Madeline Cash: Lost Lambs + George Saunders: Vigil + new releases by George Kemp and Steven Carroll (REVIEWERS: Michael Robotham & Roanna Gonsalves)

Madeline Cash’s buzzy debut Lost Lambs pairs an off‑kilter storytelling sensibility with a sharp exploration of displacement and identity. George Saunders returns with Vigil, offering his moral curiosity in a novel that probes what it means to pay attention to the world. George Kemp’s Soft Serve delivers a charming and quietly affecting debut about growing up in a small town; and Steven Carroll’s The Afterlife of Harry Playford continues his investigations of history and memory.BOOKSMadeline Cash, Lost Lambs, DoubledayGeorge Saunders, Vigil, BloomsburyGeorge Kemp, Soft Serve, UQPSteven Carroll, The Afterlife of Harry Playford, Fourth EstateGUESTSMichael Robotham is an international crime writer and former journalist whose books include The Secrets She Keeps, Good Girl Bad Girl, and his latest, White Crow. His next novel — his first to be set in Australia — will be published in October.Roanna Gonsalves is a writer and teacher of creative writing whose short‑story collection The Permanent Resident won wide acclaim. Her novel The Servants will be published later this year.OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDKurt Vonnegut, worksJoseph Heller, worksThomas Pynchon, worksJonathan Franzen, worksPaul Murray, The Bee StingDBC Pierre, Vernon God LittleShaun Prescott, The TownStephen King, worksLiz Nugent, The Truth About Ruby CooperGillian Flynn, Gone GirlDeborah Adelaide, When I Am Sixty-FourTim Ayliffe, Dark Desert RoadKatie Kitamura, AuditionCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi HubermanArts editor, Rhiannon Brown