Love from Scratch (Amy Hutton, S&S)
Tuesday, 9 April 2024
Amy Hutton’s new romance, Love from Scratch, reunites readers with the gorgeous actor Ethan from her previous book, Sit, Stay, Love. Ethan, once terribly fearful of dogs, is now filming...
The Immortals of Australian Rugby Union (Gordon Bray, Gelding Street Press)
Tuesday, 9 April 2024
The current crop of Wallabies may have lost their lustre, but Gordon Bray’s latest offering, The Immortals of Australian Rugby Union, harks back to a golden age of the sport....
How Babies Are Made (Philip Bunting, Scholastic)
Tuesday, 9 April 2024
An engaging first look at human reproduction, How Babies Are Made features Philip Bunting’s signature friendly illustration style and the sense of humour common to both his fiction and nonfiction...
Magic Counting (Nabeel Khan, illus Tete Garcia, Scribble)
Tuesday, 2 April 2024
Magic Counting is a beautifully illustrated book that goes beyond the basics of counting, exploring the magic that can be found in the world of numbers. While counting from one...
Drop into the Ocean (Karen Wasson, illus Marta Tesoro, Hardie Grant Explore)
Tuesday, 2 April 2024
Drop into the Ocean: A tour of the world’s oceans and seas is exciting, colourful, entertaining and insightful. Packed with fun facts and well-researched information, it’s the type of book...
What’s That? Australian mammals (Myke Mollard, Woodslane)
Tuesday, 2 April 2024
This educational picture book for young children begins by telling us that every modern mammal descended from a common ancestor from around 180 million years ago, and that it’s up...
Dear Mutzi (Tess Scholfield-Peters, NLA)
Tuesday, 2 April 2024
Tess Scholfield-Peters’ debut book, Dear Mutzi, is a narrative nonfiction account of her grandfather's experience in Nazi Germany. It powerfully describes how 18-year-old Hermann Pollnow fled Nazi Germany for rural...
Heartsease (Kate Kruimink, Picador)
Tuesday, 2 April 2024
Ellen 'Nelly' and Charlotte 'Lot' are as unalike as sisters come, yet they were once inseparable despite this. Lot is Nelly’s elder by eight years—an employment lawyer and single mother...
Every Last Suspect (Nicola Moriarty, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 2 April 2024
Nicola Moriarty’s latest novel combines the domestic drama she’s known for with a compelling hook that will draw in mystery and thriller readers. Harriet Osman lies dying on the floor,...
Because I Love Him (Ashlee Donohue, Magabala)
Tuesday, 26 March 2024
Because I Love Him is an intelligent and insightful reply to the question, ‘Why are you with him?'. As a society, we're beginning to realise that it's the wrong question...
Grace the Amazing (Aleesah Darlison, Wombat Books)
Tuesday, 26 March 2024
This tender middle-grade novel by well-established children’s author Aleesah Darlison (who wrote the popular junior series League of Llamas) explores friendship, coming to terms with death, and finding the courage...
A Small Collection of Happinesses (Zana Fraillon, illus Stephen Michael King, Lothian)
Tuesday, 26 March 2024
In the first pages of acclaimed author Zana Fraillon’s A Small Collection of Happinesses, Ada is ‘blown in…and dumped… right at the front gates of number 9 Hawkhurst Lane’. I...
Book of Hours (Clare McFadden, Walker)
Tuesday, 26 March 2024
Book of Hours, written and illustrated by Clare McFadden (The Flying Orchestra), tells a life story in a series of dreamy vignettes. These postcard moments capture memories by the sea—of...
Suddenly Single at Sixty (Jo Peck, Text)
Tuesday, 26 March 2024
Not long after Jo Peck’s 60th birthday, her husband drops a bombshell—he’s leaving her for a (much) younger woman. She is shocked and heartbroken that the life she’d worked towards—full...
Love & Rome (Jenna Lo Bianco, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 26 March 2024
Stella Chiaro is an Australian-Italian artist trying to find her place in the eternal city. With a one-way ticket back to Australia and dwindling funds, Stella has six months left...
Boots (Elizabeth Pulsford, illus Krista Brennan, Wombat Books)
Tuesday, 26 March 2024
The idea of walking in someone else’s shoes to evoke understanding and empathy is not a new concept, but Elizabeth Pulsford takes it further in her debut picture book, Boots,...
Psykhe (Kate Forsyth, Vintage)
Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Kate Forsyth’s latest historical fiction, Psykhe, adds to her substantial body of work (The Crimson Thread, Bitter Greens) as it reimagines the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche. In the novel, Psykhe’s act...
Cheer Up, Blobfish! (Julie Murphy, illus Rachel Tribout, Affirm)
Tuesday, 19 March 2024
It’s time for The Festival of the Fish and everyone is excited, but the blobfish looks sad, and none of the sea creatures can cheer him up. This fun, rhyming...
Love Across Class (Rose Butler & Eve Vincent, MUP)
Tuesday, 19 March 2024
In Love Across Class, researchers Rose Butler and Eve Vincent seek to demystify the complex—and often obscured—role class can play in shaping romantic relationships. As class is often overlooked in social and political conversations (unlike...
Ghost Cities (Siang Lu, UQP)
Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Recently fired from his translating job at the Chinese Consulate in Sydney for lying about his translation skills and using Google Translate to do his job, Xiang Lu is a...
All the Beautiful Things You Love (Jonathan Seidler, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 19 March 2024
A romantic comedy told in reverse, All the Beautiful Things You Love charts Elly and Enzo's relationship over 10 years, leading up to their divorce. But what happens to their...
The Kindness Project (Deborah Abela, Puffin)
Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Nicolette is unconfident and shy and feels like she doesn’t fit in anywhere. However, she loves spending time with her nanna and takes comfort in her visits to her nursing...
Because I’m Not Myself, You See (Ariane Beeston, Black Inc.)
Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Ariane Beeston’s debut, Because I’m Not Myself, You See, chronicles her postpartum psychosis, as a mother and clinical psychologist. The memoir weaves personal experiences with scientific evidence, and makes recommendations...
How to Avoid a Happy Life (Julia Lawrinson, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
How to Avoid a Happy Life is a lively memoir by Julia Lawrinson (Losing It), the author of over 15 books for young people. This memoir takes readers through a lifetime of sad and...
Peripathetic: Notes on (un)belonging (Cher Tan, NewSouth)
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
The nine essays in this collection, Peripathetic by Melbourne-based Cher Tan, use the form’s digressive capacity well. In elastic prose informed by wide reading, Tan heads down wordy, winding rabbit...
Safe Haven (Shankari Chandran, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Miles Franklin–winning author Shankari Chandran turns her focus to Australia’s inhumane practice of mandatory detention in her fourth novel, Safe Haven. As in Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, a focal...
The Unexpected Mess of It All (Gabrielle Tozer, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Gold Inky award-winning author Gabrielle Tozer’s fifth YA novel, The Unexpected Mess of it All, displays her trademark empathy, humour and cheekiness. Jamila’s life is an unexpected mess. Since their...
Cora Seen and Heard (Zanni Louise, Walker)
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
When Cora’s family moves to Tasmania to renovate a decrepit theatre, Cora, 12, is thrilled at the opportunity to reinvent herself as Cora 2.0: more confident, admired, and interesting. But...
What Stars Are For (Margeaux Davis, Affirm)
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
What Stars Are For is the first picture book by sewing pattern and soft toy designer Margeaux Davis. The emerging children’s book illustrator’s love for the natural world is informed...
To Sing of War (Catherine McKinnon, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
From Miles Franklin–shortlisted author Catherine McKinnon (Storyland), To Sing of War confronts the interconnectedness that binds humanity. Against the backdrop of WWII, we find ourselves immersed in the jungles of...
