Review search
After (Morris Gleitzman, Viking)
Released September 2012
Continuing the story of Felix from Once, Then and Now, After follows the events of Then. The war is still going on and for the past two years Felix has... Read more
Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East (Benjamin Law, Black Inc.)
Released September 2012
Benjamin Law embarks on a wild ride through Asia to investigate queer culture in Gaysia. In Indonesia he meets the moneyboys who prostitute themselves to Western men, usually preferring the... Read more
Alice Springs (Eleanor Hogan, NewSouth)
Released September 2012
This is no grey nomad’s guide to the red centre. In NewSouth’s latest city book, author Eleanor Hogan writes about her experiences living and working in the Aboriginal health services... Read more
To the Highlands (Jon Doust, Fremantle Press)
Released August 2012
What is a man and how does a boy become one? Jack Muir was searching for the answers to these questions in Boy on a Wire, the first book in... Read more
Sufficient Grace (Amy Espeseth, Scribe)
Released September 2012
Raised in a fundamentalist family of Pentecostals, where sin is an ever-prevalent danger, 13-year-old Ruth must reconcile her faith with reality as dark family secrets unravel over the course of... Read more
The Oldest Song in the World (Sue Woolfe, Fourth Estate)
Released August 2012
The Oldest Song in the World is quite an incredible book. The story, with its mix of themes, is full of tension and interest. Kate is sent to a town... Read more
Nine Days (Toni Jordan, Text)
Released September 2012
We first meet the Westaway family through the character of young Kip, brother to Francis and Connie, son to a grieving mother Jean and a recently deceased father. It is... Read more
The Midnight Promise: A Detective’s Story in Ten Cases (Zane Lovitt, Text)
Released September 2012
The Midnight Promise crashes straight into Temple, Corris and Chandler territory—just like the blurb promises. It involves a Melbourne PI, interlinked stories (if this worries you, just consider them TV... Read more
Midnight Empire (Andrew Croome, A&U)
Released September 2012
Andrew Croome’s debut novel, Document Z, looked at the world of Australian diplomats during the Cold War using the prism of the Petrov case. His second novel, Midnight Empire, is... Read more
Mazin Grace (Dylan Coleman, UQP)
Released September 2012
Winner of the 2011 David Unaipon Award for Indigenous Writing, this is a remarkable novel. Based on the author’s mother’s recollections of growing up on a South Australian Lutheran Mission... Read more
Black Mountain (Venero Armanno, UQP)
Released August 2012
This intriguing novel takes you from a small coastal Queensland town to the sulphur minefields of Sicily. There are elements of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind and... Read more
Fishing for Tigers (Emily Maguire, Picador)
Released September 2012
Fishing for Tigers is Emily Maguire’s fourth novel, and a departure from the darkness of the most recent Smoke in the Room. Maguire’s exploration of unconventional relationships—her critically acclaimed first... Read more
Fire in the Sea (Myke Bartlett, Text)
Released July 2012
Sixteen-year-old Sadie is growing tired of spending her summer days lounging on the beach with her tedious cousins and her wants-to-be-more-than-a-friend Tom. She can’t wait to bid farewell to her... Read more
Friday Brown (Vikki Wakefield, Text)
Released September 2012
I don’t know whether it was icy weather or the sheer emotional tension of the story, but the night I stayed up to finish Friday Brown I was shivering. Every... Read more
Girl V the World: Waiting for It (Chrissie Keighery, Hardie Grant Egmont)
Released August 2012
For my generation, answers to the question ‘Am I normal?’ and the unspoken mysteries of adolescence often had to be ferreted out of an old Judy Blume (which would always... Read more
Louis beside Himself (Anna Fienberg, A&U)
Released August 2012
Readers looking to move on from the Wimpy Kid and challenge themselves more forcefully with the written word will enjoy Anna Fienberg’s latest offering for boys aged 10-13 years—a comical... Read more
S.C.U.M. (Danny Katz, A&U)
Released August 2012
Australians of all ages ought to be aware of Danny Katz by now. If you have not heard the name before, go immediately to the Age/SMH website and look up... Read more
Unforgotten (Tohby Riddle, A&U)
Released September 2012
This amazing book demands several readings. Although the text is a simple poem, the illustrations are so densely layered that the reader is slowed, exploring the haunting images as if... Read more
Word Hunters: The Curious Dictionary (Nick Earls & Terry Whidborne, UQP)
Released September 2012
Nick Earls and Terry Whidborne’s new book for children brings to life the past by indulging the word nerd in all of us. When twins Lexi and Al find a... Read more
Thirst (L A Larkin, Pier 9)
Released September 2012
L A Larkin’s debut The Genesis Flaw was a fabulous eco-thriller with tight storytelling that stretched—but didn’t break—credibility, so readers will come to her second novel with high expectations. Thirst... Read more
