Review search
Peripathetic: Notes on (un)belonging (Cher Tan, NewSouth)
Released May 2024
The nine essays in this collection, Peripathetic by Melbourne-based Cher Tan, use the form’s digressive capacity well. In elastic prose informed by wide reading, Tan heads down wordy, winding rabbit... Read more
Safe Haven (Shankari Chandran, Ultimo)
Released May 2024
Miles Franklin–winning author Shankari Chandran turns her focus to Australia’s inhumane practice of mandatory detention in her fourth novel, Safe Haven. As in Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, a focal... Read more
The Unexpected Mess of It All (Gabrielle Tozer, HarperCollins)
Released May 2024
Gold Inky award-winning author Gabrielle Tozer’s fifth YA novel, The Unexpected Mess of it All, displays her trademark empathy, humour and cheekiness. Jamila’s life is an unexpected mess. Since their... Read more
Cora Seen and Heard (Zanni Louise, Walker)
Released May 2024
When Cora’s family moves to Tasmania to renovate a decrepit theatre, Cora, 12, is thrilled at the opportunity to reinvent herself as Cora 2.0: more confident, admired, and interesting. But... Read more
What Stars Are For (Margeaux Davis, Affirm)
Released May 2024
What Stars Are For is the first picture book by sewing pattern and soft toy designer Margeaux Davis. The emerging children’s book illustrator’s love for the natural world is informed... Read more
Circadia (Judith Bishop, UQP)
Released May 2024
Judith Bishop’s Circadia is a collection of neatly formed, intelligent poems in which you can discover something new with each read. Bishop is in conversation with a chorus of voices and introduces... Read more
To Sing of War (Catherine McKinnon, HarperCollins)
Released May 2024
From Miles Franklin–shortlisted author Catherine McKinnon (Storyland), To Sing of War confronts the interconnectedness that binds humanity. Against the backdrop of WWII, we find ourselves immersed in the jungles of... Read more
The Land Recalls You (Kirli Saunders, illus David Cragg & Noni Cragg, Scholastic)
Released May 2024
The title of multi-awarded Gunai poet Kirli Saunders’s picture book The Land Recalls You honours the Stolen Generations and their descendants, as well as others who have been taken from Country, in a story... Read more
Our Flag, Our Story (Bernard Namok Jnr & Thomas Mayo, illus Tori-Jay Mordey, Magabala)
Released May 2024
Reading Our Flag, Our Story: The Torres Strait Islander Flag by Bernard Namok Jnr and Thomas Mayo on so-called Australia Day feels incredibly poignant. In October 2023, Australians voted against establishing the... Read more
Saltblood (Francesca de Tores, Bloomsbury)
Released May 2024
Saltblood is an engrossing, deeply felt historical novel by Melbourne poet, author and academic Francesca de Tores (with previous works published as Francesca Haig), fictionalising the life of pirate Mary... Read more
Country (Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson, illus Cheryl Davison, Wild Dog)
Released May 2024
Country is a celebration of earth and sky, sun, moon and stars—central to First Nations Culture. Through intricate, warm and entrancing artwork by renowned artist and Walbunja, Ngarigo woman Cheryl... Read more
The Mistress of Dara Island (Averil Kenny, Echo)
Released April 2024
Traversing the 1950s to 1960s, Averil Kenny’s The Mistress of Dara Island follows Tally Ramsey, who spent her childhood on a paradisiacal tropical island. Despite its setting in the real-world... Read more
Ela! Ela! (Ella Mittas, Murdoch)
Released May 2024
Ela! Ela! means 'Come! Come!', and it’s a wonderfully fitting title for this generous, delicious and personal book of Turkish-Greek recipes, photography and essays, which documents Ella Mittas’s travels to Istanbul, Alaçatı,... Read more
The Apprentice Witnesser (Bren MacDibble, A&U Children’s)
Released May 2024
Bren MacDibble has become well-known for her unique and heartfelt adventure novels for middle-grade readers, including How to Bee, The Dog Runner and Across the Risen Sea, as well as The Raven’s... Read more
How to Measure the Ocean (Inda Ahmad Zahri, A&U Children’s)
Released May 2024
How to Measure the Ocean by scuba diver and surgical doctor Inda Ahmad Zahri prompts and encourages children aged 4–8 to interact with their environment scientifically and mathematically. In the... Read more
The Deed (Susannah Begbie, Hachette)
Released May 2024
Small-town cattle farmer Tom Edwards knows he is going to die—before he does, he pays a visit to the local solicitor to change the terms of his will. Upon his... Read more
Human? (Ziggy Ramo, Pantera)
Released May 2024
For those familiar with the sounds of Ziggy Ramo, Human?—while his debut book—is but the latest in a collection of revolutionary literary works by the artist. Human? is Ramo’s powerful... Read more
Work Backwards (Tim Duggan, Pantera)
Released April 2024
If you’ve ever felt disenchanted by the daily grind or pondered the pointlessness of the eternal wheel of capitalism, then Work Backwards: How to design the life you want will... Read more
Thunderhead (Miranda Darling, Scribe)
Released April 2024
Set over one fever-pitched day of errand-running, child-rearing, appointment-hopping and dinner-party prep in the suburbs, Thunderhead is about Winona Dalloway’s desperate desire to be free of her domestic shackles and... Read more
The Work (Bri Lee, A&U)
Released April 2024
Having tackled power, privilege and sexual politics in her nonfiction books, Eggshell Skull, Beauty and Who Gets to Be Smart, Bri Lee brings the same shrewd scrutiny to her debut novel,... Read more
