Hachette Australia is delighted to announce the acquisition of two novels by Michael Robotham via Mark Lucas at The Soho Agency, working closely with Little, Brown Book Group in the United Kingdom.
Robotham is a seven-time consecutive Australian No.1 bestseller and has sold more than 8 million copies of his books worldwide. He is also the only Australian to have twice won the UK's prestigious Gold Dagger Award for best crime novel, as well as the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. The first of the new books, Tell Me Something True, will be published in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand by Rebecca Saunders, Head of Fiction at Hachette Australia, working closely with Tilda Key at Little Brown Book Group in the United Kingdom.
Tell Me Something True, publishing in October 2026, marks a landmark moment in Robotham’s career and his first time releasing a novel into the Christmas market. Inspired by the first manuscript he ever wrote, it is a powerful story of love, loss, heartbreak and murder set in a small Australian town. The novel follows Arlo Hackett, released after twelve years in prison, whose return home ignites long-held hostilities and unearths buried truths.
Saunders said: ‘Tell Me Something True is, quite simply, a must-read masterpiece. It is not only a milestone because it’s Michael’s twentieth novel, but because it’s a glorious step into new fiction territory. It’s both an upmarket mystery, a searing coming-of-age portrait, and a devastating love story. Book clubs will be enthralled by Michael’s unflinching look at a small town’s darkest elements and his devastating exploration of a family both before and after a terrible crime. I am so proud to publish this novel.’
Robotham said: ‘I began writing Tell Me Something True in my early twenties, more than forty years ago, and I have never been more excited or nervous about unveiling a novel because I have never put more of myself onto the page. I love the characters. I love the setting. I love the heartache it brings me. I hope readers feel the same way.’
Lucas said: ‘Every one of Michael’s novels has been written from the heart, but the key elements of this epic narrative have consumed him from the time he first picked up a pen.’
Tell Me Something True will publish in all formats on 29 September 2026.
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The astonishing, emotional epic from Michael Robotham: a mystery, a coming-of-age tale and a love story wrapped into one, set against the simmering tensions of a small Australian town.
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