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...
Run (Sarah Armstrong, HGCP)
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Sarah Armstrong’s latest middle-grade novel, Run, is a fast-paced survival tale that explores themes of trust, resilience and complicated families. It follows Armstrong’s previous titles for younger readers, Big Magic and Magic Awry, and her...
How to Train a Dad (Sally Barns, illus Noémie Gionet Landry, Affirm)
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
How to Train a Dad, written by Sally Barns and illustrated by Noémie Gionet Landry, is a funny and imaginative picture book that presents itself as a manual for kids...
Plastic Budgie (Olivia De Zilva, Pink Shorts Press)
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Olivia De Zilva’s autofiction debut Plastic Budgie is a sharply funny, sad and sentimental reflection on the people, places and cultural forces that shape us as we grow up. In the novel,...
The Ghost Walk (Karen Herbert, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 3 June 2025
Ruby Rose Gillespie lives with cystic fibrosis and is admitted to the hospital for a fever on the same day the body of Dr Gabriel Beaufort – her high school...
Yilkari (Nicolas Rothwell & Alison Nampitjinpa Anderson, Text)
Tuesday, 3 June 2025
Yilkari is a book that resists easy categorisation – it’s part character study, part travel narrative, part history lesson and part meditation on the connection between people and place. This...
A Gift from the Birds (Caroline Stills, Text)
Tuesday, 3 June 2025
A Gift from the Birds is the first middle-grade novel by picture book author Caroline Stills. Winner of the 2024 Text Prize – and the final recipient before the prize...
The Giant (Sophie Masson, illus Lorena Carrington, MidnightSun)
Tuesday, 3 June 2025
The award-winning duo of author Sophie Masson and illustrator Lorena Carrington reunite for The Giant. Their previous title, Satin, was a 2024 CBCA Notable book. In this mystical and poignant...
The Golden Sister (Suzanne Do, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 3 June 2025
The Golden Sister is a fast-paced mystery set in a small fictional NSW coastal town, exploring complex and dysfunctional family dynamics and the impact of grief. Suzanne Do’s prose is...
Death at Booroomba (AL Booth, Ventura Press)
Tuesday, 3 June 2025
On the eve of his deployment to the Western Front in 1915, Jack O’Rourke has a chance encounter with an elderly Russian man, Samuel Lomond, that will profoundly impact his...
Where the River Runs Free (Vikki Conley, illus Jedda Robaard, Windy Hollow)
Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Where the River Runs Free is a celebration of time spent outdoors by multi-award-winning author Vikki Conley (Where the Lyrebird Lives) and illustrator Jedda Robaard (The Littlest Penguin and the...
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...
CHAOS! Which way will YOU choose? (Andrew Cranna, Walker Books)
Tuesday, 27 May 2025
An eccentric grandfather, a talking pet pig, a rat, a toad and a baby alligator are just some of the characters in Andrew Cranna’s interactive middle-grade adventure, CHAOS! Which way...
Deep History: Country and Sovereignty (ed by Ann McGrath & Jackie Huggins, UNSW Press)
Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Deep History: Country and Sovereignty is a layered and collaborative work that challenges dominant narratives and asks whose voices are heard in telling history. Edited by Jackie Huggins, a Bidjara...
Be a good girl, Valerie (Marcia van Zeller, Ventura Press)
Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Be a good girl, Valerie by Marcia van Zeller is a quietly absorbing novel set predominantly in 2018 Perth with flashbacks to 1974 Toronto and 1978 London. It explores enduring...
Dead Ends (Samantha Byres, UQP)
Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Is closure possible, or is it just a convenient fiction? This is the central question explored in Dead Ends, the meditative debut novel by Aotearoa New Zealand–born Naarm/Melbourne-based writer Samantha...
Love Overdue (Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus, A&U)
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Love Overdue, the new novel by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus (Fancy Meeting You Here), is an uneven but ultimately charming contemporary romance for readers who enjoy Jodi McAlister (An...
What Kept You? (Raaza Jamshed, Giramondo)
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Raaza Jamshed’s debut novel, What Kept You?, is a dazzling, poignant tale of defiance and metamorphosis in an ever-changing world. Whipping between the past and present, we first meet Jahan...
Modern Australian Baking (Christopher Thé, Hardie Grant)
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Christopher Thé’s Modern Australian Baking is visually arresting, thoughtfully structured and creatively ambitious. Best known as the founder of Black Star Pastry and creator of the viral Strawberry Watermelon Cake,...
Edie Tells a Lie (Ingrid Laguna, Text)
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Ingrid Laguna’s Edie Tells a Lie is a gentle story of friendship and family. After the loss of her father, Edie mourns the large family she wishes she had. Edie’s...
Nock Loose (Patrick Marlborough, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Patrick Marlborough’s Nock Loose is a wryly postmodern and cynically satirical novel that hits the ground running and never lets up. Marlborough scorns the ‘dire humourlessness’ of Australian literature in...
When Sleeping Women Wake (Emma Pei Yin, Hachette)
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Expansive yet tightly plotted, When Sleeping Women Wake is a deeply empathetic novel that examines the devastation of war. Set in 1940s Hong Kong, it traces the city’s transformation from...
