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Friday Unlocked reviews >

The Ledge (Christian White, Affirm) 

Tuesday, 6 August 2024
When reading author and screenwriter Christian White’s fourth novel, The Ledge, it’s worth remembering the adage: ‘When you assume, you make an ass of u and me.’ As a seasoned...

Matia (Emily Tsokos Purtill, UWA Publishing) 

Tuesday, 6 August 2024
Emily Tsokos Purtill’s debut novel, Matia, is a generational story that follows the lives of four Greek women in Australia over 125 years. Sia emigrated from Greece to Perth in...

Karkalla at Home (Mindy Woods, Murdoch) 

Tuesday, 30 July 2024
Karkalla at Home: Native foods & everyday recipes for connecting to Country by Mindy Woods is a remarkable cookbook showcasing contemporary recipes with native Australian ingredients. The book ‘extends an...

Townsend of the Ranges (Peter Crowley, NLA) 

Tuesday, 30 July 2024
In Townsend of the Ranges, Peter Crowley pieces together from archival materials the biography of Thomas Scott Townsend (1812–1869), a surveyor previously forgotten by history. With the voice of a...

The Death of Dora Black (Lainie Anderson, Hachette) 

Tuesday, 30 July 2024
Award-winning historian and journalist Lainie Anderson brings her research skills to the world of crime fiction in this engrossing and entertaining novel about Kate Cocks, the first policewoman in the...

Sarah Evans (Bernice Barry, Echo) 

Tuesday, 30 July 2024
Sarah Evans is a richly imagined and meticulously researched historical fiction novel based on a true story. The tale begins in grimly Dickensian early 19th-century Clerkenwell, London, where powerful men...

The Best Witch in Paris (Lauren Crozier, Text) 

Tuesday, 30 July 2024
Lauren Crozier won the 2023 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing for her middle-grade novel The Best Witch in Paris. With a charm reminiscent of Jill Murphy’s Worst...

Immortal Dark (Tigest Girma, Lothian) 

Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Tigest Girma’s debut novel, Immortal Dark, is the book YA readers of dark academia and romantasy have been waiting for—something with the violence and passion of genre bestsellers such as...

Inheritance (Genevieve Gannon, Pantera) 

Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Inheritance is the latest novel by Genevieve Gannon, bestselling author of The Mothers. In the not-too-distant future, scientists use eugenics to protect the next generation against viruses and diseases. At the same...

The First Friend (Malcolm Knox, A&U) 

Tuesday, 23 July 2024
When a novel begins with historical maps of the Soviet Union, a timeline of events, and character lists, there can be some trepidation about whether the commitment required will be...

Kitchen Sentimental (Annie Smithers, T&H) 

Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Why do we cook, and where do we learn to appreciate food? In her new memoir, Kitchen Sentimental, chef and author Annie Smithers (Recipe for a Kinder Life) tackles these...

Cherrywood (Jock Serong, HarperCollins) 

Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Jock Serong’s Cherrywood obscures time and place, braiding together the fates of his characters through extraordinary ventures and chance meetings. In his latest novel, Serong (The Burning Island, On the...

The Wedding Forecast (Nina Kenwood, Text) 

Tuesday, 16 July 2024
Nina Kenwood’s new adult romantic comedy, The Wedding Forecast, is sexy, fun and hard to put down. Kenwood, who previously wrote for young adults (It Sounded Better in My Head,...

The Venice Hotel (Tess Woods, Penguin) 

Tuesday, 16 July 2024
The Venice Hotel by Tess Woods (Love and Other Battles) is a captivating tale that unfolds over the ‘12 days of Christmas’ at Il Cuore, a boutique hotel in Venice....

White Noise (Raelke Grimmer, UWA Publishing) 

Tuesday, 9 July 2024
White Noise is the captivating debut YA novel by Darwin-based author Raelke Grimmer. Fifteen-year-old Emma’s mum died three years ago, and she and her emergency-doctor father survive in a monotonous,...

Jilya (Tracy Westerman, UQP) 

Tuesday, 9 July 2024
Jilya means ‘my child’ in Nyamal language, and it is evident on every page of her hybrid memoir/cultural study that leading psychologist and Nyamal woman Tracy Westerman is committed to...