Discipline (Randa Abdel-Fattah, UQP)
Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Discipline asks urgent questions about who gets to speak, who stays silent and what we owe our communities. Randa Abdel-Fattah (Does My Head Look Big in This?) chronicles the experiences...
Slashed Beauties (A Rushby, HQ Fiction)
Tuesday, 8 July 2025
Slashed Beauties is a lush historical fantasy and an adult debut by A Rushby (The Wish Sisters, The Ghost Locket). The novel is by turns macabre and emotional but always...
Sing to Me (Jelena Curic, WestWords)
Tuesday, 8 July 2025
Jelena Curic’s debut novel Sing to Me follows drinking, smoking and womanising anti-hero Pero Petrović on a reluctant hero’s journey to confront family secrets, betrayal and the legacy of his war-torn...
Cannon (Lee Lai, Giramondo)
Tuesday, 8 July 2025
In Lee Lai’s latest graphic novel Cannon, a young chef struggles to navigate the stresses of her late twenties while burdened by family obligations and a chaotic workplace. Central to...
A Guide to Falling Off the Map (Zanni L Arnot, Lothian)
Tuesday, 8 July 2025
A Guide to Falling Off the Map is the absorbing YA debut from Zanni L Arnot, who has previously published books for younger children under the name Zanni Louise (Hazel’s...
58 Facets: On law, violence and revolution (Marika Sosnowski, MUP)
Tuesday, 8 July 2025
‘This is a strange book,’ Marika Sosnowski writes in the acknowledgements of 58 Facets, and she isn’t wrong. Part poetic inquiry, part legal ethnography and part dreamscape of inherited trauma,...
The Making of Martha Mayfield (Jo Dabrowski, Affirm)
Tuesday, 8 July 2025
In The Making of Martha Mayfield, Jo Dabrowski (Get Your Act Together Doris Kozlowski) tells the story of 11-year-old Martha and her quest to overcome her shyness ahead of the...
Whispers and Roars (Patrick Guest, illus Jonathan Bentley, Little Book Press)
Tuesday, 1 July 2025
Whispers and Roars reunites Patrick Guest and Jonathan Bentley, the creative duo behind the bestselling picture book Windows. Their latest collaboration is a thoughtful story about a young girl dealing...
Robo-teacher (Charlotte Barkla, illus Gabriella Petruso, Larrikin)
Tuesday, 1 July 2025
When Miss Horrid cancels the Fun Park excursion, it’s the last straw for Class 5H in Robo-teacher by Charlotte Barkla (All Bodies Are Good Bodies). Led by the industrious 10-year-old...
The Man Who Planted Canberra (Robert Macklin, NLA)
Tuesday, 1 July 2025
The Man Who Planted Canberra examines the life and legacy of Charles Weston, an Englishman whose extraordinary foresight and dedication transformed the landscape of Australia’s capital city through planting three...
The Farm (Jessica Mansour-Nahra, Hachette)
Tuesday, 1 July 2025
Atmospheric and quietly unnerving, The Farm is a haunting debut by Jessica Mansour-Nahra. The psychologically taut novel steadily draws the reader into its isolated setting and the protagonist’s unravelling reality....
Fierceland (Omar Musa, Penguin)
Tuesday, 1 July 2025
Fierceland is a spellbinding novel by multi-hyphenate artist Omar Musa (Killernova), following his widely acclaimed and Miles Franklin–longlisted debut, Here Come the Dogs. In this self-proclaimed ghost story set across...
Tenderfoot (Toni Jordan, Hachette)
Tuesday, 1 July 2025
In Tenderfoot, Toni Jordan returns to the literary style of her earlier novels, Addition and The Fragments, shifting away from the light tones and commercial narratives found within more recent...
The Style Secrets of Gareth McGreen (Kelly Brodie-Brown, illus Natasha Carty, Scholastic)
Tuesday, 24 June 2025
The Style Secrets of Gareth McGreen by Kelly Brodie-Brown, illustrated by Natasha Carty (Time to Rest, The Two-nicorn), is a vibrant debut picture book for readers aged 3+ who enjoy...
News Cowboys (Mike Amor, Echo)
Tuesday, 24 June 2025
In News Cowboys, veteran Australian foreign correspondent Mike Amor shares stories from a decades-long career covering some of the biggest news events of the 21st century. From the 9/11 terrorist...
Playing Nice Was Getting Me Nowhere (Alex Cothren, Pink Shorts Press)
Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Playing Nice Was Getting Me Nowhere is a collection of satirical stories by award-winning short fiction writer Alex Cothren and is one of the first releases from new independent publisher Pink...
Hailstones Fell without Rain (Natalia Figueroa Barroso, UQP)
Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Hailstones Fell without Rain is a rich, multi-generational debut that spans two continents and three generations, exploring memory, identity and the quiet revolutions of everyday women. In this semi-autobiographical familial story...
The Set-Up Girl (Sasha Vey, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 24 June 2025
The Set-Up Girl is a rollercoaster of awkward crushes and friendships set against the warmth and chaos of a tight-knit family and the bittersweet final year of high school. Amalia...
The Nanny’s Handbook to Magic and Managing Difficult Dukes (Amy Rose Bennett, Atria)
Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Amy Rose Bennett's The Nanny’s Handbook to Magic and Managing Difficult Dukes is a charming historical romance that defies expectations and blends genres with flair. The novel combines a Victorian-era...
This Bird: Noticing Our Urban Birds (Astred Hicks & Holly Parsons, CSIRO Publishing)
Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Created by author and illustrator Astred Hicks in collaboration with ecologist Holly Parsons, This Bird: Noticing Our Urban Birds is a vibrant celebration of Australian birdlife, designed to inspire wonder...
Isn’t It Nice We Both Hate the Same Things (Jessica Seaborn, PRH)
Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Isn’t It Nice We Both Hate the Same Things by Jessica Seaborn has a lengthy title that might be tricky to remember, but its characters are anything but forgettable. Seaborn...
Until the Red Leaves Fall (Alli Parker, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Until the Red Leaves Fall is the second novel by Japanese-Australian author and screenwriter Alli Parker (At the Foot of the Cherry Tree). Set primarily in 1950s Melbourne, Emmy Darling...
The Locked Room (Adam Cece, PRH)
Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Adam Cece’s The Locked Room is built on an excellent premise: four teenagers trapped in an escape room must solve a series of puzzles – each on a one-hour countdown...
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...
Starry Eyed (Katharine Pollock, Wakefield Press)
Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Katharine Pollock’s Starry Eyed is delightfully hard to categorise, combining romantic comedy and science fiction elements and loosely held together by a fan fiction narrative. Fundamentally, it’s a touching story...
The Wicked Ship (Oceanforged #1) (Amelia Mellor, Affirm)
Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Amelia Mellor follows The Grandest Bookshop series, her bestselling, award-winning historical fantasy trilogy, with the new swashbuckling Oceanforged series for readers aged 8–10. The Wicked Ship is the first of...
What Would Adam Smith Make of Modern Australia? (Joseph Healy, Major Street)
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Adam Smith, the 18th-century moral philosopher, is best known for coining the phrase ‘invisible hand’ to describe how the economic self-interest of an individual can lead to fair and efficient...
Our History: A House Divided (Clare Hallifax, Walker Books)
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
In Our History: A House Divided, Clare Hallifax places the political turmoil of the 1975 Dismissal of the Whitlam government within the everyday rhythms of family life in Canberra. The...
Stillwater (Tanya Scott, A&U)
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Tanya Scott’s debut, Stillwater, masterfully weaves together the past and present in a suspenseful, emotionally charged crime thriller. Luke Harris returns to his hometown of Melbourne seeking a 'normal life'...
In Spite of You (Patrick Lenton, Pantera)
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Genuinely funny and smartly observed, In Spite of You channels the charm of classic rom-coms – idealistic and entertaining – but adds a fresh twist with a plot driven by...
