More than a third of Australia's favourite books are published by Penguin Random House

Cloudstreet Tim Winton

#1

After two separate catastrophes, two very different families leave the country for the bright lights of Perth. The Lambs are industrious, united and – until God seems to turn his back on their boy Fish – religious. The Pickleses are gamblers, boozers, fractious, and unlikely landlords.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North Richard Flanagan

#8

August, 1943. In the despair of a Japanese POW camp on the Thai-Burma death railway, Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans is haunted by his love affair with his uncle’s young wife two years earlier. Struggling to save the men under his command from starvation, from cholera, from beatings, he receives a letter that will change his life forever.

Looking for Alibrandi Melina Marchetta

#13

Josephine Alibrandi is seventeen and in her final year at a wealthy girls' school. This is the year she meets her father, the year she falls in love, and the year she discovers family secrets that will finally set her free.

Wild Dark Shore Charlotte McConaghy

#16

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, home to the world’s largest seed bank. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground.

During the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again.

My Brilliant Career Miles Franklin

#18

Miles Franklin began the candid, passionate, and contrary My Brilliant Career when she was only sixteen, intending it to be the Australian answer to Jane Eyre. But the book she produced-a thinly veiled autobiographical novel about a young girl hungering for life and love in the outback-so scandalized her country upon its appearance in 1901 that she insisted it not be published again until ten years after her death.

Wifedom Anna Funder

#20

Eileen O’Shaughnessy’s literary brilliance shaped Orwell’s work and her practical nous saved his life. But why – and how – was she written out of the story?

Compelling and utterly original, Wifedom speaks to the unsung work of women everywhere today, while offering a breathtakingly intimate view of one of the most important literary marriages of the 20th century.

Stasiland Anna Funder

#23

Extraordinary stories from the most perfected surveillance state of all time, the former East Germany.

Funder meets Miriam, condemned as an enemy of the state at sixteen, and Frau Paul, for whom the Berlin Wall ‘went through my heart’. She drinks with the legendary ‘Mik Jegger’ of the East, once declared by the authorities to ‘no longer exist’. And she meets ex-Stasi – men who spied on their families and friends – still loyal to the deposed regime as they await the next revolution.

The Power of One Bryce Courtenay

#24

First with your head and then with your heart . . .

So says Hoppie Groenewald, boxing champion, to a seven-year-old boy who dreams of being the welterweight champion of the world. For the young Peekay, its a piece of advice he will carry with him throughout his life. Born in a South Africa divided by racism and hatred, this one small boy will come to lead all the tribes of Africa. 

Seven Little Australians Ethel Turner

#25

Judy's father, Captain Woolcot, found his vivacious, cheeky daughter impossible – but seven children were really too much for him and most of the time they ran wild at their rambling riverside home, Misrule.

Step inside and meet them all – dreamy Meg, and Pip, daring Judy, naughty Bunty, Nell, Baby and the youngest, 'the General'. Come and share in their lives, their laughter and their tears.

The Harp in the South Trilogy Ruth Park

#27

Hugh and Margaret Darcy are raising their family in Sydney amid the brothels, grog shops and run-down boarding houses of Surry Hills, where money is scarce and life is not easy. Filled with beautifully drawn characters that will make you laugh as much as cry, this Australian classic will take you straight back to the colourful slums of Sydney with convincing depth, careful detail and great heart.

Animalia 40th Anniversary Edition Graeme Base

#32

Embark on a fantastical alphabetic adventure where each turn of the page unveils a rich tapestry of intricate illustrations tied to a unique letter of the alphabet.

Perfect for curious minds and art enthusiasts of all ages. Unlock the magic of Animalia and be whisked away on an alphabetic exploration like no other!

Breath Tim Winton

#33

When paramedic Bruce Pike is called out to deal with another teenage adventure gone wrong, he knows better than his colleague, better than the kid's parents, what happened and how. Thirty years before, that dead boy could have been him.

A relentlessly gripping and deeply moving novel about the damage you do to yourself when you're young and think you're immortal.

I Can Jump Puddles: Australian Children's Classics Alan Marshall

#37

It amazed me that they would imagine I would never walk again. I knew what I was going to do. I was going to break in wild horses and yell 'Ho! Ho!' and wave my hat in the air, and I was going to write a book like The Coral Island.

Oscar and Lucinda Peter Carey

#40

When Oscar Hopkins and Lucinda Leplastrier finally meet, on board a ship to New South Wales, they are bound by their affinity for gambling and risk, their loneliness, and their awkwardly blossoming mutual affection. Love will prove to be their ultimate gamble.

Dirt Music Tim Winton

#41

Georgie Jutland is a mess. At forty, with her career in ruins, she finds herself stranded in White Point with a fisherman she doesn't love and two kids whose dead mother she can never replace. Leached of all confidence, she spends her days in isolated tedium and her nights in a blur of vodka self-recrimination. One morning, in the boozy pre-dawn gloom, she sees, a shadow drifting up the beach below - a loner called Luther Fox, with danger in his wake.

True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey

#44

As he flees the police, Ned Kelly scribbles his narrative in semiliterate but magically descriptive prose. To his pursuers he is a thief and a murderer. To his own people he’s a hero for opposing the English. Here is a classic outlaw tale, made alive by the skill of a great novelist. There are no sentences like these in all Australian literature and yet they could only have grown from our soil.

All That I Am Anna Funder

#45

Based on real people and events, All That I Am is a masterful and exhilarating exploration of bravery and betrayal, of the risks and sacrifices some people make for their beliefs, and of heroism hidden in the most unexpected places.

Playing Beatie Bow: Australian Children's Classics Ruth Park

#47

‘It’s Beatie Bow – risen from the dead!’The game is called Beatie Bow and the children play it for the thrill of scaring themselves. But when Abigail is drawn in, the game is quickly transformed into an extraordinary, sometimes horrifying adventure as she finds herself transported to a place that is foreign yet strangely familiar . . .

Where is The Green Sheep? Mem Fox, Judy Horacek

#48

Here is the blue sheep, and here is the red sheep. Here is the bath sheep, and here is the bed sheep. But where is the green sheep?

Mem has never owned a sheep, let alone a green one, but she does admit to having woolly thoughts from time to time. Judy loves drawing things, especially sheep. This is her first flock.

Mao's Last Dancer Li Cunxin

#50

From bitter poverty to the stardom of the West – this is the extraordinary true story of one boy's great courage and determination. It’s a story of courage, a mother’s love, a young boy’s longing for freedom – a beautiful, rich account of an inspirational life, told with honesty, dignity and pride.

The Light Between Oceans M.L. Stedman

#51

1926. Tom Sherbourne is a young lighthouse keeper on a remote island off Western Australia. The only inhabitants of Janus Rock, he and his wife Isabel live a quiet life, cocooned from the rest of the world.

Then one April morning a boat washes ashore carrying a dead man and a crying infant - and the path of the couple's lives hits an unthinkable crossroads.

The Cook's Companion 30th Anniversary Edition Stephanie Alexander

#56

The Cook's Companion has established itself as the kitchen ‘bible’, ‘the book for a lifetime of cooking’, in over 500,000 homes since it was first published in 1996.

Stephanie believes that good food is essential to living well, and her book is a valuable resource for everyone, every day.

The Yield: Winner of the 2020 Miles Franklin Award Tara June Winch

#58

Knowing that he will soon die, Albert ‘Poppy’ Gondiwindi takes pen to paper, determined to pass on the language of his people and everything that was ever remembered. He finds the words on the wind.

August Gondiwindi returns home for her grandfather’s burial, wracked with grief and burdened with all she tried to leave behind. Determined to make amends, she endeavours to save their land – a quest that leads her to the voice of her grandfather and into the past, the stories of her people, the secrets of the river.

The Man From Snowy River: Australian Classics for Little Ones Banjo Paterson, Cate James

#60

There was movement at the station,for the word had got around,That the colt from old Regret had got away . . .

Read along with one of the most-loved and best known Australian poems and learn all about colours and counting. A perfect way to introduce little ones to an Australian classic.

Are We There Yet? 20th Anniversary Edition Alison Lester

#62

Join Grace and her family on their adventurous and sometimes funny expedition. This delightful picture book takes young readers on a journey across Australia, as a family explores the outback, the bush, and the coast. Along the way, kids will learn about the geography, culture, and people of our fascinating country, all through the eyes of a lovable family.

Question 7 Richard Flanagan

#63

By way of H. G. Wells and Rebecca West’s affair through 1930s nuclear physics to Flanagan's father working as a slave labourer near Hiroshima when the atom bomb is dropped, this genre-defying daisy chain of events reaches fission when Flanagan as a young man finds himself trapped in a rapid on a wild river not knowing if he is to live or to die.

Voss Patrick White

#67

Set in nineteenth-century Australia, Voss is the story of the secret passion between an explorer and a naïve young woman. Although they have met only a few times, Voss and Laura are joined by overwhelming, obsessive feelings for each other. 

A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute

#69

Jean Paget is just twenty years old and working in Malaya when the Japanese invasion begins. When she is captured she and the other European women and children are force to march for miles through the jungle. Due to her courageous spirit and ability to speak Malay, Jean takes on the role of leader of the sorry gaggle of prisoners. While on the march, the group run into some Australian prisoners, including Joe Harman.

The Tree Of Man Patrick White

#71

Stan Parker, with only a horse and a dog for companions, journeys to a remote scrubby patch of land that he has inherited in the Australian hills. When the land is cleared enough for a rudimentary house to be built, Stan brings his new wife, Amy, to the wilderness. Together they struggle to establish a home for themselves and their growing family.

The Fatal Shore Robert Hughes

#74

In 1787, the twenty-eighth year of the reign of King George III, the British Government sent a fleet to colonise Australia.

Documenting the brutal transportation of men, women and children out of Georgian Britain into a horrific penal system which was to be the precursor to the Gulag and was the origin of Australia, The Fatal Shore is the definitive, masterfully written narrative that has given its true history to Australia.

Power Without Glory Frank Hardy

#78

John West rose from a Melbourne slum to dominate Australian politics with bribery, brutality and fear. His attractive wife and their children turned away from him in horror. Friends dropped away. At the peak of his power, surrounded by bootlickers, West faced a hate-filled nation - and the terrible loneliness of his life.

Johnno David Malouf

#79

Dante and Johnno are unlikely childhood friends, growing up in the bustle of steamy, wartime Brisbane. Later, as teenagers, they learn about love and life amidst the city's pubs and public libraries, backyards and brothels. As adults, they make the great pilgrimage overseas and maintain an uneasy friendship as they seek to build their lives.

For the Term of his Natural Life Marcus Clarke

#80

Scarcely out of print since the early 1870s, For the Term of His Natural Life has provided successive generations with a vivid account of a brutal phase of colonial life. The main focus of this great convict novel is the complex interaction between those in power and those who suffer, made meaningful because of its hero's struggle against his wrongful imprisonment.

Juice Tim Winton

#88

Two fugitives, a man and a child, drive all night across a stony desert. As dawn breaks, they roll into an abandoned mine site. The child peers at the field of desolation. The man thinks to himself, this could work.

So begins a searing, propulsive journey through a life whose central challenge is not simply a matter of survival, but of how to maintain human decency as everyone around you falls ever further into barbarism.

Puberty Blues Gabrielle Carey, Kathy Lette

#90

For Deb and Sue, life is about surfies, panel vans, straight-leg Levis, nicking off from school, getting wasted, friendships and fitting in.

But why should guys have all the fun?

When Deb and Sue decide to take to the waves on boards, a whole culture is upturned.

The Tall Man Chloe Hooper

#92

One morning Cameron Doomadgee swore at a policeman and forty minutes later lay dead in a watch-house cell. That policeman, the tall, enigmatic Christopher Hurley chose to work in some of the toughest and wildest places in Australia. This is the story of the struggle to bring him to trial.

Round the Twist Paul Jennings

#100

From bestselling and beloved author Paul Jennings comes the inside scoop from the making of his Round the Twist stories into the hugely popular TV series, now enjoying a new life on Netflix. Including three short stories that were made into episodes, behind-the-scenes glimpses of the actors and sets, and loads of extra fun tidbits to bring the zany world of Round the Twist to a whole new audience.