That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.
J. D. Salinger
That author should know a thing or two about books; he wrote one of the most consequential American volumes of the 20th Century. He's quite right, too. Books not only let you travel the world, you can also travel in time.
From the early oral tradition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to contemporary works, we find plenty of fine examples of Australian literature. In no particular order, and based wholly on subjective preference, this article previews these titles, among others:
| Book title | Author | Tagline |
|---|---|---|
| Oscar and Lucinda | Peter Carey | A series of events bring two people with contrasting personalities together. |
| The Book Thief | Markus Zusak | Death relates a young girl's thirst for knowledge. |
| The Slap | Christos Tsiolkas | What happens when an adult hits someone else's child? |
| True History of the Kelley Gang | Peter Carey | The infamous Australian bushranger's deeds, laid bare. |
| Poor Fellow My Country | Xavier Herbert | Three social outcasts face oppression in Australia's Northern Territory. |
| Boy Swallows Universe | Trent Dalton | Two boys come of age in 1980s Queensland. |
| Big Little Lies | Liane Moriarty | All is not as it seems in this coastal town. |
| The Power of One | Bryce Courtenay | Love and life in the shadow of apartheid. |
| Merry-Go-Round in the Sea | Randolph Stow | A six-year-old boy trying to figure out his world in wartime. |
| Too Much Lip | Melissa Lucashenko | Aboriginal trauma, complete with family drama and cynical politicians. |
A Fraction of the Whole – Steve Toltz
Steve Toltz published A Fraction of the Whole in 2008. The book tells the story of two brothers, Martin and Terry Dean. Offering multiple perspectives, this tale presents a satirical look at family dynamics, human nature, and society in general.
This was Steve Toltz's debut novel. It made the shortlist for the Ned Kelly Awards and Man Booker Prize, and contended for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. A Fraction of the Whole won the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. No wonder so many who tutor English online recommend it!
Big Little Lies – Liane Moriarty
This 2014 publication describes a group of women living in a fictional Australian coastal town. Their secrets, lies, and conflicts are all in stark contrast to their seemingly perfect lives. The novel addresses themes such as human relationships, domestic violence, and fakeness.
If this title sounds familiar, it's because the novel was adapted into an HBO series, in 2017. However, the story's fictional town is in the US, not Australia.
Cloudstreet – Tim Winton
Many consider this 1991 novel one of the finest examples of Australian literature. The story takes place in Perth, Western Australia, between the 1940s and 1960s. It revolves around two working-class families, the Pickles and the Lambs. Discover their lives, struggles, and experiences as they share the house on the book's namesake street.
Jasper Jones – Craig Silvey
This 2009 novel deals with prejudice, social injustice, human relationships, and growing up. It's a Young Adult gothic story that fully deserves its 'To Kill a Mockingbird' comparisons. Critics praise this work for its representation of small-town Australian life, and its believable characters.
Jasper Jones landed on the shortlist for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, and won the Indie Book of the Year Award in 2009. It featured in the 2012 American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults list. In 2017, the film adaptation received mostly positive reviews.
My Brilliant Career – Miles Franklin
Miles Franklin wrote many books, but this 1901 novel is arguably her most popular work. In the novel, the main character, Sybylla Melvyn, has aspirations of becoming a writer. Her story-weaving abilities would allow her to escape rural life in the Australian bush.
My Brilliant Career explores late 19th-century gender roles, social class, and women's struggles during those times. Be sure to include this title on your shelf of classic Australian books!
Though a work of fiction, this narrative appears as a semi-biographical retelling of Stella Miles Franklin's early life. She wrote the book in her teens, committing herself to developing the Australian literary style. In doing so, she became one of Australia's greatest female writers.
Oscar and Lucinda – Peter Carey
Peter Carey is one of Australia's best male authors. His 1988 book tells Oscar Hopkins' and Lucinda Leplastrier's stories, and describes the events that bring the two together.
Oscar and Lucinda are starkly different characters. In 1997, Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett brought them to life on the big screen. Audiences liked the film, but the book tells the story much better.
Picnic at Hanging Rock – Joan Lindsay
This 1967 novel takes place in 1900, in a fictional town in Victoria. At (the actual) Hanging Rock, several girls and their teacher disappear during a picnic. The novel explores women's lives, and the supernatural, in early 20th-century society.
Joan Lindsay wrote many classic Australian novels. For this work, she presents events as if they could be true. Blurring the line between fact and fiction, she leaves it to the readers to find the truth.
Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence – Doris Pilkington
Doris Pilkington is one of our great Indigenous Australian authors. Her 1996 novel describes one Stolen Generation family's experiences. The book tells the true story of Molly, Daisy, and Gracie, who were taken from their families.
The girls escaped and followed the Rabbit-Proof Fence back home, a 1 600km journey. The wrenching twist comes as you learn that Molly was the author's mother. Who wouldn't count this title among the best Australian books?
This phrase describes the times the Australian government removed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. That was one of Australia's darkest periods, which continued until the 1970s.
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
Talking about famous Australian books, this one tops the list. Like many of the great Australian novels in this article, The Book Thief became a movie (in 2013). Set in Nazi Germany during the Second World War, Death is the ultimate perspective from which to learn the book thief's story.
Death stalks Liesel, who lives in a town near Munich during the war. She prowls the shadows, and discovers that books are the greatest treasure. This work binds cruelty, kindness, and human resilience together, while highlighting the power of literature.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Richard Flanagan
Among Australian novels detailing World War II, this 2013 takes place in a Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camp and on the Burma Railway. You might know that forced labour, from civilians and POWs, laid those tracks. This story, like The Book Thief, explores cruelty and human suffering, against the backdrop of one of humanity's most gruesome wars.
The Power of One – Bryce Courtenay
This 1989 novel, set in 1930s and 1940s South Africa, tells Peekay's story. He is an English-speaking South African, growing up in apartheid South Africa. He has complicated relationships with a German musician, a Coloured boxing coach, and his Afrikaner love interest. The book is famous for its memorable characters and inspirational message, as this reviewer describes.
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The Secret River – Kate Grenville
This 2005 story takes place in the early 19th century, during Europe's earliest Australian colonisation period. It features The Lieutenant and Sarah Thornhill; it's part of the trilogy that includes The Idea of Perfection and Searching for the Secret River.
The protagonist is William Thornhill, an English convict sent to New South Wales to serve his sentence. The novel's themes include colonialism and the impact of European settlement on the natives, as well as the struggles of the new settlers.
The Slap – Christos Tsiolkas
This novel tackles contemporary social and cultural issues in Australia. A man strikes someone's child at a suburban barbecue in Melbourne. Suddenly, everything from the slapper's character to the onlookers' feelings become the issue.
The tale tells its story from different characters' perspectives, and from different age and cultural viewpoints. It poses questions about parenting, marriage, social class, cultural diversity, and generational differences.
Fourteen years before Will Smith struck actor Chris Rock on the Academy Awards stage (in 2022), Christos Tsiolkas' Slap made its global tour of television studios and awards shows.
The Turning - Tim Winton
A mate doing English tutoring near me recently asked for a few titles they could use in their tutoring sessions. This 2005 work leapt to the fore. It tells a complete story of modern-day Australia. However, it does so in 17 short stories, rather than one ongoing tale.
Each story can stand alone as a complete work. But, they're best enjoyed together, as Mr Winton has woven elements of each into one another. The topics may make you uncomfortable, but you'll appreciate how gently he treats them.
Merry-Go-Round in the Sea - Randolph Stow
The Second World War had lasting effects on Australian society. Twenty years after it ended, in 1965, Randolph Stow created a six-year-old boy to describe what it was like, growing up in Western Australia during that time.
We fall under the spell of child-like musings, as the boy, Rob, tries to puzzle out his changing world. He's not immune to hero-worship, as his cousin, returning from the battlefield, fuels his imagination. Most of all, it expresses deep longing for the simple life, such as one a six-year-old might live.
True History of the Kelley Gang – Peter Carey
This 2000 novel tells the story of Ned Kelly, the infamous Australian bushranger. Ned never had much of a chance at a decent life, so he embraced crime with gusto. He lived just (shy of) 26 years, but left a trail of havoc as a legacy.
To say Ned Kelley is an Australian icon would be an understatement. He was the subject of the world's first-ever feature-length film, and several since then. Peter Carey giving Ned a voice makes for one of the favourite books in Australia.
Note how The Secret River's themes mirror details from Ned Kelly's life. His father was a transported convict, among the thousands left to eke out a living in Australia after serving his sentence in exile.
Looking for Alibrandi - Melina Marchetta
Sometimes, Young Adult (YA) fiction is so satisfying that even adults clamour for such titles. That's the case with this 1992 classic tale of a high school girl navigating those halls, while dodging classism and racism. As though that weren't bad enough, Alibrandi must also come to terms with personal loss, as she transitions into adulthood.
Boy Swallows Universe - Trent Dalton
As popular as this television series is, likely everyone knows this title, at least. One might even argue that a fair number watch the show - but, watching a well-written story doesn't compare to reading it.
Trent Dalton's 2018 debut novel calls up our own memories of 1980s Brisbane, and perhaps a reflection of wider Australia. We meet a child struggling to come of age in a drug-addled world. He struggles to find dignity amidst his tragic circumstances.
Too Much Lip - Melissa Lucashenko
This 2018 novel lives up to its title, in the sense that it presents a barrage of chattiness. It gives the impression of neighbourhood gossip groups having a field day.
That's exactly the tone this story needs, as it covers greed and political corruption, as well as family drama. Literary prose hardly does those matters justice, does it?
The Rainbow Serpent - Dick Roughsey
Origin stories deliver a certain mystique, and none does it better than our favourite childhood tale. Dick Roughsey (Goobalathaldin) gives us an irresistible sample of such with his 1975 book. Calling on the Dreamtime stories to shape his prose, he paints mountains, gorges and ridges with divine colours.
One Hundred Years of Dirt - Rick Morton
Memoirs are sometimes hard to read. Those packed with salacious stories can be fun, but those like Hundred Years are more like watching a car wreck and feeling its impacts.
Anyone can write their memoirs, but those musings are relevant only to interested parties. So, renowned people's memoirs often get the most traction - which makes their painful revelations all the harder to read. Rick Morton shares how brutal life in Australia can be, something many of us know all about.
Monkey Grip - Helen Garner
The 70s saw great social turmoil and change in Australia. Helen Garner's tale paints a vivid picture of those times in her 1977 work, as she explores life in a communal household. Single parenthood, drugs, and sex feature prominently, but so do determination and compassion.
Monkey Grip was not a literary highpoint immediately after publishing, probably because tales of drovers dominated bookshelves. Over time, it - and Helen Garner, distinguished themselves as literature groundbreakers. Today, Ms Garner is a literary hero, with a long bibliography to her name.
The Thorn Birds – Colleen McCullough
The setting for this story is the Australian Outback. It narrates Meggie Cleary life, and her large Irish-Australian family, from the 1910s to the late 1960s. Meggie harbours a somewhat complicated affection for a Catholic priest.
In 1983, this saga got the American TV miniseries treatment. Remarkably, the televised version stayed true to the story. It ranked among the top shows, at the time.
Colleen McCullough's The Thorn Birds tops the list of the best-selling Australian books of all time. It's also an international bestseller.
Poor Fellow My Country by Xavier Herbert
If you like a long read, this is the book for you. Xavier Herbert's opus clocks in at 1 463 pages; the longest-ever Australian fiction work. It's also the longest single-volume tale in the English language.
Poor Fellow details three social outcasts' exploits during a six-year period, from 1936 to 1942. Racism and oppression are running themes as Australia comes to terms with the war, and its place in the world.
Nothing But My Body -Tilly Lawless
We end our best Australian books exposé with what might arguably be the world's first social media novel. Before publishing in 2021, Tilly's writing consisted entirely of lengthy Instagram captions. In her debut work, she weaves Instagram posts throughout the pages.
That doesn't stop this tale of friendship, obsession, community, and love from hitting all its marks. It presents those themes alongside the Covid pandemic and 2018's devastating brushfires. How can one queer sex worker find their way through all that? Let Tilly tell you.
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Poor Fellow My Country by Xavier Herbert is the greatest Australian novel full stop