Your Essential April Reading List

April is a reader’s paradise.

Check out our pick of the new release fiction coming out this month:

The Fortress by S. A. Jones

In this ferocious thought experiment, S. A. Jones imagines an alternate reality in which there exists an all-female civilisation called the Vaik. Jonathon Bridge, our hero, is a disgusting pig of a man, a cheater, liar, adulterer. And the only way his wife Adalia will let him father their unborn child is if he offers himself to the Vaik as a supplicant, meaning he essentially becomes a powerless prisoner within the Fortress for twelve months. It’s an absolute ripper of a read, worthy of book clubs across the nation.

Making Peace by Fiona McCallum

Making Peace, Fiona McCallum’s latest and tenth novel, opens just one year and six days after the cataclysmic accident that has ruined Hannah’s life.

It’s Christmas and Hannah’s newly rescued cat called Holly and her kittens, Lucky and Squeak have become her Christmas miracle.  Apart from being cute and cuddly, they need her, and being needed is a wonderful distraction from a broken heart. As Hannah reminds herself, Holly and the kittens have saved her as much as she’s saved them.

With the help of staunch and loyal friends and her own very best efforts to stay strong and look forward, Hannah has tried her hardest to piece her life back together and recover from the shock of suddenly losing her husband, Tristan and both her parents

Little Gods by Jenny Ackland 

In many ways, this extended family are closer than most, even though a dark secret from the past lies buried until our young protagonist sets her mind to unearthing it.

Twelve-year-old Olive May Lovelock knows that her family is a tad zany. In fact, she finds their quirkiness endearing. Olive herself is a deeply inquisitive and curious individual, prying information out of her beloved Aunty Thistle about topics as far-reaching as cannibalism, sex, ghosts, and family history. The family farm called Serpentine is crowded, boisterous, and noisy over summer as the extended family pilgrimage there for their annual holiday. Here, the wonderfully chaotic family scenes in Little Gods channel the likes of Tim Winton’s overcrowded, shambolic home in Cloudstreet (minus the pig).

The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester

Since her charming 2016 bestseller, A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald, Western Australian author Natasha Lester has garnered legions of loyal fans including prominent fellow Australian author, Rachael Johns: ‘I loved this book.’ Devotees of her special brand of glamorous and romantic historical fiction will definitely not be disappointed by her latest entrancing novel, The Paris Seamstress.

Paris – 1940. Estella Bissette is a seamstress during the eve of the city’s fall. German troops are approaching and the French Resistance is gathering steam but not enough to keep the city from the brink. Estelle’s beloved maman persuades her to join fleeing refugees on the last American ship to leave the French waters.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland 

Spanning two decades, set between sugar cane fields by the sea, a native Australian flower farm, and a celestial crater in the central desert, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart follows Alice’s unforgettable journey, as she learns that the most powerful story she will ever possess is her own.

A Place to Remember by Jenn. J. McLeod
A multi-generational contemporary romantic saga set in a cattle ranch in Central Queensland, Australia.

A man loses five years of his life. Two women are desperate for him to remember. Running away for the second time in her life, twenty-seven-year old Ava believes the cook’s job at a country B&B is perfect, until she meets the owner’s son, John Tate. The young fifth-generation grazier is a beguiling blend of both man, boy and a terrible flirt. With their connection immediate and intense, they begin a clandestine affair right under the noses of John’s formidable parents.

Rosie Coloured Glasses by Brianna Wolfson 

Told with the emotional impact of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, this powerful debut is at once beguiling and heartbreaking. Rosie Coloured Glasses is a novel about the important things in life, about a young person’s struggle to make sense of a world of extremes – extreme loneliness and extreme love – and about how the human heart may break, yet still have the capacity to heal and the resiliency to love again. Sometimes even all the love in the world is not enough to save someone.

Theo by Amanda Prowse

There are two sides to every love story… Anna Cole grew up in care, and wants to start a family of her own. Theo Montgomery had a loveless childhood, and wants to find his soulmate. Then, one day, Theo meets Anna, and Anna meets Theo. Each shows the other how to love. And each shows the other what heartbreak feels like… This is Theo’s story.

Every Note Played by Lisa Genova

From the bestselling author of Still Alice comes a powerful and heartbreakingly moving exploration of regret, forgiveness, freedom – and what it means to be alive.

An accomplished concert pianist, Richard’s inspired performances received standing ovations from audiences all over the world. Every one of his fingers was a finely calibrated instrument, dancing across the keys and striking each note with exacting precision. That was eight months ago.

Richard now has ALS, and his entire right arm is paralysed. His fingers are impotent, still, devoid of possibility. The loss of his hand feels like a death, a loss of true love, a divorce – his divorce.

The Fear by C. L. Taylor

When Lou Wandsworth was fourteen, she believed she was in love. But Mike Hughes wasn’t what he seemed. Over twice her age, his lies and tricks have left her life in pieces.

Eighteen years later, Lou is desperate to put the past behind her. But when she discovers that Mike is involved with thirteen-year-old Chloe, she’s pulled back into his dangerous game.

Determined to save Chloe, Lou decides to take matters into her own hands. But Mike is a predator of the worst kind, and as Lou tries to bring him to justice, it’s clear that she could once again become his prey…

The Secrets We Keep by Shirley Patton 

For readers of Judy Nunn’s Spirits of the Ghan… When a newcomer blows into the mining town of Kalgoorlie she unwittingly uncovers a web of lies and a heartbreaking tie with her tumultuous past in this compelling family saga where the personal and political collide.

The Lace Weaver by Lauren Chater