Carpentaria
About the book
The Phantom family stands at the centre of disputes over land and power in a coastal Queensland town.
Oceania · A READING GUIDE
Australia
Begin with the Perth family panorama of Cloudstreet or the mystery of Picnic at Hanging Rock. Waanyi writer Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria and Wiradjuri author Tara June Winch’s The Yield offer distinct Indigenous perspectives on land, language and memory. Too Much Lip and Taboo lead towards contemporary disputes and returns to places of violence. Read Voss and The Secret River alongside these voices as different approaches to colonisation, or choose The Narrow Road to the Deep North for a story of war and memory.
WHERE TO START
- CarpentariaAlexis Wright
- The YieldTara June Winch
- Picnic at Hanging RockJoan Lindsay
Books to begin with
An editorial selection · not rankedNo matches. Try another language or search term.
The Yield
About the book
August’s homecoming connects family history with the preservation of the Wiradjuri language.
Picnic at Hanging Rock
About the book
Schoolgirls disappear during an excursion, unsettling the world of an Australian boarding school.
PolishTranslation
Piknik pod Wiszącą Skałą
Replika · 2018
Translated by Wacław Niepokólczycki
Edition source ↗
Oscar and Lucinda
About the book
Two gamblers become entangled in an extraordinary venture to transport a glass church.
Too Much Lip
About the book
Kerry Salter returns home, where a dispute over land becomes entangled with family grievances.
Taboo
About the book
A group of Noongar people returns to the site of a massacre, confronting violent memory and present relationships.
Voss
About the book
A nineteenth-century expedition into Australia unfolds alongside the explorer’s spiritual bond with Laura.
PolishTranslation
Voss
Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy · 1979
Translated by Maria Skibniewska
Edition source ↗
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
About the book
Surgeon Dorrigo Evans struggles with memories of love and captivity on the Death Railway.
Cloudstreet
About the book
Two families share a house in Perth through years of loss, hope and everyday strangeness.
My Brilliant Career
About the book
Sybylla Melvyn wants to write and determine her own future rather than organise her life around marriage.
The Secret River
About the book
Former convict William Thornhill seeks a new life on land whose existing owners he refuses to recognise.
True History of the Kelly Gang
About the book
Carey invents a voice for Ned Kelly, exploring the making of an Australian outlaw legend.
PolishTranslation
Prawdziwa historia Neda Kelly’ego
Wielka Litera · 2016
Translated by Magdalena Moltzan-Małkowska
Edition source ↗
Catching Teller Crow
About the book
After her death, Beth helps her father investigate a case in a story combining crime, ghosts and Indigenous Australian perspectives.
Praiseworthy
About the book
An ecological crisis and an eccentric donkey scheme entangle a family in northern Australia.
The Swan Book
About the book
Oblivia moves through a future Australia shaped by climate catastrophe and continuing colonial violence.
Context and sources
Sources on authors and their connections to this country. Specific edition details appear beside each book. Polish and English originals are not labelled as translations.
- Alexis Wright — Giramondo ↗
- Tara June Winch — Penguin ↗
- Joan Lindsay — National Library of Australia ↗
- Peter Carey — Penguin ↗
- Melissa Lucashenko — University of Queensland Press ↗
- Kim Scott — Picador ↗
- Patrick White — Vintage ↗
- Richard Flanagan — Penguin ↗
- Tim Winton — Penguin ↗
- Miles Franklin — Penguin Classics ↗
- Kate Grenville — Text Publishing ↗
- Peter Carey — Penguin ↗
- Ambelin Kwaymullina i Ezekiel Kwaymullina — Allen & Unwin ↗
- Praiseworthy — Giramondo Publishing ↗
- The Swan Book — Giramondo Publishing ↗
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