June Shelf-Talkers: all new fiction reviews!

Booktopia’s resident fiction lover Ben Hunter shares five new releases that should be next on your TBR list.

LOVE, DEATH AND MOVING PICTURES

The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith

The Electric Hotel is one of the most hotly anticipated books of the year. It’s Australian-born author Dominic Smith’s follow up to the critically acclaimed and bestselling The Last Painting of Sara de Vos. This too, is a story of love, death and the creation of a masterpiece. Taking readers from Paris to New York, Sydney, the Western Front, and beyond, Dominic Smith’s meticulously researched journey through the birth of cinema is moving, exhilarating, and will captivate you long after that final page. It’s historical fiction at it’s absolute best.

ELIZABETH GILBERT GOES GLITZ

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

City of Girls has got to be one of the biggest novels of the year. Gilbert’s first new novel since the Women’s Prize-listed The Signature of All Things was written in the aftermath of the death of her partner Rayya Elias. I expected darkness, but Gilbert has showered readers in glorious light. A coming-of-age story set again the heady delights of 1940s New York, City of Girls celebrates life and female self-discovery like only Elizabeth Gilbert’s writing can. This book is a monumental delight.

Read my full review here.

HUMAN SPIRIT VS. RACIST POLICY

The White Girl by Tony Birch

The White Girl is a striking new novel from one of Australia’s best. When her under-the-radar existence comes under threat from a cop whose authority over the Aboriginals in his town is absolute, Odette is forced to take an enormous risk for the welfare of her grandaughter, Sissy. Written with a deep sense of empathy and purpose, The White Girl is a powerful and urgent novel.

Listen to our podcast with Tony Birch.

JACKSON BRODIE RETURNS

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson

Big Sky is a fantastic gift to readers so soon after the wonderful Transcription. Jackson Brodie is back in his fifth novel (these can happily be read as stand-alones) with his doggedly unenthusiastic teenage son at his side in a picturesque seaside village. A gripping mystery unfolds, but what glued me to the page was Atkinson’s brilliant portrayal of the ageing hero and the fallacies of the male ego she weaves into her story. For me, anything Atkinson puts her pen to is mandatory reading.

A CLASSIC REANIMATED

Frankissstein: A Love Story by Jeanette Winterson

Frankissstein is a novel of the kind of risky invention only the best and brightest writing in the form should dare to play with. Her fans will know – Jeanette Winterson is an author of limitless talent and daring. Frankisstein is a moving, funny, and insightful little book in which artificial life meets artificial intelligence, the transgender meets the transhuman, the Gothic hero is reborn as a TED-talking tech evangelist, and Lord Byron becomes an American sexbot merchant. What more could you possibly ask for?

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About the Contributor

Ben Hunter

Ben is Booktopia's dedicated fiction and children's book specialist. He spends his days painstakingly piecing together beautiful catalogue pages and gift guides for the website. At any opportunity, he loves to write warmly of the books that inspire him. If you want to talk books, find him tweeting at @itsbenhunter