Imaginative Possession: Learning to live in the Antipodes (Belinda Probert, Upswell)
Nonfiction
Released August 2021, reviewed by Jacqui Davies.
Thirty-five years after migrating to Australia from London, educator and social scientist Belinda Probert is still struggling to feel at...
The Airways (Jennifer Mills, Picador)
Fiction
Released August 2021, reviewed by Caitlin Doyle-Markwick.
Jennifer Mills’s The Airways unsettles the boundaries between consciousness, self and the physical world, deep-diving into the parallels between the...
Underground: Marsupial outlaws and other rebels of Australia’s war in Vietnam (Mirranda Burton, A&U)
Graphic novel
Released August 2021, reviewed by Fay Helfenbaum.
Mirranda Burton’s graphic novel presents an overview of Australia during the Vietnam War by following three main characters: anti-war activist...
The Overthinkers (Lisa Portolan & Ben Cheong, Big Sky Publishing)
Fiction
Released August 2021, reviewed by Nathan Smith.
Four gen Zs in Sydney grapple with status, socialising and self-acceptance in the The Overthinkers by Lisa Portolan and Ben...
Devils in Danger (Samantha Wheeler, UQP)
Younger readers
Released August 2021, reviewed by Erin Wamala.
When strange things start happening around 11-year-old Killarney’s house—missing clothes, screaming in the night—she becomes determined to solve the mystery....
The Spectacular Suit (Kat Patrick, illus by Hayley Wells, Scribble)
Children’s picture book
Released August 2021, reviewed by Michael Earp.
Parties can be extremely important for children. Especially for Frankie, the protagonist of The Spectacular Suit, who has never asked...
The First Time I Thought I Was Dying (Sarah Walker, UQP)
Nonfiction
Released August 2021, reviewed by Anne Barnetson.
This is an essay collection in which the most difficult and abject parts of being a human in a body...
Sugar Town Queens (Malla Nunn, A&U)
Young adult
Released August 2021, reviewed by Tracy-Kate Simambo.
Sugar Town Queens is a young adult coming-of-age novel by Malla Nunn, author of When the Ground is Hard. Her...
Small Joys of Real Life (Allee Richards, Hachette)
Fiction
Released August 2021, reviewed by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen.
Small Joys of Real Life begins at a house party in Northcote, Melbourne, where the narrator, actress Eva McMillan, meets...
Muddy People (Sara El Sayed, Black Inc.)
Nonfiction
Released August 2021, reviewed by Daniel Nour.
With elegant lyricism, compelling urgency and a dark sense of humour, Muddy People by Sara El Sayed is an impressive...
Albert Namatjira (Vincent Namatjira, Magabala)
Children’s picture book
Released August 2021, reviewed by Phil Lesnie.
In his picture book biography Albert Namatjira, Vincent Namatjira paints a stoic and quietly devastating portrait of his great-grandfather Albert,...
Girls in Boys’ Cars (Felicity Castagna, Pan)
Young adult
Released August 2021, reviewed by Ilona Urquhart.
Felicity Castagna’s Girls in Boys’ Cars is not dissimilar to her Prime Minister’s Literary Award–winning young adult novel The Incredible...
Empires (Nick Earls, Vintage)
Fiction
Released August 2021, reviewed by Adam Ford.
With his latest novel, Nick Earls again proves his talent for compelling and convincing storytelling. A novel in five parts,...
The Night Village (Zoe Deleuil, Fremantle Press)
Fiction
Released August 2021, reviewed by Fiona Hardy.
A year ago, Paul and Simone met at a party—young, carefree and living separate lives. Now, they’re parents to a...
Daughter of the River Country (Dianne O’Brien with Sue Williams, Echo)
Nonfiction
Released July 2021, reviewed by Hannah Cartmel.
This book isn’t always an easy one to read, but it is certainly worthwhile. Dianne O’Brien’s memoir takes us through...
The 22 Murders of Madison May (Max Barry, Hachette)
Fiction
Released July 2021, reviewed by Stefen Brazulaitis.
The idea of parallel universes might once have been exotic, but between public interest in physics, the increasing popularity of...
All Dogs Bark (Catherine Meatheringham & Deb Hudson, Windy Hollow Books)
Children’s picture book
Released July 2021, reviewed by Thuy On.
A picture book that is particularly appealing for canine lovers, All Dogs Bark is a joyous and raucous look at...
The Mother Wound (Amani Haydar, Macmillan)
Nonfiction
Released July 2021, reviewed by Eda Gunaydin.
Like her own mother before her, Amani Haydar lost her mother young. In 2006 Haydar’s grandmother was killed in the...
The Memory Thief (Leonie Agnew, Puffin)
Younger readers
Released July 2021, reviewed by Karys McEwen.
Following her last spellbinding tale The Impossible Boy, Leonie Agnew has created another spine-tingling adventure novel for middle-grade readers. The...
The Newcomer (Laura Elizabeth Woollett, Scribe)
Fiction
Released July 2021, reviewed by Cher Tan.
Paulina Novak is a bad-girl bogan archetype in early 2000s Sydney. Stuck in a rut, she moves on a whim...
