The PETAA team's 15 favourite adult fiction and non-fiction reads in 2022

The PETAA team are big readers! We've rounded up every team member's favourite books for adults - both fiction and non-fiction. 

Some were published this year, others are a little older, but all of them stood out to us this year. We've recommended many of these books to each other, and shared stories about the experience of reading them with each other.

We thought this might inspire your holiday reading list - and we hope you enjoy sharing books and talking about them over the break, too. 

 

 

Cover Title and author/illustrator What you need to know Get a copy

The Rip

by Mark Brandi
  • From the award-winning author of Wimmera
  • A gripping urban crime novel, masterfully constructed
 Buy 

The Mother

by Jane Caro
  • From the Walkley-award winning journalist and social commentator 
  • A gripping domestic thriller with a moral dilemma at its core
 Buy 

A Thousand Crimson Blooms

by Eileen Chong 
  • From prize-winning poet Eileen Chong
  • A personal and accomplished poetry collection about history, identity, and our obsessions 

 

 Buy 

Bodies of Light

by Jennifer Down 

 
  • Winner of the 2022 Miles Franklin Award
  • An epic novel of tragedy and heartbreak, told in devastating detail
  		Buy 

Range

by David Epstein

 
  • Business Book of the Year (Financial Times, 2009 shortlist)
  • A powerful argument for succeeding in your field with broad interests, experiences and skills
  		Buy 
 

The Trees

by Percival Everett 
  • Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize
  • An urgent novel about small-town murder, race, and social issues - morbidly funny and provocative
  		Buy 

Growing up Aboriginal in Australia

Ed. by Anita Heiss

 
  • Winner of the 2019 ABIA Small Publisher Adult Book of the Year
  • Childhood stories of family, country and belonging from well-known authors and Australian figures
 Buy 
 

Devotion

by Hannah Kent 
  • Winner of the ABIA's Audiobook of the Year 2022
  • A story about love in the face of brutal hardship, from Prussia to South Australia in the 1800s
  		Buy 

We All Want Impossible Things

by Catherine Newman

 
  • A debut novel for adults from a children's author, memoirist and columnist
  • A deeply moving celebration of life and friendship - in the style of Meg Mason or Nora Ephron
  		Buy 
 

Good Omens

by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
  • The bestselling book behind thre critically-acclaimed TV series
  • A funny and irreverent take on angels, devils, the end of the world - and the little joys of humanity
  		Buy 

The God of Small Things

by Arundhati Roy
  • Winner of the 1997 Booker Prize
  • A literary phenomenon that uses dazzling prose to construct an epic about twins in Southern India
  		Buy 

Son of Sin

by Omar Sakr 

 
  • The debut novel by prize-winning poet Omar Sakr
  • A portrait of a young queer Muslim from Western Sydney testing the limits of love, life and family
  		Buy 
 

Willowman

by Inga Simpson
  • From the critically-acclaime author of Mr Wigg
  • A literary novel about a batmaker, a cricketer, and how we shape and are shaped by this national sport
  		Buy 
 

The Dictionary of Lost Words

by Pip Williams
  • The celebrated, multi-award-winning novel soon to be a new Australian play
  • A celebration of words and the power of language to build histories - and construct new ones
  		Buy 

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

by Gabrielle Zevin
  • An Oprah 2022 summer reading pick and new bestseller
  • A love story about friendship, video games,  the power of play, creativity, and our need to connect
  		Buy