Reviews
Adult fiction
The Glass House (Brooke Dunnell, Fremantle Press)
Released November 2022
When Julia’s elderly father, Don, finally agrees to move out of the family home and into an aged-care facility, Julia knows she has a lot of work ahead of her. Don doesn’t like to accept help and the house has seen better days. Leaving her husband and 14-year-old stepdaughter in Melbourne, Julia travels to Perth… Read more
The Lovers (Yumna Kassab, Ultimo)
Released November 2022
Yumna Kassab’s The Lovers is the folkloric tale of Jamila and Amir’s love. We don’t know many details of their relationship or what their love was like at its crescendo; we seem to be introduced to the two when things are falling apart. The reader is privy to some of the couple’s turmoil: family expectations,… Read more
Adult nonfiction
Hard Labour: Wage theft in the age of inequality (Ben Schneiders, Scribe)
Released October 2022
Income inequality fell in Australia during the postwar period, and by 1979 inequality was at its lowest. Then neoliberal economics took hold, championed by leaders such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. In Australia, economic liberalisation started under the Labor Hawke/Keating governments, and was accelerated under the Liberal Howard government, with its anti-union policies and… Read more
Boundary Crossers (Meg Foster, NewSouth)
Released November 2022
In her new book Boundary Crossers, historian Meg Foster combs archives and family histories to explore questions surrounding the lesser known bushrangers of Australian history. Is there more to the story of Worimi woman Mary Ann Bugg, known as the ‘Captain’s Lady’ as partner of infamous bushranger Captain Thunderbolt, with whom she shared three children? Black… Read more
Children's picture books
To Greenland! (Pip Smith, illus by Beau Wylie, Scholastic)
Released November 2022
To Greenland! is the joyous new picture book from Pip Smith and Beau Wylie, who last collaborated on Theodore the Unsure. This new adventure follows Ellie the elephant, who resides at the zoo in an emerald igloo, and a young child called Llewyn, who spends his days in a city surrounded by dull colours and… Read more
Amazing Animal Journeys (Jennifer Cossins, Lothian)
Released November 2022
Tasmanian artist Jennifer Cossins hit world picture-book fame with 101 Collective Nouns, and has since collected a swag of CBCA and other accolades. Her newest title, the nonfiction Amazing Animal Journeys, which targets a middle-grade readership, is more text-heavy than her early books. There are occasional mentions of climate change, and a note on conservation… Read more
Younger readers
Dusty in the Outwilds (Rhiannon Williams, HGCP)
Released October 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 her mysterious aunty Meg but has never found out the truth as to why she disappeared. When Dusty finds a strange photo of Meg, and… Read more
The Dangerous Business of Being Trilby Moffat (Kate Temple, Lothian)
Released October 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 Business of Being Trilby Moffat. Packed with her trademark clever humour, Temple’s fast-paced, time-twisting adventure sees young Trilby Moffat on a mission to discover why… Read more
Young adult
Tulips for Breakfast (Catherine Bauer, Ford Street)
Released October 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 seeking refuge in the late 1930s due to Hitler’s rising influence. As the Nazi party’s power expands beyond German borders towards the Netherlands, Lena’s life… Read more
Unnecessary Drama (Nina Kenwood, Text)
Released October 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 was. No more unreliable and despondent father, or sister that drinks too often and too much, or well-meaning but sometimes overbearing mother. But life catches… Read more
Recently released titles
Grounded (Alisa Bryce, Text)
Released August 2022
Considering that we are such very clever land-based mammals it’s puzzling how little most of us know about soil—upon which we live, from which we (probably) come, and unto which we will ultimately go. Even soil scientists can’t agree on an exact definition, according to author Alisa Bryce. A soil scientist herself, Bryce refrains from… Read more
Marlo (Jay Carmichael, Scribe)
Released August 2022
After previous success with Ironbark, a novel that wrestled with the coming of age of a gay man in rural Australia, Jay Carmichael turns his attention once again to queer lives positioned at Australia’s conservative margins. Marlo tells the story of mechanic Christopher, a shy and doubting young man who moves to Melbourne sometime in… Read more
