Storytime

Megan Goldin scored global success with The Escape Room and is fast proving to be a sizzling new voice in Aussie crime fiction. The Night Swim is another page-turner, with protagonist Rachel Krall producing real-life crime podcasts. Rachel’s first two seasons reopened cold cases, but now she’s reporting on the jury trial of an Olympic swimmer accused of rape. At the same time, a woman named Hannah leaves a note on Rachel’s car, asking for her help with the rape and drowning of her sister 25 years earlier, which she claims was murder. Rachel is intrigued, especially when Hannah says that her sister’s killer will be in the courtroom of the current trial. Are the two cases linked? And why won’t Hannah meet with Rachel?

Amid the glut of World War II fiction, Ellen Feldman’s nuanced romance stands out, its shifting sands of perception and reality set against a backdrop of Nazi-occupied Paris. It’s 1944 and Charlotte Foret, who manages a bookshop in Paris, is trying to stay alive during Nazi occupation. Charlotte’s husband has been killed, leaving her with their 18-month-old daughter, Vivi. Increasingly, German officer Julian Bauer comes into the store and a friendship develops, which ultimately saves their lives. Ten years later, Charlotte is working at a prestigious publishing house in New York, thanks to an old acquaintance of her father’s, when she receives a letter from Bogotá, Colombia. It is from her Nazi…

A BURNING by Megha Majumdar, Scribner

This brilliant fiction debut encapsulates the energy of a burgeoning nation and the explosive, destructive power of social media. The book opens with a terrorist attack on a train. Facebook is filled with commentary and sales clerk Jivan, a young girl from the slums who witnessed hundreds trapped in the train firebombing, decides to pitch in. Her first comment receives scant attention, so she ups the ante, hoping to spark attention. She does and is arrested; accused of being one of the perpetrators. Jivan is suddenly plunged into a vicious cauldron of consequences. The writing is dazzling, the scope – presenting the contradictions of modern India – captivating, and soon we are in the heart of a political thriller.