Michelle de Kretser books

Michelle de Kretser is an award-winning Australian novelist of Sri Lankan origin, known for literary fiction including The Hamilton Case, Questions of Travel, and Scary Monsters.

Standalone Novels

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Rose Grower 1999 Buy
The Hamilton Case 2003 Buy
The Lost Dog 2008 Buy
Questions of Travel 2012 Buy
Springtime: A Ghost Story 2014 Buy
The Life to Come 2017 Buy
Scary Monsters 2022 Buy
Theory & Practice 2024 Buy

Writers on Writers Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
On Kate Jennings 2017 Buy
On John Marsden 2017 Buy
On Patrick White 2018 Buy
On J.M. Coetzee 2018 Buy
On David Malouf 2019 Buy
On Shirley Hazzard 2019 Buy
On Robyn Davidson 2020 Buy
On Beverley Farmer 2020 Buy
On Thomas Keneally 2021 Buy
On Helen Garner 2022 Buy
On Tim Winton 2022 Buy

Michelle de Kretser is an Australian author born in Sri Lanka who writes literary fiction that often explores displacement, cultural identity, and the tension between old and new worlds. She moved to Australia as a teenager and later lived in France, and these cross-cultural experiences inform her fiction. Her debut novel, The Rose Grower (1999), was set during the French Revolution, and The Hamilton Case (2003) drew on the colonial history of her native Sri Lanka.

De Kretser has published eight novels across a career spanning twenty-five years. Questions of Travel (2012) and The Life to Come (2017) both won the Miles Franklin Award, and her more recent works Scary Monsters (2022) and Theory & Practice (2024) continue her exploration of lives shaped by migration, memory, and cultural dislocation. She is also associated with the Writers on Writers essay series published by Black Inc.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books has Michelle de Kretser written?

Michelle de Kretser has written nineteen books across two series.

What was Michelle de Kretser's first book?

Michelle de Kretser’s first book is The Rose Grower, published in 1999.

What awards has Michelle de Kretser won?

De Kretser has won the Miles Franklin Award twice, for Questions of Travel (2013) and The Life to Come (2018), making her one of few authors to receive Australian literature’s most prestigious prize more than once. Her novels have also been shortlisted for numerous other awards including the Man Booker Prize longlist.

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