Review search
Daisy & Woolf (Michelle Cahill, Hachette)
Released May 2022
Michelle Cahill’s debut novel tells the story of a struggling writer, Mina, as she expands upon the often disregarded character Daisy Simmons from Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. Daisy & Woolf... Read more
The Red Witch: A biography of Katharine Susannah Prichard (Nathan Hobby, MUP)
Released May 2022
Fifty years after the writer Katharine Susannah Prichard’s death, Nathan Hobby has produced this highly detailed, meticulously researched biography, both a revealing account of Prichard’s thrilling life and a sensitive... Read more
The Greatest Thing (Sarah Winifred Searle, A&U Children’s)
Released May 2022
The Greatest Thing is a graphic novel about friendship and self-actualisation, with a dash of queer romance. Semi-autobiographical in nature, it’s set in America in 2002 where Winifred (Searle) meets... Read more
The Callers (Kiah Thomas, HarperCollins)
Released May 2022
Publishing simultaneously in Australia and the US, The Callers—Kiah Thomas’s first foray into middle-grade fiction—is a thoughtful, nuanced fantasy adventure in which two young people fight back against a colonising... Read more
Homesickness (Janine Mikosza, Ultimo Press)
Released May 2022
‘I can’t escape myself or my past. There’s no way out,’ a character named Janine (‘Jin’) muses to an unknown interviewer near the beginning of artist and writer Janine Mikosza’s... Read more
Sunbathing (Isobel Beech, A&U)
Released May 2022
After her father dies of suicide, the unnamed narrator of Sunbathing travels from her hometown of Melbourne to the Italian countryside. There, she stays with friends Fabrizio and Giulia in... Read more
Dirt Town (Hayley Scrivenor, Macmillan)
Released May 2022
Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor is a complex and multi-layered whodunnit, peppered with red-herrings and shocking revelations. In the rural New South Wales town of Durton, a young girl, Esther,... Read more
All the Little Tricky Things (Karys McEwen, Text)
Released May 2022
This debut middle-grade novel is a gentle and empathetic story about navigating the period between primary and high school, as well as the complex ways in which adolescent female friendships... Read more
How to Be Between (Bastian Fox Phelan, Giramondo)
Released May 2022
How to Be Between is a memoir that takes the reader on a tour of Australian counterculture at the beginning of the 21st century, through queer spaces, art festivals, DIY... Read more
Abomination (Ashley Goldberg, Vintage)
Released May 2022
Best friends Ezra and Yonatan are students at an ultra-Orthodox Melbourne Jewish school when a teacher is accused of sexual molestation and is quickly squirreled away to Israel, beyond the... Read more
The Secret of Emu Field: Britain’s forgotten atomic tests in Australia (Elizabeth Tynan, NewSouth)
Released May 2022
While the atomic atrocities of Maralinga are now a well-known story in Australia, the events of nearby Emu Field have comparatively flown under the radar. Elizabeth Tynan, former science journalist... Read more
The Way of Dog (Zana Fraillon, UQP)
Released May 2022
The Way of Dog is the latest work from internationally acclaimed author Zana Fraillon. A beautifully written verse novel told through an animal voice, this is an ambitious and absorbing... Read more
WAKE (Shelley Burr, Hachette)
Released May 2022
The question of what really happened to Evie McCreery has occupied amateur sleuths in online chat forums for years. But for Mina McCreery, ever since her twin sister was taken... Read more
Dinner with the Schnabels (Toni Jordan, Hachette)
Released April 2022
In this timely new novel, Toni Jordan lends her signature wit to the story of a dysfunctional yet loving family group. Simon Larsen has lost his business and his home... Read more
Prometheus High: How to make a monster (Stuart Wilson, Puffin)
Released April 2022
Stuart Wilson’s debut middle-grade novel, the first in a series, will appeal to 8–12-year-olds looking for an adventure tale with a macabre edge. Athena Strange, an intelligent yet unruly young... Read more
Assisted: A doctor’s story of assisting death and embracing life (Stefanie Green, A&U)
Released April 2022
There’s something special about reading the story of a person who has found their true vocation—their passion jumps through the page and grabs you. Dr Stefanie Green is a doctor... Read more
Stardiving (Andrew Plant, Ford St)
Released April 2022
Stardiving is the tale of a young sperm whale challenged to open his eyes on an exciting deep-diving adventure. This heartfelt picture book by the author–illustrator of titles including The... Read more
The Ghost Locket (Allison Rushby, Walker)
Released April 2022
Allison Rushby’s latest middle-grade offering is a creative, entertaining blend of genres, the supernatural spilling into a historical mystery in a modern-day setting. Twelve-year-old Lolli and her guardian Freya have... Read more
Who Needs the ABC? (Matthew Ricketson & Patrick Mullins, Scribe)
Released April 2022
Governments of all persuasions have had a prickly relationship with the ABC. Some more than others. Labor governments have gritted their teeth and put up with unflattering reporting; Liberal governments... Read more
The Burnished Sun (Mirandi Riwoe, UQP)
Released April 2022
Mirandi Riwoe’s The Burnished Sun comprises a series of short stories sandwiched between two novellas, opening with ‘Annah the Javanese’ and closing with Riwoe’s award-winning ‘The Fish Girl’. Despite the... Read more
