Grandmother from the East, Grandmother from the West (Jacinta Liu, illus Freda Chiu, Lothian)
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
Jacinta Liu’s debut picture book is a comforting story about a young girl reflecting on the individual personalities, traits and experiences of her two grandmothers while looking at photos of...
Goodnight Sheep (Sally Barton, illus Cherie Dignam, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
For some parents and carers, nothing is more anxiety-inducing than bedtime. Sally Barton’s Goodnight Sheep, illustrated by Cherie Dignam (The Pen series), embraces this universal challenge, inviting readers to find...
Orpheus Nine (Chris Flynn, Hachette)
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
When a boys’ soccer game in the regional town of Gattan is interrupted by a grotesque supernatural event that ushers in a new world order, residents of the town –...
The Sex Lives of Married Women (Saman Shad, Penguin)
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
Meet Rani, Sophie and Meena – three Sydney women in their late 30s who are confronted with the realisation that their lives aren’t what they had hoped for. Saman Shad’s...
The Colt from Old Regret (Dianne Wolfer, illus Erica Wagner, NLA)
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
Dianne Wolfer (Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady) decentres the human perspective of Banjo Paterson’s ‘The Man from Snowy River’ in The Colt from Old Regret, recounting the escaped colt’s experience...
Mother Tongue (Naima Brown, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
Naima Brown’s cleverly titled second novel Mother Tongue is a gripping, exquisitely layered story that deals with extremes and challenges conventional morality. The protagonist, Brynn, upends the assumption that mothers...
The Confidence Woman (Sophie Quick, A&U)
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
Christina Swales is a single mum, a business coach – and a blackmailer. Using incriminating information gleaned from her one-on-one online coaching sessions, Christina blackmails her clients to save enough...
The Great Chocolate Caper (Heist #1) (Joel McKerrow, Penguin)
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
The Great Chocolate Caper is the first in the middle-grade Heist series by performance poet Joel McKerrow. Andy McGee is struggling to fit in and make friends in his first...
How to Sail to Somewhere (Ashleigh Barton, Lothian)
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
In a coastal holiday town where ‘the land kisses the sea and the children grow up with salt in their hair’, Bea, a lonely only child who has never set...
Quarks, Sparks and Quantum Mysteries: A Cosmic Guide to the Building Blocks of our Universe (Lisa Harvey-Smith, illus Aidan Ryan, T&H)
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Astrophysicist professor Lisa Harvey-Smith has created another brilliant book as part of her mission to open up science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to children at a time when they...
She Shapes History (Sita Sargeant, Hardie Grant Explore)
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
At the heart of Australia’s geography and history lies a wealth of stories about women who have helped shape the nation – yet many remain untold and underexplored. Sita Sargeant’s...
All About Love (Amy Dunjey, illus Giorgia Clerico, Five Mile)
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Amy Dunjey’s latest picture book All About Love is a playful, rhyming exploration of how love is expressed through actions. The story encourages young readers aged 3–8 to recognise love...
Nature’s Fool (Timothy Doyle, Melbourne Books)
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Challenging traditional conceptions of early Australian settler history, Nature’s Fool examines the intricate relations between the Kaurna peoples and early Irish settlers. A longtime academic and conservationist, Timothy Doyle (Dyandi)...
The Passenger Seat (Vijay Khurana, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Beginning mid-jump and barely letting up the tension, Vijay Khurana’s debut novel, The Passenger Seat, is an unusual and deftly written literary thriller. It follows the uneasy friendship between two...
The Distance Between Dreams (Emily Paull, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Emily Paull’s The Distance Between Dreams is a poignant and meticulously crafted historical romance, rightfully shortlisted for the 2023 Fogarty Literary Awards. The novel beautifully captures an era of conflict...
When She Was Gone (Sara Foster, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Sara Foster’s When She Was Gone stands out in a crowded thriller market for its unique blend of suspense, character depth and emotional resonance. Set in the fictional town of...
The Thylacine and the Time Machine (Renée Treml, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
In The Thylacine and the Time Machine, 12-year-old Violet is completing a project on the de-extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger. Working late into the night, Violet falls asleep at her...
Lyrebird (Jane Caro, A&U)
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Walkley Award-winning journalist, social commentator and author Jane Caro (The Mother) returns to crime fiction for her second adult novel, The Lyrebird. The titular bird first appears in the prologue,...
Tim Tie-Your-Shoelaces (Something Terrible #1) (Sally Barton, illus Christopher Nielsen, Walker)
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
‘Tim, tie your shoelaces – or something TERRIBLE will happen!’ Tim Mulligan hears this all the time – from his mum and dad, the neighbours, the crossing guard and even...
The Paperbark Tree Committee (Karys McEwen, Text)
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
The Paperbark Tree Committee, Karys McEwen’s second middle grade novel following All the Little Tricky Things, is a tender, compassionate story about navigating transitions and finding support in unexpected places....
Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective (Kelly Gardiner & Sharmini Kumar, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Miss Caroline Bingley, the spurned love interest of Pride and Prejudice’s Mr Darcy, turns her prodigious mind to the problem of a missing maid, uncovering a murder and a dastardly...
Barren Cape (Michelle Prak, S&S)
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Take one remote, abandoned site, a pack of unhinged teenagers, some drug-fuelled young adults, and an escaped convict – what could possibly go wrong? Welcome to Barren Cape, the latest...
Consider Yourself Kissed (Jessica Stanley, Text)
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Consider Yourself Kissed is a romance set in London against the backdrop of the UK’s escalating political crises of the 21st century: Tory leadership struggles and re-election and Brexit, culminating...
Skin (Deborah Kelly, Rhiza Press)
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Skin is a powerful reminder of how heavily appearances and beauty standards influence us during our teenage years and beyond. Multi-award-winning author Deborah Kelly (The Mosaic) delivers an easy-to-read yet emotionally...
Nation, Memory, Myth: Gallipoli and the Australian Imaginary (Steve Vizard, MUP)
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
In Nation, Memory, Myth: Gallipoli and the Australian Imagery, Steve Vizard delves into the creation of the Gallipoli myth, exploring the nature of myth itself, its role in nation building...
My Mother’s Invisible Shield (RA Stephens, illus Jasmine Berry, Wombat)
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Mothers have special powers, and RA Stephens’s My Mother’s Invisible Shield explores this idea in a light and humorous way. The story follows a curious school-aged child who conducts a...
See How They Fall (Rachel Paris, Hachette)
Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Rachel Paris’s debut novel, See How They Fall, is an artfully plotted thriller that masterfully delivers unexpected twists to keep readers hooked until its satisfying conclusion. Set in the privileged...
Desert Tracks (Marly Wells & Linda Wells, Magabala)
Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Desert Tracks is a young adult time travel novel set in central Australia and written by daughter-mother duo Marly Wells, a proud woman of Warlpiri and white Australian descent, and...
The Sun Was Electric Light (Rachel Morton, UQP)
Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Haunted by a pervasive sense of unreality, Ruth leaves her life in New York to return to the last place she loved: a lake in southern Guatemala. In the small...
No Time for Make Up (Elizabeth Green, Exisle)
Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Dr Elizabeth Green’s No Time for Make Up is a compelling memoir chronicling her life as a member of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). The book is told in...
