Too Many Dogs (Maura Finn, illus Lucinda Gifford, Affirm)
Children’s picture book
Released May 2025, reviewed by Karys McEwen .
Too Many Dogs is a charming and light-hearted picture book from the creative pairing behind Too Many Cats that explores...
Nightingale (Laura Elvery, UQP)
Fiction
Released May 2025, reviewed by Kate Dunphy.
Grounded in history and buoyed by Laura Elvery’s elegant, moving prose, Nightingale is a fictional reimagining of the near-mythic figure...
Viet Kieu: Recipes remembered from Vietnam (Thi Le, Murdoch)
Nonfiction
Released May 2025, reviewed by Sophie Pusz.
‘Viet Kieu’ is a Vietnamese term used for people of Vietnamese heritage who were raised and are living in the...
Diggers, Dozers, and Dumpers (Ole Könnecke, Gecko)
Children’s picture book
Released May 2025, reviewed by Jess Lomas.
Picture books about machinery are always a hit, but they don’t always deliver an engaging narrative – this one does,...
The Bearcat (Georgia Rose Phillips, Picador)
Fiction
Released May 2025, reviewed by Charlotte Callander.
Based on true events, The Bearcat is an ambitious, mesmeric and deeply affecting debut novel that imagines the inner life...
The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains (Sarah Clutton, A&U)
Fiction
Released May 2025, reviewed by Sarina Gale.
Sarah Clutton’s The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains is a richly woven novel that explores family dynamics, small-town life and...
This Dream Will Devour Us (Emma Clancey, A&U Children’s)
Young adult
Released May 2025, reviewed by Marissa Kyriakopoulos.
What if humanity developed a drug that could manipulate the elements – essentially perform magic? In This Dream Will Devour...
He Would Never (Holly Wainwright, Macmillan)
Fiction
Released May 2025, reviewed by Alida Galati.
Holly Wainwright’s fifth novel, He Would Never, is pacy, compelling and character-driven, and will hook readers from the startling first...
The Girl and the Ghost (Jacqueline Harvey, Penguin)
Younger readers
Released May 2025, reviewed by Charlotte Callander.
Jacqueline Harvey, author of the best-selling Alice-Miranda and Kensy and Max books, returns with The Girl and the Ghost, the...
Letters to Our Robot Son (Cadance Bell, Ultimo)
Fiction
Released May 2025, reviewed by Kate Cuthbert.
Letters to Our Robot Son is the fiction debut of memoirist Cadance Bell (The All of It: A Bogan Rhapsody),...
Little World (Josephine Rowe, Black Inc.)
Fiction
Released May 2025, reviewed by Ash Davida Jane.
Josephine Rowe’s Little World is a compact, lyrical read that feels both mythic and frighteningly current. When the perfectly preserved...
The Surface Trials (HM Waugh, A&U Children’s)
Younger readers
Released May 2025, reviewed by Erin Wamala.
Starquest Academy is an elite school for exceptional students from around the galaxy. Notoriously difficult to enter, Starquest requires prospects...
The Opposite of Lonely (Hilde Hinton, Hachette)
Fiction
Released May 2025, reviewed by Shannon Grey.
For the past few years, Rose has felt disassociated from her own life, struggling to come to terms with the...
Wandering Wild (Lynette Noni, Penguin)
Young adult
Released May 2025, reviewed by Tierney Khan.
Wandering Wild, the latest novel from Lynette Noni (The Prison Healer), is the perfect cosy romance read. The dual-perspective narrative...
Painting Portraits of Everyone I’ve Ever Dated (Joseph Earp, Pantera)
Fiction
Released May 2025, reviewed by Jemma Moreira.
Painting Portraits of Everyone I’ve Ever Dated is both surprisingly tender and hilariously acerbic, with Joseph Earp’s writing effortlessly drawing...
I Am Not an Owl (Rhonda Ooi, illus Mel Corrigan, Woodslane)
Children’s picture book
Released May 2025, reviewed by Merril Darling.
A small child who does not want to have a nap is a challenge. In this charming picture book for...
Super Sweet! (Kenneth & Queenie #1) (Raymond McGrath, Affirm)
Graphic novel
Released May 2025, reviewed by Marissa Kyriakopoulos.
The first book in Raymond McGrath’s whimsical new junior graphic novel series, Kenneth & Queenie: Super Sweet! lives up to...
Grandmother from the East, Grandmother from the West (Jacinta Liu, illus Freda Chiu, Lothian)
Children’s picture book
Released April 2025, reviewed by Jasmine Pirovic.
Jacinta Liu’s debut picture book is a comforting story about a young girl reflecting on the individual personalities, traits and...
Goodnight Sheep (Sally Barton, illus Cherie Dignam, Fremantle)
Children’s picture book
Released April 2025, reviewed by Nadia Heisler.
For some parents and carers, nothing is more anxiety-inducing than bedtime. Sally Barton’s Goodnight Sheep, illustrated by Cherie Dignam (The...
Orpheus Nine (Chris Flynn, Hachette)
Fiction
Released April 2025, reviewed by Melissa Mantle.
When a boys’ soccer game in the regional town of Gattan is interrupted by a grotesque supernatural event that ushers...
