The Bookshelf

This week on The Bookshelf, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh discuss new novels including Laura McPhee-Browne's Worry Doll, a story of desire, obsession and uncertainty; Leïla Slimani's I'll Take the Fire, the acclaimed French-Moroccan writer's rich, politically charged exploration of family, memory and identity; and Kris Kneen's Rite of Spring, an eerie island novel where strange creatures lurk in the mist.
Joining the program are regular reviewers, bestselling crime writer Michael Robotham and novelist and academic Roanna Gonsalves.
Plus, as ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books Countdown approaches, writer and historian Bruce Pascoe shares three Australian books he loves.
Books discussed
Worry Doll, Laura McPhee-Browne
I'll Take the Fire, Leïla Slimani (translated by Sam Taylor)
Rite of Spring, Kris Kneen
Benang: From The Heart, Kim Scott
Every Secret Thing, Marie Munkara
Mullumbimby, Melissa Lucashenko
Guest recommendations
Whistler, Ann Patchett
The Hunter, Tana French
Tomb of Sand, Geetanjali Shree 
Credits
Presenter: Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh
Producer: Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett
Sound: Craig Tilmouth and Micky Grossman
Arts editor: Sarah L'Estrange

A live recording from the 2025 Melbourne Writers Festival, with guests Hannah Kent and Beejay Silcox.
Hannah Kent, Always Home, Always Homesick (Picador)
Eimear McBride, The City Changes Its Face (Faber)
Susan Choi, Flashlight (Jonathan Cape)
Edward St Aubyn, Parallel Lines (Jonathan Cape)
Caryl Phillips, Another Man in the Street (Bloomsbury)
Guests
Hannah Kent is the author of the novels Burial Rites, The Good People and Devotion. Her latest book is the memoir, Always Home, Always Homesick
Beejay Silcox is a critic, writer, festival director and literary interviewer
Other Books Mentioned
Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex
Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Eric Puchner, Dream State
Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers
Emily Maguire, Rapture
Mariana Enríquez, A Sunny Place for Shady People
Susan Hampton, Anything Can Happen

We review the latest in fiction for dedicated readers and for those who wish they read more.

Cassie McCullagh is joined by Jonathan Green this time, for a wide-ranging hour of new fiction, from Australia and beyond. First, Fiona Mozley’s unsettling Awake Awake, where a young woman begins to suspect her grandfather may have killed Adolf Hitler, Zan Rowe weighs in. Then, Irish writer Niamh Campbell’s Make Strange, a quietly eerie novel about a four-year-old asking impossible questions, including whether she’s lived before...Madeleine Gray gives her verdict. And we begin with a striking new Australian voice in the short story collection I Made This Just For You by Chris Ames.
~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED
Elmet; Hot Stew, by Fiona Mozley
What We Can Know, by Ian McEwan
The Ruiners, by Ellena Savage
The Shepherd's Life; A Place of Tides, by James Rebanks
The Animators; Returns and Exchanges, by Kayla Rae Whitaker
Fruit Fly, by Josh Silver
Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang
A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara
Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart
~ CREDITS
Presenter, Cassie McCullagh and Jonathan Green
Producer, Cassie McCullagh and Sarah Corbett
Sound, Antonia Gauci and Ann Marie Debettencor
Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown

From a sun-drenched Tuscan reset with a side of style advice (Andrew Sean Greer's Villa Coco via Michael Robotham), to Ilka Tampke’s How To Love the World, a tender take on parenting and the pull of the bush (guided by Roanna Gonsalves), and throw in a windswept lighthouse on the edge of the world with Michael Pedersen’s Muckle Flugga.
~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED
Charles Bukowski, works
Andrew Sean Greer, Less
Graham Greene, Travels with My Aunt
Patrick Dennis, Auntie Mame
Steve Toltz, works
Ilka Tampke, Skin; Songwoman
Debra Adelaide,When I Am Sixty-Four
David Sedaris, The Land and Its People; Me Talk Pretty One Day
Rashida Murphy, Old Ghosts; The Historian's Daughter
Olga Ravn, The Wax Child; The Employees
~ CREDITS
Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh
Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett
Sound engineer, Tegan Nicholls and Harvey O'Sullivan
Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown