From iconic royal fashion to the fallout of shock therapy

Long before Diana's revenge dress took the world by storm or Princess Anne's sunglasses went viral, there has always been a fascination with members of the Royal Family and the significance behind their style. The Times has been documenting this fascination for more than 200 years - from the early Regency period to modern day - and has borne witness to the evolution of the Crown's carefully curated public image. With access to the rich history of The Times archive, this authoritative account peels back the layers of silk and chiffon to re-examine the royals who captured the public imagination through their inimitable style.

Anna Jacobson. NewSouth. $34.99.

Anna Jacobson woke up in hospital, greeted by nurses and patients she didn't recognise, but who addressed her with familiarity. She decided to untangle the clues. This book is Jacobson's quest to find her self and her memory after experiencing psychosis and electroconvulsive therapy in 2011, at the age of 23. As the memory barriers begin to crumble, Jacobson weaves her experiences around the gaps of memories that are still not accessible. Anna writes and creates art on her own terms. This book is a reclamation of story and self.

Lynda Holden with Jo Tuscano. Pantera Press. $34.99.

Between 1950 and 1975, 150,000 adoptions took place in Australia. It is estimated that one in 15 was forced. Here, Dunghutti woman, lawyer, human rights advocate and former midwife Lynda Holden tells her own heartbreaking story and of her fight for justice. In 1970, she was 18 and unmarried when she was forced to give her baby up for adoption. After 26 years, she was finally able to make contact with her lost son - but the reunion didn't go well. When she looked into the adoption records, she found a web of lies - about her family, the baby's father, her "consent" for the adoption - and her Indigenous heritage had been completely erased.

Professor Steven Faux. Murdoch Books. $34.99.

Long COVID is estimated to have affected up to 1 million Australians - and studies suggest that this number is rising. Here is a comprehensive overview of the disease drawing on up-to-the-minute research, providing advice on diagnosis, key risk factors and prevention; the very latest on how to identify and manage symptoms; tips for staying positive and dealing with uncertainty, an overview of treatment options to ensure ongoing health and recovery; and case studies from Australians of all ages living with Long COVID.

Meg Keneally. Echo Publishing. $32.99.

Following her involvement in a fatal childhood prank, Molly dresses as a boy and flees on a stolen horse. Her new-found freedom ends with her arrest and an uncertain journey towards Britain's farthest prison colony. Undaunted, Molly navigates her way through a society that denies power to her sex and scorns those who have not "arrived free". Her quick wit, resilience and ambition will attract the love of her life and the opportunity to forge a commercial empire. And those very same characteristics will create enemies intent on destroying all that she has battled to build for herself and her family.

Sarah Perry. Penguin. $34.99.

Thomas Hart and Grace Macauley, three decades apart in age, are friends who worship at the same small-town Essex church. Thomas falls for museum keeper James Bower and they become obsessed with the vanished 19th-century female astronomer Maria Veduva, said to haunt a nearby manor. Meanwhile, Grace meets Nathan, a fellow sixth former who represents a different, wilder kind of life. They are drawn passionately together, but quickly pulled apart, casting Grace into the wider world and far away from Thomas. What will happen to both of them?

Belinda Cranston. Transit Lounge. $32.99.

In this first novel by Canberra writer Cranston, Sydney girl Rachel likes a British cartoon character who accesses different personas on separate adventures each time he goes into the changing room of a London costume shop. In her 20s, Rachel sets off for London but her life irrevocably changes. Does she become the victim of a mysterious mental health illness while she is in Israel and Egypt, or is something else at play? Rachel is forced to accept there's no coming back from some adventures, and that coming to terms with reality is perhaps her only real chance of accessing the life she craves most.

Liam Pieper. Penguin. $34.99.

Oli Darling is a queer artist from the country - it says so right at the top of every press release. His art has brought him fame, money and more. But on live TV he says the one thing that can get a rich white guy cancelled. With his reputation in tatters, nobody is buying Oli's art. That's a problem for the powerful, dangerous people who've invested millions in him. To save his own skin, Oli will need to restore his public image. Together with a ghostwriter, he must write a memoir and confront the consequences of his own ruthless mythmaking - lies he's told others, lies he's told himself.

Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page. Bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease.