Fragile Creatures (Khin Myint, Black Inc.)
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Debut author Khin Myin’s Fragile Creatures is a remarkable memoir in many ways. Myin’s writing is gracious and honest; at its core, his life story is devastatingly sad. The opening chapter reveals...
The Very Polite Knight (Ian Smith, Affirm)
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Finn is not like other knights in the kingdom. While Boris, Ethel and Walter are busy with scaring, fighting and stealing, Finn prefers gardening and reading. He is quiet, kind...
Looking for Eden (Caroline Overington, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
The latest offering from award-winning journalist and bestselling author Caroline Overington is a lopsided thriller. The novel opens as finance hotshot Clare returns to small-town WA following the suicide of...
Good Hair (Yvonne Sewankambo, illus Freda Chiu, Walker)
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Good Hair is a sweet picture book all about celebrating diversity—through hair. When Birungi is reluctant to go to school after struggling to do her hair, she declares she hates...
My Father’s Suitcase (Mary Garden, Justitia Books)
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Mary Garden’s My Father’s Suitcase, with its no-holds-barred tone, embodies the Anne Lamott epigraph, ‘If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better’. Readers of...
Shadows of Winter Robins (Louise Wolhuter, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Louise Wolhuter’s second novel, Shadows of Winter Robins, is cinematic and engrossing from the get-go, spiked with suspense and twists aplenty. Wolhuter is clearly a writer in command of her...
The Little Clothes (Deborah Callaghan, Viking)
Tuesday, 9 April 2024
At 38 years old, Sydney lawyer Audrey—single, childless, unseen and undervalued—is the protagonist of Deborah Callaghan’s debut novel, The Little Clothes. As we follow her struggles at work and in...
Lights Out, Little Dragon (Debra Tidball, illus Rae Tan, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 9 April 2024
Lights Out, Little Dragon is an interactive bedtime book for toddlers aged 3+ and their caregivers, with a cute and relatable character that is just too busy to go to...
My Efficient Electric Home Handbook (Tim Forcey, Murdoch)
Tuesday, 9 April 2024
Energy plays a big part in our lives today, especially as the world faces a climate crisis. Electrification emerges as a solution, but managing our home’s energy can feel complicated...
What’s Murder Between Friends (Meg Gatland-Veness, Pantera)
Tuesday, 9 April 2024
Hallie has always dreamed of being an actor. Thanks to her drama teacher, Ms Lovelace, the school is finally putting on its first show. When Hallie’s class stumbles upon Ms...
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...
