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Looking for a good book to read while you're traveling in Australia? Check out my list of books about Australia and by Australian authors.
Cloudstreet
From the A Year of Reading the World: “Against the backdrop of the [Second World War] and its fallout, Winton unfolds the tribulations, rivalries, and neuroses of the debt-ridden Pickles family and their tenants the Lambs, who move into town after a shrimping accident leaves their eldest brain-damaged and strips them of their faith. These he… tests the boundaries of conventional wisdom on fate, personhood, evil and luck, charting the gradual coming-together of the two clans as each of their members seeks some sort of peace with his or her lot.”
(Recommended by Ann Morgan, author and TED speaker)
The Songlines
Set largely in Australia’s Northern Territory — including time in and around Alice Springs — this international bestseller moves between the red deserts of the Outback and the intellectual salons of Europe to examine humanity’s ancient impulse to travel, map, and tell stories. The narrative follows the author’s journey in search of the Aboriginal “songlines,” intricate oral maps that trace ancestral routes across the continent, while interweaving reflections on nomadism, evolution, and the psychology of movement. Readers come away with a deeper understanding of Indigenous cosmology, the cultural meaning embedded in landscape, and the enduring tension between settled and wandering lives. Written by the same author who explored South America’s southern frontier in In Patagonia, the book continues his fascination with terrain, myth, and mobility — suggesting that wandering may be less a deviation from civilization than one of our oldest human instincts.
True History of the Kelly Gang
Although this is a fictionalized version of the legendary real-life Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, there are nuggets of truth sprinkled throughout. Kelly is a pervasive figure in Australian culture, having evolved from bushranger (outlaw) to national hero. Carey’s novel raked in literary awards, including the Booker Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and was ranked 53rd on The Guardian‘s list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. The 2020 film adaptation featured Russell Crowe as Kelly’s partner-in-crime, Harry Power.
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