In Carey’s take on the enduring Australian myth, the odds are stacked up so highly against everyone your heart gets broken on every page

Told in the third person, flipping between the voice of Pung and her father, the memoir offers an unflinching, humorous blueprint for surviving trying times

The story of the preppy city-bred schoolteacher in outback Australia is easy to explain, the novel’s nightmarish tension not so much

We hold our breath as we read Grenville’s account of her convict ancestor, hoping for the harmonious ending we know cannot come

A rare and powerful voice of a woman who has been poor and rich, with a lived understanding of the fickleness of each

A chorus of voices about one of the country’s most prominent Indigenous activists is a glorious kaleidoscope of personal testimony

For Carrie Tiffany, reading the 1989 novel once wasn’t enough. She wanted to carry its narrator inside her as long as she could

My Brother Jack and Clean Straw for Nothing both won the Miles Franklin, but his third in the trilogy – which mirrors the author’s own life amid a changing Australia – is the most elegant and melancholic

Manning’s publisher locked him in his apartment until he finished one of the strangest, most compelling books from the first world war

From the opening paragraph of this ‘joyous’ coming-of-age novel, Christos Tsiolkas ‘felt like leaping up from the sofa and applauding’

If you want to engage with Australia’s story – because the reality you’ve been ignoring suddenly feels too real – then begin here, says Tara June Winch

For The Erratics author Vicki Laveau-Harvie, James’s slim but dazzling collection shows that poetry can be the antidote to the numbness many of us feel

Ignore the poor fortunes of its Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner-led film. Shute’s apocalypse novel is a dynamite isolation read

In an ambitious, hilarious, clever beast of a novel, Chris Flynn excavates the strange fascination powerful men have for big pets

Using trophy animals as power symbols didn’t start with Tiger King. According to Mammoth author Chris Flynn, the American obsession dates back to the 1700s

After surviving cancer and a brutal heartbreak, the journalist wanted to find out how people find strength through despair. Her new book Phosphorescence could not have been better timed

The mysterious beauty of the universe can lead us all to ponder humanity and the planet we call home

Diagnosed with cancer while surveying shorebirds for his new book, Andrew Darby’s otherwise niche story becomes a heartfelt narrative of endurance – and one of Guardian Australia’s Unmissable books

Our Unmissable authors give their tips on what to buy for the readers in your life this Christmas – or just for your own literary indulgence