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WBN advance reviews >

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....

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...

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...

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...

Artichoke to Zucchini (Alice Oehr, Scribble) 

Tuesday, 5 September 2023
If you’re looking for an A–Z book with a twist, Alice Oehr’s Artichoke to Zucchini: An alphabet of delicious things from around the world is it. From ubiquitous bananas to...

Epic: Adventures across Aotearoa (Ray Salisbury, Exisle) 

Tuesday, 5 September 2023
Covering 10 iconic journeys around and across Aotearoa New Zealand, Ray Salisbury retells each adventurer’s inspiring and often harrowing trek, working from first-hand accounts in blogs and books to bring...

A Life Song (Jane Godwin, illus Anna Walker, Puffin) 

Tuesday, 29 August 2023
The latest masterpiece by dream team Jane Godwin and Anna Walker, A Life Song is a gentle rhyming picture book that ponders growing up and finding your place in the world. ‘When you are...

The Vanishing Point (Andrea Hotere, Ultimo) 

Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Journalist and researcher Andrea Hotere has put her investigative skills to work in The Vanishing Point: a dual-timeline historical mystery novel concerning Diego Velázquez’s 1656 royal portrait, Las Meninas. In 17th-century...

The Things We Live With (Gemma Nisbet, Upswell) 

Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Gemma Nisbet is a writer and journalist who holds onto things, but this book isn’t about hoarding. It’s not even a self-help antidote to ‘Marie Kondo-ing’ your stuff. In this...

The Rust Red Land (Robyn Bishop, Spinifex) 

Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Set in country New South Wales beginning in 1890, The Rust Red Land follows Matilda as she comes of age through to the 1930s. She does all that is expected of her as...

Gunflower (Laura Jean McKay, Scribe) 

Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Laura Jean McKay’s Gunflower is a vivid and tantalising short story collection where animals are as seamlessly anthropomorphised as humans are animalised. McKay asks readers to suspend their narrative expectations and blurs...