MARIEKE HARDY

Author, screenwriter and artistic director, melbourne writers’ festival

THREE WOMEN by Lisa Taddeo This book from American author Lisa Taddeo is a staggering non-fiction achievement interrogating female desire, as Lisa embeds herself in the lives of three women who have been somewhat derailed by sex and sexuality. It’s both passionate and troubling. WHEN ONE PERSON DIES THE WHOLE WORLD IS OVER by Mandy Ord This is such a gentle, beautiful, thoughtful graphic memoir covering a year in the life of artistic local treasure Mandy Ord. She uses each page to cover her sometimes small, sometimes big encounters in a 24-hour period over the course of 365 days. It muses on domestic, family and romantic life, along with the bigger thought that death awaits us all. FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE by Taffy Brodesser-akner This comedic novel is both a portrait of the end of a marriage and a truly searing examination of the world of modern dating. With shades of Lauren Groff’s magnificent book Fates and Furies, it’s a deep dive into a long-term relationship and just impossible to put down. THE YIELD by Tara June Winch Tara has such a gift with language and uses it to full effect in this magical and deep portrait of words, intergenerational trauma, and the rich stories of Indigenous culture. SUCH A FUN AGE by Kiley Reid A novel about race, class, privilege and babysitting, this is an important and very sharply observed debut novel, with Kiley taking the narrative into interesting and weighty territory. It’s a page-turner with plenty of plot twists, sparking some much-needed conversation.