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Summer Reading Guide

2025 has been an outstanding year of both reading and writing, and 2026 promises even more. As we enter the season of balmy nights, al fresco reads and the magic of forgetting what day it is, dive into the upcoming break with our Summer Reading Guide.

Spanning works of fiction, non-fiction, children's and YA, our programming team have assembled a list of reading recommendations to tide you over until the 2026 program is announced in March.

As always, we hope you buy some of these books as a present for loved ones (or yourself) from our friends at Gleebooks, your local independent bookshop or borrow them from your favourite library. Make like Charlotte Wood and let the river of books flow this season – happy reading!

Recommendations from Ann Mossop, Artistic Director

Melting Point by Rachel Cockerell

Recognised by The New Yorker as one of the best titles of 2025, Rachel Cockerell’s brilliant family memoir Melting Point is just as extraordinary for the story it tells as the way that she tells it. What started as a family history becomes a broader story that brings to life her great-grandfather, Jewish leader David Jochelman and his role in attempting to create a promised land for Eastern European Jewish migrants in Galveston, Texas. Composed entirely of primary source materials, words from the letters, articles and archives she finds, it is vivid, lively and unexpected, with compelling snapshots of Jewish politics and people as the nineteenth and twentieth centuries unfold. For lovers of history and biography who aren’t afraid of something new.

Dusk by Robbie Arnott and I am Nannertgarrook by Tasma Walton

The ARA Historical Novel Prize had two winners this year with the judges unwilling to separate two wonderful books, Dusk by Robbie Arnott and I am Nannertgarrook by Tasma Walton. They are both great reads, with different lenses on the past. If you have not yet discovered the work of Robbie Arnott, it’s time to jump in to Dusk, and experience his unique evocation of Tasmanian landscape and stories. Tasma Walton’s I am Nannertgarrook is part of what is becoming an amazingly rich body of writing reimagining the lives of first-nations people. Bringing her family stories and the historical record into an imaginative conversation, these stories of survival are seen through the eyes of women and children to bring a different note to the histories we share.

Heart the Lover by Lily King

Lily King's seventh novel is an affecting story of love and loss, that has all the pleasures of a beautiful coming-of-age story. With a love triangle at its heart, we experience the characters’ growth into adulthood and love – both in the moment and seen from the vantage point of middle age. The college setting brings with it the resonances of so many other stories, but the relationships at the book’s heart are its driving force and make it a book for anyone who wants an emotional journey with light and shade.

Recommendations from Lauren Bennett, Festival Producer

Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte

What’s stranger than fiction? The internet. American author Tony Tulathimutte’s Rejection captures the experience of being chronically online in such a palpable way that I finished the book feeling like I had made my way to the bottom of a Reddit thread. I can’t say it’s an experience I have ever had before reading fiction. Spurring from the opening story ‘The Feminist’, which has left one internet user questioning “Is Rejection the first truly incel novel?”, Tony populates this satire with protagonists you will love to hate. Ditch your phone and doomscroll this instead.

The Australian Wars by Rachel Perkins, Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray and Henry Reynolds

A book worth gifting far and wide this holiday season is The Australian Wars. Following on from the groundbreaking documentary series by Blackfella Films, this book documents over a century of armed Indigenous resistance, colonial warfare and violence. Featuring contributions from writers including Marcia Langton, David Marr, Thomas Mayo and many more, The Australian Wars reckons with our history to acknowledge the battles fought and the sovereignty at stake in the establishment of Australia. Read it now and revisit it for many summers to come.

Eros by Zoe Terakes

With much of this book set by the sea, from Crete to the Northern Rivers, Zoe Terakes' Eros: Queer Myths for Lovers is the perfect summer read. You can almost feel the sun drying salt onto your skin as you dip in and out of its five stories. Passionate, violent, sexy and beautifully rendered, Zoe finds the inherent queerness in the Greek myths we thought we knew, and liberates it. This may be their debut book, but it’s helmed by an unabashed writing voice, and an ability to inhabit every familiar character from mythology anew. We meet Icarurs, Eurydice, Hermaphroditus, to name a few, and traverse time and location, so each retelling feels as freshly alive as the last.

Recommendations from Nathan Luff, Manager of Children's & YA Programs

Dear Broccoli written by Jo Dabrowski and illustrated by Cate James

This is a great example of a picture book that is as much fun for adults as kids. Written as a series of letters between a child named Frank and Broccoli, who annoyingly ends up on Frank’s plate at meal times, this book is very funny and who knows, maybe it will make fussy eaters reconsider their relationship with a common (yet totally misunderstood) vegetable. Perfect for fans of The Day the Crayons Quit. Recommended for ages 3+

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Fast and Slow Animals written and illustrated by Sami Bayly

If you’ve come across any of Sami Bayly’s other nature-focused books, you’ll know exactly what to expect from her latest. Incredibly detailed illustrations are combined with many interesting facts and comparisons between some of the fastest and slowest animals on our planet. Kids will pore over this hardcover information book for hours, turning them into official know-it-alls at your next dinner party. Recommended for ages 8+

Promises and Other Lies by Sue Whiting

Sue Whiting is one of Australia’s greatest middle-grade authors. She’s an expert storyteller, crafting page-turners that never fail to delight and intrigue. Her latest is a mystery novel taking place in the aftermath of a bushfire. Set in a small town, the quiet lives of the townsfolk are disrupted by unearthed secrets, wild accusations, and promises that might prove impossible to keep. Recommended for ages 10+

The Locked Room by Adam Cece

This YA novel opens with the main characters stuck in a locked room, with a 1-hour countdown set over the door. Breaking out from this room, however, only leads to another locked room. With lots of inspiration from the puzzles you might find in escape rooms, infused with John Hughes style character dynamics (think, The Breakfast Club) and high-stakes drama, this is a fun and fast read. Adam Cece has previously written for younger readers but this is his first foray into YA fiction. Recommended for ages 12+