Into the Rip (Damien Cave, Scribner)
Nonfiction
Released October 2021, reviewed by Nathan Smith.
Damien Cave’s Into the Rip considers how we calculate and cope with risk in Australia. As the first bureau chief of the...
The Curlew’s Eye (Karen Manton, A&U)
Fiction
Released September 2021, reviewed by Deborah Crabtree.
A poisoned dam, a crumbling abandoned homestead, encounters with a mysterious girl and the pull of a haunting landscape are all woven...
self/less (AViVA, Macmillan)
Young adult
Released October 2021, reviewed by Ilona Urquhart.
self/less is the debut novel by self-described multidisciplinary artist AViVA, whose music has a strong online following. Seventeen-year-old Teddy has...
Dragon Skin (Karen Foxlee, A&U)
Younger readers
Released October 2021, reviewed by Karys McEwen.
Dragon Skin is the much-anticipated new novel by Karen Foxlee, author of cherished modern classics including the internationally successful Lenny’s Book...
Love & Virtue (Diana Reid, Ultimo)
Fiction
Released October 2021, reviewed by Georgia Brough.
Two young women. An elite residential college. Michaela and Eve are fundamentally different: Michaela is a reserved scholarship student, while...
In Moonland (Miles Allinson, Scribe)
Fiction
Released September 2021, reviewed by Brad Jefferies.
Miles Allinson’s accomplished second novel—the follow-up to his moving and deeply personal 2015 debut Fever of Animals—is an ambitious and gripping story of parenthood, utopias and...
New Australian Fiction 2021 (ed by Rebecca Starford, Kill Your Darlings)
Fiction
Released September 2021, reviewed by Shivani Prabhu.
Kill Your Darlings’ third annual short fiction anthology, New Australian Fiction 2021, brims with stories—by diverse authors both emerging and...
Believe in Me (Lucy Neave, UQP)
Fiction
Released September 2021, reviewed by Scott Whitmont .
Bet is a Sydney-based veterinarian raised in Adelaide by her single mother, Sarah. When Bet starts questioning her gender, identity and...
Treasure in the Lake (Jason Pamment, A&U)
Younger readers
Released September 2021, reviewed by M H Alessandrino.
Friendship, hidden cities and all-round adventure lie at the heart of Jason Pamment’s immersive graphic novel Treasure in the Lake. Sam and Iris have been...
Let’s Eat Weeds! (Annie Raser-Rowland & Adam Grubb, illus by Evie Barrow, Scribble)
Younger readers
Released September 2021, reviewed by Anica Boulanger-Mashberg.
I can’t think of anything more anxiety-provoking than helping children decide which weeds are safe to eat. But Adam Grubb...
Maxine (Bob Graham, Walker Books)
Children’s picture book
Released September 2021, reviewed by Anica Boulanger-Mashberg.
A ‘companion book’ for Bob Graham’s beloved Max (which was 20 years old in 2020!), Maxine does stand alone but is not...
My Friend Fox (Heidi Everett, Ultimo Press)
Nonfiction
Released September 2021, reviewed by Adam Ford.
This memoir from mental health recovery advocate Heidi Everett is a thoroughly real and stunningly evocative retelling of her life...
Anything But Fine (Tobias Madden, Penguin)
Young adult
Released September 2021, reviewed by Fay Helfenbaum.
Anything But Fine is the young adult debut of Tobias Madden, who works in publishing and is part of the...
The Magpie Wing (Max Easton, Giramondo)
Fiction
Released September 2021, reviewed by Brad Jefferies.
Max Easton’s The Magpie Wing is a moving portrait of a city and region undergoing enormous change, told through the...
Private Prosecution (Lisa Ellery, Fremantle Press)
Fiction
Released September 2021, reviewed by Kate Frawley.
Lawyer-turned-writer Lisa Ellery uses her knowledge and experience in the legal sector to round out detailed judicial proceedings in her...
how to make a basket (Jazz Money, UQP)
Poetry
Released September 2021, reviewed by Anthea Yang.
‘don’t forget this place / where life begins / tell it to the bubs to pass onto theirs / when...
Road Tripping with Pearl Nash (Poppy Nwosu, Wakefield)
Young adult
Released September 2021, reviewed by Ilona Urquhart.
Since her 2018 debut Making Friends with Alice Dyson, shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival Unpublished Manuscript Award and the Readings Young Adult Book...
Happy Hour (Jacquie Byron, A&U)
Fiction
Released September 2021, reviewed by Joanne Shiells .
Three years after her husband’s death, 65-year-old artist Frances Calderwood has developed a drinking problem and squirrelled herself away from...
Sold Down the River (Scott Hamilton & Stuart Kells, Text)
Nonfiction
Released September 2021, reviewed by Chris Saliba.
Once upon a time, Australian farmers traded thousands of megalitres of water for something as simple as a slab of beer....
The Song of Lewis Carmichael (Sofie Laguna, illus by Marc McBride, A&U)
Younger readers
Released September 2021, reviewed by Fay Helfenbaum .
Lyrical, mesmerising and full of heart, The Song of Lewis Carmichael by Sofie Laguna, complemented by the soft, detailed pencil...
