Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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The Choke (Sofie Laguna, A&U)

Thursday, 29 June 2017
Sofie Laguna is a writer who can wrench beauty even from the horror of a child caught up in the toxic world of bastardised masculinity. Fearsome, vivid and raw, her...

City of Crows (Chris Womersley, Picador) 

Thursday, 29 June 2017
It’s quite a change of setting from 1980s Melbourne in Chris Womersley’s previous novel Cairo to the world of magic and witchcraft in 17th-century France in City of Crows. It’s...

The Book of Dirt (Bram Presser, Text) 

Thursday, 29 June 2017
Three books in one, The Book of Dirt is a remarkable tale of Holocaust survival, love and genealogical sleuthing by a grandson intent on finding the truth about his grandparents’...

Dr Jekyll and Mr Seek (Anthony O’Neill, Xoum) 

Thursday, 29 June 2017
Seven years after the death of Edward Hyde and the mysterious disappearance of Dr Henry Jekyll, the people of London are amazed to find that the brilliant scientist has returned....

Parting Words (Cass Moriarty, UQP) 

Thursday, 29 June 2017
When Daniel Whittaker dies he leaves an unexpected legacy. His three middle-aged children—Evonne, Kelly and Richard—must track down and hand-deliver a series of letters to recipients they have never met....

Rain Birds (Harriet McKnight, Black Inc.) 

Thursday, 29 June 2017
Set in regional Victoria, Rain Birds divides its time between two female protagonists. Pina has lived with her partner Alan in the area for years. Alan has early onset Alzheimer’s,...

Bestsellers this week 

Monday, 26 June 2017
The Clever Guts Diet (Michael Mosley, S&S) has retained the top spot in this week’s top 10 bestsellers chart, ahead of The Barefoot Investor (Scott Pape, Wrightbooks), which remains in...

The Enigmatic Mr Deakin (Judith Brett, Text) 

Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Born in gold-rush Melbourne in April 1856 to parents of modest means, Alfred Deakin as a child was an avid reader and a day-dreamer. As a student at the University...

Bestsellers this week 

Monday, 19 June 2017
After creeping up the ranks in previous weeks, Michael Mosley’s healthy eating guide The Clever Guts Diet (S&S) has taken the top spot in this week’s top 10 bestsellers chart,...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 13 June 2017
The top five titles in this week’s highest new entries chart have all debuted within the top 20, and the top three are among the top 10 bestsellers. Come Sundown...

Book blogger spotlight: Tea and Titles

Wednesday, 7 June 2017
Book bloggers Ely and Michelle are staunch advocates for greater representation of disability in books. Their blog, Tea and Titles, is primarily focused on YA literature, but also covers poetry,...

Bestsellers this week 

Monday, 5 June 2017
There are three brand new titles in this week’s top 10 bestsellers chart. Cassandra Clare’s Lord of Shadows (S&S)—the second book in the ‘Dark Artifices’ trilogy—has debuted in the top...

Because of You (Pip Harry, UQP)

Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Tiny is homeless. Nola has everything she could ask for. They meet when Nola is forced into volunteer work for the writers’ group at the homeless shelter where Tiny is...

The Dream Walker (Victoria Carless, Hachette) 

Wednesday, 31 May 2017
In her debut novel, Victoria Carless explores isolation, hope and grief through the surreal and distortive lens of dreams. Sixteen-year-old Lucy Hart feels lost in the isolated fishing village of...

I Just Ate My Friend (Heidi McKinnon, A&U) 

Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Making friends can be hard but keeping them can be even harder. Especially if you’ve just eaten your friend, like the nameless monster in Heidi McKinnon’s debut picture book. The...

The Build-up Season (Megan Jacobson, Penguin) 

Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Megan Jacobson’s The Build-up Season is a confronting but compelling exploration of domestic violence and the legacies of abuse, set against the gathering storm clouds in the ‘build-up’ to Darwin’s...

Sparrow (Scot Gardner, A&U) 

Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Scot Gardner’s latest YA novel is a story of survival in both the wilderness and the city. Leaping from an exploding boat into crocodile-infested waters, the boy who never speaks...

Exchange of Heart (Darren Groth, Penguin) 

Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Canadian Munro Maddox is on an exchange program to Brisbane for one reason only—to leave behind the demons he’s been carrying around since the sudden death of his younger sister...

Gaolbird (Simon Barnard, Text) 

Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Simon Barnard’s latest convict story for children presents a boisterous slice of Australian colonial history using lairy illustrations and a persistent and multi-stranded narrative. Unlike his meticulous, information-loaded CBCA Award-winning...

Book blogger spotlight: Diva Booknerd

Wednesday, 31 May 2017
YA and middle-grade book blogger Kelly from Diva Booknerd says she reviews books ‘purely on emotion and entertainment’, and enjoys the sense of community that blogging brings. She spoke to...