From mean girls to psychedelics: 10 new books to read now

ean girls, pirate queens, psychedelics and quantum physics: this week’s books cover some unlikely territory. There are midlife crises in Mykonos, a journey into the Queensland wilds, and a furious reckoning with the Australian gas industry. Our critics review 10 fiction and non-fiction books worth knowing about.

We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad (Simon & Schuster, $35) The publicity notes tout that this book is a cross between Frankenstein and Heathers , which sounds like a winning combination. This time round, Mona Awad’s follow-up to her cult hit Bunny gives us the point of view of the kidnappers, the self-named clique of mean rich girls called bunnies who have entrapped Samantha Heather Sweeting while she was on tour to promote her autobiography, ostensibly about her experiences with the posse. Restrained and gagged, she has no choice but to listen to their individual versions.

We Love You, Bunny continues this creepy-cute tale. This campus horror takes a satirical swipe at academia, creative writing schools, the obsessive desire to succeed and the cult of friendship, which is also riven by rivalry. It’s a fun, campy read, self-aware and bonkers, with pop culture and literary references throughout, and an unexpectedly bizarre character who swoops in at the end (Mary Shelley, eat your heart out). The rabbit references do become a little tiresome (yeah, we get it), but on the whole its surrealism-meets-reality schtick works if you’re looking for something whimsical, weird and violent.

The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon (Simon & Schuster, $35) Based on the eventful life and adventures of Grace O’Malley, a little-known 16th-century Irish sea captain who defended her country against the English during the reign of Elizabeth I, The Pirate Queen is a feminist reckoning, a contemporary reading of how this female chieftain rebelled, defied gender expectations, and battled and strategised in a man’s world. Even before the story begins, the reader is presented with a cast of characters that spans three pages, as well as a guide to Gaelic pronunciation. It’s a bit intimidating, but luckily the narrative is so propulsive that you’ll forgive all this preliminary information.

Ariel Lawhon eschews a chronological storyline, dividing O’Malley’s life into three (maiden, mother and matriarch), with different perspectives and an editorial quirk that plays around with timelines. For example, a chapter in which she is 60 is followed by one in which she is 14. Although this structure does have a deleterious effect on pacing and momentum, Lawhon gets away with it because her source material and recreation are so strong. Expect action-packed skirmishes and romances at sea from this “red-headed ferocity”.

The Bridge by Colm Tóibín (Picador, $30) Colm Tóibín’s latest book is set in the Catalan Pyrenees and is ostensibly a sequel to his short story, A Long Winter . It’s a grim, austere offering that picks up the story after the death of Miquel’s mother. Abandoned by his brother, he’s left with his father on an isolated farmstead with their sheep and donkeys. Their relationship is uneasy and strained; neither trusts the other.