Book Club – this month’s reads
Thursday, 12 March 2026 Books+Publishing @booksandpublishing
Looking for your next great group read? Our monthly Book Club rounds up new release titles perfect for sparking conversation and perhaps even some debate. From compelling fiction to thought-provoking nonfiction, these are some of the books releasing this month that are worth stocking and recommending to readers.
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The Amber Owl Juliet Marillier New Dawn ISBN: 9781763662513 RRP: $32.99 |
| Why book clubs will love it: “Charming and enchanting, The Amber Owl delivers a powerful message about the preservation of nature, the lasting bonds of friendship, and standing up against oppressive forces. An emotional story of friendship, family and working through grief, this tale will tug at your heartstrings. If you love lush fantasy woodland worlds, animals, magic, and adventure, this one’s for you!” – Madeline Te Whiu, publicist, New Dawn | |
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Bound Samantha WL Lee WestWords ISBN: 9781923044654 RRP: $34.99 |
| Why book clubs will love it: “An evocative, beautifully written debut exploring the legacy of our families and the traditions that shape us: how we both embody and try to flee from the ties that bind as we look to shape our own future and destiny. The past and the future are both terrible and joyful, and Samantha’s writing is full of compassion and deep humanity. It is an epic tale of family, love, death, identity and the search for a better life. Even if I wasn’t her publisher, I would say it is a must-read.” – Michael Campbell, executive director, WestWords | |
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The Boyfriend Clause Bridie Blake Text ISBN: 9781923058767 RRP $34.99 |
| Why book clubs will love it: “Sabrina’s lifelong dream, to run her own café, is on the brink of disaster unless she can find a boyfriend to satisfy her parents’ loan agreement. That leads her to create a fake boyfriend, Adam, who happens to have the same name as the rude, brooding writer who lives in her apartment block. Full of family shenanigans and laughter, book clubs will love The Boyfriend Clause for its twisty family dynamics and thoughtful character arcs. This book will spark conversations about boundaries, forgiveness, and family rivalry.” – Aideen Gallagher, publicist, Text | |
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Life Drawing Emily Lighezzolo UQP ISBN: 9780702270987 RRP: $34.99 |
| Why book clubs will love it: “Resting against a relationship that evolves across two decades, Life Drawing’s bold exploration of gaze, bodily autonomy and what it means to be a ‘muse’ in both life and love gives every reader something to interrogate. It’s sharp, funny, unflinching – and it’s rich with the kind of moral greys and emotional truths that make for lively group discussions. Provocative and deeply affecting, Life Drawing is precisely the kind of book that clubbers love sinking their teeth into.” – Lauren Mitchell, editor, UQP | |
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Like, Follow, Die Ashley Kalagian Blunt Ultimo ISBN: 9781761154546 RRP: $34.99 |
| Why book clubs will love it: “Australia’s queen of tech noir has done it again! Like, Follow, Die is a powerfully chilling novel about the darkest corners of the internet. The perfect book for anyone who was gripped by Netflix’s Adolescence, this novel will prompt rich discussions about incel culture, cyber-crime and masculinity.” – Zoë Victoria, publicist, Ultimo | |
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On Not Climbing Mountains Claire Thomas Hachette ISBN: 9780733644566 RRP: $32.99 |
| Why book clubs will love it: “From the internationally acclaimed author of The Performance comes a tender, compelling and stunningly written literary novel. A woman travelling through Switzerland, where her late father grew up, finds herself roaming back and forth in time, braiding personal experiences with moments in literature and history. Concerned with the fragilities of the natural world, the pains of grief and memory, and the endless reverberations of art, On Not Climbing Mountains is a perfect book club pick with plenty to discuss and reflect on.” – Vanessa Radnidge, head of non-fiction and literary, Hachette |
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Smother Eve Thomson Echo ISBN: 9781760687830 RRP: $34.99 |
| Why book clubs will love it: “When 16-year-old Grace suffers a catastrophic brain injury during a school football match, parents, teachers and coaches scramble to shift the blame. Navigating the legal and ethical minefield created by conflicting forces of love, ambition and fear, lawyer Romola Cross endeavours to uncover where the accountabilities lie, at a cost to her own personal life. Smother explores the real-world impact of brain trauma in sport – increasingly widely diagnosed in our most-loved sporting legends – and opens space for urgent conversation and debate about responsibility and care. With thoughtful reading notes included, it is perfectly primed for lively, searching book club discussion.” – Maeve Carragher, marketing coordinator, Echo | |
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What Is Left For Us Sophie Stern Penguin ISBN: 9781761354441 RRP: $34.99 |
| Why book clubs will love it: “What Is Left For Us is an emotionally charged novel full of themes and ideas to discuss. As it delves into the fierce, complicated bond between estranged sisters Rebecca and Hannah, it asks readers to consider how loyalty, resentment, forgiveness and love can coexist. The shifting perspectives of each sister invite lively debate about familial allegiance and whether there really are ever two sides to every story. With themes of culpability, parenting, inheritance disputes and the emotional significance of the Bondi house at its centre, the novel offers book clubs the perfect opportunity to explore family dynamics, grief, and the fragile ties that both divide and bind us.” – Laura Nimmo, senior publicist, PRH | |
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What Rhymes with Murder? Penny Tangey Summit ISBN: 9781761634031 RRP: $34.99 |
| Why book clubs will love it: “A delightful cosy crime novel that B+P says will appeal to fans of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club. Set in a close-knit Melbourne community, the book focuses on new mum Frida, struggling at home with loneliness and anxiety. When a woman is murdered at the local library during Baby Rhyme Time, an unlikely group of amateur sleuths is formed to solve the crime. Apart from a cracking murder mystery, the novel also gives great and compassionate insight into new parenting and anxiety in all its forms and a charming depiction of how a community of strangers can come together to help each other. A safe but important layered discussion for book clubs.” – Jane Palfreyman, publishing director, Summit | |
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What the Bones Know Kirstyn McDermott HQ Fiction ISBN: 9781038922762 RRP: $32.99 |
| Why book clubs will love it: “In this remarkable novel, we meet Jude, who is returning to her childhood home, a remote cottage in the Victorian highlands, with her young daughter to look after her aging mother, whose mind is increasingly adrift. When Jude gets there, her mother seems to be seeing things. But is it dementia, or is there something more? This novel is so many things – a story of mothers and daughters, the corrosive power of secrets and a dark inheritance. It poses some pretty big questions that book clubs will love: What do we owe to those we have wronged? Is the unresolved past destined to haunt us?” – Jo Mackay, head of publishing, HQ Fiction | |
Category: Book Club Friday newsletter
