Dave Eggers explores the messy intersection of art, friendship and growing up in Contrapposto, while Daniel Mason's Country People follows an academic family into a Vermont landscape full of stories, obsessions and believers in worlds beneath the earth. Then Maria Takolander's The End of Romance imagines life after collapse, where survival, motherhood and hope take unexpected forms. Joining Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are our regular reviewers, novelist Madeleine Gray and musician Tim Rogers.  Plus, playwright and novelist George Kemp shares three favourite Australian books ahead of the ABC's Top 100 Australian Books countdown. Books discussed Contrapposto - Dave Eggers Country People - Daniel Mason The End of Romance - Maria Takolander Cloudstreet - Tim Winton The Sun Walks Down - Fiona McFarlane Cold Enough for Snow - Jessica Au Guest recommendations Dream Girls - Hannah Goldstein Brother of the More Famous Jack - Barbara Trapido The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark Riverboy - Jim Ewing A Suitable Man - Jock Serong Fifty Beating Wonders - Dr Michelle Johnston Flights - Olga Tokarczuk  Credits Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound, Micky Grossman and Tegan Nicholls Arts editor, Sarah L' Estrange

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

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are joined by regulars Hannah Kent and Tom Wright to talk new fiction from three major voices: Maggie O’Farrell’s Land, an expansive novel set in famine-era Ireland that traces memory, myth and the imprint of history on place; Ann Patchett’s Whistler, a sharp story of family, lost fathers and the long shadow of childhood; and Christine Balint’s A Single Witness, which follows a teenage girl confronting her community and the law in 18th-century Italy. ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Maggie O'Farrell, works Ann Patchett, works Christine Balint, works George R.Stewart, Names On The Land  Sumner Locke Elliott’s Careful, He Might Hear You  Tusiata Avia, Big Fat Brown Bitch  Dominic Hoey, 1985 Ingrid Horrocks, All Her Lives: Nine Stories Tāme Iti, MANA ~ CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound: Micky Grossman, Isabella Tropiano Arts editor: Rhiannon Brown

Kate Evans is joined by Bernadette Brennan and Beejay Silcox to talk three striking new releases: Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s Said the Dead, a haunting, archive-rich exploration of a derelict Irish asylum; Chloe Wilson’s The Thornbacks, a darkly comic debut of morticians, dating apps and unsettling female entanglements; and Deborah Levy’s My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein, a playful meditation on literary life in Paris.  ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Amitav Ghosh, Ghost-Eye Susan Choi, Flashlight  S.A. Cosby, works Doireann Ní Ghríofa, A Ghost in the Throat  Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle Angela Carter, Wise Children Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides Daisy Johnson, Sisters Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister the Serial Killer Deborah Levy, works Kim Scott, Benang Alexis Wright, Carpentaria Francesca Wade, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas  Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain, Bone Horn Erin Vincent. Fourteen Ways of Looking Claire Thomas, On Not Climbing Mountains Gwendoline Riley, The Palm House Chloe Wilson, Hold Your Fire Robin Robertson, The Long Take Joseph Furphy, Such is Life Elizabeth Jolley, works ~ CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound: Antonia Gauci Arts editor: Rhiannon Brown

The Bookshelf comes to you from a sold out session at Sydney Writers’ Festival, for a conversation that brings together an exceptional line-up: acclaimed novelist and poet Tony Birch, Miles Franklin Award-winning author Siang Lu, and internationally celebrated writer Lily King. Together, with Cassie, Kate and special guest Claire Nichols from The Book Show, they mark the launch of ABC Radio National’s 2026 Top 100 Books countdown, this year turning the spotlight on the very best of Australian writing, fiction and non-fiction, across all time. ~ ABC RADIO NATIONAL TOP 100 AUSTRALIAN BOOKS COUNTDOWN https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/top-100-books-2026/106621398 ~ BOOKS MENTIONED BY LILY KING Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds Shirley Hazzard, The Transit of Venus; The Evening of the Holiday Kate Grenville, The Idea of Perfection Christina Stead, The Man Who Loved Children ~ BOOKS MENTIONED BY TONY BIRCH William Dick, A Bunch of Ratbags Ruth Park, works Colin Johnson, Wild Cat Falling Kenneth Cook, Wake in Fright Frank Hardy, Power Without Glory Peter Carey, American Dreams; Crabs Pi O, 24 Hours: Ulysses in Fitzroy ~ BOOKS MENTIONED BY SIANG LU Nam Le, The Boat Michael Winkler, Grimmish Peter Carey, The True History of the Kelly Gang Helen Garner, Monkey Grip Charlotte Wood, Stone Yard Devotional ~ BOOKS MENTIONED BY CASSIE MCCULLAGH Miles Franklin, My Brilliant Career Peter Temple, Broken Shore Peter Carey, The Fat Man in History ~  BOOKS MENTIONED BY KATE EVANS Ethel Turner, Seven Little Australians Florence James and Dymphna Cusack, Come in Spinner Peter Carey, Illywhacker; Oscar and Lucinda ~ BOOKS MENTIONED BY CLAIRE NICHOLS The Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book Mem Fox, Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Kim Scott, works Tim Winton, works Josephine Wilson, Extinctions ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED  Tim Winton, Cloudstreet Trent Dalton, Boy Swallows Universe Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore Sally Morgan, My Place Archie Roach, Tell Me Why Jimmy Barnes, Working Class Boy Ruby Langford Ginibi, Don’t Take Your Love to Town Thea Astley, works Helen Garner, The Children's Bach; The Spare Room Melina Marchetta, Looking for Alibrandi Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North; Question 7 Madeleine St John, Ladies in Black Shankari Chandran, Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens Ruth Park, Playing Beatie Bow Andrew McGahan, Praise Markus Zusak, The Book Thief Robbie Arnott, Limberlost Hannah Kent, Burial Rites Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding A.B. Facey, A Fortunate Life David Malouf, Johnno  Jane Harper, The Dry ~ CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh, Claire Nichols Producer, Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound, Harvey O'Sullivan Arts Editor, Rhiannon Brown

We head by rackety ferry to Scotland in John of John, the latest, quietly devastating novel from Shuggie Bain author Douglas Stuart. Henry Lawson reimagined - brawling poets, strange tunnels, time loops, and a warped tussle between city and bush in Wayne Marshall’s Henry Goes Bush, reviewed by You Am I's Tim Rogers. From there, novelist Madeleine Gray turns her eye to Lena Dunham’s sharp, self‑aware memoir Famesick, before moving to Ellena Savage’s The Ruiners, which shifts between a Melbourne lobster shack and a smoke‑wreathed Greek island. ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Norman Lindsay, Bohemians of the Bulletin Ruth Park, Playing Beatie Bow Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist: Essays Lena Dunham, Not That Kind of Girl Joan Didion, works Eve Babitz, works Ellena Savage, Blueberries Charles Dickens, works Charmian Clift, works George Johnston, works Michael Winkler, Griefdogg Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch Colum McCann, Apeirogon Steve MinOn, First Name Second Name Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie James Bailey, Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark Lee Lai, Cannon ~ CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Craig Tilmouth and Roi Huberman Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown