The Roadmap of Loss (Liam Murphy, Echo)
Tuesday, 14 November 2023
Liam Murphy’s debut novel, The Roadmap of Loss, has all the hallmarks of sad girl (or, in this case, sad boy) literature: a self-destructive 20-something narrator and a vitriolic rage...
Life Skills for a Broken World (Ahona Guha, Scribe)
Tuesday, 14 November 2023
Like having a therapist in your pocket, Life Skills for a Broken World is a guide to positive mental health, leading readers through potential pitfalls and prevention strategies. Ahona Guha,...
Birdsong by the Billabong (Maura Finn, illus Cate James, Affirm)
Tuesday, 7 November 2023
Birdsong by the Billabong—the third picture book in Maura Finn and Cate James’s Billabong series—revisits the tone, style and structure of By the Billabong and Babies at the Billabong. All...
The Strip (Iain Ryan, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 7 November 2023
Iain Ryan plunges readers into the gritty, seedy underbelly of the 1980s Gold Coast in his latest noir crime novel, The Strip. Brimming with corruption and seduction, illicit meetings held...
The Long Lede Anthology (Judith Neilson Institute, Vintage)
Tuesday, 7 November 2023
The Long Lede Initiative, a partnership between the Judith Neilson Institute, Penguin Random House, and Copyright Agency, pairs experienced Australian journalists with emerging writers to mentor them in crafting impactful...
The Trees (Victor Steffensen, illus Sandra Steffensen, Hardie Grant Explore)
Tuesday, 31 October 2023
The Trees: Learning Tree Knowledge with Uncle Kuu is the second picture book by the team behind Looking after Country with Fire, author Victor Steffensen and illustrator Sandra Steffensen, descendants of the...
The Fires Next Time (ed by Peter Christoff, MUP)
Tuesday, 31 October 2023
The world watched in horror from July 2019 to February 2020 as bushfires raged across Australia. The Black Summer fires directly killed 33 people, while hundreds more died from fire-...
The Italian Marriage (Jenna Lo Bianco, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 31 October 2023
In Jenna Lo Bianco’s debut romance novel, The Italian Marriage, Sarah and Matthew marry over Zoom so that Matthew can fulfil the requirements of a 15th-century inheritance clause. In return,...
The Flirtation of Girls/Ghazal el-Banat (Sara M Saleh, UQP)
Tuesday, 24 October 2023
The Flirtation of Girls/Ghazal el-Banat, Sara M Saleh’s first published poetry collection, is a cathartic personal and political journey. Saleh sets the tone with the first few poems, saying in...
How to Be a Friend (Sarah Ayoub, illus Mimi Purnell, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 24 October 2023
How to Be a Friend aims to inspire children to be the best friends they can be and teaches them how to recognise true friendship in their lives. In their...
Never Ever Forever (Karina May, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 24 October 2023
A charming contemporary Australian romance novel, Never Ever Forever by Karina May is a heartfelt tale of love, second chances and self-discovery. The story revolves around Rosie Royce, an endearing protagonist...
The Broken Wave (Matthew Ryan Davies, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 24 October 2023
In 1992, 12-year-old Andrew moves from the US to the coastal town of Queenscliff, Australia, with his mother and stepdad. That summer, he meets Tom, an easygoing Aussie boy who...
Our Family Dragon (Rebecca Lim, illus Cai Tse, Albert Street Books)
Tuesday, 17 October 2023
Our Family Dragon: A Lunar New Year story is a joyful celebration of love, family and the Lunar New Year from award-winning writer Rebecca Lim. This festive story is illustrated...
Emergency Exit Only (Michelle Upton, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 17 October 2023
For the past 10 years, Amelia Harris has preferred to gaze at the fire escape doors opposite her desk at Queensland Office Supplies, rather than take any chances with her...
Frank Moorhouse: Strange paths (Matthew Lamb, Knopf)
Tuesday, 17 October 2023
Frank Moorhouse worked relentlessly to refine both his writing and his understanding of himself. The first volume of Matthew Lamb’s biography of Moorhouse—who passed away last year at 83—is a valuable...
In the Rockpool (Andrea Rowe, illus Hannah Sommerville, Little Hare)
Tuesday, 17 October 2023
Andrea Rowe’s In the Rockpool transports us to a sunny beach where children play on the rock platform. With the sea in the background and the alluring rockpool in the...
Deep in the Forest (Erina Reddan, Pantera)
Tuesday, 10 October 2023
The Trenthen family’s revered reputation in Stone Lake crumbles when a damaging bushfire uncovers an item that appears to belong to Charli, a bookbinder and the family’s last surviving member, right...
Ladybirds Do Not Go to Day Care (Ali Rutstein, illus Niña Nill, Bright Light)
Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Ladybirds Do Not Go to Daycare is the story of Ravi, a young boy who loves dressing up as his favourite insect—a ladybird. He loves brushing his teeth (or mandibles)...
The Wiregrass (Adrian Hyland, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 10 October 2023
With wild weather, swollen rivers, falling trees, a disgraced cop, a cult and a dead man, Adrian Hyland’s The Wiregrass is a thrilling mix of wry humour and page-turning crime....
The Locked-Up Country: Learning the lessons from Australia’s Covid-19 response (Tom Chodor & Shahar Hameiri, UQP)
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
After reading The Locked-Up Country, you may rethink your position on Australia’s Covid-19 response. It’s not a comfortable read, but important books rarely are. Authors Tom Chodor (senior lecturer in Politics...
Stuck Up & Stupid (Angourie Rice & Kate Rice, Walker)
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
Stuck Up & Stupid is the debut novel from a mother-daughter writing team: actor Angourie Rice and playwright Kate Rice. With a familiar yet fresh narrative, this contemporary YA reimagining of Pride and...
Good Night, Good Beach (Joy Cowley, illus Hilary Jean Tapper, Gecko Press)
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
A celebration of summer, holidays and the natural world, award-winning Aotearoa New Zealand author Joy Cowley’s latest picture book, Good Night, Good Beach, follows five children and their adventures across one day as...
Meatsmith (Andrew McConnell & Troy Wheeler, Hardie Grant)
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Acclaimed restauranteur Andrew McConnell (Cutler & Co) and butcher Troy Wheeler opened the specialist butcher Meatsmith with a passion for close relationships with farmers and producers with shared ethical values....
Days of Innocence and Wonder (Lucy Treloar, Picador)
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Lucy Treloar’s third novel centres on a woman named Till, whose life was cleaved in two when her childhood friend E was kidnapped right before her eyes 18 years ago—‘nothing...
A Woman of Courage (Tania Blanchard, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Set in the late 1800s in Ebberfield, northern England, Tania Blanchard’s A Woman of Courage is an engrossing historical fiction work about the suffragette movement. Recent teaching graduate Hannah Todd dreams...
Penguin Oh Penguin (Gladys Milroy, illus Helen Milroy, Magabala)
Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Penguin Oh Penguin is a mother/daughter collaboration between Palyku women Gladys and Helen Milroy, and a charming picture book for early childhood. Gladys Milroy, author of Silver Leaves, wrote this...
Into Your Arms: Nick Cave’s songs reimagined (ed by Kirsten Krauth, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Short story anthology Into Your Arms draws on what editor Kirsten Krauth calls the ‘deep, rich and often dark vein’ of Nick Cave’s musical oeuvre. Twenty-one Australian writers (several of...
The In-Between (Christos Tsiolkas, A&U)
Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Christos Tsiolkas’s The In-Between begins with Perry, a man past his youth, preparing to go on a date. He’s nervous about meeting Ivan, the stranger he will have dinner with,...
A Brilliant Life (Rachelle Unreich, Hachette)
Tuesday, 19 September 2023
A Holocaust story is never an easy read, but A Brilliant Life has such a harrowing prologue that it throws the reader right into the thick of it, so be prepared....
Women & Children (Tony Birch, UQP)
Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Tony Birch’s latest novel, Women & Children, is a thoughtful and profound story of a working-class family doing their best to resist a system that’s geared against them. In 1965...
