Review search
Golden Boys (Sonya Hartnett, Penguin, September)
Released August 2014
Golden Boys is not a departure for Sonya Hartnett, but it’s a continuation of her craft that shows why she is one of Australia’s best writers, for adults as well... Read more
Deeper Water (Jessie Cole, Fourth Estate)
Released August 2014
The premise of Jessie Cole’s second novel is reminiscent of her acclaimed debut novel Darkness on the Edge of Town: a car accident brings a stranger into the lives of... Read more
The President’s Desk (Shaun Micallef, Hardie Grant)
Released August 2014
The President’s Desk is exactly what you would hope for in a book about the history of America by Shaun Micallef. It’s the perfect topic for him; as mad as... Read more
South in the World (Lisa Jacobson, UWA Publishing)
Released August 2014
Recalling the fate of Icarus, the opening poem in Lisa Jacobson’s South in the World lists ‘Several Ways to Fall out of the Sky’. The last way, she offers as... Read more
Demons (Wayne Macauley, Text)
Released August 2014
Seven middle-aged, well-off Melburnians and the sulky teenage daughter of one of them gather in a holiday house overlooking the Great Ocean Road for a winter weekend. It’s meant to... Read more
Over the Water (William Lane, Transit Lounge)
Released August 2014
William Lane’s debut novel launches with narrator Joe stumbling through the ‘higgledy-piggledy’ of Bandung, Indonesia, to interview for a room. Joe has recently arrived in the country to teach at one... Read more
Isabelle of the Moon and Stars (S A Jones, UWA Publishing)
Released August 2014
The Isabelle of this book’s title is a complex character. Haunted by a depressive spirit, and recovering from a crushing relationship breakdown, she amuses herself in her bureaucratic job by... Read more
Gap (Rebecca Jessen, UQP)
Released August 2014
Ana escaped from an abusive home and got caught up with the wrong crowd, but pulled herself out of a slide into drugs and petty crime. Now she works two... Read more
Spurt: A Balls and All Story (Christopher Miles, Hardie Grant Egmont)
Released July 2014
As Year Eight draws to an end, Jack Sprigley is feeling left behind in the physical development department by his classmates, and just plain left behind by his friends. The... Read more
Hermione Anemone and the Enormous Storm (Ciara Molloy Tan, illus by Michaela Blassnig, Lothian)
Released July 2014
Despite the tongue-twisting title—try saying ‘Hermione Anemone’ five times in a row—author Ciara Molloy Tan and illustrator Michaela Blassnig’s debut picture book is a brightly coloured, cleverly rhyming book that... Read more
Writing Clementine (Kate Gordon, A&U)
Released July 2014
Level-headed Clementine is perplexed by the shifting social dynamics of Year 9. Prompted by her English teacher’s daily writing exercises, she records her experiences in a series of letters, which... Read more
A Game of Keeps (Dianne Bates, Celapene Press)
Released August 2014
In A Game Of Keeps, Dianne Bates introduces us to Ashley, a young girl who lives a small, unkempt flat with her mum Jules and their guinea pig Froggie. Froggie... Read more
Masquerade (Kylie Fornasier, Penguin)
Released August 2014
It’s carnival time in 18th-century Venice. Determined to find out the truth about her mother’s mysterious past, 18-year-old Orelia has arrived in Venice to stay with her uncle’s family. She... Read more
Head of the River (Pip Harry, UQP)
Released July 2014
Leni and Cristian, the twin children of Olympic champions, were born to row. The end of high school is looming and, with it, the Head of the River, a prestigious... Read more
Once a Creepy Crocodile (Peter Taylor, illus by Nina Rycroft, The Five Mile Press)
Released July 2014
Peter Taylor’s Once a Creepy Crocodile tells the story of an innocent baby brolga who meets a crocodile by the river and receives an invitation to afternoon tea. Aware of... Read more
Let Her Go (Dawn Barker, Hachette)
Released July 2014
Dawn Barker’s second novel, after her 2013 psychological thriller Fractured, centres on Zoe, a woman whose biological clock has begun to tick furiously but who is unable to conceive a... Read more
Gravity: Inside the PM’s Office during Her Last Year and Final Days (Mary Delahunty, Hardie Grant)
Released July 2014
Much has been written about the legacy of Australia’s first female prime minister. In the latest book to analyse the significance of Julia Gillard’s tenure, Mary Delahunty examines the ways... Read more
Thief’s Magic (Trudi Canavan, Hachette)
Released June 2014
This is the first in a new series set in a new world. While it is very much in the style of her previous books, Trudi Canavan has taken advantage... Read more
Lost & Found (Brooke Davis, Hachette)
Released July 2014
Lost & Found is the perfect book to curl up with on a cold, rainy day. It is full of golden moments, tenderness and some sadness too. Millie, an irrepressible... Read more
Chasing the Ace (Nicholas J Johnson, S&S)
Released July 2014
Nicolas J Johnson is a talented entertainer whose knowledge of scams, swindles and sleight-of-hand has earned him the appellation of ‘Australia’s Honest Con Man’. His debut novel is the first... Read more
