Shadows of Winter Robins (Louise Wolhuter, Ultimo)
16 April 2024
Louise Wolhuter’s second novel, Shadows of Winter Robins, is cinematic and engrossing from the get-go, spiked with suspense and twists aplenty. Wolhuter is clearly a writer in command of her...
Secret Sparrow (Jackie French, HarperCollins)
10 October 2023
Jackie French’s latest middle-grade novel, Secret Sparrow, focuses on the unheralded work of women in World War I. This exciting adventure story is told with dual timelines and begins in...
The Drowning (Bryan Brown, A&U)
3 October 2023
The accidental drowning death of a local Gumbaynggirr boy—David, from whose viewpoint the book opens—brings a shadow of sadness over a small NSW coastal town. Then a backpacker doesn't turn up...
Silver Linings (Katrina Nannestad, ABC Books)
3 October 2023
Following the multi-award-winning success of Katrina Nannestad’s World War II novels for younger readers, Silver Linings sees her move from the battlefields of Europe to post-war Australia, and a story...
Ask Aunty: Seasons (Aunty Munya Andrews, illus Charmaine Ledden-Lewis, HGE)
5 September 2023
Seasons provide a beautiful and poetic lens through which to begin understanding a culture, and the brief cross-section that Ask Aunty invites us to peer into is brimming with knowledge and ways of...
Ember and the Island of Lost Creatures (Jason Pamment, A&U Children’s)
9 May 2023
Jason Pamment follows up his stellar debut graphic novel, Treasure in the Lake, with the stunningly unique Ember and the Island of Lost Creatures. Tiny Ember is the size of...
Who’s Afraid of the Light? (Anna McGregor, Scribble)
21 March 2023
Two seagulls bob on top of a flat ocean on a sunny day. ‘Oh, hi!’ says one. ‘The story starts down there,’ says the other, dipping its head beneath the...
The Half Brother (Christine Keighery, Ultimo)
7 February 2023
Psychological thriller The Half Brother is the first adult novel by Christine Keighery, a prolific author of children’s and young adult books. The novel opens with alternating chapters from the...
A Joyful Life (Rosemary Kariuki with Summer Land, Hardie Grant Explore)
31 January 2023
During the summer break, I had the pleasure of reading A Joyful Life by Rosemary Kariuki in one day. As a woman of colour who has experienced trauma, I was...
Taking to the Field (Jane Carey, Monash University Publishing)
15 November 2022
The most surprising thing to be found in a book about the history of women in science—for the author, as well as the reader—is the fact that the field has...
How to Kill a Client (Joanna Jenkins, A&U)
1 November 2022
Gavin Jones is the slimiest, most unpleasant client at big law firm Howard Greene—and that’s with some stiff competition. When this misogynistic, manipulative man dies suddenly it’s not so much...
The Cockatoo Wars (Helen Milroy, Magabala)
1 November 2022
The Cockatoo Wars is the latest picture book in Helen Milroy’s vibrant Tales from the Bush Mob series. Featuring a cast of Australian animals including Dingo, Willy Wagtail, Platypus and Wombat, and drawing...
Seven Sisters (Katherine Kovacic, HarperCollins)
11 October 2022
Katherine Kovacic’s latest novel is an intense, page-turning psychological thriller that explores the depravity of domestic violence, the failings of the justice system and the lengths families will go in...
In Her Blood (Nikki Crutchley, HarperCollins)
13 September 2022
It’s been a long time since Jac Morgan was in her New Zealand hometown of Everly. She needed to be far away from her past and all the rumours about...
The Hats of Marvello (Amanda Graham, illus by Lavanya Naidu, HarperCollins)
2 August 2022
In a quintessential Australian country town, the biggest excitement for grade five student Olive is the upcoming school play, which she has a starring role in as the narrator. To...
Seeing Other People (Diana Reid, Ultimo)
13 July 2022
Eleanor and Charlie are sisters in their 20s, emerging from the pandemic and trying to decide what they want from their lives. Intellectual, straitlaced Eleanor has just broken up with...
People Who Lunch (Sally Olds, Upswell)
6 July 2022
People Who Lunch is the much-anticipated first book by Melbourne-based writer Sally Olds. Known among a devoted coterie of fans for her long-form standalone essays, Olds’ first full collection focuses...
Farm: The making of a climate activist (Nicola Harvey, Scribe)
21 June 2022
Is it possible to be a meat-eating environmentalist? How do you spend months bonding with your heifers, seeing them as they truly are—curious, playful and happy sentient beings—just to send...
