Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

Review search

 

Vida: A woman for our time (Jacqueline Kent, Viking)

Released September 2020

It’s a sad fact that most Australians are unaware of the correct pronunciation of Vida Goldstein’s name (a long ‘i’ in both), let alone that she was the first woman... Read more

Fly on the Wall (Remy Lai, Walker)

Released September 2020

When Henry Khoo isn’t trolling his school as anonymous cartoonist ‘Fly on the Wall’, he is being babied at home by an overprotective family. To correct this, Henry devises a... Read more

Under the Rainbow: The life and times of E W Cole (Richard Broinowski, MUP)

Released September 2020

Edward William Cole (1832—1918), arguably Australia’s most famous bookseller, started his career by accident. Trying to hawk his self-penned pamphlets door-to-door in East Melbourne, a woman told him he should... Read more

Bunnygirl (Holly Jayne, Berbay)

Released September 2020

In this adorable junior graphic novel, the main character Bea loves superhero comics, cute things, bunnies and eating cereal. She really wants to become a superhero so that she can... Read more

The Mother Fault (Kate Mildenhall, S&S)

Released September 2020

This gripping and thoughtful novel offers a spine-tingling vision of a future Australia—eerie in its potential realism—in which citizens’ movements are tracked and climate change has decimated the country, flooding... Read more

Just Money: Misadventures in the great Australian debt trap (Royce Kurmelovs, UQP)

Released September 2020

Just Money opens with a first-person account of the car crash that left author and journalist Royce Kurmelovs $23,000 in debt. Kurmelovs’ subsequent experience with the opaque mechanisms of debt... Read more

The Heartsong of Wonder Quinn (Kate Gordon, UQP)

Released September 2020

Kate Gordon won the IBBY Ena Noël Award in 2016 and her YA novel Girl Running, Boy Falling was longlisted in the 2019 CBCA Awards for older readers. The Heartsong... Read more

Either Side of Midnight (Benjamin Stevenson, Michael Joseph)

Released September 2020

When TV presenter Sam ‘Mr Midnight’ Midland shoots himself on live TV, documentarian Jack Quick is watching from the prison cell his last production got him sent into. Sam’s twin... Read more

The F Team (Rawah Arja, Giramondo)

Released September 2020

Tariq is a smart kid, he just lacks the motivation to achieve his full potential. At least, that’s what he has always been told, living in Punchbowl, Western Sydney, where... Read more

Sorrow and Bliss (Meg Mason, Fourth Estate)

Released September 2020

Martha is sick. She’s been sick since she was 17 years old, and a cocktail of pills in varying doses has never made a difference to the lows that leave... Read more

Howl (Kat Patrick, illus by Evie Barrow, Scribble)

Released September 2020

Maggie is having one of those days: the sky too blue, the moon too bright, the spaghetti too long. It almost goes without saying that Maggie’s mother is also having... Read more

The Burning Island (Jock Serong, Text)

Released September 2020

To read The Burning Island is to feel, very often, ‘all at sea’. Much of the novel takes place on the ocean, sure, but more than that, it can be... Read more

The Wolves of Greycoat Hall (Lucinda Gifford, Walker Books)

Released September 2020

Author and illustrator Lucinda Gifford brings us a refreshing and humorous tale with The Wolves of Greycoat Hall, the first book in a new junior fiction series. Boris and his... Read more

Aunty’s Wedding (Miranda Tapsell & Joshua Tyler, illus by Samantha Fry, A&U)

Released September 2020

There are few picture books about weddings for young children, who are naturally curious about this important ceremony. This story takes the charming perspective of a young child who is... Read more

Bluebird (Malcolm Knox, A&U)

Released September 2020

A shaggy array of characters populate Malcolm Knox’s ambitious novel, with 50-year-old Gordon Grimes at the centre. An erstwhile journalist and estranged husband, Gordon is determined to preserve a rundown... Read more

The Lost Library (Jess McGeachin, Puffin)

Released September 2020

This is unashamedly a story for every child (and adult) who loves books and reading—and it reaches out to encourage every reader to fit that description. Little Oliver and his... Read more

Dreams They Forgot (Emma Ashmere, Wakefield)

Released September 2020

The tagline on the title page of Emma Ashmere’s Dreams They Forgot is ‘stories of illusion, deception and quiet rebellion’. This is an apt description of the 25 stories that... Read more

Indigo Owl (Charlie Archbold, Wakefield)

Released September 2020

Scarlet, Dylan and Rumi are new students at the Arcadia Institute, where they will receive the training required to turn them into good citizens of the corpocratic planet Galbraith. But... Read more

Show Me Where It Hurts: Living with invisible illness (Kylie Maslen, Text)

Released September 2020

Imagine living with an invisible illness. For 20 years, Kylie Maslen has been doing just that: her chronic pain and bipolar II (the latter undiagnosed until she was 35) have... Read more

Poly (Paul Dalgarno, Ventura)

Released September 2020

Spouses Chris and Sarah are trying something new—after years without sex, but still in love and keen to remain a family unit, they’ve agreed to see other people. The confident,... Read more