Deep in the Forest (Erina Reddan, Pantera)
Tuesday, 10 October 2023
The Trenthen family’s revered reputation in Stone Lake crumbles when a damaging bushfire uncovers an item that appears to belong to Charli, a bookbinder and the family’s last surviving member, right...
Ladybirds Do Not Go to Day Care (Ali Rutstein, illus Niña Nill, Bright Light)
Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Ladybirds Do Not Go to Daycare is the story of Ravi, a young boy who loves dressing up as his favourite insect—a ladybird. He loves brushing his teeth (or mandibles)...
Secret Sparrow (Jackie French, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Jackie French’s latest middle-grade novel, Secret Sparrow, focuses on the unheralded work of women in World War I. This exciting adventure story is told with dual timelines and begins in...
The Wiregrass (Adrian Hyland, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 10 October 2023
With wild weather, swollen rivers, falling trees, a disgraced cop, a cult and a dead man, Adrian Hyland’s The Wiregrass is a thrilling mix of wry humour and page-turning crime....
The Locked-Up Country: Learning the lessons from Australia’s Covid-19 response (Tom Chodor & Shahar Hameiri, UQP)
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
After reading The Locked-Up Country, you may rethink your position on Australia’s Covid-19 response. It’s not a comfortable read, but important books rarely are. Authors Tom Chodor (senior lecturer in Politics...
The Drowning (Bryan Brown, A&U)
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
The accidental drowning death of a local Gumbaynggirr boy—David, from whose viewpoint the book opens—brings a shadow of sadness over a small NSW coastal town. Then a backpacker doesn't turn up...
Silver Linings (Katrina Nannestad, ABC Books)
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
Following the multi-award-winning success of Katrina Nannestad’s World War II novels for younger readers, Silver Linings sees her move from the battlefields of Europe to post-war Australia, and a story...
The Conversion (Amanda Lohrey, Text)
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
When Zoe’s husband, Nick, dies unexpectedly, she finds herself adrift. Recently retired and unable to afford to continue living in the city, she purchases an old and rundown church in...
Stuck Up & Stupid (Angourie Rice & Kate Rice, Walker)
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
Stuck Up & Stupid is the debut novel from a mother-daughter writing team: actor Angourie Rice and playwright Kate Rice. With a familiar yet fresh narrative, this contemporary YA reimagining of Pride and...
Good Night, Good Beach (Joy Cowley, illus Hilary Jean Tapper, Gecko Press)
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
A celebration of summer, holidays and the natural world, award-winning Aotearoa New Zealand author Joy Cowley’s latest picture book, Good Night, Good Beach, follows five children and their adventures across one day as...
Meatsmith (Andrew McConnell & Troy Wheeler, Hardie Grant)
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Acclaimed restauranteur Andrew McConnell (Cutler & Co) and butcher Troy Wheeler opened the specialist butcher Meatsmith with a passion for close relationships with farmers and producers with shared ethical values....
Hunter on Holiday: A Big Trip Around Europe (Jessica and Stephen Parry-Valentine, illus Ashlee Spink, Puffin)
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
In 2015, Jessica and Stephen Parry-Valentine quit their jobs, booked a one-way flight to New York, and have been sharing their wayfaring through over 80 countries with an audience of...
Days of Innocence and Wonder (Lucy Treloar, Picador)
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Lucy Treloar’s third novel centres on a woman named Till, whose life was cleaved in two when her childhood friend E was kidnapped right before her eyes 18 years ago—‘nothing...
Medieval Monsters and Other Creatures (Timothy Ide, MidnightSun)
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Medieval Monsters and Other Creatures, written and illustrated by Timothy Ide, is a nonfiction deep dive into weird and wonderful creatures that filled medieval imaginations—especially in Europe—presented A to Z. With whole spreads...
A Woman of Courage (Tania Blanchard, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Set in the late 1800s in Ebberfield, northern England, Tania Blanchard’s A Woman of Courage is an engrossing historical fiction work about the suffragette movement. Recent teaching graduate Hannah Todd dreams...
A Grandma to Love (Ashling Kwok, illus Kathy Creamer, Little Pink Dog)
Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Tessa has always wanted a grandma to call her very own. When Tessa’s mum takes her to the local retirement village for 'Adopt a Grandparent Day', she meets many wonderful...
Penguin Oh Penguin (Gladys Milroy, illus Helen Milroy, Magabala)
Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Penguin Oh Penguin is a mother/daughter collaboration between Palyku women Gladys and Helen Milroy, and a charming picture book for early childhood. Gladys Milroy, author of Silver Leaves, wrote this...
Into Your Arms: Nick Cave’s songs reimagined (ed by Kirsten Krauth, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Short story anthology Into Your Arms draws on what editor Kirsten Krauth calls the ‘deep, rich and often dark vein’ of Nick Cave’s musical oeuvre. Twenty-one Australian writers (several of...
The In-Between (Christos Tsiolkas, A&U)
Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Christos Tsiolkas’s The In-Between begins with Perry, a man past his youth, preparing to go on a date. He’s nervous about meeting Ivan, the stranger he will have dinner with,...
A Brilliant Life (Rachelle Unreich, Hachette)
Tuesday, 19 September 2023
A Holocaust story is never an easy read, but A Brilliant Life has such a harrowing prologue that it throws the reader right into the thick of it, so be prepared....
Eighteen Summers (Penny Harrison, illus Leila Rudge, Little Hare)
Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Picture book author Penny Harrison is known for her warm and tender tales that celebrate the wildness and freedom of childhood. Her latest book, Eighteen Summers, carries on this theme. Opening with...
Fluff: Bullies Beware (Matt Stanton, ABC Books)
Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Gilbert Morris lives with his mum and sister in a caravan park. After his dad goes missing in outer space, Gilbert’s mum gives him Fluff, a comfort toy, to squeeze...
Women & Children (Tony Birch, UQP)
Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Tony Birch’s latest novel, Women & Children, is a thoughtful and profound story of a working-class family doing their best to resist a system that’s geared against them. In 1965...
Kimmi: Queen of the dingoes (Favel Parrett, illus Astred Hicks, Lothian)
Tuesday, 12 September 2023
For young readers who enjoyed Favel Parrett’s alpine dingo tale in Wandi (2021), Kimmi follows a real-life tropical dingo who, like Wandi, now lives at the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and...
Crow Baby (Helen Milroy, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Set in a time long ago, when the universe was newly created and things were ‘unpredictable and unique’, a baby is born containing two spirits—one human and one crow. The...
Big Mouth (Matt Preston, Viking)
Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Big Mouth is the first memoir from long-time MasterChef host Matt Preston, who has previously published eight bestselling cookbooks. This book details the experiences of a man who has kept his...
The Paris Cooking School (Sophie Beaumont, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Two middle-class women at a crossroads in life travel to Paris to learn to cook ‘the French Way’ at Sylvie Morel’s Paris Cooking School. Gabi has lost her muse, Kate...
An Unexpected Party (ed by Seth Malacari, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 12 September 2023
The queer experience is immensely diverse, too vast and evolving as a space to be summed up by any one representation, but An Unexpected Party—an anthology of queer speculative short stories—aims...
Strangely Enough (ed by Gillian Hagenus, MidnightSun)
Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Strangely Enough is a slim collection of very short fiction that leans towards the peculiar and slightly unsettling. It’s also very much on point with the current zeitgeist. Short, twisty...
Spies in the Sky (Beverley McWilliams, illus Martina Heiduczek, Pantera)
Wednesday, 6 September 2023
Inspired by the little-known story of the British National Pigeon Service, a volunteer organisation of pigeon breeders who provided their animals for military service during WWII, Spies in the Sky by...
