Two time Walkley Award winning journalist Annika Smethurst turns out a fair and balanced biography of Australia's 30th prime minister, Scott Morrison.

There is much in this biography that the general public already knows about Scott Morrison: his Christianity, his background in marketing, his time as state director of the Liberal Party (New South Wales Division). In government, we have seen Morrison as a hard nosed Minister for Immigration and Treasurer under Malcolm Turnbull.

To flesh out the picture a bit further, Smethurst undertook extensive interviews with colleagues, friends and various associates. We learn that Morrison is hardworking, ruthless and not trusted by many. Men get along better with him, whereas a pattern emerges that women loathe him. Morrison likes it when things are going his way, and is ready to take credit, but when mistakes happen he's liable to sheet the blame home to others.

A fascinating quote appears on page 219 from a colleague who has known Morrison for two decades. It demonstrates how the current prime minister pursues power for its own sake.

“He is a highly political person who doesn't have any sort of strong values, but the one thing he always had a view on was gay marriage. He was vehemently opposed.”

Annika Smethurst has written an instructive and informative biography that pays attention as much to Morrison's flaws as to his strengths. A highly skilled politician, one with a high focus on research and polling, he's someone not to be written off, despite his bungling of several serious issues during his prime ministership (think the bushfires, Brittany Higgins, vaccine rollout etc.)

A well rounded biography that should please a broad audience.  

The Accidental Prime Minister, by Annika Smethurst. Hachette. $39.99

Review by Chris Saliba

An ex-NRL player has a few brain snaps and finds himself visited by the ghosts of poets past.

Peter “Plum” Lum is about to turn fifty and is having a mid-life crisis. A former star NRL player, he's had a good innings so far. The fans still love him, he's got a posse of mates to drink and party with, and life is generally pretty good in his beloved Cronulla. There are deep cracks, however, in this seemingly perfect picture. There's friction with his fitness freak girlfriend, Charmayne. She's developing a health food business but Plum never eats her specialty   salads. His relationship with his son, Gavin, is faltering. Things reach a peak when Plum has an epileptic fit at work and almost causes a catastrophic accident.

Plum is in denial about a brain disorder he has acquired from years of head knocks on the field. He refuses to see a specialist about the problem, creating a trail of secrets and lies. It's not until his no-nonsense ex-wife Renee steps in that he finally faces reality.

Meanwhile, his brain is in a vulnerable place. Plum has hallucinations and is visited by the likes of Charles Bukowski, Sylvia Plath and Walt Whitman. Could the cure to all of Plum's woes be in some form of confessional poetry, standing before his peers and admitting his faults and his pain?
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Actor and screenwriter Brendan Cowell's second novel (following 2011's How It Feels) is a wild rollercoaster of a ride, funny and generous, rooted firmly in contemporary Australia. The book is a hot mess, an exploding Catherine Wheel of energy and speed. Cowell nails the language, the characters and different social milieus of Sydney's sun drenched seaside suburbs. His women are sympathetically drawn, plucky and tough, and Cowell makes sure to be inclusive and representative of modern Australia, with a trans woman and Indigenous brain specialist included, among many others. The miracle is that this  train wreck of different personalities hangs together. There's no jarring notes or cloying, misplaced sentimentality. Think Kathy Lette, but from a male perspective.

Serious male problems addressed in a big hearted, Rabelaisian novel. Sure to be a hit.

Plum, by Brendan Cowell. Published by 4th Estate. $32.99

Review by Chris Saliba

Two uncertain couples move towards commitment in this compelling anatomy of love.

Alice is a successful novelist, with two best sellers under her belt. She wearily does the literary circuits and fronts up for photo shoots, but finds herself unhappy despite her success. She lives alone. One night she goes on a date with a stranger she met on Tinder. Felix works in a warehouse and doesn't read books, in many ways the polar opposite of Alice. The date, it seems, is a flop at first. But the two run into each other later and start an uncertain relationship.

Eileen is Alice's best friend. She works as an editor at a niche literary magazine, earning a pittance. She's struggling to articulate her feelings for her childhood friend, Simon, who she grew up with. Simon is a decent fellow and a practising Catholic. His only flaw is that he can be emotionally withdrawn. Not cold, but slightly reserved and unable to fully declare himself. He is already in a non-committal relationship with another woman, but is also hooking up with Eileen.

The two women, Alice and Eileen, carry on a correspondence via email that often becomes philosophical, discussing religion, economics, politics, science, global warming, friendship and sex. There is a physical reserve between the friends as they do not see each other very often, even though they live in the same city. Nonetheless the friendship is intensely close, even if this intimacy manifests itself more in words than a human presence.

As with so many preternaturally gifted writers, it's hard to put one's finger on why Sally Rooney's writing is so addictive and appealing. She has a clean, almost clinical prose, describing in fine detail her characters' movements, motives and manoeuvres. Jane Austen kept coming to mind as the small world of this novel was fleshed out, the quiet struggles of four people trying to overcome themselves – their vulnerabilities and anxieties – to find lasting love. Again, one thinks of the convoluted misunderstandings and sensitive egos that make up the plot of Pride and Prejudice, until all is resolved with marriage.

In Rooney's novel, the characters peel back the layers to reveal  their flaws and blind spots, allowing them to examine more clearly where they have injured others, and as a consequence, injured themselves. Like all truthful revelations, this is a painful process, and as with all classic novels, everyone comes out the other end a slightly different, if not better person.

A novel that concentrates on the myriad emotional difficulties of opening up to others and forming close relationships. 

​Beautiful World, Where Are You, by Sally Rooney. Published by Faber. $29.99