A noted literary scholar traverses the Russian canon, exploring how realists, idealists, and revolutionaries debated good and evil, moral responsibility, and freedom.

Since the age of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov, Russian literature has posed questions about good and evil, moral responsibility, and human freedom with a clarity and intensity found nowhere else. In this wide-ranging meditation, Gary Saul Morson delineates intellectual debates that have coursed through two centuries of Russian writing, as the greatest thinkers of the empire and then the Soviet Union enchanted readers with their idealism, philosophical insight, and revolutionary fervor.

Morson describes the Russian literary tradition as an argument between a radical intelligentsia that uncompromisingly followed ideology down the paths of revolution and violence, and writers who probed ever more deeply into the human condition. The debate concerned what Russians called “the accursed questions”: If there is no God, are good and evil merely human constructs? Should we look for life’s essence in ordinary or extreme conditions? Are individual minds best understood in terms of an overarching theory or, as Tolstoy thought, by tracing the “tiny alternations of consciousness”?

Exploring apologia for bloodshed, Morson adapts Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the non-alibi-the idea that one cannot escape or displace responsibility for one’s actions. And, throughout, Morson isolates a characteristic theme of Russian culture: how the aspiration to relieve profound suffering can lead to either heartfelt empathy or bloodthirsty tyranny. What emerges is a contest between unyielding dogmatism and open-minded dialogue, between heady certainty and a humble sense of wonder at the world’s elusive complexity-a thought-provoking journey into inescapable questions.

‘Gay has an ability to blend the personal and political in a way that feels simultaneously gentle and brutal . . . you look at a cultural moment through Gay’s eyes and, by the end, you see the world differently’ Arwa Mahdawi, Guardian

Since the publication of the groundbreaking Bad Feminist and Hunger, Roxane Gay has continued to tackle the big issues embroiling society – state-sponsored violence and mass shootings, women’s rights post-Dobbs, online disinformation, and the limits of empathy – alongside more individual matters: Can I tell my coworker her perfume makes me sneeze? Is it acceptable to schedule a daily eight a.m. meeting? In her role as a New York Times contributing opinion writer and the publication’s “Work Friend” columnist, she reaches millions of readers with her wise voice and sharp insights.

With an introduction in which Gay provides the connective tissues that link her groundbreaking writing, Opinions is a collection of Roxane Gay’s best nonfiction pieces from the past ten years, addressing a wide range of topics – politics, the culture wars, civil rights, celebrities, and much more. Offering nuanced analysis that never shies away from difficult topics, this sharp, thought-provoking anthology will delight Gay’s devotees and draw new readers to this inimitable talent.

‘This was utterly brilliant and satisfying. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter will be the best of the secret project novels, and it is easily one of Sanderson’s finest books in his career.’ – Novel Notions

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson – creator of The Stormlight Archive, the Mistborn Saga, and countless bestselling works of science fiction and fantasy – comes this gripping story set in the Cosmere universe told by Hoid, where two people from incredibly different cultures must work together to save their worlds from certain disaster.

Yumi has spent her entire life in strict obedience, granting her the power to summon the spirits that bestow vital aid upon her society – but she longs for even a single day as a normal person. Painter patrols the dark streets dreaming of being a hero – a goal that has led to nothing but heartache and isolation, leaving him always on the outside looking in. In their own ways, both of them face the world alone.

Suddenly flung together, Yumi and Painter must strive to right the wrongs in both their lives, reconciling their past and present while maintaining the precarious balance of each of their worlds. If they cannot unravel the mystery of what brought them together before it’s too late, they risk forever losing not only the bond growing between them, but the very worlds they’ve always struggled to protect.

Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.

A drop of blood to bind its power.

1650: The Black Forest, Wurttemberg. Fifteen years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their father and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people recovering in the aftermath of a brutal war.

Greta has a secret, though: the witch’s grimoire, secreted away and whispering in her ear, and the recipe inside that makes the most sinfully delicious – and addictive – gingerbread. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat.

But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her intoxicating gingerbread is a source of ever-growing suspicion and vicious gossip.

And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta’s own power – magic she is still trying to understand – may be the only thing that can save her …

If it doesn’t kill her first.

‘Bewitching historical fantasy … Woods is a powerful new voice in speculative fiction’ starred review, Publishers Weekly (US)

‘A dark and wondrous tale. Utterly enchanting’ Kate Forsyth, bestselling author of The Crimson Thread

‘Deliciously irresistible … A gorgeous debut that you’ll consume in one gulp’ Natasha Lester, New York Time bestselling author of The Three Lives of Alix St Pierre

Introducing an exciting new voice in Australian fiction, Molly Schmidt, winner of the 2022 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award. Salt River Road is a compelling coming-of-age novel about grief and healing set in a small town in the 1970s.

In the aftermath of their mother’s death, the Tetley siblings’ lives are falling apart. Left to fend for themselves as their family farm goes to ruins, Rose sets out to escape the grief and mess of home. When she meets Noongar Elders Patsy and Herbert, she finds herself drawn into a home where she has the chance to discover the strength of community, and to heal a wound her family has carried for a generation. Salt River Road is a poignant exploration of healing and resilience, small-town racism and the power of human connection.

‘This story retains an innocence and a sense of decency even as it glides through pain, love and complex politics. It’s refreshing, and open, and kind of tricky.’ Kim Scott

‘An amazing new talent.’ Brett D’Arcy

‘A joyous gift from the heart, practical and wise. Blasts those I-can’t-do-this terrors with both barrels.’ Susan Johnson, Aphrodite’s Breath

‘I adored The House That Joy Built – it’s readable, relatable and raw. A gentle call to action for creatives. This book is my new talisman for a creative life – it will hold my hand when I’m drowning in self-doubt and fear. Holly lays her heart on the page and encourages readers to do the same.’ Amy Lovat, Mistakes and Other Lovers

The House that Joy Built is about the transformative power of finding joy through creativity, and offers a jump-start for anyone whose desire to create is flattened by fear. Fear of feeling vulnerable, of criticism and judgement from others, of not being good enough, of having ‘bad’ ideas, of being ‘too much’. This book is for everyone who has ever felt stuck creatively. It is for those yearning to write, and also for anyone who longs to create but doesn’t know how to find a way into, or back to their imagination.

Uplifting, powerful and inspiring, The House That Joy Built is an exhilarating, openhearted clarion call to experience the joy and freedom of creativity.

The award-winning author of Sand Talk returns with a formidably original yarn with Indigenous thought leaders from around the globe.

Sand Talk, Tyson Yunkaporta’s bestselling debut, cast an Indigenous lens on contemporary society. It was, said Melissa Lucashenko, ‘an extraordinary invitation into the world of the Dreaming’.

Right Story, Wrong Story extends Yunkaporta’s explorations of how we can learn from Indigenous thinking. Along the way, he talks to a range of people including liberal economists, memorisation experts, Frisian ecologists, and Elders who are wood carvers, mathematicians and storytellers.

Right Story, Wrong Story describes how our relationship with land is inseparable from how we relate to each other. This book is a sequence of thought experiments, which are, as Yunkaporta writes, ‘crowd-sourced narratives where everybody’s contribution to the story, no matter how contradictory, is honoured and included…the closest thing I can find in the world to the Aboriginal collective process of what we call “yarning”.’

And, as he argues, story is at the heart of everything. But what is right or wrong story? This exhilarating book is an attempt to answer that question. Right Story, Wrong Story is a formidably original essay about how we teach and learn, and how we can talk to each other to shape forms of collective thinking that are aligned with land and creation.

Bighearted, gritty, magical and moving, Lola in the Mirror is the irresistible new novel from international bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies, Trent Dalton.

‘Mirror, mirror, on the grass, what’s my future? What’s my past?’

A girl and her mother have been on the run for sixteen years, from police and the monster they left in their kitchen with a knife in his throat. They’ve found themselves a home inside a van with four flat tyres parked in a scrapyard by the edge of the Brisbane River.

The girl has no name because names are dangerous when you’re on the run. But the girl has a dream. A vision of a life as an artist of international acclaim. A life outside the grip of the Brisbane underworld drug queen ‘Lady’ Flora Box. A life of love with the boy who’s waiting for her on the bridge that stretches across a flooding, deadly river. A life beyond the bullet that has her name on it. And now that the storm clouds are rising, there’s only one person who can help make her dreams come true. That person is Lola and she carries all the answers. But to find Lola, the girl with no name must first do one of the hardest things we can ever do. She must look in the mirror.

Lola in the Mirror is a big, moving, blackly funny, violent, heartbreaking and beautiful novel of love, fate, life and death and all the things we see when we look in the mirror: all our past, all our present, and all our possible futures.

The powerful, untold story of two of the three members of iconic Australian band Silverchair.

It all began in Ben Gillies’ garage – where three high school kids from Newcastle, New South Wales, created magic with their smash-hit single ‘Tomorrow’, setting them on a path to domination of the Australian charts, worldwide touring and fame.

So much has been written about Silverchair over the years but very little has been said by the band’s members. In Love & Pain, drummer Ben Gillies and bass player Chris Joannou retrace their footsteps from childhood friends living across the road from each other, and share their often hilarious, wild and unforgettable stories from the rock ‘n’ roll spotlight, along with the exhilarating highs and heart-wrenching lows they faced along the way.

There was also all the love and pain that came from being in the band: the cost of fame and intense pressure on two teenagers who had no way of preparing for it, and the complex dynamics of navigating friendships with each other and their relationships with friends and family members, the mistakes they made and the successes they cherished. Gillies and Joannou write with vulnerability and raw and blistering honesty, making for an extraordinary account of a band adored by so many.

Global icon. Six-time Grammy winner. Headline-maker. The most talented recording artist of her generation.

Much has been said about Amy Winehouse since her tragic death aged just 27. But who was the real Amy?

Amy Winehouse: In Her Words shines a spotlight on her incredible writing talent, her wit, her charm and lust for life. Bringing together Amy’s own never-before-seen journals, handwritten lyrics and family photographs together for the first time, this intimate tribute traces her creative evolution from growing up in North London to global superstardom, and provides a rare insight into the girl who became a legend.

The Estate of Amy Winehouse will donate 100% of the advance and royalties it receives from the production and sale of this book to The Amy Winehouse Foundation. The minimum donation will be £70,000. More information can be found at https://amywinehousefoundation.org.