The Eagle and the Crow (JM Field, UQP)
Tuesday, 17 June 2025
The Eagle and the Crow is a work of many layers – lyrical, intellectual and political – all grounded in Gamilaraay knowledge and resistance. JM Field (Etta and the Shadow...
Cure (Katherine Brabon, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Katherine Brabon’s Cure is a natural extension and companion to her novel Body Friend; both are introspective literary works centred on women living with autoimmune diseases – conditions Brabon herself...
Moonlight and Dust (Jasmin McGaughey, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Jasmin McGaughey’s debut YA fantasy Moonlight and Dust is set in Cairns and follows 16-year-old Zillah, a responsible Torres Strait Islander who always thinks before she acts – unlike her...
Wait Here (Lucy Nelson, S&S)
Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Lucy Nelson’s debut short story collection, Wait Here, is a striking reflection on women’s lives in all their beautiful complexity. Through narratives of varying lengths, Nelson deftly incorporates many perspectives...
Foreign Country (Marija Peričić, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 22 April 2025
In Marija Peričić’s lyrical and haunting third novel, the foreign country is the site of dislocation and alienation wrought by migration, grief and trauma. Croatian-Australian nurse Eva, who resides in...
My Name Is Jemima (Olivia Muscat, illus by Allison Colpoys, Scribble)
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
My Name Is Jemima is a heartwarming and informative picture book that introduces young readers to the life and work of guide dogs and teaches children about disability, independence and...
Rise of the Witch (Everglade #1) (Kitty Black, illus Rebecca Crane, Affirm)
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Take one part Enid Blyton’s The Enchanted Wood, add a sprinkle of Diana Wynne Jones and a dash of Jessica Townsend’s Nevermoor, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a...
Bombard the Headquarters! The Cultural Revolution in China (Linda Jaivin, Black Inc)
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Chairman Mao’s decade of terror is the subject of Bombard the Headquarters!, Australian sinologist Linda Jaivin’s excellent primer on China’s Cultural Revolution. In 1966, Peking University’s Nie Yuanzi created a...
Our Dance (Jacinta Daniher & Taylor Hampton, illus by Janelle Burger, Lothian)
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Our Dance by Jacinta Daniher and proud Ngiyampaa/Wiradjuri man Taylor Hampton celebrates Australian First Nations culture through the joy of movement as children dance and sing in the corroboree. The...
Nightingale (Laura Elvery, UQP)
Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Grounded in history and buoyed by Laura Elvery’s elegant, moving prose, Nightingale is a fictional reimagining of the near-mythic figure of Florence Nightingale, told in three parts. The first and...
Little World (Josephine Rowe, Black Inc.)
Tuesday, 11 March 2025
Josephine Rowe’s Little World is a compact, lyrical read that feels both mythic and frighteningly current. When the perfectly preserved body of a child is brought to Western Australia, it...
Consider Yourself Kissed (Jessica Stanley, Text)
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Consider Yourself Kissed is a romance set in London against the backdrop of the UK’s escalating political crises of the 21st century: Tory leadership struggles and re-election and Brexit, culminating...
How to Be Normal (Ange Crawford, Walker)
Tuesday, 4 February 2025
Ange Crawford’s debut novel, How to Be Normal, is a visceral and compelling read. It centres on Astrid, who is returning to high school after five years of homeschooling. She...
The Colours of Home (Sally Soweol Han, T&H)
Tuesday, 4 February 2025
As the title The Colours of Home suggests, colour plays a central role in this beautiful picture book by Korean-Australian artist Sally Soweol Han (Nightsong, Tiny Wonders). The story follows...
Washpool (Lisa Fuller, Lothian)
Tuesday, 28 January 2025
Lisa Fuller’s Washpool is a fun, heartwarming and insightful exploration of family and kinship that takes the portal fantasy genre to a new level. When Murri sisters Bella and Cienna...
This Stays Between Us (Margot McGovern, Penguin)
Tuesday, 28 January 2025
Margot McGovern’s second young adult novel, This Stays Between Us, may have taken seven years, but it’s worth the wait. This gripping thriller, set in the year 2000, is a...
Sunny at the End of the World (Steph Bowe, Text)
Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Steph Bowe’s Sunny at the End of the World, published posthumously, provides clear evidence of Bowe’s creative skills levelling up. The book is set across dual timelines in 2018 and...
Geraldine (Andrea Thompson, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 21 January 2025
In this heartwarming debut novel, spanning the 1960s to the early 2000s, music journalist and artist manager Andrea Thompson tells the story of Geraldine, a fierce protagonist who remains true...
The Last Seed Keeper (Paul Russell, EK Books)
Tuesday, 21 January 2025
In The Last Seed Keeper, the first in Paul Russell’s cli-fi (climate fiction) trilogy of the same name, not a narrative minute is wasted. Tense action, complex speculative cautionary concepts,...
Outrageous Fortunes (Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex, La Trobe)
Tuesday, 14 January 2025
‘Mary Fortune’ might sound like a pseudonym but it’s the name of one of Australia’s most prolific—if often overlooked—woman crime writers. Outrageous Fortunes is a dual biography of Fortune and...
Unhallowed Halls (Lili Wilkinson, A&U)
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Lili Wilkinson’s latest young adult novel, Unhallowed Halls, is a dark academia fantasy about finding your inner strength and accepting who you are. After a tragic incident that ended her...
Gutsy Girls (Josie McSkimming, UQP)
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
When Dorothy Porter died in 2008, Australia lost one of its greatest contemporary poets. The author of nine poetry collections and five verse novels, Porter had a lusty, raw and...
Diary of a Marine Biologist (Anita Thomas, illus Sarah Wilkins & Anita Thomas, Walker)
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Did you know that oysters are often called the kidneys of the ocean because they filter a bathtub’s worth of water every two days? Or that marine biologists play a...
Wonders Under the Moon (Tai Snaith, T&H)
Tuesday, 3 December 2024
When the sun goes down, weird and wonderful night-time creatures come out to play. Tai Snaith’s new reference picture book, Wonders Under the Moon: A Collection of Night-Time Creatures, features...
All the Colours of the Rainbow (Rae White, illus Sha’an d’Anthes, Lothian)
Tuesday, 3 December 2024
In All the Colours of the Rainbow, Jem sometimes wants to wear their yellow dress with blue sandals and sometimes blue jeans with orange sneakers. The story invites readers into...
Those Opulent Days (Jacquie Pham, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 3 December 2024
At first glance, Jacquie Pham’s debut novel, Those Opulent Days, might appear to be a classic whodunit murder mystery, except the true ‘villain’ is far from the usual suspect. Set...
A Piece of Red Cloth (Leonie Norrington, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Djawa Burarrwanga & Djawundil Maymuru, A&U)
Tuesday, 3 December 2024
The best fiction allows the reader to enter times, cultures and places otherwise inaccessible. Children’s fiction writer Leonie Norrington was commissioned by her adoptive mother, Yolŋu woman Clare Bush, to...
Figuring Out Thirty: Decoding the Decisive Decade (And What Really Matters) (Bridget Hustwaite, Penguin)
Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Bridget Hustwaite (How to Endo) is well known as an author and podcaster for her valuable insights into women’s health. Her latest book, Figuring Out Thirty: Decoding the Decisive Decade...
Lexie Moon and the Word Burgling Bungle (Melissa Garside, illus Lauren Mullinder, Riveted Press)
Tuesday, 5 November 2024
Lexie Moon and the Word Burgling Bungle is debut author Melissa Garside’s exciting junior novel about a creative and prolific 10-year-old inventor. Lexie has been mentored by her grandfather, but...
Yayoi Kusama (ed by Wayne Crothers & Miranda Wallace, NGV)
Tuesday, 22 October 2024
The book Yayoi Kusama from the National Gallery of Victoria captures the extraordinary 80-year legacy of the enigmatic artist, as showcased in the titular exhibition. This tribute to one of...
