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Summer’s Gone (Charles Hall, Margaret River)
Released February 2015
Summer’s Gone, a debut novel by Melbourne writer Charles Hall, is a coming-of-age story set in the 1960s that mingles nostalgia with tragedy; Beatles-mania with backyard abortions. Its protagonist Nick is a... Read more
One Step at a Time (Jane Jolly, illus by Sally Heinrich, MidnightSun)
Released February 2015
MidnightSun ran a successful crowdfunding campaign to finance its first picture book. It is an unusual and challenging book to launch its children’s list. It is touching and tragic, but... Read more
Useful (Debra Oswald, Viking)
Released February 2014
At his nadir, Sullivan Moss stuffs up his own suicide attempt and is forced to reflect on his unreliable, selfish, underachieving ways. He strikes on the idea of doing something... Read more
Bad Behaviour (Rebecca Starford, A&U)
Released February 2015
Being a 14-year-old girl can be brutal, and Bad Behaviour is Melbourne-based editor Rebecca Starford’s memoir of a harrowing year spent at a posh boarding school’s bush campus. Starford lived in a... Read more
Navigatio (Patrick Holland, Transit Lounge)
Released November 2014
With the poise and economy of expression of a Zen Buddhist kōan, Navigatio explores the worldly and metaphysical searchings of St Brendan of Clonfert, a sixth-century Christian monk who braves... Read more
The Happiness Quest (Lana Penrose, Finch)
Released February 2015
There is an abundance of literature on the subject, but The Happiness Quest stands apart as a manifesto for those suffering from depression, for their family and friends, and for... Read more
Australia’s Best Unknown Stories (Jim Haynes, read by Jim Haynes, Bolinda)
Released November 2014
Jim Haynes sorts the facts from the furphies in the audiobook Australia’s Best Unknown Stories, which combines snippets of Australian colonial history, short stories and poetry. With the voice of a... Read more
The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade (Davina Bell, illus by Allison Colpoys, Scribe)
Released March 2015
Children often feel anxious about things that might seem trivial to adults, but to kids can seem insurmountable if they’re not given enough encouragement and support. In this book, Alfie’s... Read more
Yak and Gnu (Juliette MacIver, illus by Cat Chapman, Walker Books)
Released March 2015
Chances are, of the vast array of animal picture books out there, not many of them feature the unlikely duo of a yak and a gnu, which is why Juliette... Read more
And All that Jazz: Silver Shoes Book One (Samantha-Ellen Bound, Random House)
Released January 2015
Ten-year-old Ellie loves all forms of dance—tap, ballet and most of all, jazz. As one of a group of aspiring dancers at the Silver Shoes Dance Studio, competition is a... Read more
Dexter: The Courageous Koala (Jesse Blackadder, HarperCollins)
Released January 2015
Dexter: The Courageous Koala is an emotional story that dramatises some real conservation issues. Ashley’s school holidays are off to an awful start. Her father has lost his job, which... Read more
The Girl from the Great Sandy Desert (Jukuna Mona Chuguna & Pat Lowe, illus by Mervyn Street, Magabala)
Released February 2015
This chapter book is a charming collection of stories by Jukuna Mona Chuguna, a storyteller from the great Sandy Desert. They have been interpreted and re-told by her friend and... Read more
Lennie the Legend: Solo to Sydney by Pony (Stephanie Owen Reeder, NLA)
Released February 2015
Lennie Gwyther has a dream to ride his pony from his small home town of Leongatha to Sydney. He wants to be there for the opening of an architectural miracle—the... Read more
Akarnae: The Medoran Chronicles Book One (Lynette Noni, Pantera)
Released February 2015
This is another book about ‘young people at magic school’, which we’ve seen a lot of in the post-Harry Potter market. To be fair, the magic school plot device was... Read more
Birrung: The Secret Friend (Jackie French, HarperCollins)
Released February 2015
The setting is Sydney Cove, 1790. When Barney Bean catches the eye of the ‘Indian’ girl adopted by the colony’s chaplain, he has no idea how it is going to... Read more
A is for Australia (Frané Lessac, Walker Books)
Released January 2015
It’s easy to become blasé about the many attractions of one’s own country: after all, the grass (not to mention the castles, art galleries and ruins) look so much greener... Read more
A Small Madness (Dianne Touchell, A&U)
Released February 2015
Rose is in Year 12, happy spending time with her best friend Liv and being madly in love with her perfect boyfriend Michael. Then suddenly, she finds out she’s pregnant... Read more
Volcano Street (David Rain, Atlantic)
Released December 2014
Arguably, Volcano Street is the sort of Australian novel that’s no longer fashionable to write, with its heavy focus on rural life and use of vernacular dialogue and bawdy bushman’s... Read more
A Short History of Stupid (Helen Razer & Bernard Keane, A&U)
Released December 2014
A Short History of Stupid is concerned with the rise of Stupidity in a world ruled by ‘fade-resistant individualism’, extreme paternalism, political condescension, conspicuous compassion and ‘the injurious yoga class... Read more
Mateship: A Very Australian History (Nick Dyrenfurth, Scribe)
Released January 2015
Surveys of Australians continue to show that ‘mateship’ is one of our country’s defining qualities. But what does it actually mean? In this provocative history, academic Nick Dyrenfurth traces Australian... Read more
