Half Truth (Nadia Mahjouri, Penguin)
Fiction
Released February 2025, reviewed by Marina Sano.
Half Truth follows Zahra, a young Moroccan Australian woman, and her grandmother, Khadija. In alternating narratives, the novel follows the pair...
A Good Kind of Trouble (Brooke Blurton & Melanie Saward, HarperCollins)
Young adult
Released February 2025, reviewed by Jasmine Pirovic.
Noongar-Yamatji youth advocate Brooke Blurton has teamed up with Bigambul and Wakka Wakka author and academic Melanie Saward (Love Unleashed) for...
The Knowing (Madeleine Ryan, Scribe)
Fiction
Released February 2025, reviewed by Kate Dunphy.
Camille works for a semi-famous florist in Armadale, where she commutes daily from her home in the country. She yearns...
Outrageous Fortunes (Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex, La Trobe)
Nonfiction
Released February 2025, reviewed by Nathan Smith.
‘Mary Fortune’ might sound like a pseudonym but it’s the name of one of Australia’s most prolific—if often overlooked—woman crime...
Joan Lindsay: The Hidden Life of the Woman Who Wrote ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ (Brenda Niall, Text)
Nonfiction
Released February 2025, reviewed by Megan Koch.
Brenda Niall’s portrait of author Joan Lindsay is bookended by her charming recollections of meeting Lindsay in 1984, just months...
Creature Corridors (Billie Rooney, illus Anke Noack, CSIRO Publishing)
Children’s picture book
Released February 2025, reviewed by Angela Meyer.
Billie Rooney’s educational picture book, Creature Corridors, explores how human infrastructure impacts animal habitats and highlights the role of wildlife...
Harry and Gran Bake a Cake (Fiona McIntosh, illus Sara Acton, Puffin)
Children’s picture book
Released March 2025, reviewed by Annie Waters.
Fiona McIntosh (The Sugar Palace), the much-celebrated author for grown-ups, makes her debut in picture books with the simply delicious...
Sunny and Shadow (Helen Milroy, Fremantle)
Younger readers
Released February 2025, reviewed by Clare Millar.
Sunny and Shadow is a heartfelt junior fiction novel and intergenerational tale that follows Calla and her descendants, who all...
Past & Parallel Lives (Kaya Ortiz, UWA Publishing)
Poetry
Released February 2025, reviewed by Tierney Khan.
In their debut poetry collection, Past & Parallel Lives, Kaya Ortiz explores what it means to wrestle with your identity...
Monty and Mandy Take On Camp Spaloonka (Adam Wallace, illus Dave Atze, Larrikin)
Graphic novel
Released February 2025, reviewed by Bohdi Byles.
Monty and Mandy Take on Camp Spaloonka is a junior graphic novel that follows the hilarious adventures of Monty and...
Creating Schools: Where Students and Teachers Want to Be (Michael Lawrence & Fabio D’Agostin, Melbourne Books)
Nonfiction
Released February 2025, reviewed by Merril Darling.
Teachers Michael Lawrence (Testing 3, 2, 1) and Fabio D’Agostin (whose PhD was called ‘Task-Related Emotions in Mathematics Education’) have...
Grave Empire: Book One of The Great Silence (Richard Swan, Orbit)
Fiction
Released February 2025, reviewed by Stefen Brazulaitis.
In Grave Empire, Richard Swan returns to the world of his Empire of the Wolf fantasy trilogy in a way...
The Body Next Door (Zane Lovitt, Text)
Fiction
Released March 2025, reviewed by Fiona Hardy.
Nestled in Melbourne’s western suburbs, Carnation Way is a quiet street of identical-looking houses with one distinction: number 37 was...
Unhallowed Halls (Lili Wilkinson, A&U)
Young adult
Released February 2025, reviewed by Ana Brawls.
Lili Wilkinson’s latest young adult novel, Unhallowed Halls, is a dark academia fantasy about finding your inner strength and accepting...
Your Soul Purpose: Manifest a Life You Love (Aubrey Daquinag, Hardie Grant Books)
Nonfiction
Released February 2025, reviewed by Becca Whitehead.
Aubrey Daquinag’s Your Soul Purpose: Manifest a Life You Love offers an accessible entry point for readers looking to shift...
Gutsy Girls (Josie McSkimming, UQP)
Nonfiction
Released February 2025, reviewed by Heidi Maier.
When Dorothy Porter died in 2008, Australia lost one of its greatest contemporary poets. The author of nine poetry collections...
Llamas in the Library (James Hinchon, illus Ian Worrall-Dutton, Five Mile)
Children’s picture book
Released February 2025, reviewed by Anica Boulanger-Mashberg.
James Hinchon’s Llamas in the Library is a rollicking adventure about a group of children who must team up to...
Brightest Wild (Tania Crampton-Larking, Lothian)
Younger readers
Released February 2025, reviewed by Fay Helfenbaum.
Brightest Wild, by Mirning woman Tania Crampton-Larking, was a winning manuscript in the 2019 black&write! Fellowships for Aboriginal and Torres...
Brave in Every Which Way (Maddy Mara, illus Lauren Degraaf, Affirm)
Children’s picture book
Released February 2025, reviewed by Brenton Cullen.
Brave in Every Which Way by Maddy Mara (aka Hilary Rogers and Meredith Badger, who also produced Itty Bitty Kitty...
The Grapevine (Kate Kemp, Hachette)
Fiction
Released February 2025, reviewed by Fiona Hardy.
As summertime scorches Canberra and the 1970s draw to a close, a severed foot is discovered on the mountain behind...
