The Nordic Edge: Policy possibilities for Australia (ed by Andrew Scott & Rod Campbell, MUP)
Nonfiction
Released July 2021, reviewed by Chris Saliba.
What can Australia learn from Nordic countries Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland? Quite a lot, according to editors Andrew...
The Story of Australia: For the young (and the curious) (Don Watson, Black Inc.)
Younger readers
Released July 2021, reviewed by Hannah Gardiner.
After being out of print for 20 years, Don Watson’s The Story of Australia has been given a new life,...
Henry Hamlet’s Heart (Rhiannon Wilde, UQP)
Young adult
Released July 2021, reviewed by Jordi Kerr.
Henry Hamlet lives in his head, and his head is full of worries—will he ever get a girlfriend and lose...
The Rabbits (Sophie Overett, Vintage)
Fiction
Released July 2021, reviewed by Bec Kavanagh.
The Rabbits is a tense suburban drama that probes the limits of family bonds and human potential. Sophie Overett, who...
Catch Us the Foxes (Nicola West, S&S)
Fiction
Released July 2021, reviewed by Deborah Crabtree.
Marlowe ‘Lo’ Robertson is an ambitious young journalist given the job of covering the annual show for the local paper....
The Other Half of You (Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Hachette)
Fiction
Released June 2021, reviewed by Adam Ford.
Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s latest novel continues the story of Bani Adam, a young Lebanese Muslim man growing up in Sydney....
Everything Harder Than Everyone Else (Jenny Valentish, Black Inc.)
Nonfiction
Released June 2021, reviewed by Kelsey Oldham .
Don't be fooled by the Motörhead-inspired title: journalist Jenny Valentish’s latest work of nonfiction isn't about music but is instead...
Coco, the Fish with Hands: Endangered Animal Tales 1 (Aleesah Darlison, illus by Mel Matthews, Puffin)
Children’s picture book
Released June 2021, reviewed by Anica Boulanger-Mashberg.
Coco, the Fish with Hands is a simple book that reads almost like a souvenir from a conservation habitat visit....
Echo in the Memory (Cameron Nunn, Walker Books)
Young adult
Released June 2021, reviewed by M H Alessandrino.
Cameron Nunn presents an ambitious work of historical fiction in his latest novel Echo in the Memory. Seamlessly telling the...
Walking in Gagudju Country: Exploring the monsoon forest (Diane Lucas and Ben Tyler, illus by Emma Long, A&U Children’s)
Children’s picture book
Released June 2021, reviewed by Romi Sharp.
Combining their expertise in and passion for botanical work, wild landscapes and the culture of the Top End bush, authors...
The School (Brendan James Murray, Picador)
Nonfiction
Released June 2021, reviewed by Portia Lindsay.
Brendan James Murray is a full-time high school English teacher and an award-winning writer. His new nonfiction work The School...
We Were Not Men (Campbell Mattinson, Fourth Estate)
Fiction
Released June 2021, reviewed by Nathan Smith.
Campbell Mattinson’s We Were Not Men charts the story of twin brothers Jon and Eden in an episodic exploration of male...
The Covered Wife (Lisa Emanuel, Pantera Press)
Fiction
Released June 2021, reviewed by Scott Whitmont.
When young lawyer Sarah meets the smart, handsome Daniel, the attraction is instant. Influenced by the charismatic Rabbi Menachem Lev...
Who Gets to be Smart (Bri Lee, A&U)
Nonfiction
Released June 2021, reviewed by Kim Thomson.
Who Gets to be Smart opens with a walking tour of Oxford. Author Bri Lee is at the university to...
Kunyi (Kunyi June Anne McInerney, Magabala)
Children’s picture book
Released June 2021, reviewed by Anica Boulanger-Mashberg.
Kunyi, an illustrated memoir of Kunyi June Anne McInerney’s childhood, collects snapshot moments and stories of her life, told in...
100 Remarkable Feats of Xander Maze (Clayton Zane Comber, HarperCollins)
Young adult
Released June 2021, reviewed by Michael Earp.
Xander Maze’s best friend is his Nanna. When she is diagnosed with stage four cancer and asks him to write...
A Pair of Pears and an Orange (Anna McGregor, Scribble)
Children’s picture book
Released June 2021, reviewed by Ellen Cregan.
A pair of pears are good friends who like to spend their days together, playing games that are just right...
One Hundred Days (Alice Pung, Black Inc.)
Fiction
Released June 2021, reviewed by Marina Sano.
Is there a right way to love? Karuna feels suffocated by her mother—and her entrapment multiplies when her dad leaves...
A Paper Inheritance (Dymphna Stella Rees, UQP)
Nonfiction
Released June 2021, reviewed by Julia Taylor.
Leslie Rees and Coralie Clarke Rees were a literary partnership, contemporaneous with two more famous Australian literary couples of the...
Marlow Brown, Magician in the Making (Kesta Fleming, illus by Marjory Gardner, Celapene Press)
Younger readers
Released June 2021, reviewed by Annie Waters.
Kesta Fleming has written stories and poems for junior readers for many years, making her publishing debut with the Marlow Brown...
