The 10 new books to read in February

By Jason Steger

Take your pick from February’s reading highlights, including new releases from Isabel Allende, Mandy Beaumont and Joy Williams.

Holidays are officially over and the year is off to a flying start. On the plus side, that means more books as publishers crank up their offerings.

There are plenty of titles for readers of all tastes due in bookshops this month. Here’s a preview of a selection of them (some of which are already on the shelves).

The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from books editor Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday.

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Cold Enough for Snow, Jessica Au

Giramondo, $24.95, February 1

This slim, expertly crafted and beguiling novella that flits between the past and present was the inaugural winner of the international Novel Prize and will be published simultaneously here, in Britain and the US. There is an absolute certainty to Jessica Au’s prose, but the evanescent story she tells – of a young woman who takes her mother on a trip to Japan, their conversations and reflections on their lives – abounds with ambiguities.

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The Party, Stuart Macintyre

Allen & Unwin, $49.99, February 1

This is the second volume of the late Stuart Macintyre’s history of the Communist Party in Australia. The Reds covered from 1920 to the end of World War II. In The Party, he examines the period during which the party had its greatest influence – fighting fascism and organising strikes that ultimately alienated both sides of mainstream politics. The revelation of Stalin’s crimes didn’t help, nor did the attention of authorities and so began a decline in membership and influence.

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What I Wish People Knew About Dementia, Wendy Mitchell

Bloomsbury, $26.99, February 1

This is Mitchell’s second book after being diagnosed with young-onset dementia at 58. It’s an insider’s story and a boon to anyone who has dementia, cares for someone with it or who simply wants to know more. The book is divided into six chapters: Senses, Relationships, Communication, Environment, Emotions and Attitude. It’s full of good advice, Mitchell’s own (often funny, often heart-rending) experiences and can help destigmatise the condition.

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The Betrayal of Anne Frank, Rosemary Sullivan

HarperCollins, $32.99, February 2

It’s the question that anyone who has read Anne Frank’s diary wants to know: who led the Nazis to the attic where she and her family were hiding? This “cold case” investigation run by Vince Pankoke, a former FBI agent, lasted for almost five years and reassessed documents, interviewed people who had not previously been consulted, and found new evidence. In the end, Pankoke says they achieved what they set out to do: figure out what happened and why at Prinsengracht 263 on August 4, 1944.

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Violeta, Isabel Allende

Bloomsbury, $34.99, January 25

The Chilean writer best known for The House of the Spirits makes a habit of beginning her books on January 8. This one tells the story of a woman born during the Spanish flu pandemic and follows her life right into the COVID-19 pandemic. Along the way, Allende addresses some of the great developments of the 20th century through the experiences of a vivid central character who was partly inspired by her own mother.

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The Furies, Mandy Beaumont

Hachette, $32.99, January 26

Beaumont made quite a mark with her stories in Wild Fearless Chests, which Carmel Bird said came “blazing forward wielding its weapons of words to illuminate the monstrous truths of the dreadful veins of violence that snake through human lives”. Beaumont’s first novel is set in outback Queensland and has 16-year-old Cynthia struggling to survive after the disappearance of her parents. Beaumont reminds the reader at the start that the Furies were “vengeful female divinities”.

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The Islands, Emily Brugman

Allen & Unwin, $29.99, February 1

Brugman’s novel – her first – is about Finnish migrants settling in virtual isolation on a tiny island in the Abrolhos group in the 1950s. Omni Saari has inherited his brother’s cray licence after the latter (who couldn’t swim) drowned. Can he, his wife and their soon-to-be-born daughter make a go of it? Writer Jock Serong, who knows a fair bit about stories set on islands, says Brugman’s storytelling is “extraordinary”.

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Harrow, Joy Williams

Tuskar Rock, $29.99, February 1

Williams is best known for her short stories and it’s been more than 20 years since her last novel. Harrow is set after some sort of environmental catastrophe has laid waste to the landscape. The central character, the teenage Khristen, is alone – father dead, mother gone – and drifts into a settlement of elderly survivors who live by a lake named Big Girl. Not an easy read, but certainly a rewarding one.

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The Gosling Girl, Jacqueline Roy

Simon & Schuster, $32.99, February 2

What do you do with a child who kills? And what happens to that child when they get out of prison? That’s the premise of Jacqueline Roy’s gripping thriller that clearly bounces off the Jamie Bulger case. Michelle, who is mixed race, is living under a new identity but her past is exposed when there’s another murder. One detective, Natalie Tyler, believes there is more to the story than meets the eye and knows from her own experience as a black woman that racism has played a significant part in destroying Michelle’s life.

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Found, Wanting, Natasha Sholl

Ultimo Press, $32.99, February 2

How would you deal with this? You’re 22 and in the middle of the night your partner has a heart attack and dies – as simple and as dreadful as that. Sholl knows because that’s what she has lived through and this memoir is the outcome. Her grief is excruciating, but what she shares with the reader is profound, necessary and also, at times, funny and quite beautiful.

The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from books editor Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday.

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