August New Releases: 20 new books we can’t wait to read!

Here at Better Reading, we’ve always got our noses in a new book.

August is a reader’s dream, with some extraordinary new releases, including the latest collaboration between James Patterson and Aussie thriller writer Candice Fox, Fifty Fifty.

Philippa Gregory is at it again with The Last Tudor, another instalment in her wildly popular Tudor series.

Rusty Young, author of multi-million copy bestselling true crime book Marching Powder, returns to the scene with Colombiano, a riveting epic based off his years in Colombia, where he witnessed the horrors of civil war and child soldiers that plague the country to this day.

And for the more literary-minded, Karl Ove Knausgaard, the Norwegian sensation, is about to release Autumn, the first in a seasonal quartet that is presented as a series of daily letters and observations addressed to his unborn daughter. Through close observation of the objects and phenomena around him, Knausgaard shows us how vast, unknowable and wondrous the world is.

But enough from us, have a look at the full list below:

The Story of Our Life by Shari Low: Perfect for the fans of Jo-Jo Moyes and Marian Keyes. So what would you do if your husband slept with another woman? Colm strolled into my life fifteen years ago. If there’s ever such a thing as love at first sight, that was it for us both. A few weeks later we married, celebrating with those who cared, ignoring the raised eyebrows of the cynics. We knew better. This was going to be forever. The dream come true. The happy ever after. Because a couple of months ago everything changed.

Leaving Ocean Road by Esther Campion: Twenty years ago, Ellen O’Shea left her beloved Ireland to make a new life in Australia. Now a popular local in a small coastal town, but struggling to cope with the death of her much-loved Greek husband, Nick, Ellen finds her world turned upside down when an unexpected visitor lands on her doorstep.

The Twentieth Man by Tony Jones: Tony Jones, one of Australia’s most admired journalists, has written a brilliantly compelling thriller, taking us from the savage mountains of Yugoslavia to Canberra’s brutal yet covert power struggles in a novel that’s intelligent, informed and utterly suspenseful.

Autumn by Karl Ove Knausgaard: From the author of the monumental My Struggle series, Karl Ove Knausgaard, one of the masters of contemporary literature and a genius of observation and introspection, comes the first in a new autobiographical quartet based on the four seasons

Colombiano by Rusty Young: From the author of Marching Powder. Blending fact and fiction, Colombiano takes us on a heart-thumping journey into the violent and unpredictable world of post-Escobar Colombia.

Friend Request by Laura Marshall:  A read-it-in-one-sitting thriller . . . Twisty and gripping but always relatable, Friend Request is the ultimate it-could-happen-to-you read.

The Good Teacher by R. M. Anderson: Stony Creek is a quiet farming community where good manners, good will and fairness must be upheld at all costs. No one embodies these values more than married P&C president, Jennifer Booth. Though her only child is long graduated from Stony Creek Primary School (one teacher plus casuals), Jennifer prides herself on leading by example. But when she has passionate, unexpected sex with the new principal, Brock Kelly, just before a P&C meeting, on his office desk, no one is more surprised than she.

Beautiful Messy Love by Tess Woods: Scarred by tragedy each in their own way, these warm, hopeful characters must face prejudice and heartbreak to learn just how much beautiful messy love can mean.

The Way Back by Kylie Ladd: All she wanted was to escape. But why does she still feel trapped? A gripping psychological drama by the author of Mothers and Daughters and Into My Arms.

The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory: Philippa Gregory was an established historian and writer when she discovered her interest in the Tudor period and wrote the internationally bestselling novel The Other Boleyn Girl. Now she is looking at the family that preceded the Tudors: the magnificent Plantaganets, a family of complex rivalries, loves, and hatreds.

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter: Two girls are forced into the woods at gunpoint. One runs for her life. One is left behind … 

And Fire Came Down by Emma Viskic: Deaf since early childhood, Caleb Zelic used to meet life head-on. Now he’s struggling just to get through the day. His best mate is dead, his ex-wife, Kat, is avoiding him, and nightmares haunt his waking hours. But when a young woman is killed after pleading for his help in sign language, Caleb is determined to find out who she was.

Tin Man by Sarah Winman: It begins with a painting won in a raffle: fifteen sunflowers, hung on the wall by a woman who believes that men and boys are capable of beautiful things. And then there are two boys, Ellis and Michael, who are inseparable. And the boys become men,and then Annie walks into their lives, and it changes nothing and everything. Tin Man sees Sarah Winman follow the acclaimed success of When God Was A Rabbit and A Year of Marvelous Ways with a love letter to human kindness and friendship, loss and living. 

The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club by Sophie Green: Five different women united by one need: to overcome the vast distances of Australia’s Top End with friendship, tears, laughter, books and love.

Father Figures by Paul Connolly: The shape of the family tree has changed irrevocably in recent decades, and there is hardly such a thing as a ‘typical dad’ anymore (though dad jokes, like cockroaches, never seem to die). From the grim archetype of the emotionally distant father, to the bumbling man-child who’s only a pair of underpants away from being an ape and the sensitive-new-age man with a pram, there has never been more freedom for men to choose what sort of dad they want to be. Or, for that matter, so many opportunities to stuff it up!  

Cold War Games by Harry Blustein: Cold War Games is a lively, landmark book, with fresh information from ASIO files and newly discovered documents from archives in the USSR, US and Hungary, revealing secret operations in Melbourne and showing just how pivotal the 1956 Olympic Games were for the great powers of the Cold War.

Things My Father Taught Me edited by Claire Halliday: Claire Halliday spoke with a range of well-known Australians who shared their stories about the way their dads shape their lives. From memories of deep warmth and closeness to stories of difficulty and tragedy – everyone’s story is unique.  

The Mummy Bloggers by Holly Wainwright: The Mummy Bloggers is a sharp and funny look at power of social media and the women behind the likes, shares and filters.  

Fifty Fifty by James Patterson & Candice Fox: Sam Blue stands accused of the brutal murders of three young students, their bodies dumped near the Georges River. Only one person believes he is innocent: his sister, Detective Harriet Blue. And she’s determined to prove it. Except she’s now been banished to the outback town of Last Chance Valley (population 75), where a diary found on the roadside outlines a shocking plan – the massacre of the entire town. And the first death, shortly after Harry’s arrival, suggests the clock is already ticking.

The Choke by Sofie Laguna:  Abandoned by her mother and only occasionally visited by her secretive father, Justine is raised by her pop, a man tormented by visions of the Burma Railway. Justine finds sanctuary in Pop’s chooks and The Choke, where the banks of the Murray River are so narrow it seems they might touch – a place of staggering natural beauty. But the river can’t protect Justine from danger. Her father is a criminal, and the world he exposes her to can be lethal.