The Pull of the Moon (Pip Smith, UWAP)
Young adult
Released June 2025, reviewed by Nadia Heisler.
In this bold, brave and boundary-pushing young adult novel, author Pip Smith (Half Wild) draws on her experience teaching asylum...
The Girl in the Painting (Dee White, illus Sarah Anthony, Walker)
Children’s picture book
Released June 2025, reviewed by Jess Lomas.
The Girl in the Painting is a beautifully told narrative nonfiction picture book that gives voice to a quiet figure...
Our New Gods (Thomas Vowles, UQP)
Fiction
Released June 2025, reviewed by Michelle Atkins.
Twisty and menacing, the new psychological literary thriller Our New Gods – set in Melbourne’s queer scene – is unsettling...
Music Camp (Penny Tangey, UQP)
Younger readers
Released June 2025, reviewed by Clare Millar.
Penny Tangey (Granbad, As Fast As I Can) returns to middle grade with Music Camp, a story set during a...
Terraglossia (Debra Dank, Echo)
Nonfiction
Released June 2025, reviewed by Eman Mourad.
Debra Dank, a Gudanji/Wakaja and Kalkadoon woman from the Barkly Tablelands in the Northern Territory and critically acclaimed author of...
The Brownout Murders (Luke C Jackson & Kelly Jackson, illus Maya Graham, Scribe)
Graphic novel
Released June 2025, reviewed by Anthony Morris.
The year is 1942, and Melbourne is a city consumed with fear in The Brownout Murders, a gripping historical graphic...
My Name Is Jemima (Olivia Muscat, illus by Allison Colpoys, Scribble)
Children’s picture book
Released June 2025, reviewed by Jess Lomas.
My Name Is Jemima is a heartwarming and informative picture book that introduces young readers to the life and work...
Rise of the Witch (Everglade #1) (Kitty Black, illus by Rebecca Crane, Affirm)
Younger readers
Released June 2025, reviewed by Annie Waters.
Take one part Enid Blyton’s The Enchanted Wood, add a sprinkle of Diana Wynne Jones and a dash of Jessica...
The Name of the Sister (Gail Jones, Text)
Fiction
Released June 2025, reviewed by Danielle Bagnato.
The latest novel from award-winning author Gail Jones, The Name of the Sister, is a literary whodunnit set in a small...
Lucky’s Star: The Story of a Meteorite (Mark Greenwood, illus by Lucia Masciullo, CSIRO Publishing)
Children’s picture book
Released June 2025, reviewed by Merril Darling.
Children are naturally fascinated by the night sky, and Lucky’s Star will surely delight primary-aged students with its clever combination...
King of Dirt (Holden Sheppard, Pantera)
Fiction
Released June 2025, reviewed by Abe Theobald.
Holden Sheppard hits again with the blunt edge of Australian queerness in his latest novel, King of Dirt. Continuing his...
Bombard the Headquarters! The Cultural Revolution in China (Linda Jaivin, Black Inc)
Nonfiction
Released June 2025, reviewed by Michael Kitson.
Chairman Mao’s decade of terror is the subject of Bombard the Headquarters!, Australian sinologist Linda Jaivin’s excellent primer on China’s...
Stinkbug (Sinéad Stubbins, Affirm)
Fiction
Released June 2025, reviewed by Kate Dunphy.
Sinéad Stubbins’ debut fiction novel, Stinkbug, is a sharp, darkly funny reflection on the corporate ‘normal’ and the compromises we...
R.I.P. Nanny Tobbins (Lucie Stevens, HarperCollins)
Younger readers
Released June 2025, reviewed by Sophie Pusz.
R.I.P. Nanny Tobbins by Lucie Stevens is a deliciously macabre and unexpectedly funny debut fantasy for advanced middle-grade readers, blending...
When Nothing Feels Real (Nathan Dunne, Murdoch)
Nonfiction
Released June 2025, reviewed by Becca Whitehead.
When Nothing Feels Real is a raw and immersive first-person account of journalist Nathan Dunne’s experience of depersonalisation. It begins...
Ever Blessed (Olivia O’Flynn, HarperCollins)
Fiction
Released June 2025, reviewed by Kate Cuthbert.
Ever Blessed by Olivia O’Flynn is a confident debut in the romantasy genre, featuring a recalcitrant heroine, a taciturn hero,...
A Farm by the Sea (Jillian Packer, Berbay)
Children’s picture book
Released June 2025, reviewed by Karys McEwen.
Fans of Alison Lester, Freya Blackwood and Trace Balla will be captivated by A Farm by the Sea by debut author and...
Rytual (Chloe Elisabeth Wilson, Penguin)
Fiction
Released May 2025, reviewed by Jess Lomas.
In her unsettling and sharply constructed debut, Rytual, Chloe Elisabeth Wilson dissects the seductive promise of transformation through beauty, rituals...
Joss: A History (Grace Yee, Giramondo)
Poetry
Released June 2025, reviewed by Ash Davida Jane.
Grace Yee’s Joss: A History uncovers the lives of Chinese immigrants in Australia during the 19th and 20th centuries through...
Our Dance (Jacinta Daniher & Taylor Hampton, illus by Janelle Burger, Lothian)
Children’s picture book
Released May 2025, reviewed by Merril Darling.
Our Dance by Jacinta Daniher and proud Ngiyampaa/Wiradjuri man Taylor Hampton celebrates Australian First Nations culture through the joy of...
