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WBN advance reviews >

Vampire Squid (Prema Arasu, Fremantle) 

Tuesday, 4 November 2025
Prema Arasu’s debut poetry collection, Vampire Squid, is a profound exploration of mysterious deep-sea creatures and the humans who observe them. Written over 3 years during Arasu’s time at the...

The Last Encore (Rebecca Heath, Head of Zeus) 

Tuesday, 4 November 2025
Secrets, lies, murder and even love await in Rebecca Heath’s latest psychological thriller, The Last Encore. The remaining members of The Cedrics Band reunite on the fictional Sparrow Hawk Island...

The Wardrobe Project (Emma Edwards, Wiley) 

Cover of "The Wardrobe Project" by Emma Edwards. The title text lays over the sketched outline of a person. Tuesday, 28 October 2025
In 2022, Emma Edwards (Good with Money) realised she had a serious wardrobe problem. Not only was she stuck in a pattern of overbuying clothing, but she was also unhappy...

Better than the Real Thing (Brooke Crawford, HQ Fiction) 

The cover of "Better Than the Real Thing" by Brooke Crawford. The title text appears over the colourful painting of a face. Tuesday, 28 October 2025
Brooke Crawford’s debut novel, Better than the Real Thing, is the kind of delightful escapism you’d expect from a Netflix Christmas movie – comforting, heartfelt and brimming with second chances....

Else (Rose Michael, Spineless Wonders) 

The book cover of "Else" by Rose Michael. A peson lies shirtless on a rocky ground. Tuesday, 21 October 2025
Landscape and climate are central in Else, the latest novel from Rose Michael (The Asking Game, The Art of Navigation). This genre-bending work of eco-fiction blends experimental prose, poetry and...

Power Moves (Leesa Ronald, A&U) 

Tuesday, 7 October 2025
In Power Moves, Leesa Ronald delivers a sharp and witty follow-up to her much-loved debut, Special Delivery. The novel follows Camilla “Millsy” Hatton, media director for the NSW Minister for Education....

Softly Calls the Devil (Chris Blake, Echo) 

Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Prologues in crime novels are often inscrutable until the climax, but Chris Blake’s Softly Calls the Devil wastes no time and immediately hooks readers with an unexpected shoot-out at a traffic...

Swallow (Alexandria Burnham, WestWords) 

Tuesday, 30 September 2025
In Swallow, Alexandria Burnham delivers a compelling work of historical fiction inspired by the documented prison escapes of sailor and petty thief William ‘Swallow’ Walker. Sentenced in 1820 to transportation to...

The Transformations (Andrew Pippos, Picador) 

Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Andrew Pippos’ The Transformations is a reflective and introspective novel for lovers of the written word, tracing the gentle and at times unforgiving arc of a life lived in the...

Collision (Kelvin Templeton, Wilkinson Publishing) 

Tuesday, 23 September 2025
Kevin Templeton’s debut novel, Collision, transports readers to Melbourne during the 1970s and 1980s and into the world of 20-year-old Joshua Shamrock, whose life revolves around football, sex and booze. Raised in...

The Hiding Place (Kate Mildenhall, Scribner) 

Tuesday, 16 September 2025
No stranger to the literary scene, Kate Mildenhall (The Mother Fault, Skylarking, The Hummingbird Effect) returns with The Hiding Place, an eminently readable and vividly imagined novel. Four families seeking...