Omar Sakr’s ‘The Lost Arabs’
8 May 2019
‘The poems have a vivid and insistent sense of place and identity, with Sakr’s bisexuality threading throughout the work, and will speak especially to young Arab readers, while Sakr’s sense...
Tony Birch’s ‘The White Girl’
1 May 2019
‘With a uniquely Australian setting, a compelling narrative, malevolent antagonists and determined female protagonists, The White Girl will appeal to a wide audience. Readers will find it hard to put down.’...
Jocelyn Moorhouse’s ‘Unconditional Love: A Memoir of Filmmaking and Motherhood’
24 April 2019
'Moorhouse has the storyteller’s powerful memory for detail and the filmmaker’s eye for the emotionally imbued image, whether describing the intense girl she once was or the guilt-wracked mother she...
Neil Grant’s ‘The Honeyman and the Hunter’
17 April 2019
'Neil Grant evokes an absorbing sense of place, pulling you from the salty bay in Patonga to the bustling streets of Kolkata to the jaws of a tiger’s mouth in...
Christopher Cheng & Bruce Whatley’s ‘One Tree’
10 April 2019
'One Tree acknowledges the old ways while being realistic, but not negative, about modern life. It shows there are always possibilities for change and it emphasises how lucky we are...
Susan Hurley’s ‘Eight Lives’
3 April 2019
'Hurley’s background in medical research and the pharmaceutical industry gives the story an authoritative voice, while the multi-voice narrative drips a steady pipette of equal-parts suspense and mystery, right through...
Jocelyn Moorhouse’s ‘Unconditional Love: A Memoir of Filmmaking and Motherhood’
27 March 2019
'Moorhouse has the storyteller’s powerful memory for detail and the filmmaker’s eye for the emotionally imbued image, whether describing the intense girl she once was or the guilt-wracked mother she...
Meg McKinlay’s ‘Catch a Falling Star’
20 March 2019
'McKinlay’s gift for writing accessible characters for younger readers shines through in Catch a Falling Star, with a solid story grounded in the thoughtful exploration of grief.' ... read Tehani Croft's...
‘Growing up African in Australia’ (ed by Maxine Beneba Clarke)
14 March 2019
'The collection boldly explores migratory experiences, rarely shying away from the realities of racism both overt and covert, the ongoing effects of colonisation in and outside of Australia, the conditional...
Peggy Frew’s ‘Islands’
6 March 2019
'[Islands] is a work of great compassion and insight: one which reveals the naive, hopeful, sometimes angry, heartbreak that children hold in their hearts as they attempt to become adults...
Meg McKinlay and Leila Rudge’s ‘Let Me Sleep, Sheep’
27 February 2019
‘Meg McKinlay and Leila Rudge are an ideal pairing: the lightness of tone and tongue-in-cheek nature of McKinlay’s words goes hand-in-hand with Rudge’s detailed yet uncluttered coloured pencilwork.’ ... read...
Monica Tan’s ‘Stranger Country’
20 February 2019
'Stranger Country is perfect for anyone who, like Tan, lives in a major Australian city and wants to know what life is like in the red-dirt heart of the country.' ......
Yassmin Abdel-Magied’s ‘You Must Be Layla’
13 February 2019
‘At its heart, this is a noble debut with a likeable protagonist who exudes the kind of confidence that young girls need in literary role models.’ ... read Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen's...
Nicola Redhouse’s ‘Unlike the Heart: A Memoir of Mind and Brain’
6 February 2019
'Redhouse’s illness and recovery after both children, and how it relates to her own ideas of motherhood is another strand of this memoir. In this sense the book reads pleasingly...
Gabrielle Tozer’s ‘Melody Trumpet’
31 January 2019
'Gabrielle Tozer has previously written three young adult novels, most recently Remind Me How This Ends. She excels in smart, snappy dialogue and imbues her creations with plenty of character...
Jacqueline Kent’s ‘Beyond Words: A Year with Kenneth Cook’
23 January 2019
'Through her brief relationship with Cook, Kent came to know a much more complicated and nuanced person, who was much more of his generation than his novel would suggest. The...
Alison Evans’ ‘Highway Bodies’
12 December 2018
‘Highway Bodies is a compassionate story imbued with softness, which helps make the intense horrors and violence more digestible. Evans' second novel shares similarities with John Marsden’s 'Tomorrow' series and will be...
Andrea Goldsmith’s ‘Invented Lives’
5 December 2018
‘In her eighth novel, Andrea Goldsmith depicts Australia through the eyes of a new arrival: the abundance of Victoria Market contrasted with Soviet-era poverty. Written in plain prose, this is...
Kate Richards’ ‘Fusion’
28 November 2018
‘Part fairytale, part Australian Gothic thriller, Fusion is contemporary Australian literature at its finest and deserves multiple readings—an ideal selection for book clubs.’ ... Read Jacqui Davies’ full review here.
Justin D’Ath’s ‘47 Degrees’
21 November 2018
'An action-adventure that rings with truth, 47 Degrees is also a story about courage, empathy, the importance of family and communities, and how the worst times can bring out the best in...
Gerald Murnane’s ‘A Season on Earth’
14 November 2018
'Murnane’s early writing, as shown here, is accessible and often humorous in his own dry way. As he becomes more recognised, both locally and internationally, A Season on Earth could be recommended...
Kirsten Alexander’s ‘Half Moon Lake’
8 November 2018
'This isn’t simply the story of a missing boy—though that alone would have been enough to sustain a reader’s interest—it’s also a skilful exploration of multi-generational trauma, wrapped up in...
Brad Cooper’s ‘The Finest Gold’
24 October 2018
'While The Finest Gold is ostensibly a sporting memoir—and it does cover in fascinating detail the punishing regimes and mental requirements for success—its real charm lies in Cooper’s dazzling, shimmering...
Black Inc.’s ‘Best Summer Stories’
17 October 2018
‘It’s rarely possible to give an anthology a perfect score—there are always a few stories that fail to hit the mark—but Best Summer Stories comes very close.’ ... read Angela Elizabeth's full...
Davina Bell & Allison Colpoys’ ‘All the Ways to be Smart’
10 October 2018
'Suitable for children aged two to six years old, All the Ways to be Smart is a celebration of what childhood can be, and it will likely become a classic.' ... read...
Toni Jordan’s ‘The Fragments’
3 October 2018
‘Jordan’s writing moves at a fast skip and her descriptions of retail shifts and pre-internet research processes are particularly convincing. It’s a treat to step back into 1980s-era Australia with...
Leigh Sales’ ‘Any Ordinary Day’
26 September 2018
'Using her incisive journalistic skills, Sales presents the reader with both scientific research and vivid descriptions of her own and others’ encounters with tragedy. She presents the research with a...
Karen Foxlee’s ‘Lenny’s Book of Everything’
19 September 2018
'Foxlee’s writing is brimming with perfectly constructed moments that merge into a truly sensational, heart-wrenching read. This is the kind of book that makes a reader feel grateful it exists' ......
Stephen Giles’ ‘The Boy at the Keyhole’
12 September 2018
'Commercial crime fiction fans would do well to pick up this gem of a slow-burning thriller but should be advised to go in with as little prior knowledge as possible...
Shaun Tan’s ‘Tales From the Inner City’
5 September 2018
'These are metaphorical stories that will seep into your dreams and make you wake up longing to escape from the inner city, to be among the animals, only to remember...
