One Song (A J Betts, Pan Australia)
Tuesday, 30 May 2023
A J Betts’s latest book One Song is a delightful and emotionally intelligent YA novel. Our protagonist Eva is in Year Twelve and is desperate to win Triple J Unearthed...
Young Rupert: The making of the Murdoch empire (Walter Marsh, Scribe)
Tuesday, 30 May 2023
Rupert Murdoch’s influence is ubiquitous, yet the man himself remains oddly opaque. Contradictions abound. During his university days, he toyed with left-wing politics but soon moved to the right. He...
Lowbridge (Lucy Campbell, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 23 May 2023
In Lowbridge, Lucy Campbell’s debut crime thriller, the people in the sleepy small town of Lowbridge seem to have moved on with their lives after the tragic events of the...
That Bird Has Arms (Kate Temple & Jol Temple, illus Ronojoy Ghosh & Niharika Hukku, Little Hare)
Tuesday, 23 May 2023
That Bird Has Arms comes from the creative team behind the successful Bin Chicken books and brings the same brightly coloured joy and hilarious avian humour. Writers Kate and Jol...
The House With All The Lights On (Jessica Kirkness, A&U)
Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Jessica Kirkness weaves each page of her memoir The House With All The Lights On with care, offering a deeply personal glimpse into growing up as a hearing child with...
Blind Spot (Robyn Dennison, Text)
Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Robyn Dennison’s debut novel Blind Spot is a sophisticated, challenging novel that explores themes of personal responsibility alongside a duty of care for others. Dale is a ‘nice’ guy who’s...
Why We Are Here (Briohny Doyle, Vintage)
Tuesday, 16 May 2023
In a life-altering turn of events, BB loses both her father and the love of her life during the global pandemic. When grief and strict lockdown orders push her to...
Lioness (Emily Perkins, Bloomsbury)
Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Thirty years ago, Therese married Trevor Thorne, a wealthy businessman twice her age. Now middle-aged, she continues to enjoy a life of privilege, running a successful luxury homewares business and...
The Shape of Dust (Lamisse Hamouda & Hazem Hamouda, Pantera)
Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Father-daughter duo Lamisse and Hazem Hamouda’s debut memoir The Shape of Dust is an impactful picture of one ordinary Australian-Egyptian family’s experience as victims of a human rights violation. The...
Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth (Anna Fienberg, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Anna Fienberg has had a long and illustrious career in children’s writing, with over 40 books and a swag of awards under her belt. Her latest, Picasso and the Greatest...
Barren Grounds (B Michael Radburn, Pantera)
Tuesday, 9 May 2023
Joseph ‘Joe’ Capello, the decorated detective at the centre of B Michael Radburn’s fifth novel, Barren Grounds, is haunted by The Cloakman and The Jeweller, two forces of evil who...
Australia: Country of Colour (Jess Racklyeft, Affirm)
Tuesday, 9 May 2023
Bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Jess Racklyeft celebrates Australian flora, fauna and landscapes through the lens of the colour wheel in Australia: Country of Colour. This beautifully illustrated nonfiction...
Wifedom (Anna Funder, Hamish Hamilton)
Tuesday, 9 May 2023
When researching a new book on George Orwell, powerhouse writer Anna Funder noticed an interesting omission—Eileen Orwell, George’s first wife, was curiously absent. The basis of Wifedom is six newly...
Mother Earth (Libby Hathorn, illus Christina Booth, Lothian)
Tuesday, 2 May 2023
Libby Hathorn and Christina Booth are the respected creators of the timely and beautiful poetry anthology for children Mother Earth: Poems to celebrate the wonder of nature. This volume is...
The Drowning Girls (Veronica Lando, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 2 May 2023
As the summer holidays draw to a close, disgraced teacher Nate Bass arrives in an impoverished northern Queensland fishing town, begrudgingly ready for a job teaching all of Port Flinders’...
New York City Glow (Rachel Coad, Upswell)
Tuesday, 2 May 2023
The first book by Margaret River-based artist and comic maker Rachel Coad, New York City Glow is an old-school action-packed romp through 1970s American counterculture. Mixing fact and fiction, the...
Business Chickens (Jess McGeachin, Puffin)
Tuesday, 2 May 2023
Business Chickens is the latest picture book from Melbourne-based writer/illustrator/designer Jess McGeachin. Known for his CBCA-recognised titles such as Fly and Frankie and the Fossil, McGeachin has produced a new...
The Terrible Event (David Cohen, Transit Lounge)
Tuesday, 25 April 2023
The Terrible Event comprises eight accessible, absurdist stories by David Cohen, past winner of the Russell Prize for Humour Writing. Each instalment is a tightly crafted pocket of madness, driven,...
Gurril: Storm Bird (Trevor Fourmile, illus by Jingalu, Magabala)
Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Gurril: Storm Bird tells the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji (First Nations people from the Cairns area) traditional creation story of the origins of the black cockatoo and its call. Incorrigible young...
Endo Days (Libby Trainor Parker, Wakefield)
Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Libby Trainor Parker has written the perfect book adaptation of the cabaret show she performed in her PJs about endometriosis. The vibe? Women have been in pain, and ignored, forever....
The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies (Alison Goodman, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 25 April 2023
The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman is a joyous romp through Regency England that is equally entertaining, revealing, feminist, heartbreaking and humorous. Our protagonist, Lady Augusta, is...
Feast (Emily O’Grady, A&U)
Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Like her Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award-winning debut The Yellow House, Emily O’Grady’s Feast is a compelling but often uncomfortable work of literary fiction. In a secluded manor house in the Scottish...
The Interpreter (Brooke Robinson, Harvill Secker)
Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Revelle Lee is a court interpreter in London. She spends her days translating the words of victims, criminals and witnesses. It’s her job to inhabit them, wear their skin and...
Sunshine on Vinegar Street (Karen Comer, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Everything in Freya’s world has changed. Her dad has taken a job in Broome for the next 18 months and her mum has a new job in the inner-city Melbourne...
The Archipelago of Us (Reneé Pettitt-Schipp, Fremantle Press)
Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Originally written as part of Reneé Pettitt-Schipp’s PhD thesis, The Archipelago of Us is a moving travel memoir mixed with a reflective story of trauma and healing. Pettitt-Schipp decided to...
Sad Girl Novel (Pip Finkemeyer, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 11 April 2023
When we first meet aspiring writer Kim Mueller, she’s taking a train through Berlin, on her way to see her therapist. She’s wondering if she’s ‘talented or deluded’. She has...
Backyard Footy (Carl Merrison, illus by Samantha Campbell, Lothian)
Tuesday, 11 April 2023
Kicking the footy around in your backyard is fun, but playing with mates is even better! Jaru/Kija author Carl Merrison and illustrator Samantha Campbell score big with their lively, cumulative...
Minds of Sand and Light (Kylie Chan, Voyager AU)
Tuesday, 11 April 2023
Two rebel journalists get caught up in a conflict between secretive AIs in this new cyberpunk thriller. Minds of Sand and Light is set some 50 years in the future:...
Search History (Amy Taylor, A&U)
Tuesday, 4 April 2023
Most of us have left some kind of regrettable imprint on the internet. It’s with this discarded online ephemera that anxiety swells about what people may make of it all—including...
Where I Slept (Libby Angel, Text)
Tuesday, 4 April 2023
Where I Slept, by award-winning poet and author Libby Angel, is a sharp and sobering piece of autofiction that follows a struggling, unnamed poet/artist living on the margins in 1990s...
