The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding (Holly Ringland, Fourth Estate)
Tuesday, 26 July 2022
Esther Wilding grows up in the shadow of her older sister Aura. When the once-sparkling Aura returns from Copenhagen hollowed out by life, and walks into the sea to her...
People Who Lunch (Sally Olds, Upswell)
Wednesday, 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...
Bon and Lesley (Shaun Prescott, Giramondo)
Tuesday, 28 June 2022
Shaun Prescott continues his existential explorations of modern life in his second novel, which follows his 2017 debut The Town. In the opening pages of Bon and Lesley we meet...
Farm: The making of a climate activist (Nicola Harvey, Scribe)
Tuesday, 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...
Growing in to Autism (Sandra Thom-Jones, MUP)
Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Sandra Thom-Jones had a successful life before she knew she had autism. Or, more specifically, before she had a diagnosis of autism. A well-respected researcher in her 50s, Thom-Jones knew...
Faithless (Alice Nelson, Vintage)
Tuesday, 31 May 2022
Alice Nelson’s Faithless is an astonishing novel that unfolds as a love letter from protagonist Cressida to her all-consuming love, Max. In the beginning, Cressida is looking after a young...
Enclave (Claire G Coleman, Hachette)
Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Born of social media algorithms and convenience culture, with a biting critique of modern tribalism, Enclave, Claire G Coleman’s third novel, is Brave New World with every conceit flipped for...
Root & Branch (Eda Gunaydin, NewSouth)
Tuesday, 8 March 2022
Root & Branch is the debut essay collection from Eda Gunaydin, Turkish-Australian scholar and writer of academic and creative nonfiction. It examines with spectacular tenacity and wit the real-world impacts that...
The Most Important Job in the World (Gina Rushton, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 22 February 2022
Gina Rushton begins her story in a place that so many women seem to arrive at too often, both literally and metaphorically, when it comes to fertility and the question...
Dinner with the Schnabels (Toni Jordan, Hachette)
Tuesday, 1 February 2022
In this timely new novel, Toni Jordan lends her signature wit to the story of a dysfunctional yet loving family group. Simon Larsen has lost his business and his home...
Unlimited Futures (ed by Rafeif Ismail & Ellen van Neerven, Fremantle Press)
Tuesday, 25 January 2022
Unlimited Futures is a YA anthology of sci-fi and speculative fiction edited by Rafeif Ismail and Ellen van Neerven. What makes it so different from other collections like it is...
Growing Up in Flames (Zach Jones, Text)
Tuesday, 18 January 2022
Zach Jones’s debut novel Growing Up in Flames is as gritty as bushfire ash. Written for a doctorate in creative writing at the University of the Sunshine Coast, the novel’s...
Son of Sin (Omar Sakr, Affirm)
Tuesday, 11 January 2022
Son of Sin by Omar Sakr tells the story of growing up queer and Muslim in a constant state of dispossession. The story begins with Jamal as a 14-year-old boy,...
Pearly and Pig and the Great Hairy Beast (Sue Whiting, Walker Books)
Tuesday, 11 January 2022
Pearly Woe is not your average 10-year-old. She can speak 27 languages, talk to and understand most animals and, in this tale, travels to Antarctica. However, this is no holiday....
Tik Merauke: An epidemic like no other (John Richens, MUP)
Wednesday, 1 December 2021
In the early 1900s the sexually transmitted infection donovanosis ravaged the Marind of New Guinea. Through the lens of this disease, known as tik Merauke to the native people, doctor...
Found, Wanting (Natasha Sholl, Ultimo Press)
Tuesday, 9 November 2021
Beginning with a sudden death, Natasha Sholl’s memoir sets us up to expect a traditional grief narrative, ending with the author having processed the loss, found new meaning in their...
Family Tree (Josh Pyke, illus by Ronojoy Ghosh, Scholastic)
Tuesday, 26 October 2021
Family Tree shares the beauty of life through the growth of a tree, one that unites families and communities around the world, spreading joy, love and spirit—and it all starts...
Devotion (Hannah Kent, Picador)
Tuesday, 21 September 2021
When Hanne meets Thea, her life suddenly makes sense. They live in Kay, a tight-knit community of devout Lutherans who have been shunned for their beliefs. Both girls, on the...
The Boy and the Elephant (Freya Blackwood, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 21 September 2021
After almost 20 years of her books on our shelves, a new Freya Blackwood is always cause for delight. The Boy and the Elephant—Blackwood’s first wordless picture book—allows her quiet...
Danged Black Thing (Eugen Bacon, Transit Lounge)
Wednesday, 15 September 2021
Lyrical, rich, oftentimes dark and sometimes hopeful, Danged Black Thing is a speculative fiction collection that takes the reader on a journey from Africa to Australia. The cities and villages the stories are set...
Tomorrow is a Brand-New Day (Davina Bell, illus by Allison Colpoys, Scribble)
Wednesday, 8 September 2021
Tomorrow is a Brand-New Day is an ode to making a mistake and then making things right. It follows two children—friends with different styles—who come into conflict with each other...
Marcie Gill and the Caravan Park Cat (Monica McInerney, illus by Danny Snell, Puffin)
Wednesday, 8 September 2021
With a dozen adult novels under her belt, Monica McInerney is now turning her hand to children’s fiction and her first foray into middle-grade territory is just as full of heart and laughter as her...
Another Day in the Colony (Chelsea Watego, UQP)
Tuesday, 31 August 2021
Chelsea Watego’s debut essay collection Another Day in the Colony documents the sustained racism First Peoples suffer in this continent. Through critical race scholarship, memoir and archival imagery a powerful assemblage is...
How to Repaint a Life (Steven Herrick, UQP)
Tuesday, 24 August 2021
How to Repaint a Life is the latest offering from Steven Herrick, author of award-winning young adult titles including The Simple Gift and The Bogan Mondrian. This is gritty, heartbreaking prose that delves into...
Norton and the Borrowing Bear (Gabriel Evans, Berbay)
Tuesday, 24 August 2021
Gabriel Evans is fast becoming one of the most consistently delightful Australian picture book creators of recent years. With each release he adds to his oeuvre with such apparent ease,...
The First Scientists (Corey Tutt, illus by Blak Douglas, Hardie Grant)
Wednesday, 18 August 2021
In The First Scientists, Corey Tutt, founder of the Deadly Science charity and NSW Young Person of the Year 2020, brings us an extremely engaging, informative and at times funny account of...
My Brother Ben (Peter Carnavas, UQP)
Tuesday, 10 August 2021
Acclaimed Australian children’s writer Peter Carnavas has followed up his wonderful first novel The Elephant with another book equally full of heart. An ode to sibling relationships, growing up and the natural world, My...
Permafrost (S J Norman, UQP)
Tuesday, 10 August 2021
Permafrost is a decadent, artistic delight, full of sensory pleasure for the reader. S J Norman, a visual and performance artist who won the inaugural Kill Your Darlings Manuscript Award with this collection, makes a...
Bodies of Light (Jennifer Down, Text)
Tuesday, 10 August 2021
Bodies of Light is Jennifer Down’s third book and her best yet. It begins with fierce, ageing Maggie (now living in the US under a new identity) being prompted to revisit...
Dark Rise (C S Pacat, A&U)
Tuesday, 3 August 2021
Will is on the run from the men who killed his mother. When a terrifying artefact is unleashed on the Thames docks, Will finds himself thrust into a hidden world...
