The books I read and loved in March.

Hello!

The books that stick with me are those that tackle dark subject matters with a kind of magical lightness and warmth. The plot is so compelling that I can’t put it down but at the same time I quickly become invested in the richly fleshed out characters, who humanise the people behind the news headlines I read every day.

This month, I have two recommendations for new release books just like this from two Australian authors, plus some lighter rom-coms for when you want to disappear into a fantasy world for a few hours.

Here are the books I couldn’t put down in March:

Pheasants Nest by Louise Milligan

It’s no easy feat writing a gripping thriller that deals with sexual assault and violence against women and is also funny, warm and a joy to read, but that’s exactly what Louise Milligan has achieved with her debut novel, Pheasants Nest.

Milligan is an investigative reporter and an award-winning author of two non-fiction books. She’s spent her career investigating how the system lets women down and in Pheasants Nest, she explores this while centering the victim and the victim’s loved ones.

The book follows investigative reporter Kate Delaney, who has a brief encounter with a man at a Melbourne bar, and soon finds herself locked in the boot of his car, as he drives erratically through the NSW Southern Highlands. As Kate’s boyfriend and friends desperately search for her, she tries to survive her ordeal with sheer tenacity and a splash of gallows humour.

Inspired by the murder of Milligan’s ABC colleague Jill Meagher in 2012, Pheasants Nest gives the people behind the headlines a much-needed voice.

Read it if you liked: Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz or I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

I’m a terminally single woman who is — most of the time — quite happy walking through this life on my own. Sometimes, though, I wish I could wake up one morning in an alternative version of my life where I have a husband and a couple of kids, just so I could see what it’s like.

Is that life better than the one I have now? Having I been missing out? Or would the piles of dirty laundry and cricket on the TV all summer make me more grateful for what I already have?

Well, in Holly Gramazio’s debut novel The Husbands, I kind of got to live through this fantasy without actually, you know, having to sleep next to a snoring man.

The novel follows 30-something Lauren, who returns home to her London flat one night to find her husband Michael waiting for her. The catch? Lauren’s not married and she’s never seen this Michael before in her life. Just as she’s starting to adjust to this new version of her life, Michael goes up into the attic to change a lightbulb and another husband she’s never seen before returns in his place.

As her attic continues to produce a seemingly never-ending supply of husbands, Lauren must figure out what — and who — she really wants.

Read it if you liked: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig or Ghosts by Dolly Alderton