News

16 July 2024

A Year of Fresh Voices: 5 Compelling Debut Novels

A Year of Fresh Voices: 5 Compelling Debut Novels

We’re all about hearing exciting new stories from fresh voices, and we know the Better Reading community does too. We love introducing readers to new works from up-and-coming authors who will shape literature in Australia and beyond over the next few years.

With so many debut authors offering up their individual writing styles, plotlines and insight in 2024, we can’t help but shine a spotlight on some fresh voices. Here are five compelling debut novels that we’ve loved so far this year…

Jade and Emerald by Michelle See-Tho

Lei Ling Wen is lonely. Bored of her demanding after-school schedule of tuition, study and violin lessons, she struggles to see eye to eye with her strict Chinese-Malaysian mother. When Lei Ling is befriended by elegant, worldly socialite Gigi Nu, she is enchanted by the realm of luxury and freedom that suddenly opens up to her. Gigi encourages Lei Ling to flout her routines and treats her to designer products and expensive meals, and soon Lei Ling finds herself caught between two lives, and increasingly at odds with her exasperated mother. Then tragedy strikes, and Lei Ling discovers long-held secrets that lead her to question everything she thought she knew about the two central women in her life, and the friendship she’d held at the heart of it… A fierce and deeply felt novel about the joys and pains of growing up, of accepting who you are and where you come from.

Buy a copy of Jade and Emerald here.

A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke

Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the fence, only to find it in her satchel that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she is stricken by a mysterious illness. When a visit to a doctor only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she discovers it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her incredible lifelong journey on the run from her condition. But the longer she wanders, the more she understands that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else’s… This is a novel that asks what it is to love the world, and what it is for the world to love us.

Buy a copy of A Short Walk Through a Wide World here.

Anam by André Dao

Born to a Vietnamese family based in Melbourne, the narrator is haunted by the story of his grandfather whose ten-year imprisonment by the Communist government in Vietnam’s notorious Chi Hoa prison looms large over his own place in the world and his choice to become a human rights lawyer. As he oscillates between identities of his Australian upbringing and his Vietnamese heritage, it is the death of his grandfather in a Parisian suburb and the birth of his daughter that crystallize the strands of thought that have shaped his life… Braiding fiction, essay, family stories and history, the result is a profoundly moving remembrance of things past as well as an invitation to look to the future.

Buy a copy of Anam here.

The Little Clothes by Deborah Callaghan

Audrey Mendes is a clever lawyer but has never made partner. Her weeks are filled with long hours in the office, visits to her ageing parents, trivia nights at the local and evenings at home with her pet rabbit, Joni. When Audrey tries to buy wine at the pub she is ignored and walks out without paying. One thing leads to another, and soon she starts rebelling in small and creative ways against a world in which she is unseen – until a painful reminder from her childhood pushes her into a reckoning. All the while there’s a potential romance and an eccentric new neighbour to deal with. And why does Audrey buy extravagant baby clothes when she doesn’t have a child? Wry, humorous and provocative, this is an affectionate novel about sorting out the past, grabbing onto life and claiming your place in it.

Buy a copy of The Little Clothes here.

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston

Frederick Fife was born with an extra helping of kindness in his heart. If he borrowed your car he’d return it washed and polished, with a full tank of petrol. The problem is, he has no one left to borrow from. At 82 he’s desperately lonely, broke and on the brink of homelessness. But Fred’s luck changes when, in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, he takes the place of cranky Bernard Greer at Wattle River Nursing Home. Suddenly he has a roof over his head, warm meals in his belly and, most importantly, the chance to be part of a family again. Fingers crossed his poker face is in better nick than his prostate, or the jig is up… A feel-good novel about forgiveness, redemption and finding family.

Buy a copy of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife here.

Reviews

Sincere and Heartfelt: Read an Extract from The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston

Review | Extract

10 July 2024

Sincere and Heartfelt: Read an Extract from The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston

    Warm, Life-Affirming and Endearing: Read Our Review of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston

    Review | Our Review

    9 July 2024

    Warm, Life-Affirming and Endearing: Read Our Review of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston

      Your Preview Verdict: The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife

      Review | Preview

      27 June 2024

      Your Preview Verdict: The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife

        Your Preview Verdict: The Little Clothes

        Review | Preview

        17 June 2024

        Your Preview Verdict: The Little Clothes

          Better Reading Preview: The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston

          Review | Preview

          7 May 2024

          Better Reading Preview: The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston

            Better Reading Preview: The Little Clothes by Deborah Callaghan

            Review | Preview

            22 April 2024

            Better Reading Preview: The Little Clothes by Deborah Callaghan

              Related Articles

              PODCAST: Anna Johnston on Humanising Older Adults Through Storytelling

              Podcast

              19 August 2024

              PODCAST: Anna Johnston on Humanising Older Adults Through Storytelling

                Q&A: Anna Johnston, Author of The Borrowed Life by Frederick Fife

                News | Author Related

                10 July 2024

                Q&A: Anna Johnston, Author of The Borrowed Life by Frederick Fife

                  Q&A: How One Literary Award Changed Everything for André Dao

                  News | Author Related

                  17 May 2023

                  Q&A: How One Literary Award Changed Everything for André Dao

                    Publisher details

                    A Short Walk Through a Wide World
                    Author
                    Douglas Westerbeke
                    Publisher
                    Penguin
                    Genre
                    Fiction
                    Released
                    02 July, 2024
                    ISBN
                    9781787335028

                    Buy now

                    Synopsis

                    Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the fence, only to find it in her satchel that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she is stricken by a mysterious illness.When a visit to a doctor only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she discovers it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her incredible lifelong journey on the run from her condition.From the scorched dunes of the Calanshio Sand Sea, to the snow-packed peaks of the Himalayas; from a bottomless well in a Parisian courtyard, to the shelves of an infinite underground library, we follow Aubry as she learns what it takes to survive and, ultimately, to truly live. But the longer she wanders, the more she understands that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else’s…

                    Publisher details

                    Jade and Emerald
                    Author
                    Michelle See-Tho
                    Genre
                    Fiction
                    Released
                    16 July, 2024
                    ISBN
                    9781761345180

                    Buy now

                    Synopsis

                    Lei Ling Wen is lonely. Bored of her demanding after-school schedule of tuition, study and violin lessons, she struggles to see eye to eye with her strict Chinese-Malaysian mother.When Lei Ling is befriended by elegant, worldly socialite Gigi Nu, she is enchanted by the realm of luxury and freedom that suddenly opens up to her. Gigi encourages Lei Ling to flout her routines and treats her to designer products and expensive meals, and soon Lei Ling finds herself caught between two lives, and increasingly at odds with her exasperated mother.Then tragedy strikes, and Lei Ling discovers long-held secrets that lead her to question everything she thought she knew about the two central women in her life, and the friendship she’d held at the heart of it.

                    Publisher details

                    The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife
                    Author
                    Anna Johnston
                    Publisher
                    Penguin
                    Genre
                    Fiction
                    Released
                    02 July, 2024
                    ISBN
                    9781761347597

                    Buy now

                    Synopsis

                    Frederick Fife was born with an extra helping of kindness in his heart. If he borrowed your car he’d return it washed and polished, with a full tank of petrol. The problem is, he has no one left to borrow from. At 82 he’s desperately lonely, broke and on the brink of homelessness.But Fred's luck changes when, in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, he takes the place of cranky Bernard Greer at Wattle River Nursing Home. Suddenly he has a roof over his head, warm meals in his belly and, most importantly, the chance to be part of a family again.Fingers crossed his poker face is in better nick than his prostate or the jig is up.As Fred walks in Bernard’s shoes (and underpants), he discovers more about the man’s past - and what it would take to return a broken life to mint condition.Bittersweet and remarkably perceptive, The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife is a feel-good novel about forgiveness, redemption and finding family.

                    Publisher details

                    The Little Clothes
                    Author
                    Deborah Callaghan
                    Publisher
                    Penguin
                    Genre
                    Fiction
                    Released
                    11 June, 2024
                    ISBN
                    9781761344589

                    Buy now

                    Synopsis

                    When you are heading towards 40 and people start to notice you a little bit less, what do you do with your new powers of invisibility?

                    Audrey Mendes is a clever lawyer but has never made partner. Her weeks are filled with long hours in the office, visits to her ageing parents, trivia nights at the local and evenings at home with her pet rabbit, Joni.

                    When Audrey tries to buy wine at the pub she is ignored and walks out without paying. One thing leads to another, and soon she starts rebelling in small and creative ways against a world in which she is unseen – until a painful reminder from her childhood pushes her into a reckoning.

                    All the while there’s a potential romance and an eccentric new neighbour to deal with. And why does Audrey buy extravagant baby clothes when she doesn’t have a child?

                    Wry, humorous and provocative, this is an affectionate novel about sorting out the past, grabbing onto life and claiming your place in it.

                    Publisher details

                    Anam
                    Author
                    André Dao
                    Publisher
                    Penguin
                    Genre
                    Fiction

                    Buy now

                    Synopsis

                    A grandson tries to learn the family story. But what kind of story is it? Is it a prison memoir, about the grandfather imprisoned without charge or trial by a revolutionary government? Is it an oral history of the grandmother left behind to look after the children? Or is it a love story? A detective tale?

                    Moving from 1930s Hanoi through a series of never-ending wars and displacements to Saigon, Paris, Melbourne and Cambridge, Anam is a novel about memory and inheritance, colonialism and belonging, home and exile.

                    Anam blends fiction and essay, theory and everyday life to imagine that which has been repressed, left out, and forgotten. The grandson mines his family and personal stories to turn over ideas that resonate with all of us around place and home, legacy and expectation, ambition and sacrifice. As he sifts through letters, photographs, government documents and memories, he has his own family to think about: a partner and an infant daughter. Is there a way to remember the past that creates a future for them? Or does coming home always involve a certain amount of forgetting?

                    Douglas Westerbeke
                    About the author

                    Douglas Westerbeke

                    Douglas Westerbeke is a librarian who lives in Ohio and works at one of the largest libraries in the US. He has spent the last decade on the local panel of the International Dublin Literary Award, which inspired him to write his own book.

                    Books by Douglas Westerbeke

                    A Short Walk Through a Wide World
                    Douglas Westerbeke

                    A Short Walk Through a Wide World

                    Retail partners

                    Michelle See-Tho
                    About the author

                    Michelle See-Tho

                    Michelle See-Tho is a freelance writer and copywriter. She has had articles and stories published in Kill Your Darlings, Meanjin, Overland and The Big Issue Fiction Edition. Jade and Emerald, her first novel, won the 2023 Penguin Literary Prize.

                    Books by Michelle See-Tho

                    Jade and Emerald
                    Michelle See-Tho

                    Jade and Emerald

                    Retail partners

                    Anna Johnston
                    About the author

                    Anna Johnston

                    Anna Johnston is a former baby, aspiring octogenarian and emerging Australian author with a love for the heartfelt and hilarious. She grew up in country Victoria before moving to Melbourne where she lives joyously with her husband and daughters by the beach. Anna left an imminent career in medicine to follow her heart into her grandfather’s nursing home where she became the social support coordinator, taking great delight in shaking up the usual program. When injury left her unable to continue working in aged care, she began to write about it, channelling her love for older people onto the page. Anna has enjoyed a life-long passion for screenplay, theatre and creative ageing.

                    Books by Anna Johnston

                    The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife
                    Anna Johnston

                    The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife

                    Retail partners

                    When Lemons Give You Life
                    Anna Johnston

                    When Lemons Give You Life

                    Retail partners

                      Deborah Callaghan
                      About the author

                      Deborah Callaghan

                      Deborah Callaghan worked as an interstate train stewardess, a librarian, and freelance journalist before starting a thirty-five-year publishing career. She was a book publicist, a publisher, and a literary agent. She lives in Sydney with her husband, two daughters and three lovely dogs.

                      Books by Deborah Callaghan

                      The Little Clothes
                      Deborah Callaghan

                      The Little Clothes

                      Retail partners

                      André Dao
                      About the author

                      André Dao

                      André Dao is a Melbourne-based writer, editor and artist. His debut novel, Anam, won the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. His writing has appeared in Meanjin, Sydney Review of Books, Griffith Review, The Monthly, The Lifted Brow, Cordite, The Saturday Paper, New Philosopher, Arena Magazine, Asia Literary Review and elsewhere.His residencies and fellowships include an AsiaLink Arts Residency in Hanoi, an Emerging Writers Festival-Ubud Writers Festival Island to Island residency across Indonesia, and a Wheeler Centre Hotdesk Fellowship. In 2015 he was selected as one of Melbourne Writers Festival’s 30 Best Writers under 30.He is the co-founder of Behind the Wire, the award-winning oral history project documenting the stories of the adults and children who have been detained by the Australian government after seeking asylum in Australia. His work for Behind the Wire includes a Quill award winning article for The Saturday Paper and the Walkley Award-winning podcast, The Messenger. He co-edited Behind the Wire’s collection of literary oral histories They Cannot Take the Sky.He was previously the editor-in-chief of Right Now, an online human rights magazine. In recognition of that work he was a finalist for the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2011 Young People’s Human Rights Medal. He is also a member of the Manus Recording Project Collective, whose work has been exhibited in the Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne and the City Gallery, Wellington.

                      Books by André Dao

                      Anam
                      André Dao

                      Anam

                      Retail partners

                      COMMENTS

                      Leave a Reply

                      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

                      1. SebastianKoelpin says:
                        19 July 2024 at 7:20 pm

                        It seems to me that all five of these novels are unique and in-depth experiences, worth exploring. They not only reflect personal issues but also raise big questions about society and humanity. I will buy each book one at a time to read gradually slope game.

                        Reply
                      2. Jackson Mia says:
                        26 July 2024 at 2:23 pm

                        Every day is a wonderful journey, and that journey will be even more wonderful if there is love tester game. You can explore many interesting games here.

                        Reply
                      3. Sprunki says:
                        15 November 2024 at 12:50 am

                        I am grateful to the author for the insightful article, which has been very beneficial to me. I tried the Sprunki game today, and it was full of fun. I recommend it to everyone. Whether you’re new to music or a seasoned player, https://sprunki.io/ provides a simple and delightful experience suitable for all levels.

                        Reply
                      4. Sprunki says:
                        15 November 2024 at 12:51 am

                        Thanks to the author, the content of the article has been incredibly helpful to me. Today, I played the Sprunki game, and it was truly fascinating. I highly recommend it to everyone. Whether you’re a beginner in music or an experienced player, https://sprunki.io/ offers an easy and enjoyable experience for all skill levels.

                        Reply
                      5. Sprunki says:
                        15 November 2024 at 12:52 am

                        Thankyou to the author, the content of the article has been incredibly helpful to me. Today, I played the Sprunki game, and it was truly fascinating. I highly recommend it to everyone. Whether you’re a beginner in music or an experienced player, https://sprunki.io/ offers an easy and enjoyable experience for all skill levels.

                        Reply
                      6. Sprunki、 says:
                        15 November 2024 at 12:53 am

                        Thankyou to the author, the content of the article has been incredibly helpful to me. Today, I played the Sprunki game, and it was truly fascinating. I highly recommend it to everyone. Whether you’re a beginner in music or an experienced player, https://sprunki.io/ offers an easy and enjoyable experience for all skill levels.

                        Reply
                      7. Bradly Acosta says:
                        4 December 2024 at 9:18 pm

                        These debut novels offer a rich variety of voices and themes, showcasing the immense potential of new authors to create meaningful and thought-provoking stories. Each of the books highlighted presents an intriguing idle breakout perspective on life, identity, and human connection, while also exploring important cultural and personal issues.

                        Reply
                      8. GuessTherAnswer says:
                        13 January 2025 at 10:35 pm

                        Thanks for sharing your insight! https://guess-their-answer.com/

                        Reply
                      9. ahr147 says:
                        5 August 2025 at 1:23 pm

                        RELX Infinity，relx infinity plus

                        Reply
                      10. ahr147 says:
                        5 August 2025 at 1:23 pm

                        relx infinity plus

                        Reply
                      11. monkey mart says:
                        12 September 2025 at 7:34 pm

                        Acknowledging the allure of such profound literary journeys, I understand your intention to savor each book. As you gradually explore these thought-provoking narratives, perhaps between chapters, you might enjoy a lighthearted and fun escape? Why not swing into the world of Monkey mart ? This engaging GAME monkey mart lets you manage your own supermarket staffed by adorable monkeys! It’s a delightfully addictive experience offering a change of pace from the intense themes of the novels.

                        Reply
                      12. Yates Mary says:
                        30 September 2025 at 6:11 pm

                        These debut novels sound captivating! It’s always refreshing to discover new authors. The summaries alone make me want to dive in. Finding a great book is like discovering a hidden level in your favorite io games, the thrill of the unknown is addictive. I’m particularly drawn to “Jade and Emerald” and Anam – the exploration of identity and family secrets intrigues me.

                        Reply
                      13. cookie clicker says:
                        7 October 2025 at 6:50 pm

                        Oops, wrong topic! Thinking about cookies AND deep novels at the same time? 😄 Let’s focus on COOKIE CLICKER! This ridiculously addictive browser game starts simple: click, get cookies. But soon you’re building cookie factories, summoning grandmas, and ascending to cookie godhood! Intrigued? Start clicking! 👉 cookie clicker

                        Reply
                      14. Layne Ronald says:
                        12 October 2025 at 9:39 pm

                        Introduction to Slope
                        The Slope game has become one of the most addictive online arcade experiences, captivating players with its neon visuals, fast-paced gameplay, and endless challenges. Simple to pick up yet difficult to master, Slope tests your reflexes, focus, and timing as you guide a glowing ball down a steep, futuristic track. With every second, the speed increases, obstacles appear unexpectedly, and the stakes get highe https://slopegame-3d.com/

                        Reply
                      15. Davis Jerry says:
                        19 January 2026 at 1:50 pm

                        Introduction to Monkey Mart
                        Welcome to the complete guide to Monkey Mart
                        , one of the most exciting and charming supermarket management games available online. Combining business strategy with adorable monkey characters, Monkey Mart invites players to build, manage, and expand their very own bustling supermarket. Whether you’re a casual gamer or a fan of detailed business simulation games, Monkey Mart offers endless fun, creativity, and challenges that test your management skills.

                        Reply