The Careless State (Mark Considine, MUP)
2 August 2022
The Careless State is a timely and forensic examination of the failures of the Australian government’s provision of social services. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed—particularly through the publicised failures in...
Off to the Market (Alice Oehr, Scribble)
2 August 2022
Off to the Market is a celebration of markets and healthy, whole foods. Graphic artist Alice Oehr showcases her skills in her debut narrative nonfiction picture book, for children aged...
Her Death Was Also Water (Allen C Jones, MidnightSun)
2 August 2022
Seven people, an open boat, a flood. I’m not sure if they’re supposed to be archetypes, but they’re uncomfortably familiar. The men: a widowed South-Asian mini-mart owner, a pathetic liberal...
Dusty in the Outwilds (Rhiannon Williams, HGCP)
2 August 2022
Dusty, real name Willa Dust, might just be the most intuitive, smart and brave 12-year-old you’ll ever get caught up in an extraordinary adventure with. Dusty has always heard about...
Bohemian Negligence (Bertie Blackman, A&U)
2 August 2022
Bertie Blackman is an artist and ARIA Award–winning musician whose storytelling is as beautiful as the drawings scattered throughout her memoir. Bohemian Negligence is told by Blackman as a four-year-old...
The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding (Holly Ringland, Fourth Estate)
26 July 2022
Esther Wilding grows up in the shadow of her older sister Aura. When the once-sparkling Aura returns from Copenhagen hollowed out by life, and walks into the sea to her...
The Tower (Carol Lefevre, Spinifex Press)
26 July 2022
The Tower follows Carol Lefevre’s well-received 2021 Christina Stead Prize–shortlisted novella Murmurations. Set in Australia and England, The Tower is exquisitely sophisticated in imagery and form. It is structured around...
The Branded (Jo Riccioni, Pantera Press)
26 July 2022
Twins Nara and Osha are Pure—unmarked by the plague that ravaged their continent. Behind the walls of the isolated citadel of Isfalk, the course of their lives is clearly prescribed:...
Tulips for Breakfast (Catherine Bauer, Ford Street)
26 July 2022
Tulips for Breakfast follows teenager Lena, who has settled into her new life in a Dutch town after she and her parents fled Germany as one of many Jewish families...
The Dangerous Business of Being Trilby Moffat (Kate Temple, Lothian)
26 July 2022
Kate Temple—one half of the powerhouse duo that brought us such gems as Bin Chicken, Yours Truly, Alice Toolie, and the Underdogs series—breaks out on her own for The Dangerous...
Runt (Craig Silvey, A&U)
26 July 2022
Nobody knows where Runt came from, but everybody knows he’ll only listen to Annie. Annie’s instinct is to fix everything, and Runt’s is to follow Annie. When anyone else is...
Unnecessary Drama (Nina Kenwood, Text)
19 July 2022
Things are going well for Brooke. Fresh out of high school and going straight into university, she is determined to reinvent herself from the nerdy and awkward person she once...
A Kind of Magic (Anna Spargo-Ryan, Ultimo)
19 July 2022
It’s still quite something to read a book that speaks the truth about mental health. A Kind of Magic is Anna Spargo-Ryan’s epic, relentlessly honest autobiography of a life lived...
Limberlost (Robbie Arnott, Text)
19 July 2022
Fifteen-year-old Ned helps his father and sister on the family orchard while his brothers are away at war. Seeking escape from his sister’s worry and his father’s silence, Ned traps...
Humanity’s Moment (Joëlle Gergis, Black Inc.)
19 July 2022
‘In a single lifetime, humans have become a force of nature,’ Joëlle Gergis reminds us in Humanity’s Moment. As a climate scientist and lead author of the UN’s IPCC Sixth...
The Grizzled Grist Does Not Exist (Juliette MacIver, illus by Sarah Davis, Gecko Press)
19 July 2022
Following the international success of That’s Not a Hippopotamus, linguist Juliette MacIver returns with The Grizzled Grist Does Not Exist, an irresistible, rhyming rollick through the wilderness. While Ms Whisk...
Charlie’s Whale (Libby Gleeson, illus by Hannah Sommerville, Lothian)
19 July 2022
Distinguished writer Libby Gleeson and CBCA-shortlisted illustrator Hannah Sommerville have successfully collaborated on Charlie’s Whale, a picture book that is destined for awards, and for popularity with children aged two...
Moon Sugar (Angela Meyer, Transit Lounge)
19 July 2022
Mila—40, single, childless—is used to attending to the needs and wants of others. Her own wants, particularly her sexual desires, have always come second. Kyle, a tentative man in his...
A Girl Called Corpse (Reece Carter, A&U)
19 July 2022
Reece Carter—who previously brought us The Garden Apothecary—has turned his hand to prose for his debut middle-grade novel A Girl Called Corpse. Corpse is a ghost with no memory of...
Seeing Other People (Diana Reid, Ultimo)
13 July 2022
Eleanor and Charlie are sisters in their 20s, emerging from the pandemic and trying to decide what they want from their lives. Intellectual, straitlaced Eleanor has just broken up with...
Try Not to Think of a Pink Elephant (Fremantle Press)
13 July 2022
Mental illness is so misunderstood—often even by those of us who live with it—but obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) gets an odd deal. The phrase 'a little bit OCD' infantalises the...
All That’s Left Unsaid (Tracey Lien, HQ Fiction)
12 July 2022
Brutally murdered inside a restaurant on the night of his high-school graduation, Ky Tran’s brother, Denny, has suffered a ‘bad death’. It is 1996, and when Ky (pronounced ‘key’) travels...
11 Words for Love (Randa Abdel-Fattah, illus by Maxine Beneba Clarke, Lothian)
12 July 2022
Multi–award winning author Randa Abdel-Fattah and highly acclaimed author–illustrator Maxine Beneba Clarke unite with 11 Words for Love, a beautifully rendered, timely picture book created with heart. Appealing to children...
The Upwelling (Lystra Rose, Lothian)
12 July 2022
Kirra doesn’t understand how or why, but her dreams come true. And no one believes her, not even Nan, who told Kirra to never mention her ‘power’. One night, she...
The Jammer (Nova Weetman, UQP)
12 July 2022
Fred has roller derby in her blood. As soon as she could walk, her mum had her skating. It was their thing—and a place where Fred always knew she belonged—until...
The Sun Walks Down (Fiona McFarlane, A&U)
12 July 2022
Fiona McFarlane’s debut novel The Night Guest and short story collection The High Places received critical acclaim. Now teaching creative writing at the University of California, Berkeley, the author seals...
People Who Lunch (Sally Olds, Upswell)
6 July 2022
People Who Lunch is the much-anticipated first book by Melbourne-based writer Sally Olds. Known among a devoted coterie of fans for her long-form standalone essays, Olds’ first full collection focuses...
A Message for Nasty (Roderick Fry, Awa Press)
5 July 2022
Roderick Fry’s debut novel is the harrowing wartime story of a family fighting to reunite amid the destruction of the Second World War. The plot follows a married couple, Marie...
A Question of Age: Women, ageing and the forever self (Jacinta Parsons, ABC Books)
5 July 2022
Jacinta Parsons wanted to get under the skin of ageing. What is it? And can we prepare ourselves for it, even before we have arrived at ‘old age’ (whatever that...
Itty Bitty Kitty (Maddy Mara, illus by Noémie Gionet Landry, Affirm)
5 July 2022
Maddy Mara is the pseudonym for publishing powerhouses Hilary Rogers and Meredith Badger, who have between them worked across industry roles from illustration to acquisitions. Having previously collaborated on picture...
