  The Green Road. There are also few here that did not work for me - like Haddon and Ishiguro - which always pop up on 'best of' lists but I could not warm to. 

I am sure there will be more of these lists published as we come to the end of the year. Looking forward to seeing what other lists there are.

Prime Minister's Literary Award Winners 2025

The Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2025 Winners have been announced. These awards have a significant prize pool ($600K) and serve to recognise 'established and emerging Australia writers, illustrators, poets and historians'. 

The Winners are:

Fiction: Michelle de Krester - Theory and Practice 

Continuing her sweep of awards this year, de Krester won the Stella Prize this year and was  shortlisted for the Miles Franklin.  This novel tells the story of a young woman in Melbourne in 1986. There to research the novels of Virginia Woolf, she meets Kit and her ambitions change.  The judges said: "In Theory & Practice Michelle de Krester masterfully tests the limits of the novel as a form to investigate power in all its complexity. Moving between fictional, autofictional and essayistic modes, this novel is elegant, playful and razor sharp. It plays with and tests readers' assumptions about authors and narrators, lived experience and fiction, and how these assumptions are shaped by gender, ethnicity and class." I have a copy of this novel and look forward to reading it. 

Non-Fiction: Rick Morton - Mean Streak

I am thrilled Rick Morton won for this book on Robodebt - an important work on the illegal federal government scheme which traumatised so many poor people. The judges said: "Morton’s writing redefines people demonised as ‘welfare cheats’ to victims of their own government. Morton combed the ample public evidence to develop a narrative to help the reader understand how modern government overreach occurs.... With single-minded determination, Morton successfully distils a government’s disgrace into an enthralling account of what happens when we lose our collective conscience." I loved Morton's memoir One Hundred Years of Dirt (2018) and have been an avid reader of his journalism. 

Australian History: Geraldine Fela - Critical Care: Nurses on the frontline of Australia's AIDS Crisis

Bringing together stories from across the country, historian Geraldine Fela shines the spotlight on the compassionate nurses who cared for people with HIV and AIDS.  The judges said: "Critical Care examines Australia’s response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s from the perspective of health care practitioners and patients. Written with empathy and narrative flair, it takes the reader inside remote Indigenous communities, regional areas, and city hospitals. Built on interviews with over thirty nurses and many of those who survived HIV, Fela maps the human response to a public health emergency with compassion, insight, and an acute eye for telling detail." 

 

The Prime Minister's Literary awards also cover Children's Literature, Young Adult Literature and Poetry. In these categories the following won this year's award:

• Poetry: David Brooks - The Other Side of Daylight: New and Selected Poems
• Young Adult: Krystal Sutherland - The Invocations
• Children's Literature: Peter Carnavas - Leo and Ralph

Silver Strike

The Hallmarked Man (2025) is the eighth novel in the Cormoran Strike/Robin Ellacott private detective series. The story begins a few months after the events of The Running Grave (2023) which saw Robin undercover at Chapman Farm, exposing the wrongdoings of a cult. She is still recovering from the trauma of that case, supported by her business partner Strike and her police officer boyfriend Ryan Murphy.

A new case comes to the agency. Decima Mullins is convinced a man murdered in the vault of a silver shop is her missing boyfriend, Rupert Fleetwood. Mullins hires the detectives to prove it was him, as she knows Fleetwood would not have left her. The police think they have identified the mutilated body as Jason Knowles, a member of a crime family. If the detective agency were to prove the police got it wrong, Strike would find himself showing up the Met again. To make matters worse, Mullins and Fleetwood have ties to people in Strike's past, and there may be a Masonic element to the murder, so they need to tread carefully. As they start their enquiries, Strike and Ellacott discover that there are a number of candidates for the mutilated body in the silver shop and they need to rule out each one before they can give Mullins the answer she needs.

While they are on the main case, the agency's team of investigators are spread across a number of other matters - tailing a woman to find evidence of infidelity, following a man who may be taking advantage of his elderly mother - and this helps propel the story forward. Back are the familiar faces of Dev, Midge, Wardle, Barclay and Pat, the curmudgeonly office manager who is one of my favourite characters. Joining the team is Kim Cochran, ex-police detective, who has her eyes on Strike. 

But the heart of the series is the relationship between Strike and Ellacott, which has evolved over their seven years working together. They secretly have feelings for one another, but continually second guess whether the other shares their affections. Strike is determined to find just the right time to profess his love for Robin, but this is complicated as she has been getting closer to her boyfriend Murphy. Strike also has to deal with his nemesis, journalist Dominic Culpepper, who is determined to undermine Strike in the press.

The Hallmarked Man is an action-packed pageturner of a novel. Rowling expertly juggles multiple plot lines, bringing them all together in a gripping conclusion.  In addition to familiar London locations - Denmark Street, the Blind Spot secret bar, Freemasons Hall and other stomping grounds - we are taken to Crieff, Yorkshire, Shropshire, Sardinia and Sark in the Channel Islands. 

As I have done with the past few novels in this series, I read my hardcover along with listening to the audiobook expertly performed by Robert Gleinister. He perfectly captures Strike, Ellacott and all the characters, adding drama and excitement to the telling of this tale.

Rowling knows how to leave her readers wanting more. The Hallmarked Man, like the previous novels, ends in a delectable cliffhanger. Let's hope she is already working on number nine and we don't have to wait too long to find out what happens next!

My reviews of previous books in the series are available on this blog:

• The Cuckoo's Calling (2013) 
•  The Silkworm (2014) 
• Career of Evil (2016)
• Lethal White (2018)
• Troubled Blood (2020)
• The Ink Black Heart (2022)
• The Running Grave (2023) 

Selecting Australia's Top 100 Books of the 21st Century

The Australian Broadcast Company (ABC) Radio National began soliciting votes on 1 September 2025 from listeners to nominate their favourite books of the 21st Century.  All books published between 1 January 2000 and 31 August 2025, are be eligible. You could select from a list of hundreds of books, or write-in your own title. Voting closes on 30 September and over two days, 18-19 October, Radio National conducted a countdown of the top 100. 

While we await the compilation of the Top 100 list, I thought I would share my votes and the ones I hope make the cut. 

My Top 10

I participated in the vote and found it devastatingly difficult to pick only ten titles. In fact, I had dozens on my shortlist and kept trading them off until I came up with a list of books I love. 

My list includes Australian authors Anna Funder (Stasiland), Charlotte Wood (The Natural Way of Things), Heather Rose (The Museum of Modern Love), Helen Garner (This House of Grief), Hannah Kent (Burial Rites), Sarah Krasnostein (The Trauma Cleaner) and Richard Flanagan (The Narrow Road to the Deep North). That didn't leave much room for others but I managed to squeeze in Barbara Kingsolver (Demon Copperhead), Elizabeth Strout (Olive Kitteridge) and Percival Everett (James). As soon as I voted, while satisfied with my list, I immediately felt the loss of the other titles that didn't make the cut. 

If I had the opportunity I would have added to this list:

• Margaret Atwood - The Testaments (2019)
• Graeme Macrae Burnet - His Bloody Project (2015)
• Eleanor Catton - Birman Wood (2023)
• Susanna Clarke - Piranesi (2021)
• Jennifer Down - Bodies of Light (2021)
• Jennifer Egan - A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010)
• Anne Enright - The Wren, The Wren (2023)
• Tayari Jones - An American Marriage (2018)
• Andrea Levy - Small Island (2004)
• Joan London - The Golden Age (2014)
• Emily Maguire - Rapture (2024)
• Cormac McCarthy - The Road (2006)
• Ian McEwan - Atonement (2001)
• Ian McGuire - The North Water (2016)
• Madeline Miller - Circe (2018)
• Emily St John Mandel - Sea of Tranquility (2022)
• Maggie O'Farrell - Hamnet (2020)
• Lionel Shriver - We Need to Talk About Kevin (2003)
• Douglas Stuart - Young Mungo (2020)
• Donna Tartt - The Goldfinch (2014)
• Colm Toibin - Brooklyn (2009)
• Sarah Winman - Still Life (2021)
• Alice Winn - In Memoriam (2023)
• Charlotte Wood - Stone Yard Devotional (2023)

I am hoping that all of these will land on the Top 100 list when it is revealed in a few weeks. Can't wait to find out. In the meantime, there is still time to vote!

Booker Prize Shortlist 2025

The Shortlist was announced last night for the 2025 Booker Prize. The thirteen titles on the Longlist have been whittled down to six:

• 
  Susan Choi - Flashlight (USA)
• Kiran Desai - The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny (India)
• Katie Kitamura - Audition (USA)
• Ben Markovits - The Rest of our Lives (USA)
• Andrew Miller - The Land in Winter (UK)
• David Szalay - Flesh (Hungarian-British)

This shortlisted authors are all veteran, critically acclaimed writers. Desai won the Booker in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss and should she win this year she would join a small group of distinguished double winners - Margaret Atwood, Peter Carey, JM Coetzee and Hilary Mantel.

Chair of the judging panel, Roddy Doyle, said of the shortlist:

The six [shortlisted books] have two big things in common. Their authors are in total command of their own store of English, their own rhythm, their own expertise; they have each crafted a novel that no one else could have written. And all of the books, in six different and very fresh ways, find their stories in the examination of the individual trying to live with – to love, to seek attention from, to cope with, to understand, to keep at bay, to tolerate, to escape from – other people. In other words, they are all brilliantly written and they are all brilliantly human.’

I haven't read any of these novels yet. I have heard lots of great things about Flashlight, The Land in Winter and The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny so will likely start there, although Desai's book is not available in Australia until 30 September. 

The Winner of the Booker Prize, and recipient of £50,000, will be revealed on 10 November 2025. Happy reading!

National Book Award 2025 Longlist

The New Yorker has announced the longlist for the 2025 National Book Awards. These annual American literary awards have been presented since 1936. Each finalist received $1000, a medal and a citation, while the winners get $10,000 and a bronze sculpture. 

Past recipients include: William Faulkner (Collected Stories 1951; Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man 1953); Philip Roth (Goodbye Columbus, 1960); Joyce Carol Oates (them 1970); William Styron (Sophie's Choice 1980); John Irving (The World According to Garp 1980); John Updike (Rabbit is Rich 1982); Alice Walker (The Colour Purple 1983);  Don DeLillo (White Noise 1985); E Annie Proulx (The Shipping News 1993); Jonathan Franzen (The Corrections 2001); Jesmyn Ward (Salvage the Bones 2011); and Percival Everett (James, 2024)

The Longlists for 2025 are as follows:

Fiction

• Rabih Alameddine, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)
• Susan Choi, Flashlight
• Angela Flournoy, The Wilderness
• Jonas Hassen Khemiri, The Sisters
• Megha Majumdar, A Guardian and a Thief
• Kevin Moffett, Only Son
• Karen Russell, The Antidote
• Ethan Rutherford, North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther
• Bryan Washington, Palaver
• Joy Williams, The Pelican Child

Moffett and Rutherford are debut writers. Susan Choi is a past winner, having received this award in 2019 for Trust Exercise. She is also Longlisted for the Booker for Flashlight, so I reckon she has a good chance of taking the National Book Award.

Non-Fiction

• Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
• Caleb Gayle, Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State
• Julia Ioffe, Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy
• Fatemeh Jamalpour and Nilo Tabrizy, For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran's Women-Led Uprising
• Yiyun Li, Things in Nature Merely Grow 
• Lana Lin, The Autobiography of H Lan Thao Lam
• Ben Ratliff, Run the Song: Writing about Running about Listening
• Claudia Rowe, Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care
• Jordan Thomas, When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World
• Helen Whybrow, The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd's Life

Of all these titles, the one I have heard the most about is Li's Things in Nature Merely Grow about losing her two sons to suicide. She is an award winning writer and I imagine she will make the shortlist, if not win.

Poetry

• Gbenga Adesina, Death Does Not End at the Sea
• Gabrielle Calvocoressi, The New Economy
• Cathy Linh Che, Becoming Ghost
• Tiana Clark, Scorched Earth
• Rickey Laurentiis, Death of the First Idea
• Esther Lin, Cold Thief Place
• Natalie Shapero, Stay Dead
• Richard Siken, I Do Know Some Things
• Patricia Smith, The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems
• Fargo Nissim Tbakhi, Terror Counter

Translated Literature 

• Solvej Balle, On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) - Translated from Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell
• Jazmina Barrera, The Queen of Swords - Translated from Spanish by Christina MacSweeney
• Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, We Are Green and Trembling -Translated from Spanish by Robin Myers
• Anjet Daanje, The Remembered Soldier - Translated from Dutch by David McKay
• Saou Ichikawa, Hunchback - Translated from Japanese by Polly Barton
• Hamid Ismailov, We Computers: A Ghazal Novel - Translated from Uzbek by Shelley Fairweather-Vega
• Han Kang, We Do Not Part - Translated from Korean by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris
• Mohamed Kheir, Sleep Phase - Translated from Arabic by Robin Moger
• Vincenzo Latronico, Perfection - Translated from Italian by Sophie Hughes
• Neige Sinno, Sad Tiger - Translated from French by Natasha Lehrer

Young People's Literature 

• María Dolores Águila, A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez
• K Ancrum, The Corruption of Hollis Brown
• Derrick Barnes, The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze
• Mahogany L Browne, A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe
• Kyle Lukoff, A World Worth Saving
• Amber McBride, The Leaving Room
• Daniel Nayeri, The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story
• Hannah V Sawyerr, Truth Is
• Maria van Lieshout, Song of a Blackbird
• Ibi Zoboi, (S)Kin

Neapolitan Adventure

Last year I holidayed in Naples, inspired in part by the knowledge that Tara Moss' forthcoming book was set there. I had hoped to time my trip so that I could read the book and then walk in heroine Billie Walker's footsteps, but publication was delayed and my travels could not wait. This was perhaps fortuitous, as I was able to read the novel with a deep love of and familiarity with this beautiful city.

The Italian Secret (2025) follows private investigator Billie Walker's previous adventures in The War Widow (2019) and The Ghosts of Paris (2022). 

It's 1948 and Billie's business is booming. In addition to her trusty assistant Sam, Billy has now employed Shyla. Much of their casework still consists of female clients seeking evidence of infidelity to enable their divorce. For the most part, the agency procures what is needed to the client's satisfaction, but every so often things go awry. When one case ends in tragedy, Billie needs a break.

Billie organises a holiday to Naples, taking Ella, her mother, and Alma, her mother's companion, with her. The three women board the Luxor, a luxury cruise ship and set sail for Europe. Billie has another reason for wanting to get to Naples. She has found a stack of letters to her father from an Italian woman and she wants to understand who this woman was to her beloved dad. But before she can resolve that mystery, she has to deal with her nemesis Vincenzo Moretti. 

The Italian Secret is a gripping page-turner. Moss has found the perfect blend of adventure, historical fiction and mystery. She blends multiple storylines and vividly portrays the post-war period. Billie Walker is a fabulous heroine - smart, stylish and self-aware - who holds her own in a world which has different views about the role of women.

I love this series. While The Italian Secret can be read as a standalone novel, I strongly suggest reading these novels in order as there are story threads here which stem from the previous books. My reviews of other books in the Billie Walker series are available on this blog:

•  The War Widow (2019)
•  The Ghosts of Paris (2022)

The Hand of the King

Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall (2009), is the first book in a trilogy about Thomas Cromwell. Critically acclaimed, this historical novel won the Booker Prize (2009), the National Book Critics Circle Award (2009), and the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction (2010). It was in the top ten of the New York Times Books of the Century and adapted into a BBC series. With this much hype, perhaps I was a bit nervous to read Wolf Hall in case I did not like it. Having just finished two long novels, I figured I had the stamina to get stuck into another big read and finally embark on this series.

Thomas Cromwell was born around 1485 in Putney. He fled a violent home as a young teen and took off to Europe, working his way across the continent, picking up language skills in French, Italian, Latin and Greek. He married Elizabeth Wyckes and had three children. By the 1520s Cromwell had established himself in legal circles as a brilliant mind and cunning advisor. In 1524 he became a trusted confidante of Lord Chancellor Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and soon found himself in the court of Henry VIII where he rose through the ranks to Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Privy Seal and Lord Great Chamberlain. 

After a brief look at Cromwell's life in Putney, Mantel takes readers to where the action begins, in 1529. King Henry VIII, desperate for a son and heir, seeks to rid himself of his wife of twenty-four years, Catherine of Aragon. He has his eye on Anne Boleyn, sister of his mistress Mary. In order to pursue Anne, Henry sought papal permission to annul his marriage and needs Cromwell's help to make Anne Queen. 

So who is Cromwell? In Mantel's telling, the Duke of Norfolk calls Cromwell 'you nobody from Hell, you whore-spawn, you cluster of evil, you lawyer' (p158). Cromwell is depicted as a street-smart schemer, a man who uses his intellect and wit to learn about everyone around him and influence the King. As Cromwell rises, he senses 'a great net spreading about him, a web of favours done and favours received' (p463). The King says 'I keep you, Master Cromwell, because you are as cunning as a bag of serpents' (p 501). Despite his characterisation as a man not to be crossed, he is also a family man and benefactor, supporting his expansive household of extended family and friends.

Mantel has clearly done her research and subtly adds historical references to give the story authenticity. She does not shy away from the brutality of life in the 1500s, the illness, executions and filth. I particularly enjoyed the description of Hans Holbein's efforts to paint Cromwell's portrait and his family's reaction to the completed work.

As someone already familiar with the events covered in the book, I was surprised that there were times that I was confused about what was happening. Perhaps it was because there were so many Thomases,  Henrys and Marys, that it was hard to keep track. This distracted me from enjoying the first half of the novel, as did Mantel's writing style and her frequent use of the phrase 'He, Cromwell, ...'. The chapter lengths did not help as some would go on for over fifty pages. Shorter chapters, with headings, would have assisted my reading.

Once the story reached 1529, the pace quickened and it was easy to become absorbed. The backgrounding, the efforts to get Thomas More to swear an oath about the line of succession, Anne Boleyn's scheming, and the discarded Catherine's resilience. By the time the novel reached its conclusion, I did not want it to end.

My reading was enhanced by listening to the audiobook narrated by Ben Miles. As much of the story relies on sharp dialogue, Miles infuses the characters with verve and energy, bringing the tale to life.

I have downloaded the audiobooks of the next two books in the series for when I continue my Wolf Hall adventures. Despite my misgivings about the first half of this book, I finished eager to journey with Cromwell to Wolf Hall. Plus, I want to read the next book Bring Up the Bodies (2012) so I can watch the first season of the BBC series. Stay tuned!

In the Shadows

Lyra Belaqcua, also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is one of my favourite heroines. This plucky girl stole my heart in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy - Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass) (1995), The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000). Almost thirty years later, I continue to enjoy the stories of Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon. 

Pullman's second Lyra trilogy - The Book of Dust - adds layers to our heroine. La Belle Sauvage (2017) went back in time to Lyra as an infant. The Secret Commonwealth (2019) has Lyra as a young woman, now age 20, studying at St Sophia's College Oxford and living in residence at Jordan College. Malcolm Polestead, the young man who rescued her in La Belle Sauvage is now an academic. 

Lyra and her daemon have fallen out with one another. Having been painfully severed in The Amber Spyglass (2000), they have had difficulty reconnecting with the same closeness they once shared. Lyra has been reading books by Simon Talbot and Gottfried Berne which have influenced her philosophy, calling into question the nature of daemons. Pan regards these texts as dangerous and sees that they have somehow caused Lyra to lose her imagination. 

One night, Pan witnesses the murder of a man, botanist Roderick Hassall. He confides in Lyra and together they seek to find out who Hassall was and what happened to him. This puts Lyra in grave danger and needing the support of Malcolm and Oakley Street agents. There is some mystery about roses that only grow in one location, the Karamakan desert in Tashbulak, and the valuable oil extracted from these flowers is studied at a remote botanical research station which has been attacked. Pan and Lyra separately travel across Europe and the Levant towards Central Asia, the geographical distance straining their relationship further.

Meanwhile, the Magisterium is meeting in Geneva where Marcel Delamere, head of an organisation called La Maison Juste, is manoeuvring to bring about a change of power. Malcolm, posing as a journalist, seeks to learn more about Delamere's intentions. Olivier Bonneville, son of experimental theologian Gerard Bonneville who pursued the infant Lyra in La Belle Sauvage, is searching for Lyra using a new, unstable method of reading the aleithometer. I won't say more about the plot for fear of giving away the story. Suffice it to say that The Secret Commonwealth takes readers on an adventure involving spies, refugees, big pharma, facsism, and more. 

The Secret Commonwealth feels very much like the middle book in a trilogy, setting readers up for the gripping conclusion. Pullman's novel is dark, melancholy and compelling, pushing the story from one for  young adults, to one that has aged with the reader. Lyra, is changing as she enters adulthood, having lost some of free-spiritedness and become more anxious and cautious, engaging in critical thinking, and forming her own world view. Pan challenges her to remember her younger self and hold on to her imagination and creativity.

I power-read this alongside Michael Sheen's excellent audiobook narration. He is such a good choice for this series, able to voice countless characters and accents, varying his tone and pace. Brilliant! 

I read Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy before I began blogging. But my review of The Book of Dust (volume one) - La Belle Sauvage (2019) is available.  

The third and final volume of this trilogy, The Rose Field (2025), is due out in October. I cannot wait to see how The Book of Dust concludes.

High Ground

Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead (2022) has been on my 'to be read' pile since it was published. Winner of the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction and the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, this critically acclaimed novel appeared on countless 'Best Books' lists and the New York Times list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. I was eager to read it, but wanted to re-read David Copperfield (1850), the Charles Dickens classic which inspired Kingsolver. Having completed my prolonged re-read of Dickens, I was ready to immerse myself in Kingsolver's Appalachian coming-of-age story.

Damon 'Demon' Fields was born into poverty in Lee County Virginia. His teenage mother is addicted to drugs and alcohol; his father died before he was born. They live in a trailer on the Peggot family's land. Demon befriends the Peggot's grandson 'Maggot', whom the elderly Peggots care for while his mother is in jail. Demon's mother remarries a vicious biker named Stoner, and when she relapses into addiction he is placed in foster care. He stays on a tobacco farm where he meets other boys in the foster system - Fast Forward and Tommy. After his mother overdoses, as an eleven-year old orphan, he is sent to the McCobbs who take him in for the carer's allowance. They exploit the boy - sending him to work and garnishing his wages - and fail to provide for him. 

Demon eventually runs away to find his paternal grandmother Betsy. She arranges for him to live with Coach Winfield and his daughter Agnes, allowing Demon a semblance of normal life, schooling and a chance to play football. But addiction runs in his family and access to opioids is easy in Lee County. Soon Demon finds himself into the destructive world of Oxy. But this kid is resilient, and has some good people championing his success. Will he turn his life around?

Demon Copperhead is an absolute triumph of a novel - worthy of all its accolades and acclaim. Kingsolver gave Demon a distinct narrative voice, peppering the tale with colloquialisms, and I particularly liked how Demon would often end sentences with 'so'. Other characters - Aunt June, Agnes, Coach, U-Haul and Tommy - are vividly drawn, inspired by but not copies of their Dickensian counterparts.

Taking a Victorian novel and transplanting it in 1990s Appalachia was a wonderful idea. Just as Dickens used his novel to critique poverty, child labour and the plight of the working class, Kingsolver turns her social justice lens to the opioid crisis, big pharma, education, the child welfare system and economic inequality. I particularly appreciated the way in which she commented on the denigration of the people of Appalachia and showcased the ways in which country-folk cared for one another. She gives an example of Peggot's 'Hillbilly Cadillac' bumper sticker on the back of his truck:

"The world is not at all short on this type of thing, it turns out. All down the years, words have been flung like pieces of shit, only to get stuck on a truck bumper with up-yours pride. Rednecks, moonshiners, ridge runners, hicks. Deplorables." (p78)

Demon and Tommy understand their position in the world and how they have been looked down on: 

"This is what I would say if I could, to all smart people of the world with their dumb hillbilly jokes: We are right here in the stall. We can actually hear you." (p329)

As Demon learns from Mr Armstrong, 'A good story doesn’t just copy life, it pushes back on it' (p531).  With Demon Copperhead, Kingsolver has pushed back, reflecting the intelligence, love and courage of the people in Lee County. This is a big, gripping novel full of heart. 

I am so pleased I chose to read this while listening to the audiobook. Brilliantly narrated by Charlie Thurton, the audio version brings the story to life by using the local accent and word emphasis. It was such a delight to listen to and added to my enjoyment of the novel.

While you don't need to have read David Copperfield to enjoy this novel, familiarity with the source material will greatly enhance your reading experience. It also made me appreciate Kingsolver's skill as a writer even more. In many respects she improved upon the original story, not dissimilar to what Percival Everett achieved with James (2024).  

Prime Minister's Literary Award Shortlist 2025

The Prime Minister's Literary Awards Shortlist for 2025 has been announced. These awards have a significant prize pool ($600K) and serve to recognise 'established and emerging Australia writers, illustrators, poets and historians'. 

Here are the 2025 shortlisted titles in the categories I have most interest in.

Fiction

• 
  Emily Maguire - Rapture
• Fiona McFarlane - Highway 13
• Michelle de Krester - Theory and Practice 
• Mykeaela Saunders - Always Will Be
• Tim Winton - Juice

I have read and adored Rapture. I have had my eye on the de Krester and the McFarlane as both were shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, and of course de Krester won the Stella Prize this year.  I am intrigued by the Tim Winton and will need to see if I can fit it in to my reading schedule too. This is one of those shortlists where I would be happy with anyone winning.

Non-Fiction

• James Bradley - Deep Water
• Adele Dumont - The Pulling
• Rick Morton - Mean Streak
• Khin Myint - Fragile Creatures
• Samah Sabawi - Cactus Pear for My Beloved

I have read none of these shortlisted titles. However I am familiar with Rick Morton's work - both his memoir One Hundred Years of Dirt (2018) and his journalism. Mean Streak is his book on Robodebt - an important work on the illegal federal government scheme which traumatised so many poor people. 

Australian History

• 
  Darren Rix and Craig Cormick - Warra Warra Wai: How Indigenous Australians discovered Captain Cook and what they tell about the coming of the Ghost People
• Gerladine Fela - Critical Care: Nurses on the frontline of Australia's AIDS Crisis
• Peter Kirkpatrick - The Wild Reciter: Poetry and Popular Culture in Australia 1890-2020
• Amanda Laureen - Australia in 100 Words
• Clare Wright - Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala changed the course of Australian democracy

I love historian Clare Wright and of all these titles hers is the one I am most interested in. 

The PM Literary awards also cover Children's Literature, Young Adult Literature and Poetry. For information on these categories and on all the nominated titles, see the Creative Australia website. The winners will be announced on 29 September 2025.

The Gathering

Last year I read Anne Enright's wonderful novel The Wren, The Wren (2023), and since discovering her I have been slowly working my way through her back catalogue. 

The Green Road (2015) is a novel about the Madigan family - matriarch Rosaleen, and her children Dan, Emmet, Constance and Hanna - told in two parts. 

The first half, 'Leaving', spans the years 1980 to 2005 with chapters presented from differing perspectives, focussing on each of the children. It begins with twelve-year-old Hanna describing the tension in the house when her older brother Dan announces he will enter the priesthood. Rosaleen is hysteric and disappears into her bedroom, refusing to leave. We follow Dan to New York during the early 1990s where he is part of the queer community navigating the spectre of the AIDS epidemic. We return to Ireland, where Constance is a mother with young children, disappointed by many things in her life, and worried about her health. Then we find Emmet in Mali, working as an aid worker, drifting through his life.  

In the second half, 'Coming Home', Enright changes the narrative again as the Madigan children return to Ardeevin for Christmas with their mother. Rosaleen, now a 76-year-old widow, has decided to sell the family home and move in with Constance, not that her daughter wants her to. The children are all adults with various complications - depression, fear of commitment, alcoholism, career stagnation. The siblings love each other, but don't like one another or have much in common. Tensions arise, as they so often do at family gatherings, with the children seeking to hold on to the childhood home that they were all so desperate to escape from.

I particularly enjoyed the way Enright chose to share the perspective among the family members, rather than give readers a single protagonist. It reads almost as a collection of interwoven short stories.  The story of Dan in New York is one of the most heartbreaking tales I have ever read, leaving me in tears as Enright follows men who contracted HIV/AIDS and the fear and shame so many gay men felt during that period. Enright also chose to write in first person plural - 'we' - to demonstrate the impact on a whole community. This chapter alone is enough to make me recommend this book, as I well recall those terrible early years and Enright has captured them perfectly. 

Enright is such a gifted writer, precisely crafting every sentence. She transports readers, and we laugh and cry along with the characters she created. As I have done with other Enright novels, I listened to the audiobook recording as I read along. Narrated by Caroline Lennon, the story more engrossing to hear the narrative in her Irish accent. 

The Green Road was critically acclaimed and received many award nominations, including being shortlisted for the 2016 Women's Prize and longlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize.  

My reviews of other novels by Anne Enright are available on this blog:

• The Gathering (2007)
• The Wren, The Wren (2023)

Booker Prize Longlist 2025

This week the Longlist was announced for the 2025 Booker Prize. 

A few weeks ago I released my predictions of who might make the list and I managed to correctly guess only one of the titles (marked with an asterix). Clearly I am terrible at guessing this list! Of course I had three Australian authors on my list, and sadly none made it through this year. 

So let's take a quick look at the nominees:

Claire Adam - Love Forms  (Trinidad)

In Trinidad, 1980, a sixteen year old Dawn Bishop travels to Venezuela where she gives birth to a daughter and leaves her with nuns for adoption. Later Dawn relocates to England, marries and has two sons. But all the while she wonders about her first child. Forty years later Dawn is contacted by a woman who may be this lost daughter. The judges described Love Forms as 'a rare and low-pitched achievement. It reads like a hushed conversation overheard in the next room'. Adam is a Trinidadian author who now lives in London. Her first novel Golden Child (2019) was critically acclaimed. Love Forms is her second novel.

Tash Aw - The South   (Taiwan)

Set in Malaysia in the 1990s, teenage Jay travels south to a failing farm his grandfather has left his family. He attempts to work the land or sell it. He befriends the son of the farm manager, Chuan, and together they explore illicit pastimes and their sexuality. The judges described this as 'a story about heritage, the Asian financial crisis and the relationship between one family and the land'.  The South is the first novel in a planned quartet. Tash Aw is the acclaimed author of five novels, three of which have been longlisted for the Booker. He was previously longlisted for Five Star Billionaire (2013) and The Harmony Silk Factory (2005).

Natasha Brown - Universality   (UK)

When a man on a Yorkshire farm is bludgeoned with a gold bar, a young freelance journalist, Hannah, seeks to uncover the motivations for the attack. This satirical novel is told through shifting perspectives. The judges write that Universality 'reveals the contradictions of a society shaped through entrenches systems of economic, political and media control'. Brown is best known for her first novel Assembly (2021). She has been called one of the best young British novelists. Universality is also a finalist for the Orwell Prize.

Jonathan Buckley - One Boat   (UK)

Teresa has lost her father so she goes to the place where she grieved her mother nine years earlier - a small town on the Greek coast. Here she immerses herself in the town, becoming reacquainted with people she met on her previous visits. The judges described this as a 'novel of quiet brilliance and sly humour, packed with mystery and indeterminacy'. One Boat is Buckley's thirteenth novel. He is also the author of numerous travel guides. 

Susan Choi - Flashlight   (USA)
Ten-year-old Louisa and her academic father Serk go for a walk on a beach when tragedy strikes. Serk has disappeared.  Louise and her mother Anne are left to put together what happened. The novel moves between the post-war Korean immigrant community in Japan, suburban American and North Korea. The judges said 'We admired the shifts and layers of Flashlight's narrative, which ultimately reveal a story that is intricate, surprising and profound'. Choi is an American author of six novels. She is best known Trust Exercise (2019) which won the US National Book Award for Fiction.

Kiran Desai - The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny   (India)

Sonia and Sunny are captivated by one another when the cross paths on an overnight train. Sonia wants to be a writer and has returned from America to India to see her family. Sunny is a journalist based in New York. Together they search for happiness. The judges said 'We loved the way in which no detail, large or small, seems to escape Desai’s attention, every character (in a huge cast) feels fully realised, and the writing moves with consummate fluency between an array of modes: philosophical, comic, earnest, emotional, and uncanny.' Desai's novel will not be published until September, meaning readers won't get to enjoy it during the longlist period. Desai won the Booker Prize in 2006 for her novel The Inheritance of Loss. 

Katie Kitamura - Audition   (USA)

A middle-aged actress meets a much younger man at a Manhattan restaurant. The woman is nervous and wonders what passers-by will make of the couple. Will they be seen as mother and son, age-gapped lovers, or something else? The pair have an unsettling conversation, giving way to more disquiet. The judges said ' Aside from the extraordinarily honed quality of its sentences, the remarkable thing about Audition is the way it persists in the mind after reading, like a knot that feels tantalisingly close to coming free.' Kitamura is an American author of five novels. She is best known for the criticially acclaimed Intimacies (2021).

Ben Markovits - The Rest of Our Lives   (USA)

Tom Layward resolved to end his marriage as soon as his children have grown and left home. When his youngest turned 18 and he is driving her to college, he remembers his resolution and decides to keep driving. This one-man road trip is a journey of self-discovery and reflection - meeting old friends, encountering strangers, and deciding what to do about his work and long-term marriage. The judges write 'It’s matter of fact, effortlessly warm, and it uses the smallest parts of human behaviour to uphold bigger themes, like mortality, sickness, and love.' American author Ben Markovits has written twelve novels.

Andrew Miller - The Land in Winter   (UK)

Set in England's West Country, in December 1962, a local doctor sets out on his rounds. A violent blizzard traps two couples in their homes. The judges write 'As a winter storm wreaks havoc on their lives, these characters become pivotal figures in a community precariously balanced between history and future: between the damage wrought by the war and the freedom for women that lies ahead. In beautifully atmospheric prose, Andrew Miller brings suspense and mystery to this seemingly inconsequential chapter in British history.' Miller is based in Somerset UK and is the author of ten novels. His novel Oxygen was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2001.

Maria Reva - Endling   (Canada)

In Ukraine in 2022 three women are travelling together in a mobile lab made from a converted camper van. Yeva is a scientist trying to breed rare snails. She funds her research working for a company that runs romance tours. Through the company, Yeva meets sisters Nastia and Solmiya. Posing as a mail order bride and her translator they plan to kidnap foreign bachelors to draw attention to the patriarchy of the bridal industry. The judges praised Reva's debut novel saying Endling 'examines colonialism, old and neo, the role of women, identity, power and powerlessness, and the very nature of fiction-writing.' Author Reva was born in Ukraine and grew up in Canada. 

*David Szalay - Flesh   (Canada)

The story follows Istvan's life from his lonely teenage years to his isolated middle age. Along the way he  has an affair with a much older woman, serves in the military, moves from Hungary to London, and struggles with events outside his control. The judges praised Szalay's writing, saying 'using only the sparest of prose, this hypnotically tense and compelling book becomes an astonishingly moving portrait of a man’s life.' Flesh is Szalay's fifth novel. He was previously shortlisted for the Booker in 2016 for All That Man Is. This was the only longlisted book I correctly predicted.

Benjamin Wood - Seascraper   (UK)

Thomas lives a quiet life in Longferry, working as a shanker, scraping the Irish shore for shrimp. Mornings are spent at the waterfront with his horse and cart, and afternoons he sells his wares. When an American arrives in town, Thomas questions his days of monotonous drudgery and wonders if there can be a different future.  The judges said 'It’s a book about dreams, an exploration of class and family, a celebration of the power and the glory of music, a challenge to the limits of literary realism, and – stunningly – a love story.' Wood is the author of five novels, including The Bellweather Revivals.

Ledia Xhoga - Misinterpretation   (Albania)

In New York City an Albanian interpreter works with Alfred, a torture survivor, during his therapy sessions. The interpreter cannot help but become entangled in her client's trauma, which stirs up memories of her own. This leads to a series of questionable decisions. Concerned about her mental health, she takes an unplanned trip to Albania to visit her mother. She must then return to face the consequences of her actions. The judges said 'Misinterpretation subtly blurs the distinction between help and harm. We found it propulsive, unsettling, and strangely human.' This is Albanian author Xhoga's debut novel.

The Booker Prize Longlist is often a mixed bag of novels, but what I love about the Longlist is that it introduces me to many authors and books I do not know. Last year's Longlist was fantastic and I enjoyed reading a number of the titles.  

This year, I don't feel the same urgency to read these novels. While I have no doubt they are wonderfully written, they don't excite me in the same way previous linguists have. Of all the titles, the ones I am interested in are those by Adam,  Brown, and Markovits. 

The Shortlist will be announced on 23 September 2025 and the winner on 10 November 2025. Better get reading!